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diff --git a/1749.txt b/1749.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dad46e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1749.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18545 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cousin Betty, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cousin Betty + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: James Waring + +Release Date: May, 1999 [Etext #1749] +Posting Date: March 1, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUSIN BETTY *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +COUSIN BETTY + + +By Honore De Balzac + + +Translated by James Waring + + + + + DEDICATION + + To Don Michele Angelo Cajetani, Prince of Teano. + + It is neither to the Roman Prince, nor to the representative of + the illustrious house of Cajetani, which has given more than one + Pope to the Christian Church, that I dedicate this short portion + of a long history; it is to the learned commentator of Dante. + + It was you who led me to understand the marvelous framework of + ideas on which the great Italian poet built his poem, the only + work which the moderns can place by that of Homer. Till I heard + you, the Divine Comedy was to me a vast enigma to which none had + found the clue--the commentators least of all. Thus, to understand + Dante is to be as great as he; but every form of greatness is + familiar to you. + + A French savant could make a reputation, earn a professor's chair, + and a dozen decorations, by publishing in a dogmatic volume the + improvised lecture by which you lent enchantment to one of those + evenings which are rest after seeing Rome. You do not know, + perhaps, that most of our professors live on Germany, on England, + on the East, or on the North, as an insect lives on a tree; and, + like the insect, become an integral part of it, borrowing their + merit from that of what they feed on. Now, Italy hitherto has not + yet been worked out in public lectures. No one will ever give me + credit for my literary honesty. Merely by plundering you I might + have been as learned as three Schlegels in one, whereas I mean to + remain a humble Doctor of the Faculty of Social Medicine, a + veterinary surgeon for incurable maladies. Were it only to lay a + token of gratitude at the feet of my cicerone, I would fain add + your illustrious name to those of Porcia, of San-Severino, of + Pareto, of di Negro, and of Belgiojoso, who will represent in this + "Human Comedy" the close and constant alliance between Italy and + France, to which Bandello did honor in the same way in the + sixteenth century--Bandello, the bishop and author of some strange + tales indeed, who left us the splendid collection of romances + whence Shakespeare derived many of his plots and even complete + characters, word for word. + + The two sketches I dedicate to you are the two eternal aspects of + one and the same fact. Homo duplex, said the great Buffon: why not + add Res duplex? Everything has two sides, even virtue. Hence + Moliere always shows us both sides of every human problem; and + Diderot, imitating him, once wrote, "This is not a mere tale"--in + what is perhaps Diderot's masterpiece, where he shows us the + beautiful picture of Mademoiselle de Lachaux sacrificed by + Gardanne, side by side with that of a perfect lover dying for his + mistress. + + In the same way, these two romances form a pair, like twins of + opposite sexes. This is a literary vagary to which a writer may + for once give way, especially as part of a work in which I am + endeavoring to depict every form that can serve as a garb to mind. + + Most human quarrels arise from the fact that both wise men and + dunces exist who are so constituted as to be incapable of seeing + more than one side of any fact or idea, while each asserts that + the side he sees is the only true and right one. Thus it is + written in the Holy Book, "God will deliver the world over to + divisions." I must confess that this passage of Scripture alone + should persuade the Papal See to give you the control of the two + Chambers to carry out the text which found its commentary in 1814, + in the decree of Louis XVIII. + + May your wit and the poetry that is in you extend a protecting + hand over these two histories of "The Poor Relations" + + Of your affectionate humble servant, + + DE BALZAC. + PARIS, August-September, 1846. + + + + + +COUSIN BETTY + + +One day, about the middle of July 1838, one of the carriages, then +lately introduced to Paris cabstands, and known as _Milords_, was +driving down the Rue de l'Universite, conveying a stout man of middle +height in the uniform of a captain of the National Guard. + +Among the Paris crowd, who are supposed to be so clever, there are some +men who fancy themselves infinitely more attractive in uniform than in +their ordinary clothes, and who attribute to women so depraved a taste +that they believe they will be favorably impressed by the aspect of a +busby and of military accoutrements. + +The countenance of this Captain of the Second Company beamed with a +self-satisfaction that added splendor to his ruddy and somewhat chubby +face. The halo of glory that a fortune made in business gives to a +retired tradesman sat on his brow, and stamped him as one of the elect +of Paris--at least a retired deputy-mayor of his quarter of the town. +And you may be sure that the ribbon of the Legion of Honor was not +missing from his breast, gallantly padded _a la Prussienne_. Proudly +seated in one corner of the _milord_, this splendid person let his +gaze wander over the passers-by, who, in Paris, often thus meet an +ingratiating smile meant for sweet eyes that are absent. + +The vehicle stopped in the part of the street between the Rue +de Bellechasse and the Rue de Bourgogne, at the door of a large, +newly-build house, standing on part of the court-yard of an ancient +mansion that had a garden. The old house remained in its original state, +beyond the courtyard curtailed by half its extent. + +Only from the way in which the officer accepted the assistance of the +coachman to help him out, it was plain that he was past fifty. There are +certain movements so undisguisedly heavy that they are as tell-tale as +a register of birth. The captain put on his lemon-colored right-hand +glove, and, without any question to the gatekeeper, went up the outer +steps to the ground of the new house with a look that proclaimed, "She +is mine!" + +The _concierges_ of Paris have sharp eyes; they do not stop visitors who +wear an order, have a blue uniform, and walk ponderously; in short, they +know a rich man when they see him. + +This ground floor was entirely occupied by Monsieur le Baron Hulot +d'Ervy, Commissary General under the Republic, retired army contractor, +and at the present time at the head of one of the most important +departments of the War Office, Councillor of State, officer of the +Legion of Honor, and so forth. + +This Baron Hulot had taken the name of d'Ervy--the place of his +birth--to distinguish him from his brother, the famous General Hulot, +Colonel of the Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, created by the Emperor +Comte de Forzheim after the campaign of 1809. The Count, the elder +brother, being responsible for his junior, had, with paternal care, +placed him in the commissariat, where, thanks to the services of the two +brothers, the Baron deserved and won Napoleon's good graces. After 1807, +Baron Hulot was Commissary General for the army in Spain. + +Having rung the bell, the citizen-captain made strenuous efforts to +pull his coat into place, for it had rucked up as much at the back as in +front, pushed out of shape by the working of a piriform stomach. Being +admitted as soon as the servant in livery saw him, the important +and imposing personage followed the man, who opened the door of the +drawing-room, announcing: + +"Monsieur Crevel." + +On hearing the name, singularly appropriate to the figure of the man who +bore it, a tall, fair woman, evidently young-looking for her age, rose +as if she had received an electric shock. + +"Hortense, my darling, go into the garden with your Cousin Betty," she +said hastily to her daughter, who was working at some embroidery at her +mother's side. + +After curtseying prettily to the captain, Mademoiselle Hortense went out +by a glass door, taking with her a withered-looking spinster, who looked +older than the Baroness, though she was five years younger. + +"They are settling your marriage," said Cousin Betty in the girl's ear, +without seeming at all offended at the way in which the Baroness had +dismissed them, counting her almost as zero. + +The cousin's dress might, at need, have explained this free-and-easy +demeanor. The old maid wore a merino gown of a dark plum color, of which +the cut and trimming dated from the year of the Restoration; a little +worked collar, worth perhaps three francs; and a common straw hat with +blue satin ribbons edged with straw plait, such as the old-clothes +buyers wear at market. On looking down at her kid shoes, made, it was +evident, by the veriest cobbler, a stranger would have hesitated to +recognize Cousin Betty as a member of the family, for she looked exactly +like a journeywoman sempstress. But she did not leave the room without +bestowing a little friendly nod on Monsieur Crevel, to which that +gentleman responded by a look of mutual understanding. + +"You are coming to us to-morrow, I hope, Mademoiselle Fischer?" said he. + +"You have no company?" asked Cousin Betty. + +"My children and yourself, no one else," replied the visitor. + +"Very well," replied she; "depend on me." + +"And here am I, madame, at your orders," said the citizen-captain, +bowing again to Madame Hulot. + +He gave such a look at Madame Hulot as Tartuffe casts at Elmire--when a +provincial actor plays the part and thinks it necessary to emphasize its +meaning--at Poitiers, or at Coutances. + +"If you will come into this room with me, we shall be more conveniently +placed for talking business than we are in this room," said Madame +Hulot, going to an adjoining room, which, as the apartment was arranged, +served as a cardroom. + +It was divided by a slight partition from a boudoir looking out on the +garden, and Madame Hulot left her visitor to himself for a minute, for +she thought it wise to shut the window and the door of the boudoir, so +that no one should get in and listen. She even took the precaution of +shutting the glass door of the drawing-room, smiling on her daughter and +her cousin, whom she saw seated in an old summer-house at the end of the +garden. As she came back she left the cardroom door open, so as to hear +if any one should open that of the drawing-room to come in. + +As she came and went, the Baroness, seen by nobody, allowed her face to +betray all her thoughts, and any one who could have seen her would have +been shocked to see her agitation. But when she finally came back from +the glass door of the drawing-room, as she entered the cardroom, her +face was hidden behind the impenetrable reserve which every woman, even +the most candid, seems to have at her command. + +During all these preparations--odd, to say the least--the National +Guardsman studied the furniture of the room in which he found himself. +As he noted the silk curtains, once red, now faded to dull purple by the +sunshine, and frayed in the pleats by long wear; the carpet, from which +the hues had faded; the discolored gilding of the furniture; and the +silk seats, discolored in patches, and wearing into strips--expressions +of scorn, satisfaction, and hope dawned in succession without disguise +on his stupid tradesman's face. He looked at himself in the glass over +an old clock of the Empire, and was contemplating the general effect, +when the rustle of her silk skirt announced the Baroness. He at once +struck at attitude. + +After dropping on to a sofa, which had been a very handsome one in the +year 1809, the Baroness, pointing to an armchair with the arms ending in +bronze sphinxes' heads, while the paint was peeling from the wood, which +showed through in many places, signed to Crevel to be seated. + +"All the precautions you are taking, madame, would seem full of promise +to a----" + +"To a lover," said she, interrupting him. + +"The word is too feeble," said he, placing his right hand on his heart, +and rolling his eyes in a way which almost always makes a woman laugh +when she, in cold blood, sees such a look. "A lover! A lover? Say a man +bewitched----" + +"Listen, Monsieur Crevel," said the Baroness, too anxious to be able to +laugh, "you are fifty--ten years younger than Monsieur Hulot, I know; +but at my age a woman's follies ought to be justified by beauty, youth, +fame, superior merit--some one of the splendid qualities which can +dazzle us to the point of making us forget all else--even at our +age. Though you may have fifty thousand francs a year, your age +counterbalances your fortune; thus you have nothing whatever of what a +woman looks for----" + +"But love!" said the officer, rising and coming forward. "Such love +as----" + +"No, monsieur, such obstinacy!" said the Baroness, interrupting him to +put an end to his absurdity. + +"Yes, obstinacy," said he, "and love; but something stronger still--a +claim----" + +"A claim!" cried Madame Hulot, rising sublime with scorn, defiance, and +indignation. "But," she went on, "this will bring us to no issues; I +did not ask you to come here to discuss the matter which led to your +banishment in spite of the connection between our families----" + +"I had fancied so." + +"What! still?" cried she. "Do you not see, monsieur, by the entire ease +and freedom with which I can speak of lovers and love, of everything +least creditable to a woman, that I am perfectly secure in my own +virtue? I fear nothing--not even to shut myself in alone with you. Is +that the conduct of a weak woman? You know full well why I begged you to +come." + +"No, madame," replied Crevel, with an assumption of great coldness. He +pursed up his lips, and again struck an attitude. + +"Well, I will be brief, to shorten our common discomfort," said the +Baroness, looking at Crevel. + +Crevel made an ironical bow, in which a man who knew the race would have +recognized the graces of a bagman. + +"Our son married your daughter----" + +"And if it were to do again----" said Crevel. + +"It would not be done at all, I suspect," said the baroness hastily. +"However, you have nothing to complain of. My son is not only one of the +leading pleaders of Paris, but for the last year he has sat as Deputy, +and his maiden speech was brilliant enough to lead us to suppose that +ere long he will be in office. Victorin has twice been called upon to +report on important measures; and he might even now, if he chose, be +made Attorney-General in the Court of Appeal. So, if you mean to say +that your son-in-law has no fortune----" + +"Worse than that, madame, a son-in-law whom I am obliged to maintain," +replied Crevel. "Of the five hundred thousand francs that formed my +daughter's marriage portion, two hundred thousand have vanished--God +knows how!--in paying the young gentleman's debts, in furnishing his +house splendaciously--a house costing five hundred thousand francs, and +bringing in scarcely fifteen thousand, since he occupies the larger +part of it, while he owes two hundred and sixty thousand francs of the +purchase-money. The rent he gets barely pays the interest on the debt. +I have had to give my daughter twenty thousand francs this year to +help her to make both ends meet. And then my son-in-law, who was making +thirty thousand francs a year at the Assizes, I am told, is going to +throw that up for the Chamber----" + +"This, again, Monsieur Crevel, is beside the mark; we are wandering from +the point. Still, to dispose of it finally, it may be said that if my +son gets into office, if he has you made an officer of the Legion of +Honor and councillor of the municipality of Paris, you, as a retired +perfumer, will not have much to complain of----" + +"Ah! there we are again, madame! Yes, I am a tradesman, a shopkeeper, +a retail dealer in almond-paste, eau-de-Portugal, and hair-oil, and was +only too much honored when my only daughter was married to the son of +Monsieur le Baron Hulot d'Ervy--my daughter will be a Baroness! This is +Regency, Louis XV., (Eil-de-boeuf--quite tip-top!--very good.) I love +Celestine as a man loves his only child--so well indeed, that, to +preserve her from having either brother or sister, I resigned myself +to all the privations of a widower--in Paris, and in the prime of life, +madame. But you must understand that, in spite of this extravagant +affection for my daughter, I do not intend to reduce my fortune for the +sake of your son, whose expenses are not wholly accounted for--in my +eyes, as an old man of business." + +"Monsieur, you may at this day see in the Ministry of Commerce Monsieur +Popinot, formerly a druggist in the Rue des Lombards----" + +"And a friend of mine, madame," said the ex-perfumer. "For I, Celestin +Crevel, foreman once to old Cesar Birotteau, brought up the said Cesar +Birotteau's stock; and he was Popinot's father-in-law. Why, that very +Popinot was no more than a shopman in the establishment, and he is the +first to remind me of it; for he is not proud, to do him justice, to +men in a good position with an income of sixty thousand francs in the +funds." + +"Well then, monsieur, the notions you term 'Regency' are quite out of +date at a time when a man is taken at his personal worth; and that is +what you did when you married your daughter to my son." + +"But you do not know how the marriage was brought about!" cried Crevel. +"Oh, that cursed bachelor life! But for my misconduct, my Celestine +might at this day be Vicomtesse Popinot!" + +"Once more have done with recriminations over accomplished facts," said +the Baroness anxiously. "Let us rather discuss the complaints I have +found on your strange behavior. My daughter Hortense had a chance of +marrying; the match depended entirely on you; I believed you felt some +sentiments of generosity; I thought you would do justice to a woman who +has never had a thought in her heart for any man but her husband, that +you would have understood how necessary it is for her not to receive a +man who may compromise her, and that for the honor of the family with +which you are allied you would have been eager to promote Hortense's +settlement with Monsieur le Conseiller Lebas.--And it is you, monsieur, +you have hindered the marriage." + +"Madame," said the ex-perfumer, "I acted the part of an honest man. +I was asked whether the two hundred thousand francs to be settled on +Mademoiselle Hortense would be forthcoming. I replied exactly in these +words: 'I would not answer for it. My son-in-law, to whom the Hulots had +promised the same sum, was in debt; and I believe that if Monsieur +Hulot d'Ervy were to die to-morrow, his widow would have nothing to live +on.'--There, fair lady." + +"And would you have said as much, monsieur," asked Madame Hulot, looking +Crevel steadily in the face, "if I had been false to my duty?" + +"I should not be in a position to say it, dearest Adeline," cried this +singular adorer, interrupting the Baroness, "for you would have found +the amount in my pocket-book." + +And adding action to word, the fat guardsman knelt down on one knee and +kissed Madame Hulot's hand, seeing that his speech had filled her with +speechless horror, which he took for hesitancy. + +"What, buy my daughter's fortune at the cost of----? Rise, monsieur--or +I ring the bell." + +Crevel rose with great difficulty. This fact made him so furious that he +again struck his favorite attitude. Most men have some habitual position +by which they fancy that they show to the best advantage the good +points bestowed on them by nature. This attitude in Crevel consisted in +crossing his arms like Napoleon, his head showing three-quarters face, +and his eyes fixed on the horizon, as the painter has shown the Emperor +in his portrait. + +"To be faithful," he began, with well-acted indignation, "so faithful to +a liber----" + +"To a husband who is worthy of such fidelity," Madame Hulot put in, to +hinder Crevel from saying a word she did not choose to hear. + +"Come, madame; you wrote to bid me here, you ask the reasons for my +conduct, you drive me to extremities with your imperial airs, your +scorn, and your contempt! Any one might think I was a Negro. But I +repeat it, and you may believe me, I have a right to--to make love to +you, for---- But no; I love you well enough to hold my tongue." + +"You may speak, monsieur. In a few days I shall be eight-and-forty; I am +no prude; I can hear whatever you can say." + +"Then will you give me your word of honor as an honest woman--for you +are, alas for me! an honest woman--never to mention my name or to say +that it was I who betrayed the secret?" + +"If that is the condition on which you speak, I will swear never to tell +any one from whom I heard the horrors you propose to tell me, not even +my husband." + +"I should think not indeed, for only you and he are concerned." + +Madame Hulot turned pale. + +"Oh, if you still really love Hulot, it will distress you. Shall I say +no more?" + +"Speak, monsieur; for by your account you wish to justify in my eyes +the extraordinary declarations you have chosen to make me, and your +persistency in tormenting a woman of my age, whose only wish is to see +her daughter married, and then--to die in peace----" + +"You see; you are unhappy." + +"I, monsieur?" + +"Yes, beautiful, noble creature!" cried Crevel. "You have indeed been +too wretched!" + +"Monsieur, be silent and go--or speak to me as you ought." + +"Do you know, madame, how Master Hulot and I first made +acquaintance?--At our mistresses', madame." + +"Oh, monsieur!" + +"Yes, madame, at our mistresses'," Crevel repeated in a melodramatic +tone, and leaving his position to wave his right hand. + +"Well, and what then?" said the Baroness coolly, to Crevel's great +amazement. + +Such mean seducers cannot understand a great soul. + +"I, a widower five years since," Crevel began, in the tone of a man who +has a story to tell, "and not wishing to marry again for the sake of the +daughter I adore, not choosing either to cultivate any such connection +in my own establishment, though I had at the time a very pretty +lady-accountant. I set up, 'on her own account,' as they say, a little +sempstress of fifteen--really a miracle of beauty, with whom I fell +desperately in love. And in fact, madame, I asked an aunt of my own, +my mother's sister, whom I sent for from the country, to live with the +sweet creature and keep an eye on her, that she might behave as well +as might be in this rather--what shall I say--shady?--no, delicate +position. + +"The child, whose talent for music was striking, had masters, she was +educated--I had to give her something to do. Besides, I wished to be at +once her father, her benefactor, and--well, out with it--her lover; to +kill two birds with one stone, a good action and a sweetheart. For five +years I was very happy. The girl had one of those voices that make the +fortune of a theatre; I can only describe her by saying that she is +a Duprez in petticoats. It cost me two thousand francs a year only to +cultivate her talent as a singer. She made me music-mad; I took a box at +the opera for her and for my daughter, and went there alternate evenings +with Celestine or Josepha." + +"What, the famous singer?" + +"Yes, madame," said Crevel with pride, "the famous Josepha owes +everything to me.--At last, in 1834, when the child was twenty, +believing that I had attached her to me for ever, and being very weak +where she was concerned, I thought I would give her a little amusement, +and I introduced her to a pretty little actress, Jenny Cadine, whose +life had been somewhat like her own. This actress also owed everything +to a protector who had brought her up in leading-strings. That protector +was Baron Hulot." + +"I know that," said the Baroness, in a calm voice without the least +agitation. + +"Bless me!" cried Crevel, more and more astounded. "Well! But do you +know that your monster of a husband took Jenny Cadine in hand at the age +of thirteen?" + +"What then?" said the Baroness. + +"As Jenny Cadine and Josepha were both aged twenty when they first met," +the ex-tradesman went on, "the Baron had been playing the part of Louis +XV. to Mademoiselle de Romans ever since 1826, and you were twelve years +younger then----" + +"I had my reasons, monsieur, for leaving Monsieur Hulot his liberty." + +"That falsehood, madame, will surely be enough to wipe out every sin you +have ever committed, and to open to you the gates of Paradise," replied +Crevel, with a knowing air that brought the color to the Baroness' +cheeks. "Sublime and adored woman, tell that to those who will believe +it, but not to old Crevel, who has, I may tell you, feasted too often as +one of four with your rascally husband not to know what your high +merits are! Many a time has he blamed himself when half tipsy as he has +expatiated on your perfections. Oh, I know you well!--A libertine might +hesitate between you and a girl of twenty. I do not hesitate----" + +"Monsieur!" + +"Well, I say no more. But you must know, saintly and noble woman, that +a husband under certain circumstances will tell things about his wife to +his mistress that will mightily amuse her." + +Tears of shame hanging to Madame Hulot's long lashes checked the +National Guardsman. He stopped short, and forgot his attitude. + +"To proceed," said he. "We became intimate, the Baron and I, through +the two hussies. The Baron, like all bad lots, is very pleasant, a +thoroughly jolly good fellow. Yes, he took my fancy, the old rascal. He +could be so funny!--Well, enough of those reminiscences. We got to be +like brothers. The scoundrel--quite Regency in his notions--tried indeed +to deprave me altogether, preached Saint-Simonism as to women, and all +sorts of lordly ideas; but, you see, I was fond enough of my girl to +have married her, only I was afraid of having children. + +"Then between two old daddies, such friends as--as we were, what +more natural than that we should think of our children marrying each +other?--Three months after his son had married my Celestine, Hulot--I +don't know how I can utter the wretch's name! he has cheated us both, +madame--well, the villain did me out of my little Josepha. The scoundrel +knew that he was supplanted in the heart of Jenny Cadine by a young +lawyer and by an artist--only two of them!--for the girl had more and +more of a howling success, and he stole my sweet little girl, a +perfect darling--but you must have seen her at the opera; he got her +an engagement there. Your husband is not so well behaved as I am. I am +ruled as straight as a sheet of music-paper. He had dropped a good deal +of money on Jenny Cadine, who must have cost him near on thirty thousand +francs a year. Well, I can only tell you that he is ruining himself +outright for Josepha. + +"Josepha, madame, is a Jewess. Her name is Mirah, the anagram of Hiram, +an Israelite mark that stamps her, for she was a foundling picked up +in Germany, and the inquiries I have made prove that she is the +illegitimate child of a rich Jew banker. The life of the theatre, and, +above all, the teaching of Jenny Cadine, Madame Schontz, Malaga, and +Carabine, as to the way to treat an old man, have developed, in the +child whom I had kept in a respectable and not too expensive way of +life, all the native Hebrew instinct for gold and jewels--for the golden +calf. + +"So this famous singer, hungering for plunder, now wants to be rich, +very rich. She tried her 'prentice hand on Baron Hulot, and soon plucked +him bare--plucked him, ay, and singed him to the skin. The miserable +man, after trying to vie with one of the Kellers and with the Marquis +d'Esgrignon, both perfectly mad about Josepha, to say nothing of unknown +worshipers, is about to see her carried off by that very rich Duke, who +is such a patron of the arts. Oh, what is his name?--a dwarf.--Ah, the +Duc d'Herouville. This fine gentleman insists on having Josepha for his +very own, and all that set are talking about it; the Baron knows nothing +of it as yet; for it is the same in the Thirteenth Arrondissement as in +every other: the lover, like the husband, is last to get the news. + +"Now, do you understand my claim? Your husband, dear lady, has robbed +me of my joy in life, the only happiness I have known since I became a +widower. Yes, if I had not been so unlucky as to come across that old +rip, Josepha would still be mine; for I, you know, should never have +placed her on the stage. She would have lived obscure, well conducted, +and mine. Oh! if you could but have seen her eight years ago, slight and +wiry, with the golden skin of an Andalusian, as they say, black hair as +shiny as satin, an eye that flashed lightning under long brown lashes, +the style of a duchess in every movement, the modesty of a dependent, +decent grace, and the pretty ways of a wild fawn. And by that Hulot's +doing all this charm and purity has been degraded to a man-trap, a +money-box for five-franc pieces! The girl is the Queen of Trollops; +and nowadays she humbugs every one--she who knew nothing, not even that +word." + +At this stage the retired perfumer wiped his eyes, which were full of +tears. The sincerity of his grief touched Madame Hulot, and roused her +from the meditation into which she had sunk. + +"Tell me, madame, is a man of fifty-two likely to find such another +jewel? At my age love costs thirty thousand francs a year. It is through +your husband's experience that I know the price, and I love Celestine +too truly to be her ruin. When I saw you, at the first evening party +you gave in our honor, I wondered how that scoundrel Hulot could keep a +Jenny Cadine--you had the manner of an Empress. You do not look thirty," +he went on. "To me, madame, you look young, and you are beautiful. On my +word of honor, that evening I was struck to the heart. I said to myself, +'If I had not Josepha, since old Hulot neglects his wife, she would fit +me like a glove.' Forgive me--it is a reminiscence of my old business. +The perfumer will crop up now and then, and that is what keeps me from +standing to be elected deputy. + +"And then, when I was so abominably deceived by the Baron, for really +between old rips like us our friend's mistress should be sacred, I swore +I would have his wife. It is but justice. The Baron could say nothing; +we are certain of impunity. You showed me the door like a mangy dog at +the first words I uttered as to the state of my feelings; you only made +my passion--my obstinacy, if you will--twice as strong, and you shall be +mine." + +"Indeed; how?" + +"I do not know; but it will come to pass. You see, madame, an idiot of +a perfumer--retired from business--who has but one idea in his head, is +stronger than a clever fellow who has a thousand. I am smitten with +you, and you are the means of my revenge; it is like being in love twice +over. I am speaking to you quite frankly, as a man who knows what he +means. I speak coldly to you, just as you do to me, when you say, 'I +never will be yours,' In fact, as they say, I play the game with the +cards on the table. Yes, you shall be mine, sooner or later; if you were +fifty, you should still be my mistress. And it will be; for I expect +anything from your husband!" + +Madame Hulot looked at this vulgar intriguer with such a fixed stare of +terror, that he thought she had gone mad, and he stopped. + +"You insisted on it, you heaped me with scorn, you defied me--and I have +spoken," said he, feeling that he must justify the ferocity of his last +words. + +"Oh, my daughter, my daughter," moaned the Baroness in a voice like a +dying woman's. + +"Oh! I have forgotten all else," Crevel went on. "The day when I was +robbed of Josepha I was like a tigress robbed of her cubs; in short, +as you see me now.--Your daughter? Yes, I regard her as the means of +winning you. Yes, I put a spoke in her marriage--and you will not get +her married without my help! Handsome as Mademoiselle Hortense is, she +needs a fortune----" + +"Alas! yes," said the Baroness, wiping her eyes. + +"Well, just ask your husband for ten thousand francs," said Crevel, +striking his attitude once more. He waited a minute, like an actor who +has made a point. + +"If he had the money, he would give it to the woman who will take +Josepha's place," he went on, emphasizing his tones. "Does a man ever +pull up on the road he has taken? In the first place, he is too sweet on +women. There is a happy medium in all things, as our King has told us. +And then his vanity is implicated! He is a handsome man!--He would +bring you all to ruin for his pleasure; in fact, you are already on the +highroad to the workhouse. Why, look, never since I set foot in your +house have you been able to do up your drawing-room furniture. 'Hard up' +is the word shouted by every slit in the stuff. Where will you find a +son-in-law who would not turn his back in horror of the ill-concealed +evidence of the most cruel misery there is--that of people in decent +society? I have kept shop, and I know. There is no eye so quick as that +of the Paris tradesman to detect real wealth from its sham.--You have +no money," he said, in a lower voice. "It is written everywhere, even on +your man-servant's coat. + +"Would you like me to disclose any more hideous mysteries that are kept +from you?" + +"Monsieur," cried Madame Hulot, whose handkerchief was wet through with +her tears, "enough, enough!" + +"My son-in-law, I tell you, gives his father money, and this is what I +particularly wanted to come to when I began by speaking of your son's +expenses. But I keep an eye on my daughter's interests, be easy." + +"Oh, if I could but see my daughter married, and die!" cried the poor +woman, quite losing her head. + +"Well, then, this is the way," said the ex-perfumer. + +Madame Hulot looked at Crevel with a hopeful expression, which so +completely changed her countenance, that this alone ought to have +touched the man's feelings and have led him to abandon his monstrous +schemes. + +"You will still be handsome ten years hence," Crevel went on, with his +arms folded; "be kind to me, and Mademoiselle Hulot will marry. Hulot +has given me the right, as I have explained to you, to put the matter +crudely, and he will not be angry. In three years I have saved the +interest on my capital, for my dissipations have been restricted. I have +three hundred thousand francs in the bank over and above my invested +fortune--they are yours----" + +"Go," said Madame Hulot. "Go, monsieur, and never let me see you again. +But for the necessity in which you placed me to learn the secret of +your cowardly conduct with regard to the match I had planned for +Hortense--yes, cowardly!" she repeated, in answer to a gesture from +Crevel. "How can you load a poor girl, a pretty, innocent creature, +with such a weight of enmity? But for the necessity that goaded me as a +mother, you would never have spoken to me again, never again have come +within my doors. Thirty-two years of an honorable and loyal life shall +not be swept away by a blow from Monsieur Crevel----" + +"The retired perfumer, successor to Cesar Birotteau at the _Queen of +the Roses_, Rue Saint-Honore," added Crevel, in mocking tones. +"Deputy-mayor, captain in the National Guard, Chevalier of the Legion of +Honor--exactly what my predecessor was!" + +"Monsieur," said the Baroness, "if, after twenty years of constancy, +Monsieur Hulot is tired of his wife, that is nobody's concern but mine. +As you see, he has kept his infidelity a mystery, for I did not know +that he had succeeded you in the affections of Mademoiselle Josepha----" + +"Oh, it has cost him a pretty penny, madame. His singing-bird has cost +him more than a hundred thousand francs in these two years. Ah, ha! you +have not seen the end of it!" + +"Have done with all this, Monsieur Crevel. I will not, for your sake, +forego the happiness a mother knows who can embrace her children without +a single pang of remorse in her heart, who sees herself respected and +loved by her family; and I will give up my soul to God unspotted----" + +"Amen!" exclaimed Crevel, with the diabolical rage that embitters the +face of these pretenders when they fail for the second time in such +an attempt. "You do not yet know the latter end of poverty--shame, +disgrace.--I have tried to warn you; I would have saved you, you and +your daughter. Well, you must study the modern parable of the _Prodigal +Father_ from A to Z. Your tears and your pride move me deeply," said +Crevel, seating himself, "for it is frightful to see the woman one loves +weeping. All I can promise you, dear Adeline, is to do nothing against +your interests or your husband's. Only never send to me for information. +That is all." + +"What is to be done?" cried Madame Hulot. + +Up to now the Baroness had bravely faced the threefold torment which +this explanation inflicted on her; for she was wounded as a woman, as a +mother, and as a wife. In fact, so long as her son's father-in-law was +insolent and offensive, she had found the strength in her resistance +to the aggressive tradesman; but the sort of good-nature he showed, +in spite of his exasperation as a mortified adorer and as a humiliated +National Guardsman, broke down her nerve, strung to the point of +snapping. She wrung her hands, melted into tears, and was in a state of +such helpless dejection, that she allowed Crevel to kneel at her feet, +kissing her hands. + +"Good God! what will become of us!" she went on, wiping away her tears. +"Can a mother sit still and see her child pine away before her eyes? +What is to be the fate of that splendid creature, as strong in her pure +life under her mother's care as she is by every gift of nature? There +are days when she wanders round the garden, out of spirits without +knowing why; I find her with tears in her eyes----" + +"She is one-and-twenty," said Crevel. + +"Must I place her in a convent?" asked the Baroness. "But in such cases +religion is impotent to subdue nature, and the most piously trained +girls lose their head!--Get up, pray, monsieur; do you not understand +that everything is final between us? that I look upon you with horror? +that you have crushed a mother's last hopes----" + +"But if I were to restore them," asked he. + +Madame Hulot looked at Crevel with a frenzied expression that really +touched him. But he drove pity back to the depths of his heart; she had +said, "I look upon you with horror." + +Virtue is always a little too rigid; it overlooks the shades and +instincts by help of which we are able to tack when in a false position. + +"So handsome a girl as Mademoiselle Hortense does not find a husband +nowadays if she is penniless," Crevel remarked, resuming his starchiest +manner. "Your daughter is one of those beauties who rather alarm +intending husbands; like a thoroughbred horse, which is too expensive +to keep up to find a ready purchaser. If you go out walking with such +a woman on your arm, every one will turn to look at you, and follow and +covet his neighbor's wife. Such success is a source of much uneasiness +to men who do not want to be killing lovers; for, after all, no man +kills more than one. In the position in which you find yourself there +are just three ways of getting your daughter married: Either by my +help--and you will have none of it! That is one.--Or by finding some old +man of sixty, very rich, childless, and anxious to have children; that +is difficult, still such men are to be met with. Many old men take up +with a Josepha, a Jenny Cadine, why should not one be found who is ready +to make a fool of himself under legal formalities? If it were not for +Celestine and our two grandchildren, I would marry Hortense myself. That +is two.--The last way is the easiest----" + +Madame Hulot raised her head, and looked uneasily at the ex-perfumer. + +"Paris is a town whither every man of energy--and they sprout like +saplings on French soil--comes to meet his kind; talent swarms here +without hearth or home, and energy equal to anything, even to making a +fortune. Well, these youngsters--your humble servant was such a one +in his time, and how many he has known! What had du Tillet or Popinot +twenty years since? They were both pottering round in Daddy Birotteau's +shop, with not a penny of capital but their determination to get on, +which, in my opinion, is the best capital a man can have. Money may be +eaten through, but you don't eat through your determination. Why, what +had I? The will to get on, and plenty of pluck. At this day du Tillet is +a match for the greatest folks; little Popinot, the richest druggist of +the Rue des Lombards, became a deputy, now he is in office.--Well, one +of these free lances, as we say on the stock market, of the pen, or of +the brush, is the only man in Paris who would marry a penniless beauty, +for they have courage enough for anything. Monsieur Popinot married +Mademoiselle Birotteau without asking for a farthing. Those men are +madmen, to be sure! They trust in love as they trust in good luck and +brains!--Find a man of energy who will fall in love with your daughter, +and he will marry without a thought of money. You must confess that by +way of an enemy I am not ungenerous, for this advice is against my own +interests." + +"Oh, Monsieur Crevel, if you would indeed be my friend and give up your +ridiculous notions----" + +"Ridiculous? Madame, do not run yourself down. Look at yourself--I love +you, and you will come to be mine. The day will come when I shall say to +Hulot, 'You took Josepha, I have taken your wife!' + +"It is the old law of tit-for-tat! And I will persevere till I have +attained my end, unless you should become extremely ugly.--I shall +succeed; and I will tell you why," he went on, resuming his attitude, +and looking at Madame Hulot. "You will not meet with such an old man, +or such a young lover," he said after a pause, "because you love +your daughter too well to hand her over to the manoeuvres of an old +libertine, and because you--the Baronne Hulot, sister of the old +Lieutenant-General who commanded the veteran Grenadiers of the Old +Guard--will not condescend to take a man of spirit wherever you may find +him; for he might be a mere craftsman, as many a millionaire of to-day +was ten years ago, a working artisan, or the foreman of a factory. + +"And then, when you see the girl, urged by her twenty years, capable of +dishonoring you all, you will say to yourself, 'It will be better that I +should fall! If Monsieur Crevel will but keep my secret, I will earn +my daughter's portion--two hundred thousand francs for ten years' +attachment to that old gloveseller--old Crevel!'--I disgust you no +doubt, and what I am saying is horribly immoral, you think? But if you +happened to have been bitten by an overwhelming passion, you would find +a thousand arguments in favor of yielding--as women do when they are in +love.--Yes, and Hortense's interests will suggest to your feelings such +terms of surrendering your conscience----" + +"Hortense has still an uncle." + +"What! Old Fischer? He is winding up his concerns, and that again is the +Baron's fault; his rake is dragged over every till within his reach." + +"Comte Hulot----" + +"Oh, madame, your husband has already made thin air of the old General's +savings. He spent them in furnishing his singer's rooms.--Now, come; am +I to go without a hope?" + +"Good-bye, monsieur. A man easily gets over a passion for a woman of my +age, and you will fall back on Christian principles. God takes care of +the wretched----" + +The Baroness rose to oblige the captain to retreat, and drove him back +into the drawing-room. + +"Ought the beautiful Madame Hulot to be living amid such squalor?" said +he, and he pointed to an old lamp, a chandelier bereft of its gilding, +the threadbare carpet, the very rags of wealth which made the large +room, with its red, white, and gold, look like a corpse of Imperial +festivities. + +"Monsieur, virtue shines on it all. I have no wish to owe a handsome +abode to having made of the beauty you are pleased to ascribe to me a +_man-trap_ and _a money-box for five-franc pieces_!" + +The captain bit his lips as he recognized the words he had used to +vilify Josepha's avarice. + +"And for whom are you so magnanimous?" said he. By this time the +baroness had got her rejected admirer as far as the door.--"For a +libertine!" said he, with a lofty grimace of virtue and superior wealth. + +"If you are right, my constancy has some merit, monsieur. That is all." + +After bowing to the officer as a woman bows to dismiss an importune +visitor, she turned away too quickly to see him once more fold his arms. +She unlocked the doors she had closed, and did not see the threatening +gesture which was Crevel's parting greeting. She walked with a proud, +defiant step, like a martyr to the Coliseum, but her strength was +exhausted; she sank on the sofa in her blue room, as if she were +ready to faint, and sat there with her eyes fixed on the tumble-down +summer-house, where her daughter was gossiping with Cousin Betty. + + + +From the first days of her married life to the present time the Baroness +had loved her husband, as Josephine in the end had loved Napoleon, with +an admiring, maternal, and cowardly devotion. Though ignorant of the +details given her by Crevel, she knew that for twenty years past Baron +Hulot been anything rather than a faithful husband; but she had sealed +her eyes with lead, she had wept in silence, and no word of reproach had +ever escaped her. In return for this angelic sweetness, she had won her +husband's veneration and something approaching to worship from all who +were about her. + +A wife's affection for her husband and the respect she pays him are +infectious in a family. Hortense believed her father to be a perfect +model of conjugal affection; as to their son, brought up to admire the +Baron, whom everybody regarded as one of the giants who so effectually +backed Napoleon, he knew that he owed his advancement to his father's +name, position, and credit; and besides, the impressions of childhood +exert an enduring influence. He still was afraid of his father; and if +he had suspected the misdeeds revealed by Crevel, as he was too much +overawed by him to find fault, he would have found excuses in the view +every man takes of such matters. + +It now will be necessary to give the reasons for the extraordinary +self-devotion of a good and beautiful woman; and this, in a few words, +is her past history. + + + +Three brothers, simple laboring men, named Fischer, and living in a +village situated on the furthest frontier of Lorraine, were compelled +by the Republican conscription to set out with the so-called army of the +Rhine. + +In 1799 the second brother, Andre, a widower, and Madame Hulot's father, +left his daughter to the care of his elder brother, Pierre Fischer, +disabled from service by a wound received in 1797, and made a small +private venture in the military transport service, an opening he owed to +the favor of Hulot d'Ervy, who was high in the commissariat. By a very +obvious chance Hulot, coming to Strasbourg, saw the Fischer family. +Adeline's father and his younger brother were at that time contractors +for forage in the province of Alsace. + +Adeline, then sixteen years of age, might be compared with the famous +Madame du Barry, like her, a daughter of Lorraine. She was one of those +perfect and striking beauties--a woman like Madame Tallien, finished +with peculiar care by Nature, who bestows on them all her choicest +gifts--distinction, dignity, grace, refinement, elegance, flesh of a +superior texture, and a complexion mingled in the unknown laboratory +where good luck presides. These beautiful creatures all have something +in common: Bianca Capella, whose portrait is one of Bronzino's +masterpieces; Jean Goujon's Venus, painted from the famous Diane de +Poitiers; Signora Olympia, whose picture adorns the Doria gallery; +Ninon, Madame du Barry, Madame Tallien, Mademoiselle Georges, Madame +Recamier.--all these women who preserved their beauty in spite of years, +of passion, and of their life of excess and pleasure, have in +figure, frame, and in the character of their beauty certain striking +resemblances, enough to make one believe that there is in the ocean of +generations an Aphrodisian current whence every such Venus is born, all +daughters of the same salt wave. + +Adeline Fischer, one of the loveliest of this race of goddesses, had the +splendid type, the flowing lines, the exquisite texture of a woman born +a queen. The fair hair that our mother Eve received from the hand of +God, the form of an Empress, an air of grandeur, and an august line of +profile, with her rural modesty, made every man pause in delight as she +passed, like amateurs in front of a Raphael; in short, having once seen +her, the Commissariat officer made Mademoiselle Adeline Fischer his wife +as quickly as the law would permit, to the great astonishment of the +Fischers, who had all been brought up in the fear of their betters. + +The eldest, a soldier of 1792, severely wounded in the attack on the +lines at Wissembourg, adored the Emperor Napoleon and everything that +had to do with the _Grande Armee_. Andre and Johann spoke with respect +of Commissary Hulot, the Emperor's protege, to whom indeed they owed +their prosperity; for Hulot d'Ervy, finding them intelligent and honest, +had taken them from the army provision wagons to place them in charge +of a government contract needing despatch. The brothers Fischer had +done further service during the campaign of 1804. At the peace Hulot had +secured for them the contract for forage from Alsace, not knowing that +he would presently be sent to Strasbourg to prepare for the campaign of +1806. + +This marriage was like an Assumption to the young peasant girl. The +beautiful Adeline was translated at once from the mire of her village to +the paradise of the Imperial Court; for the contractor, one of the most +conscientious and hard-working of the Commissariat staff, was made +a Baron, obtained a place near the Emperor, and was attached to the +Imperial Guard. The handsome rustic bravely set to work to educate +herself for love of her husband, for she was simply crazy about him; +and, indeed, the Commissariat office was as a man a perfect match for +Adeline as a woman. He was one of the picked corps of fine men. Tall, +well-built, fair, with beautiful blue eyes full of irresistible fire and +life, his elegant appearance made him remarkable by the side of d'Orsay, +Forbin, Ouvrard; in short, in the battalion of fine men that surrounded +the Emperor. A conquering "buck," and holding the ideas of the +Directoire with regard to women, his career of gallantry was interrupted +for some long time by his conjugal affection. + +To Adeline the Baron was from the first a sort of god who could do no +wrong. To him she owed everything: fortune--she had a carriage, a fine +house, every luxury of the day; happiness--he was devoted to her in the +face of the world; a title, for she was a Baroness; fame, for she was +spoken of as the beautiful Madame Hulot--and in Paris! Finally, she had +the honor of refusing the Emperor's advances, for Napoleon made her a +present of a diamond necklace, and always remembered her, asking now and +again, "And is the beautiful Madame Hulot still a model of virtue?" in +the tone of a man who might have taken his revenge on one who should +have triumphed where he had failed. + +So it needs no great intuition to discern what were the motives in a +simple, guileless, and noble soul for the fanaticism of Madame Hulot's +love. Having fully persuaded herself that her husband could do her no +wrong, she made herself in the depths of her heart the humble, abject, +and blindfold slave of the man who had made her. It must be noted, too, +that she was gifted with great good sense--the good sense of the people, +which made her education sound. In society she spoke little, and never +spoke evil of any one; she did not try to shine; she thought out +many things, listened well, and formed herself on the model of the +best-conducted women of good birth. + +In 1815 Hulot followed the lead of the Prince de Wissembourg, his +intimate friend, and became one of the officers who organized the +improvised troops whose rout brought the Napoleonic cycle to a close at +Waterloo. In 1816 the Baron was one of the men best hated by the Feltre +administration, and was not reinstated in the Commissariat till 1823, +when he was needed for the Spanish war. In 1830 he took office as +the fourth wheel of the coach, at the time of the levies, a sort of +conscription made by Louis Philippe on the old Napoleonic soldiery. From +the time when the younger branch ascended the throne, having taken an +active part in bringing that about, he was regarded as an indispensable +authority at the War Office. He had already won his Marshal's baton, +and the King could do no more for him unless by making him minister or a +peer of France. + +From 1818 till 1823, having no official occupation, Baron Hulot had gone +on active service to womankind. Madame Hulot dated her Hector's first +infidelities from the grand _finale_ of the Empire. Thus, for twelve +years the Baroness had filled the part in her household of _prima donna +assoluta_, without a rival. She still could boast of the old-fashioned, +inveterate affection which husbands feel for wives who are resigned to +be gentle and virtuous helpmates; she knew that if she had a rival, +that rival would not subsist for two hours under a word of reproof from +herself; but she shut her eyes, she stopped her ears, she would know +nothing of her husband's proceedings outside his home. In short, she +treated her Hector as a mother treats a spoilt child. + +Three years before the conversation reported above, Hortense, at +the Theatre des Varietes, had recognized her father in a lower tier +stage-box with Jenny Cadine, and had exclaimed: + +"There is papa!" + +"You are mistaken, my darling; he is at the Marshal's," the Baroness +replied. + +She too had seen Jenny Cadine; but instead of feeling a pang when she +saw how pretty she was, she said to herself, "That rascal Hector must +think himself very lucky." + +She suffered nevertheless; she gave herself up in secret to rages of +torment; but as soon as she saw Hector, she always remembered her twelve +years of perfect happiness, and could not find it in her to utter a word +of complaint. She would have been glad if the Baron would have taken her +into his confidence; but she never dared to let him see that she knew +of his kicking over the traces, out of respect for her husband. Such +an excess of delicacy is never met with but in those grand creatures, +daughters of the soil, whose instinct it is to take blows without ever +returning them; the blood of the early martyrs still lives in their +veins. Well-born women, their husbands' equals, feel the impulse to +annoy them, to mark the points of their tolerance, like points at +billiards, by some stinging word, partly in the spirit of diabolical +malice, and to secure the upper hand or the right of turning the tables. + +The Baroness had an ardent admirer in her brother-in-law, +Lieutenant-General Hulot, the venerable Colonel of the Grenadiers of the +Imperial Infantry Guard, who was to have a Marshal's baton in his old +age. This veteran, after having served from 1830 to 1834 as Commandant +of the military division, including the departments of Brittany, the +scene of his exploits in 1799 and 1800, had come to settle in Paris near +his brother, for whom he had a fatherly affection. + +This old soldier's heart was in sympathy with his sister-in-law; he +admired her as the noblest and saintliest of her sex. He had never +married, because he hoped to find a second Adeline, though he had vainly +sought for her through twenty campaigns in as many lands. To +maintain her place in the esteem of this blameless and spotless old +republican--of whom Napoleon had said, "That brave old Hulot is the most +obstinate republican, but he will never be false to me"--Adeline would +have endured griefs even greater than those that had just come upon +her. But the old soldier, seventy-two years of age, battered by thirty +campaigns, and wounded for the twenty-seventh time at Waterloo, was +Adeline's admirer, and not a "protector." The poor old Count, among +other infirmities, could only hear through a speaking trumpet. + +So long as Baron Hulot d'Ervy was a fine man, his flirtations did not +damage his fortune; but when a man is fifty, the Graces claim payment. +At that age love becomes vice; insensate vanities come into play. +Thus, at about that time, Adeline saw that her husband was incredibly +particular about his dress; he dyed his hair and whiskers, and wore a +belt and stays. He was determined to remain handsome at any cost. This +care of his person, a weakness he had once mercilessly mocked at, was +carried out in the minutest details. + +At last Adeline perceived that the Pactolus poured out before the +Baron's mistresses had its source in her pocket. In eight years he had +dissipated a considerable amount of money; and so effectually, that, on +his son's marriage two years previously, the Baron had been compelled to +explain to his wife that his pay constituted their whole income. + +"What shall we come to?" asked Adeline. + +"Be quite easy," said the official, "I will leave the whole of my salary +in your hands, and I will make a fortune for Hortense, and some savings +for the future, in business." + +The wife's deep belief in her husband's power and superior talents, in +his capabilities and character, had, in fact, for the moment allayed her +anxiety. + +What the Baroness' reflections and tears were after Crevel's departure +may now be clearly imagined. The poor woman had for two years past known +that she was at the bottom of a pit, but she had fancied herself alone +in it. How her son's marriage had been finally arranged she had not +known; she had known nothing of Hector's connection with the grasping +Jewess; and, above all, she hoped that no one in the world knew anything +of her troubles. Now, if Crevel went about so ready to talk of the +Baron's excesses, Hector's reputation would suffer. She could see, under +the angry ex-perfumer's coarse harangue, the odious gossip behind the +scenes which led to her son's marriage. Two reprobate hussies had been +the priestesses of this union planned at some orgy amid the degrading +familiarities of two tipsy old sinners. + +"And has he forgotten Hortense!" she wondered. + +"But he sees her every day; will he try to find her a husband among his +good-for-nothing sluts?" + +At this moment it was the mother that spoke rather than the wife, for +she saw Hortense laughing with her Cousin Betty--the reckless laughter +of heedless youth; and she knew that such hysterical laughter was quite +as distressing a symptom as the tearful reverie of solitary walks in the +garden. + +Hortense was like her mother, with golden hair that waved naturally, +and was amazingly long and thick. Her skin had the lustre of +mother-of-pearl. She was visibly the offspring of a true marriage, of a +pure and noble love in its prime. There was a passionate vitality in +her countenance, a brilliancy of feature, a full fount of youth, a fresh +vigor and abundance of health, which radiated from her with electric +flashes. Hortense invited the eye. + +When her eye, of deep ultramarine blue, liquid with the moisture of +innocent youth, rested on a passer-by, he was involuntarily thrilled. +Nor did a single freckle mar her skin, such as those with which many +a white and golden maid pays toll for her milky whiteness. Tall, round +without being fat, with a slender dignity as noble as her mother's, +she really deserved the name of goddess, of which old authors were +so lavish. In fact, those who saw Hortense in the street could hardly +restrain the exclamation, "What a beautiful girl!" + +She was so genuinely innocent, that she could say to her mother: + +"What do they mean, mamma, by calling me a beautiful girl when I am with +you? Are not you much handsomer than I am?" + +And, in point of fact, at seven-and-forty the Baroness might have been +preferred to her daughter by amateurs of sunset beauty; for she had +not yet lost any of her charms, by one of those phenomena which are +especially rare in Paris, where Ninon was regarded as scandalous, simply +because she thus seemed to enjoy such an unfair advantage over the +plainer women of the seventeenth century. + +Thinking of her daughter brought her back to the father; she saw him +sinking by degrees, day after day, down to the social mire, and even +dismissed some day from his appointment. The idea of her idol's fall, +with a vague vision of the disasters prophesied by Crevel, was such a +terror to the poor woman, that she became rapt in the contemplation like +an ecstatic. + +Cousin Betty, from time to time, as she chatted with Hortense, looked +round to see when they might return to the drawing-room; but her young +cousin was pelting her with questions, and at the moment when the +Baroness opened the glass door she did not happen to be looking. + + + +Lisbeth Fischer, though the daughter of the eldest of the three +brothers, was five years younger than Madame Hulot; she was far from +being as handsome as her cousin, and had been desperately jealous of +Adeline. Jealousy was the fundamental passion of this character, marked +by eccentricities--a word invented by the English to describe the +craziness not of the asylum, but of respectable households. A native +of the Vosges, a peasant in the fullest sense of the word, lean, brown, +with shining black hair and thick eyebrows joining in a tuft, with long, +strong arms, thick feet, and some moles on her narrow simian face--such +is a brief description of the elderly virgin. + +The family, living all under one roof, had sacrificed the common-looking +girl to the beauty, the bitter fruit to the splendid flower. Lisbeth +worked in the fields, while her cousin was indulged; and one day, when +they were alone together, she had tried to destroy Adeline's nose, a +truly Greek nose, which the old mothers admired. Though she was beaten +for this misdeed, she persisted nevertheless in tearing the favorite's +gowns and crumpling her collars. + +At the time of Adeline's wonderful marriage, Lisbeth had bowed to fate, +as Napoleon's brothers and sisters bowed before the splendor of the +throne and the force of authority. + +Adeline, who was extremely sweet and kind, remembered Lisbeth when she +found herself in Paris, and invited her there in 1809, intending to +rescue her from poverty by finding her a husband. But seeing that it was +impossible to marry the girl out of hand, with her black eyes and sooty +brows, unable, too, to read or write, the Baron began by apprenticing +her to a business; he placed her as a learner with the embroiderers to +the Imperial Court, the well-known Pons Brothers. + +Lisbeth, called Betty for short, having learned to embroider in gold +and silver, and possessing all the energy of a mountain race, had +determination enough to learn to read, write, and keep accounts; for her +cousin the Baron had pointed out the necessity for these accomplishments +if she hoped to set up in business as an embroiderer. + +She was bent on making a fortune; in two years she was another creature. +In 1811 the peasant woman had become a very presentable, skilled, and +intelligent forewoman. + +Her department, that of gold and silver lace-work, as it is called, +included epaulettes, sword-knots, aiguillettes; in short, the immense +mass of glittering ornaments that sparkled on the rich uniforms of the +French army and civil officials. The Emperor, a true Italian in his love +of dress, had overlaid the coats of all his servants with silver and +gold, and the Empire included a hundred and thirty-three Departments. +These ornaments, usually supplied to tailors who were solvent and +wealthy paymasters, were a very secure branch of trade. + +Just when Cousin Betty, the best hand in the house of Pons Brothers, +where she was forewoman of the embroidery department, might have set up +in business on her own account, the Empire collapsed. The olive-branch +of peace held out by the Bourbons did not reassure Lisbeth; she feared +a diminution of this branch of trade, since henceforth there were to +be but eighty-six Departments to plunder, instead of a hundred and +thirty-three, to say nothing of the immense reduction of the army. +Utterly scared by the ups and downs of industry, she refused the Baron's +offers of help, and he thought she must be mad. She confirmed this +opinion by quarreling with Monsieur Rivet, who bought the business +of Pons Brothers, and with whom the Baron wished to place her in +partnership; she would be no more than a workwoman. Thus the Fischer +family had relapsed into the precarious mediocrity from which Baron +Hulot had raised it. + +The three brothers Fischer, who had been ruined by the abdication at +Fontainebleau, in despair joined the irregular troops in 1815. The +eldest, Lisbeth's father, was killed. Adeline's father, sentenced to +death by court-martial, fled to Germany, and died at Treves in 1820. +Johann, the youngest, came to Paris, a petitioner to the queen of the +family, who was said to dine off gold and silver plate, and never to +be seen at a party but with diamonds in her hair as big as hazel-nuts, +given to her by the Emperor. + +Johann Fischer, then aged forty-three, obtained from Baron Hulot a +capital of ten thousand francs with which to start a small business +as forage-dealer at Versailles, under the patronage of the War Office, +through the influence of the friends still in office, of the late +Commissary-General. + +These family catastrophes, Baron Hulot's dismissal, and the knowledge +that he was a mere cipher in that immense stir of men and interests and +things which makes Paris at once a paradise and a hell, quite quelled +Lisbeth Fischer. She gave up all idea of rivalry and comparison with her +cousin after feeling her great superiority; but envy still lurked in +her heart, like a plague-germ that may hatch and devastate a city if the +fatal bale of wool is opened in which it is concealed. + +Now and again, indeed, she said to herself: + +"Adeline and I are the same flesh and blood, our fathers were +brothers--and she is in a mansion, while I am in a garret." + +But every New Year Lisbeth had presents from the Baron and Baroness; the +Baron, who was always good to her, paid for her firewood in the winter; +old General Hulot had her to dinner once a week; and there was always a +cover laid for her at her cousin's table. They laughed at her no doubt, +but they never were ashamed to own her. In short, they had made her +independent in Paris, where she lived as she pleased. + +The old maid had, in fact, a terror of any kind of tie. Her cousin had +offered her a room in her own house--Lisbeth suspected the halter of +domestic servitude; several times the Baron had found a solution of +the difficult problem of her marriage; but though tempted in the first +instance, she would presently decline, fearing lest she should be +scorned for her want of education, her general ignorance, and her +poverty; finally, when the Baroness suggested that she should live +with their uncle Johann, and keep house for him, instead of the upper +servant, who must cost him dear, Lisbeth replied that that was the very +last way she should think of marrying. + +Lisbeth Fischer had the sort of strangeness in her ideas which is often +noticeable in characters that have developed late, in savages, who think +much and speak little. Her peasant's wit had acquired a good deal of +Parisian asperity from hearing the talk of workshops and mixing with +workmen and workwomen. She, whose character had a marked resemblance to +that of the Corsicans, worked upon without fruition by the instincts of +a strong nature, would have liked to be the protectress of a weak man; +but, as a result of living in the capital, the capital had altered her +superficially. Parisian polish became rust on this coarsely tempered +soul. Gifted with a cunning which had become unfathomable, as it always +does in those whose celibacy is genuine, with the originality and +sharpness with which she clothed her ideas, in any other position she +would have been formidable. Full of spite, she was capable of bringing +discord into the most united family. + +In early days, when she indulged in certain secret hopes which she +confided to none, she took to wearing stays, and dressing in the +fashion, and so shone in splendor for a short time, that the Baron +thought her marriageable. Lisbeth at that stage was the piquante +brunette of old-fashioned novels. Her piercing glance, her olive +skin, her reed-like figure, might invite a half-pay major; but she was +satisfied, she would say laughing, with her own admiration. + +And, indeed, she found her life pleasant enough when she had freed it +from practical anxieties, for she dined out every evening after working +hard from sunrise. Thus she had only her rent and her midday meal to +provide for; she had most of her clothes given her, and a variety of +very acceptable stores, such as coffee, sugar, wine, and so forth. + +In 1837, after living for twenty-seven years, half maintained by the +Hulots and her Uncle Fischer, Cousin Betty, resigned to being nobody, +allowed herself to be treated so. She herself refused to appear at any +grand dinners, preferring the family party, where she held her own and +was spared all slights to her pride. + +Wherever she went--at General Hulot's, at Crevel's, at the house of the +young Hulots, or at Rivet's (Pons' successor, with whom she made up her +quarrel, and who made much of her), and at the Baroness' table--she was +treated as one of the family; in fact, she managed to make friends of +the servants by making them an occasional small present, and +always gossiping with them for a few minutes before going into the +drawing-room. This familiarity, by which she uncompromisingly put +herself on their level, conciliated their servile good-nature, which +is indispensable to a parasite. "She is a good, steady woman," was +everybody's verdict. + +Her willingness to oblige, which knew no bounds when it was not demanded +of her, was indeed, like her assumed bluntness, a necessity of her +position. She had at length understood what her life must be, seeing +that she was at everybody's mercy; and needing to please everybody, she +would laugh with young people, who liked her for a sort of wheedling +flattery which always wins them; guessing and taking part with their +fancies, she would make herself their spokeswoman, and they thought her +a delightful _confidante_, since she had no right to find fault with +them. + +Her absolute secrecy also won her the confidence of their seniors; for, +like Ninon, she had certain manly qualities. As a rule, our confidence +is given to those below rather than above us. We employ our inferiors +rather than our betters in secret transactions, and they thus become +the recipients of our inmost thoughts, and look on at our meditations; +Richelieu thought he had achieved success when he was admitted to the +Council. This penniless woman was supposed to be so dependent on every +one about her, that she seemed doomed to perfect silence. She herself +called herself the Family Confessional. + +The Baroness only, remembering her ill-usage in childhood by the cousin +who, though younger, was stronger than herself, never wholly trusted +her. Besides, out of sheer modesty, she would never have told her +domestic sorrows to any one but God. + +It may here be well to add that the Baron's house preserved all its +magnificence in the eyes of Lisbeth Fischer, who was not struck, as the +parvenu perfumer had been, with the penury stamped on the shabby chairs, +the dirty hangings, and the ripped silk. The furniture we live with is +in some sort like our own person; seeing ourselves every day, we end, +like the Baron, by thinking ourselves but little altered, and still +youthful, when others see that our head is covered with chinchilla, +our forehead scarred with circumflex accents, our stomach assuming the +rotundity of a pumpkin. So these rooms, always blazing in Betty's +eyes with the Bengal fire of Imperial victory, were to her perennially +splendid. + +As time went on, Lisbeth had contracted some rather strange old-maidish +habits. For instance, instead of following the fashions, she expected +the fashion to accept her ways and yield to her always out-of-date +notions. When the Baroness gave her a pretty new bonnet, or a gown in +the fashion of the day, Betty remade it completely at home, and spoilt +it by producing a dress of the style of the Empire or of her old +Lorraine costume. A thirty-franc bonnet came out a rag, and the gown a +disgrace. On this point, Lisbeth was as obstinate as a mule; she would +please no one but herself and believed herself charming; whereas this +assimilative process--harmonious, no doubt, in so far as that it stamped +her for an old maid from head to foot--made her so ridiculous, that, +with the best will in the world, no one could admit her on any smart +occasion. + +This refractory, capricious, and independent spirit, and the +inexplicable wild shyness of the woman for whom the Baron had four +times found a match--an employe in his office, a retired major, an +army contractor, and a half-pay captain--while she had refused an army +lacemaker, who had since made his fortune, had won her the name of the +Nanny Goat, which the Baron gave her in jest. But this nickname only met +the peculiarities that lay on the surface, the eccentricities which +each of us displays to his neighbors in social life. This woman, who, if +closely studied, would have shown the most savage traits of the peasant +class, was still the girl who had clawed her cousin's nose, and who, if +she had not been trained to reason, would perhaps have killed her in a +fit of jealousy. + +It was only her knowledge of the laws and of the world that enabled her +to control the swift instinct with which country folk, like wild men, +reduce impulse to action. In this alone, perhaps, lies the difference +between natural and civilized man. The savage has only impulse; the +civilized man has impulses and ideas. And in the savage the brain +retains, as we may say, but few impressions, it is wholly at the mercy +of the feeling that rushes in upon it; while in the civilized man, ideas +sink into the heart and change it; he has a thousand interests and many +feelings, where the savage has but one at a time. This is the cause of +the transient ascendency of a child over its parents, which ceases as +soon as it is satisfied; in the man who is still one with nature, this +contrast is constant. Cousin Betty, a savage of Lorraine, somewhat +treacherous too, was of this class of natures, which are commoner among +the lower orders than is supposed, accounting for the conduct of the +populace during revolutions. + + + +At the time when this _Drama_ opens, if Cousin Betty would have allowed +herself to be dressed like other people; if, like the women of Paris, +she had been accustomed to wear each fashion in its turn, she would have +been presentable and acceptable, but she preserved the stiffness of a +stick. Now a woman devoid of all the graces, in Paris simply does not +exist. The fine but hard eyes, the severe features, the Calabrian fixity +of complexion which made Lisbeth like a figure by Giotto, and of which a +true Parisian would have taken advantage, above all, her strange way of +dressing, gave her such an extraordinary appearance that she sometimes +looked like one of those monkeys in petticoats taken about by little +Savoyards. As she was well known in the houses connected by family which +she frequented, and restricted her social efforts to that little circle, +as she liked her own home, her singularities no longer astonished +anybody; and out of doors they were lost in the immense stir of Paris +street-life, where only pretty women are ever looked at. + +Hortense's laughter was at this moment caused by a victory won over her +Cousin Lisbeth's perversity; she had just wrung from her an avowal she +had been hoping for these three years past. However secretive an old +maid may be, there is one sentiment which will always avail to make her +break her fast from words, and that is her vanity. For the last three +years, Hortense, having become very inquisitive on such matters, had +pestered her cousin with questions, which, however, bore the stamp of +perfect innocence. She wanted to know why her cousin had never married. +Hortense, who knew of the five offers that she had refused, had +constructed her little romance; she supposed that Lisbeth had had a +passionate attachment, and a war of banter was the result. Hortense +would talk of "We young girls!" when speaking of herself and her cousin. + +Cousin Betty had on several occasions answered in the same tone--"And +who says I have not a lover?" So Cousin Betty's lover, real or +fictitious, became a subject of mild jesting. At last, after two years +of this petty warfare, the last time Lisbeth had come to the house +Hortense's first question had been: + +"And how is your lover?" + +"Pretty well, thank you," was the answer. "He is rather ailing, poor +young man." + +"He has delicate health?" asked the Baroness, laughing. + +"I should think so! He is fair. A sooty thing like me can love none but +a fair man with a color like the moon." + +"But who is he? What does he do?" asked Hortense. "Is he a prince?" + +"A prince of artisans, as I am queen of the bobbin. Is a poor woman like +me likely to find a lover in a man with a fine house and money in the +funds, or in a duke of the realm, or some Prince Charming out of a fairy +tale?" + +"Oh, I should so much like to see him!" cried Hortense, smiling. + +"To see what a man can be like who can love the Nanny Goat?" retorted +Lisbeth. + +"He must be some monster of an old clerk, with a goat's beard!" Hortense +said to her mother. + +"Well, then, you are quite mistaken, mademoiselle." + +"Then you mean that you really have a lover?" Hortense exclaimed in +triumph. + +"As sure as you have not!" retorted Lisbeth, nettled. + +"But if you have a lover, why don't you marry him, Lisbeth?" said the +Baroness, shaking her head at her daughter. "We have been hearing rumors +about him these three years. You have had time to study him; and if he +has been faithful so long, you should not persist in a delay which must +be hard upon him. After all, it is a matter of conscience; and if he is +young, it is time to take a brevet of dignity." + +Cousin Betty had fixed her gaze on Adeline, and seeing that she was +jesting, she replied: + +"It would be marrying hunger and thirst; he is a workman, I am a +workwoman. If we had children, they would be workmen.--No, no; we love +each other spiritually; it is less expensive." + +"Why do you keep him in hiding?" Hortense asked. + +"He wears a round jacket," replied the old maid, laughing. + +"You truly love him?" the Baroness inquired. + +"I believe you! I love him for his own sake, the dear cherub. For four +years his home has been in my heart." + +"Well, then, if you love him for himself," said the Baroness gravely, +"and if he really exists, you are treating him criminally. You do not +know how to love truly." + +"We all know that from our birth," said Lisbeth. + +"No, there are women who love and yet are selfish, and that is your +case." + +Cousin Betty's head fell, and her glance would have made any one shiver +who had seen it; but her eyes were on her reel of thread. + +"If you would introduce your so-called lover to us, Hector might find +him employment, or put him in a position to make money." + +"That is out of the question," said Cousin Betty. + +"And why?" + +"He is a sort of Pole--a refugee----" + +"A conspirator?" cried Hortense. "What luck for you!--Has he had any +adventures?" + +"He has fought for Poland. He was a professor in the school where the +students began the rebellion; and as he had been placed there by the +Grand Duke Constantine, he has no hope of mercy----" + +"A professor of what?" + +"Of fine arts." + +"And he came to Paris when the rebellion was quelled?" + +"In 1833. He came through Germany on foot." + +"Poor young man! And how old is he?" + +"He was just four-and-twenty when the insurrection broke out--he is +twenty-nine now." + +"Fifteen years your junior," said the Baroness. + +"And what does he live on?" asked Hortense. + +"His talent." + +"Oh, he gives lessons?" + +"No," said Cousin Betty; "he gets them, and hard ones too!" + +"And his Christian name--is it a pretty name?" + +"Wenceslas." + +"What a wonderful imagination you old maids have!" exclaimed the +Baroness. "To hear you talk, Lisbeth, one might really believe you." + +"You see, mamma, he is a Pole, and so accustomed to the knout that +Lisbeth reminds him of the joys of his native land." + +They all three laughed, and Hortense sang _Wenceslas! idole de mon ame!_ +instead of _O Mathilde_. + +Then for a few minutes there was a truce. + +"These children," said Cousin Betty, looking at Hortense as she went up +to her, "fancy that no one but themselves can have lovers." + +"Listen," Hortense replied, finding herself alone with her cousin, "if +you prove to me that Wenceslas is not a pure invention, I will give you +my yellow cashmere shawl." + +"He is a Count." + +"Every Pole is a Count!" + +"But he is not a Pole; he comes from Liva--Litha----" + +"Lithuania?" + +"No." + +"Livonia?" + +"Yes, that's it!" + +"But what is his name?" + +"I wonder if you are capable of keeping a secret." + +"Cousin Betty, I will be as mute!----" + +"As a fish?" + +"As a fish." + +"By your life eternal?" + +"By my life eternal!" + +"No, by your happiness in this world?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, then, his name is Wenceslas Steinbock." + +"One of Charles XII.'s Generals was named Steinbock." + +"He was his grand-uncle. His own father settled in Livonia after the +death of the King of Sweden; but he lost all his fortune during the +campaign of 1812, and died, leaving the poor boy at the age of eight +without a penny. The Grand Duke Constantine, for the honor of the name +of Steinbock, took him under his protection and sent him to school." + +"I will not break my word," Hortense replied; "prove his existence, +and you shall have the yellow shawl. The color is most becoming to dark +skins." + +"And you will keep my secret?" + +"And tell you mine." + +"Well, then, the next time I come you shall have the proof." + +"But the proof will be the lover," said Hortense. + +Cousin Betty, who, since her first arrival in Paris, had been bitten +by a mania for shawls, was bewitched by the idea of owning the yellow +cashmere given to his wife by the Baron in 1808, and handed down from +mother to daughter after the manner of some families in 1830. The shawl +had been a good deal worn ten years ago; but the costly object, now +always kept in its sandal-wood box, seemed to the old maid ever new, +like the drawing-room furniture. So she brought in her handbag a present +for the Baroness' birthday, by which she proposed to prove the existence +of her romantic lover. + +This present was a silver seal formed of three little figures back to +back, wreathed with foliage, and supporting the Globe. They represented +Faith, Hope, and Charity; their feet rested on monsters rending each +other, among them the symbolical serpent. In 1846, now that such immense +strides have been made in the art of which Benvenuto Cellini was the +master, by Mademoiselle de Fauveau, Wagner, Jeanest, Froment-Meurice, +and wood-carvers like Lienard, this little masterpiece would amaze +nobody; but at that time a girl who understood the silversmith's art +stood astonished as she held the seal which Lisbeth put into her hands, +saying: + +"There! what do you think of that?" + +In design, attitude, and drapery the figures were of the school of +Raphael; but the execution was in the style of the Florentine metal +workers--the school created by Donatello, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, +Benvenuto Cellini, John of Bologna, and others. The French masters of +the Renaissance had never invented more strangely twining monsters than +these that symbolized the evil passions. The palms, ferns, reeds, and +foliage that wreathed the Virtues showed a style, a taste, a handling +that might have driven a practised craftsman to despair; a scroll +floated above the three figures; and on its surface, between the heads, +were a W, a chamois, and the word _fecit_. + +"Who carved this?" asked Hortense. + +"Well, just my lover," replied Lisbeth. "There are ten months' work in +it; I could earn more at making sword-knots.--He told me that Steinbock +means a rock goat, a chamois, in German. And he intends to mark all his +work in that way.--Ah, ha! I shall have the shawl." + +"What for?" + +"Do you suppose I could buy such a thing, or order it? Impossible! +Well, then, it must have been given to me. And who would make me such a +present? A lover!" + +Hortense, with an artfulness that would have frightened Lisbeth Fischer +if she had detected it, took care not to express all her admiration, +though she was full of the delight which every soul that is open to a +sense of beauty must feel on seeing a faultless piece of work--perfect +and unexpected. + +"On my word," said she, "it is very pretty." + +"Yes, it is pretty," said her cousin; "but I like an orange-colored +shawl better.--Well, child, my lover spends his time in doing such work +as that. Since he came to Paris he has turned out three or four little +trifles in that style, and that is the fruit of four years' study +and toil. He has served as apprentice to founders, metal-casters, and +goldsmiths.--There he has paid away thousands and hundreds of francs. +And my gentleman tells me that in a few months now he will be famous and +rich----" + +"Then you often see him?" + +"Bless me, do you think it is all a fable? I told you truth in jest." + +"And he is in love with you?" asked Hortense eagerly. + +"He adores me," replied Lisbeth very seriously. "You see, child, he had +never seen any women but the washed out, pale things they all are in +the north, and a slender, brown, youthful thing like me warmed his +heart.--But, mum; you promised, you know!" + +"And he will fare like the five others," said the girl ironically, as +she looked at the seal. + +"Six others, miss. I left one in Lorraine, who, to this day, would fetch +the moon down for me." + +"This one does better than that," said Hortense; "he has brought down +the sun." + +"Where can that be turned into money?" asked her cousin. "It takes wide +lands to benefit by the sunshine." + +These witticisms, fired in quick retort, and leading to the sort of +giddy play that may be imagined, had given cause for the laughter which +had added to the Baroness' troubles by making her compare her +daughter's future lot with the present, when she was free to indulge the +light-heartedness of youth. + +"But to give you a gem which cost him six months of work, he must be +under some great obligations to you?" said Hortense, in whom the silver +seal had suggested very serious reflections. + +"Oh, you want to know too much at once!" said her cousin. "But, listen, +I will let you into a little plot." + +"Is your lover in it too?" + +"Oh, ho! you want so much to see him! But, as you may suppose, an old +maid like Cousin Betty, who had managed to keep a lover for five years, +keeps him well hidden.--Now, just let me alone. You see, I have neither +cat nor canary, neither dog nor a parrot, and the old Nanny Goat wanted +something to pet and tease--so I treated myself to a Polish Count." + +"Has he a moustache?" + +"As long as that," said Lisbeth, holding up her shuttle filled with gold +thread. She always took her lace-work with her, and worked till dinner +was served. + +"If you ask too many questions, you will be told nothing," she went on. +"You are but two-and-twenty, and you chatter more than I do though I am +forty-two--not to say forty-three." + +"I am listening; I am a wooden image," said Hortense. + +"My lover has finished a bronze group ten inches high," Lisbeth went on. +"It represents Samson slaying a lion, and he has kept it buried till it +is so rusty that you might believe it to be as old as Samson himself. +This fine piece is shown at the shop of one of the old curiosity sellers +on the Place du Carrousel, near my lodgings. Now, your father knows +Monsieur Popinot, the Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, and the +Comte de Rastignac, and if he would mention the group to them as a fine +antique he had seen by chance! It seems that such things take the fancy +of your grand folks, who don't care so much about gold lace, and that my +man's fortune would be made if one of them would buy or even look at +the wretched piece of metal. The poor fellow is sure that it might be +mistaken for old work, and that the rubbish is worth a great deal of +money. And then, if one of the ministers should purchase the group, he +would go to pay his respects, and prove that he was the maker, and be +almost carried in triumph! Oh! he believes he has reached the pinnacle; +poor young man, and he is as proud as two newly-made Counts." + +"Michael Angelo over again; but, for a lover, he has kept his head on +his shoulders!" said Hortense. "And how much does he want for it?" + +"Fifteen hundred francs. The dealer will not let it go for less, since +he must take his commission." + +"Papa is in the King's household just now," said Hortense. "He sees +those two ministers every day at the Chamber, and he will do the +thing--I undertake that. You will be a rich woman, Madame la Comtesse de +Steinbock." + +"No, the boy is too lazy; for whole weeks he sits twiddling with bits +of red wax, and nothing comes of it. Why, he spends all his days at the +Louvre and the Library, looking at prints and sketching things. He is an +idler!" + +The cousins chatted and giggled; Hortense laughing a forced laugh, for +she was invaded by a kind of love which every girl has gone through--the +love of the unknown, love in its vaguest form, when every thought is +accreted round some form which is suggested by a chance word, as the +efflorescence of hoar-frost gathers about a straw that the wind has +blown against the window-sill. + +For the past ten months she had made a reality of her cousin's imaginary +romance, believing, like her mother, that Lisbeth would never marry; +and now, within a week, this visionary being had become Comte Wenceslas +Steinbock, the dream had a certificate of birth, the wraith had +solidified into a young man of thirty. The seal she held in her hand--a +sort of Annunciation in which genius shone like an immanent light--had +the powers of a talisman. Hortense felt such a surge of happiness, that +she almost doubted whether the tale were true; there was a ferment in +her blood, and she laughed wildly to deceive her cousin. + +"But I think the drawing-room door is open," said Lisbeth; "let us go +and see if Monsieur Crevel is gone." + +"Mamma has been very much out of spirits these two days. I suppose the +marriage under discussion has come to nothing!" + +"Oh, it may come on again. He is--I may tell you so much--a Councillor +of the Supreme Court. How would you like to be Madame la Presidente? If +Monsieur Crevel has a finger in it, he will tell me about it if I ask +him. I shall know by to-morrow if there is any hope." + +"Leave the seal with me," said Hortense; "I will not show it--mamma's +birthday is not for a month yet; I will give it to you that morning." + +"No, no. Give it back to me; it must have a case." + +"But I will let papa see it, that he may know what he is talking about +to the ministers, for men in authority must be careful what they say," +urged the girl. + +"Well, do not show it to your mother--that is all I ask; for if she +believed I had a lover, she would make game of me." + +"I promise." + +The cousins reached the drawing-room just as the Baroness turned faint. +Her daughter's cry of alarm recalled her to herself. Lisbeth went off to +fetch some salts. When she came back, she found the mother and daughter +in each other's arms, the Baroness soothing her daughter's fears, and +saying: + +"It was nothing; a little nervous attack.--There is your father," she +added, recognizing the Baron's way of ringing the bell. "Say not a word +to him." + +Adeline rose and went to meet her husband, intending to take him +into the garden and talk to him till dinner should be served of the +difficulties about the proposed match, getting him to come to some +decision as to the future, and trying to hint at some warning advice. + + + +Baron Hector Hulot came in, in a dress at once lawyer-like and +Napoleonic, for Imperial men--men who had been attached to the +Emperor--were easily distinguishable by their military deportment, their +blue coats with gilt buttons, buttoned to the chin, their black silk +stock, and an authoritative demeanor acquired from a habit of command in +circumstances requiring despotic rapidity. There was nothing of the old +man in the Baron, it must be admitted; his sight was still so good, +that he could read without spectacles; his handsome oval face, framed +in whiskers that were indeed too black, showed a brilliant complexion, +ruddy with the veins that characterize a sanguine temperament; and his +stomach, kept in order by a belt, had not exceeded the limits of "the +majestic," as Brillat-Savarin says. A fine aristocratic air and great +affability served to conceal the libertine with whom Crevel had had such +high times. He was one of those men whose eyes always light up at the +sight of a pretty woman, even of such as merely pass by, never to be +seen again. + +"Have you been speaking, my dear?" asked Adeline, seeing him with an +anxious brow. + +"No," replied Hector, "but I am worn out with hearing others speak for +two hours without coming to a vote. They carry on a war of words, in +which their speeches are like a cavalry charge which has no effect on +the enemy. Talk has taken the place of action, which goes very much +against the grain with men who are accustomed to marching orders, as +I said to the Marshal when I left him. However, I have enough of +being bored on the ministers' bench; here I may play.--How do, la +Chevre!--Good morning, little kid," and he took his daughter round the +neck, kissed her, and made her sit on his knee, resting her head on his +shoulder, that he might feel her soft golden hair against his cheek. + +"He is tired and worried," said his wife to herself. "I shall only worry +him more.--I will wait.--Are you going to be at home this evening?" she +asked him. + +"No, children. After dinner I must go out. If it had not been the day +when Lisbeth and the children and my brother come to dinner, you would +not have seen me at all." + +The Baroness took up the newspaper, looked down the list of theatres, +and laid it down again when she had seen that Robert _le Diable_ was +to be given at the Opera. Josepha, who had left the Italian Opera six +months since for the French Opera, was to take the part of Alice. + +This little pantomime did not escape the Baron, who looked hard at +his wife. Adeline cast down her eyes and went out into the garden; her +husband followed her. + +"Come, what is it, Adeline?" said he, putting his arm round her waist +and pressing her to his side. "Do not you know that I love you more +than----" + +"More than Jenny Cadine or Josepha!" said she, boldly interrupting him. + +"Who put that into your head?" exclaimed the Baron, releasing his wife, +and starting back a step or two. + +"I got an anonymous letter, which I burnt at once, in which I was told, +my dear, that the reason Hortense's marriage was broken off was the +poverty of our circumstances. Your wife, my dear Hector, would never +have said a word; she knew of your connection with Jenny Cadine, and did +she ever complain?--But as the mother of Hortense, I am bound to speak +the truth." + +Hulot, after a short silence, which was terrible to his wife, whose +heart beat loud enough to be heard, opened his arms, clasped her to his +heart, kissed her forehead, and said with the vehemence of enthusiasm: + +"Adeline, you are an angel, and I am a wretch----" + +"No, no," cried the Baroness, hastily laying her hand upon his lips to +hinder him from speaking evil of himself. + +"Yes, for I have not at this moment a sou to give to Hortense, and I am +most unhappy. But since you open your heart to me, I may pour into it +the trouble that is crushing me.--Your Uncle Fischer is in difficulties, +and it is I who dragged him there, for he has accepted bills for me +to the amount of twenty-five thousand francs! And all for a woman who +deceives me, who laughs at me behind my back, and calls me an old +dyed Tom. It is frightful! A vice which costs me more than it would to +maintain a family!--And I cannot resist!--I would promise you here and +now never to see that abominable Jewess again; but if she wrote me two +lines, I should go to her, as we marched into fire under the Emperor." + +"Do not be so distressed," cried the poor woman in despair, but +forgetting her daughter as she saw the tears in her husband's eyes. +"There are my diamonds; whatever happens, save my uncle." + +"Your diamonds are worth scarcely twenty thousand francs nowadays. That +would not be enough for old Fischer, so keep them for Hortense; I will +see the Marshal to-morrow." + +"My poor dear!" said the Baroness, taking her Hector's hands and kissing +them. + +This was all the scolding he got. Adeline sacrificed her jewels, the +father made them a present to Hortense, she regarded this as a sublime +action, and she was helpless. + +"He is the master; he could take everything, and he leaves me my +diamonds; he is divine!" + +This was the current of her thoughts; and indeed the wife had gained +more by her sweetness than another perhaps could have achieved by a fit +of angry jealousy. + +The moralist cannot deny that, as a rule, well-bred though very wicked +men are far more attractive and lovable than virtuous men; having crimes +to atone for, they crave indulgence by anticipation, by being lenient +to the shortcomings of those who judge them, and they are thought most +kind. Though there are no doubt some charming people among the virtuous, +Virtue considers itself fair enough, unadorned, to be at no pains to +please; and then all really virtuous persons, for the hypocrites do not +count, have some slight doubts as to their position; they believe that +they are cheated in the bargain of life on the whole, and they indulge +in acid comments after the fashion of those who think themselves +unappreciated. + +Hence the Baron, who accused himself of ruining his family, displayed +all his charm of wit and his most seductive graces for the benefit of +his wife, for his children, and his Cousin Lisbeth. + +Then, when his son arrived with Celestine, Crevel's daughter, who was +nursing the infant Hulot, he was delightful to his daughter-in-law, +loading her with compliments--a treat to which Celestine's vanity was +little accustomed for no moneyed bride more commonplace or more utterly +insignificant was ever seen. The grandfather took the baby from her, +kissed it, declared it was a beauty and a darling; he spoke to it in +baby language, prophesied that it would grow to be taller than himself, +insinuated compliments for his son's benefit, and restored the child to +the Normandy nurse who had charge of it. Celestine, on her part, gave +the Baroness a look, as much as to say, "What a delightful man!" and she +naturally took her father-in-law's part against her father. + +After thus playing the charming father-in-law and the indulgent +grandpapa, the Baron took his son into the garden, and laid before him +a variety of observations full of good sense as to the attitude to be +taken up by the Chamber on a certain ticklish question which had +that morning come under discussion. The young lawyer was struck with +admiration for the depth of his father's insight, touched by his +cordiality, and especially by the deferential tone which seemed to place +the two men on a footing of equality. + +Monsieur Hulot _junior_ was in every respect the young Frenchman, as +he has been moulded by the Revolution of 1830; his mind infatuated with +politics, respectful of his own hopes, and concealing them under +an affectation of gravity, very envious of successful men, making +sententiousness do the duty of witty rejoinders--the gems of the French +language--with a high sense of importance, and mistaking arrogance for +dignity. + +Such men are walking coffins, each containing a Frenchman of the past; +now and again the Frenchman wakes up and kicks against his English-made +casing; but ambition stifles him, and he submits to be smothered. The +coffin is always covered with black cloth. + +"Ah, here is my brother!" said Baron Hulot, going to meet the Count at +the drawing-room door. + +Having greeted the probable successor of the late Marshal Montcornet, he +led him forward by the arm with every show of affection and respect. + +The older man, a member of the Chamber of Peers, but excused from +attendance on account of his deafness, had a handsome head, chilled by +age, but with enough gray hair still to be marked in a circle by the +pressure of his hat. He was short, square, and shrunken, but carried his +hale old age with a free-and-easy air; and as he was full of excessive +activity, which had now no purpose, he divided his time between reading +and taking exercise. In a drawing-room he devoted his attention to +waiting on the wishes of the ladies. + +"You are very merry here," said he, seeing that the Baron shed a spirit +of animation on the little family gathering. "And yet Hortense is +not married," he added, noticing a trace of melancholy on his +sister-in-law's countenance. + +"That will come all in good time," Lisbeth shouted in his ear in a +formidable voice. + +"So there you are, you wretched seedling that could never blossom," said +he, laughing. + +The hero of Forzheim rather liked Cousin Betty, for there were certain +points of resemblance between them. A man of the ranks, without any +education, his courage had been the sole mainspring of his military +promotion, and sound sense had taken the place of brilliancy. Of the +highest honor and clean-handed, he was ending a noble life in full +contentment in the centre of his family, which claimed all his +affections, and without a suspicion of his brother's still undiscovered +misconduct. No one enjoyed more than he the pleasing sight of this +family party, where there never was the smallest disagreement, for the +brothers and sisters were all equally attached, Celestine having been at +once accepted as one of the family. But the worthy little Count wondered +now and then why Monsieur Crevel never joined the party. "Papa is in +the country," Celestine shouted, and it was explained to him that the +ex-perfumer was away from home. + +This perfect union of all her family made Madame Hulot say to herself, +"This, after all, is the best kind of happiness, and who can deprive us +of it?" + +The General, on seeing his favorite Adeline the object of her husband's +attentions, laughed so much about it that the Baron, fearing to seem +ridiculous, transferred his gallantries to his daughter-in-law, who +at these family dinners was always the object of his flattery and kind +care, for he hoped to win Crevel back through her, and make him forego +his resentment. + +Any one seeing this domestic scene would have found it hard to believe +that the father was at his wits' end, the mother in despair, the son +anxious beyond words as to his father's future fate, and the daughter on +the point of robbing her cousin of her lover. + + + +At seven o'clock the Baron, seeing his brother, his son, the Baroness, +and Hortense all engaged at whist, went off to applaud his mistress +at the Opera, taking with him Lisbeth Fischer, who lived in the Rue du +Doyenne, and who always made an excuse of the solitude of that deserted +quarter to take herself off as soon as dinner was over. Parisians will +all admit that the old maid's prudence was but rational. + +The existence of the maze of houses under the wing of the old Louvre is +one of those protests against obvious good sense which Frenchmen love, +that Europe may reassure itself as to the quantum of brains they are +known to have, and not be too much alarmed. Perhaps without knowing it, +this reveals some profound political idea. + +It will surely not be a work of supererogation to describe this part of +Paris as it is even now, when we could hardly expect its survival; and +our grandsons, who will no doubt see the Louvre finished, may refuse +to believe that such a relic of barbarism should have survived for +six-and-thirty years in the heart of Paris and in the face of the palace +where three dynasties of kings have received, during those thirty-six +years, the elite of France and of Europe. + +Between the little gate leading to the Bridge of the Carrousel and the +Rue du Musee, every one having come to Paris, were it but for a few +days, must have seen a dozen of houses with a decayed frontage where the +dejected owners have attempted no repairs, the remains of an old +block of buildings of which the destruction was begun at the time when +Napoleon determined to complete the Louvre. This street, and the blind +alley known as the Impasse du Doyenne, are the only passages into this +gloomy and forsaken block, inhabited perhaps by ghosts, for there never +is anybody to be seen. The pavement is much below the footway of the +Rue du Musee, on a level with that of the Rue Froidmanteau. Thus, half +sunken by the raising of the soil, these houses are also wrapped in the +perpetual shadow cast by the lofty buildings of the Louvre, darkened on +that side by the northern blast. Darkness, silence, an icy chill, and +the cavernous depth of the soil combine to make these houses a kind +of crypt, tombs of the living. As we drive in a hackney cab past this +dead-alive spot, and chance to look down the little Rue du Doyenne, +a shudder freezes the soul, and we wonder who can lie there, and what +things may be done there at night, at an hour when the alley is a +cut-throat pit, and the vices of Paris run riot there under the cloak +of night. This question, frightful in itself, becomes appalling when we +note that these dwelling-houses are shut in on the side towards the Rue +de Richelieu by marshy ground, by a sea of tumbled paving-stones between +them and the Tuileries, by little garden-plots and suspicious-looking +hovels on the side of the great galleries, and by a desert of +building-stone and old rubbish on the side towards the old Louvre. Henri +III. and his favorites in search of their trunk-hose, and Marguerite's +lovers in search of their heads, must dance sarabands by moonlight in +this wilderness overlooked by the roof of a chapel still standing +there as if to prove that the Catholic religion--so deeply rooted in +France--survives all else. + +For forty years now has the Louvre been crying out by every gap in these +damaged walls, by every yawning window, "Rid me of these warts upon my +face!" This cutthroat lane has no doubt been regarded as useful, and has +been thought necessary as symbolizing in the heart of Paris the intimate +connection between poverty and the splendor that is characteristic +of the queen of cities. And indeed these chill ruins, among which +the Legitimist newspaper contracted the disease it is dying of--the +abominable hovels of the Rue du Musee, and the hoarding appropriated by +the shop stalls that flourish there--will perhaps live longer and more +prosperously than three successive dynasties. + +In 1823 the low rents in these already condemned houses had tempted +Lisbeth Fischer to settle there, notwithstanding the necessity imposed +upon her by the state of the neighborhood to get home before nightfall. +This necessity, however, was in accordance with the country habits she +retained, of rising and going to bed with the sun, an arrangement which +saves country folk considerable sums in lights and fuel. She lived +in one of the houses which, since the demolition of the famous Hotel +Cambaceres, command a view of the square. + +Just as Baron Hulot set his wife's cousin down at the door of this +house, saying, "Good-night, Cousin," an elegant-looking woman, young, +small, slender, pretty, beautifully dressed, and redolent of some +delicate perfume, passed between the wall and the carriage to go in. +This lady, without any premeditation, glanced up at the Baron merely +to see the lodger's cousin, and the libertine at once felt the +swift impression which all Parisians know on meeting a pretty woman, +realizing, as entomologists have it, their _desiderata_; so he waited to +put on one of his gloves with judicious deliberation before getting into +the carriage again, to give himself an excuse for allowing his eye +to follow the young woman, whose skirts were pleasingly set out by +something else than these odious and delusive crinoline bustles. + +"That," said he to himself, "is a nice little person whose happiness I +should like to provide for, as she would certainly secure mine." + +When the unknown fair had gone into the hall at the foot of the stairs +going up to the front rooms, she glanced at the gate out of the corner +of her eye without precisely looking round, and she could see the Baron +riveted to the spot in admiration, consumed by curiosity and desire. +This is to every Parisian woman a sort of flower which she smells at +with delight, if she meets it on her way. Nay, certain women, though +faithful to their duties, pretty, and virtuous, come home much put out +if they have failed to cull such a posy in the course of their walk. + +The lady ran upstairs, and in a moment a window on the second floor +was thrown open, and she appeared at it, but accompanied by a man whose +baldhead and somewhat scowling looks announced him as her husband. + +"If they aren't sharp and ingenious, the cunning jades!" thought the +Baron. "She does that to show me where she lives. But this is getting +rather warm, especially for this part of Paris. We must mind what we are +at." + +As he got into the _milord_, he looked up, and the lady and the husband +hastily vanished, as though the Baron's face had affected them like the +mythological head of Medusa. + +"It would seem that they know me," thought the Baron. "That would +account for everything." + +As the carriage went up the Rue du Musee, he leaned forward to see the +lady again, and in fact she was again at the window. Ashamed of being +caught gazing at the hood under which her admirer was sitting, the +unknown started back at once. + +"Nanny shall tell me who it is," said the Baron to himself. + +The sight of the Government official had, as will be seen, made a deep +impression on this couple. + +"Why, it is Baron Hulot, the chief of the department to which my office +belongs!" exclaimed the husband as he left the window. + +"Well, Marneffe, the old maid on the third floor at the back of the +courtyard, who lives with that young man, is his cousin. Is it not odd +that we should never have known that till to-day, and now find it out by +chance?" + +"Mademoiselle Fischer living with a young man?" repeated the husband. +"That is porter's gossip; do not speak so lightly of the cousin of +a Councillor of State who can blow hot and cold in the office as he +pleases. Now, come to dinner; I have been waiting for you since four +o'clock." + +Pretty--very pretty--Madame Marneffe, the natural daughter of Comte +Montcornet, one of Napoleon's most famous officers, had, on the strength +of a marriage portion of twenty thousand francs, found a husband in an +inferior official at the War Office. Through the interest of the +famous lieutenant-general--made marshal of France six months before his +death--this quill-driver had risen to unhoped-for dignity as head-clerk +of his office; but just as he was to be promoted to be deputy-chief, the +marshal's death had cut off Marneffe's ambitions and his wife's at the +root. The very small salary enjoyed by Sieur Marneffe had compelled the +couple to economize in the matter of rent; for in his hands Mademoiselle +Valerie Fortin's fortune had already melted away--partly in paying his +debts, and partly in the purchase of necessaries for furnishing a house, +but chiefly in gratifying the requirements of a pretty young wife, +accustomed in her mother's house to luxuries she did not choose to +dispense with. The situation of the Rue du Doyenne, within easy distance +of the War Office, and the gay part of Paris, smiled on Monsieur and +Madame Marneffe, and for the last four years they had dwelt under the +same roof as Lisbeth Fischer. + +Monsieur Jean-Paul-Stanislas Marneffe was one of the class of employes +who escape sheer brutishness by the kind of power that comes of +depravity. The small, lean creature, with thin hair and a starved beard, +an unwholesome pasty face, worn rather than wrinkled, with red-lidded +eyes harnessed with spectacles, shuffling in his gait, and yet meaner in +his appearance, realized the type of man that any one would conceive of +as likely to be placed in the dock for an offence against decency. + +The rooms inhabited by this couple had the illusory appearance of sham +luxury seen in many Paris homes, and typical of a certain class of +household. In the drawing-room, the furniture covered with shabby cotton +velvet, the plaster statuettes pretending to be Florentine bronze, the +clumsy cast chandelier merely lacquered, with cheap glass saucers, the +carpet, whose small cost was accounted for in advancing life by the +quality of cotton used in the manufacture, now visible to the naked +eye,--everything, down to the curtains, which plainly showed that +worsted damask has not three years of prime, proclaimed poverty as +loudly as a beggar in rags at a church door. + +The dining-room, badly kept by a single servant, had the sickening +aspect of a country inn; everything looked greasy and unclean. + +Monsieur's room, very like a schoolboy's, furnished with the bed and +fittings remaining from his bachelor days, as shabby and worn as he was, +dusted perhaps once a week--that horrible room where everything was in +a litter, with old socks hanging over the horsehair-seated chairs, the +pattern outlined in dust, was that of a man to whom home is a matter of +indifference, who lives out of doors, gambling in cafes or elsewhere. + +Madame's room was an exception to the squalid slovenliness that +disgraced the living rooms, where the curtains were yellow with smoke +and dust, and where the child, evidently left to himself, littered every +spot with his toys. Valerie's room and dressing-room were situated in +the part of the house which, on one side of the courtyard, joined the +front half, looking out on the street, to the wing forming the inner +side of the court backing against the adjoining property. Handsomely +hung with chintz, furnished with rosewood, and thickly carpeted, +they proclaimed themselves as belonging to a pretty woman--and indeed +suggested the kept mistress. A clock in the fashionable style stood on +the velvet-covered mantelpiece. There was a nicely fitted cabinet, +and the Chinese flower-stands were handsomely filled. The bed, the +toilet-table, the wardrobe with its mirror, the little sofa, and all the +lady's frippery bore the stamp of fashion or caprice. Though everything +was quite third-rate as to elegance or quality, and nothing was +absolutely newer than three years old, a dandy would have had no fault +to find but that the taste of all this luxury was commonplace. Art, +and the distinction that comes of the choice of things that taste +assimilates, was entirely wanting. A doctor of social science would have +detected a lover in two or three specimens of costly trumpery, which +could only have come there through that demi-god--always absent, but +always present if the lady is married. + +The dinner, four hours behind time, to which the husband, wife, and +child sat down, betrayed the financial straits in which the household +found itself, for the table is the surest thermometer for gauging the +income of a Parisian family. Vegetable soup made with the water haricot +beans had been boiled in, a piece of stewed veal and potatoes sodden +with water by way of gravy, a dish of haricot beans, and cheap cherries, +served and eaten in cracked plates and dishes, with the dull-looking and +dull-sounding forks of German silver--was this a banquet worthy of this +pretty young woman? The Baron would have wept could he have seen it. The +dingy decanters could not disguise the vile hue of wine bought by the +pint at the nearest wineshop. The table-napkins had seen a week's +use. In short, everything betrayed undignified penury, and the equal +indifference of the husband and wife to the decencies of home. The +most superficial observer on seeing them would have said that these two +beings had come to the stage when the necessity of living had prepared +them for any kind of dishonor that might bring luck to them. Valerie's +first words to her husband will explain the delay that had postponed the +dinner by the not disinterested devotion of the cook. + +"Samanon will only take your bills at fifty per cent, and insists on a +lien on your salary as security." + +So poverty, still unconfessed in the house of the superior official, and +hidden under a stipend of twenty-four thousand francs, irrespective of +presents, had reached its lowest stage in that of the clerk. + +"You have caught on with the chief," said the man, looking at his wife. + +"I rather think so," replied she, understanding the full meaning of his +slang expression. + +"What is to become of us?" Marneffe went on. "The landlord will be down +on us to-morrow. And to think of your father dying without making a +will! On my honor, those men of the Empire all think themselves as +immortal as their Emperor." + +"Poor father!" said she. "I was his only child, and he was very fond of +me. The Countess probably burned the will. How could he forget me when +he used to give us as much as three or four thousand-franc notes at +once, from time to time?" + +"We owe four quarters' rent, fifteen hundred francs. Is the furniture +worth so much? _That is the question_, as Shakespeare says." + +"Now, good-bye, ducky!" said Valerie, who had only eaten a few mouthfuls +of the veal, from which the maid had extracted all the gravy for a brave +soldier just home from Algiers. "Great evils demand heroic remedies." + +"Valerie, where are you off to?" cried Marneffe, standing between his +wife and the door. + +"I am going to see the landlord," she replied, arranging her ringlets +under her smart bonnet. "You had better try to make friends with that +old maid, if she really is your chief's cousin." + + + +The ignorance in which the dwellers under one roof can exist as to the +social position of their fellow-lodgers is a permanent fact which, as +much as any other, shows what the rush of Paris life is. Still, it is +easily conceivable that a clerk who goes early every morning to his +office, comes home only to dinner, and spends every evening out, and a +woman swallowed up in a round of pleasures, should know nothing of an +old maid living on the third floor beyond the courtyard of the house +they dwell in, especially when she lives as Mademoiselle Fischer did. + +Up in the morning before any one else, Lisbeth went out to buy her +bread, milk, and live charcoal, never speaking to any one, and she went +to bed with the sun; she never had a letter or a visitor, nor chatted +with her neighbors. Here was one of those anonymous, entomological +existences such as are to be met with in many large tenements where, +at the end of four years, you unexpectedly learn that up on the fourth +floor there is an old man lodging who knew Voltaire, Pilatre de Rozier, +Beaujon, Marcel, Mole, Sophie Arnould, Franklin, and Robespierre. What +Monsieur and Madame Marneffe had just said concerning Lisbeth Fischer +they had come to know, in consequence, partly, of the loneliness of the +neighborhood, and of the alliance, to which their necessities had led, +between them and the doorkeepers, whose goodwill was too important to +them not to have been carefully encouraged. + +Now, the old maid's pride, silence, and reserve had engendered in the +porter and his wife the exaggerated respect and cold civility which +betray the unconfessed annoyance of an inferior. Also, the porter +thought himself in all essentials the equal of any lodger whose rent was +no more than two hundred and fifty francs. Cousin Betty's confidences +to Hortense were true; and it is evident that the porter's wife might be +very likely to slander Mademoiselle Fischer in her intimate gossip with +the Marneffes, while only intending to tell tales. + +When Lisbeth had taken her candle from the hands of worthy Madame +Olivier the portress, she looked up to see whether the windows of the +garret over her own rooms were lighted up. At that hour, even in July, +it was so dark within the courtyard that the old maid could not get to +bed without a light. + +"Oh, you may be quite easy, Monsieur Steinbock is in his room. He has +not been out even," said Madame Olivier, with meaning. + +Lisbeth made no reply. She was still a peasant, in so far that she was +indifferent to the gossip of persons unconnected with her. Just as a +peasant sees nothing beyond his village, she cared for nobody's opinion +outside the little circle in which she lived. So she boldly went up, not +to her own room, but to the garret; and this is why. At dessert she had +filled her bag with fruit and sweets for her lover, and she went to give +them to him, exactly as an old lady brings home a biscuit for her dog. + +She found the hero of Hortense's dreams working by the light of a small +lamp, of which the light was intensified by the use of a bottle of water +as a lens--a pale young man, seated at a workman's bench covered with a +modeler's tools, wax, chisels, rough-hewn stone, and bronze castings; he +wore a blouse, and had in his hand a little group in red wax, which he +gazed at like a poet absorbed in his labors. + +"Here, Wenceslas, see what I have brought you," said she, laying her +handkerchief on a corner of the table; then she carefully took the +sweetmeats and fruit out of her bag. + +"You are very kind, mademoiselle," replied the exile in melancholy +tones. + +"It will do you good, poor boy. You get feverish by working so hard; you +were not born to such a rough life." + +Wenceslas Steinbock looked at her with a bewildered air. + +"Eat--come, eat," said she sharply, "instead of looking at me as you do +at one of your images when you are satisfied with it." + +On being thus smacked with words, the young man seemed less puzzled, +for this, indeed, was the female Mentor whose tender moods were always a +surprise to him, so much more accustomed was he to be scolded. + +Though Steinbock was nine-and-twenty, like many fair men, he looked five +or six years younger; and seeing his youth, though its freshness had +faded under the fatigue and stress of life in exile, by the side of +that dry, hard face, it seemed as though Nature had blundered in the +distribution of sex. He rose and threw himself into a deep chair of +Louis XV. pattern, covered with yellow Utrecht velvet, as if to rest +himself. The old maid took a greengage and offered it to him. + +"Thank you," said he, taking the plum. + +"Are you tired?" said she, giving him another. + +"I am not tired with work, but tired of life," said he. + +"What absurd notions you have!" she exclaimed with some annoyance. "Have +you not had a good genius to keep an eye on you?" she said, offering him +the sweetmeats, and watching him with pleasure as he ate them all. "You +see, I thought of you when dining with my cousin." + +"I know," said he, with a look at Lisbeth that was at once affectionate +and plaintive, "but for you I should long since have ceased to live. +But, my dear lady, artists require relaxation----" + +"Ah! there we come to the point!" cried she, interrupting him, her hands +on her hips, and her flashing eyes fixed on him. "You want to go wasting +your health in the vile resorts of Paris, like so many artisans, who end +by dying in the workhouse. No, no, make a fortune, and then, when you +have money in the funds, you may amuse yourself, child; then you will +have enough to pay for the doctor and for your pleasure, libertine that +you are." + +Wenceslas Steinbock, on receiving this broadside, with an accompaniment +of looks that pierced him like a magnetic flame, bent his head. The most +malignant slanderer on seeing this scene would at once have understood +that the hints thrown out by the Oliviers were false. Everything in this +couple, their tone, manner, and way of looking at each other, proved the +purity of their private live. The old maid showed the affection of +rough but very genuine maternal feeling; the young man submitted, as a +respectful son yields to the tyranny of a mother. The strange alliance +seemed to be the outcome of a strong will acting constantly on a weak +character, on the fluid nature peculiar to the Slavs, which, while it +does not hinder them from showing heroic courage in battle, gives +them an amazing incoherency of conduct, a moral softness of which +physiologists ought to try to detect the causes, since physiologists are +to political life what entomologists are to agriculture. + +"But if I die before I am rich?" said Wenceslas dolefully. + +"Die!" cried she. "Oh, I will not let you die. I have life enough for +both, and I would have my blood injected into your veins if necessary." + +Tears rose to Steinbock's eyes as he heard her vehement and artless +speech. + +"Do not be unhappy, my little Wenceslas," said Lisbeth with feeling. "My +cousin Hortense thought your seal quite pretty, I am sure; and I will +manage to sell your bronze group, you will see; you will have paid me +off, you will be able to do as you please, you will soon be free. Come, +smile a little!" + +"I can never repay you, mademoiselle," said the exile. + +"And why not?" asked the peasant woman, taking the Livonian's part +against herself. + +"Because you not only fed me, lodged me, cared for me in my poverty, but +you also gave me strength. You have made me what I am; you have often +been stern, you have made me very unhappy----" + +"I?" said the old maid. "Are you going to pour out all your nonsense +once more about poetry and the arts, and to crack your fingers and +stretch your arms while you spout about the ideal, and beauty, and all +your northern madness?--Beauty is not to compare with solid pudding--and +what am I!--You have ideas in your brain? What is the use of them? I too +have ideas. What is the good of all the fine things you may have in your +soul if you can make no use of them? Those who have ideas do not get so +far as those who have none, if they don't know which way to go. + +"Instead of thinking over your ideas you must work.--Now, what have you +done while I was out?" + +"What did your pretty cousin say?" + +"Who told you she was pretty?" asked Lisbeth sharply, in a tone hollow +with tiger-like jealousy. + +"Why, you did." + +"That was only to see your face. Do you want to go trotting after +petticoats? You who are so fond of women, well, make them in bronze. +Let us see a cast of your desires, for you will have to do without the +ladies for some little time yet, and certainly without my cousin, my +good fellow. She is not game for your bag; that young lady wants a man +with sixty thousand francs a year--and has found him! + +"Why, your bed is not made!" she exclaimed, looking into the adjoining +room. "Poor dear boy, I quite forgot you!" + +The sturdy woman pulled off her gloves, her cape and bonnet, and remade +the artist's little camp bed as briskly as any housemaid. This mixture +of abruptness, of roughness even, with real kindness, perhaps accounts +for the ascendency Lisbeth had acquired over the man whom she regarded +as her personal property. Is not our attachment to life based on its +alternations of good and evil? + +If the Livonian had happened to meet Madame Marneffe instead of Lisbeth +Fischer, he would have found a protectress whose complaisance must have +led him into some boggy or discreditable path, where he would have been +lost. He would certainly never have worked, nor the artist have been +hatched out. Thus, while he deplored the old maid's grasping avarice, +his reason bid him prefer her iron hand to the life of idleness and +peril led by many of his fellow-countrymen. + + + +This was the incident that had given rise to the coalition of female +energy and masculine feebleness--a contrast in union said not to be +uncommon in Poland. + +In 1833 Mademoiselle Fischer, who sometimes worked into the night when +business was good, at about one o'clock one morning perceived a strong +smell of carbonic acid gas, and heard the groans of a dying man. The +fumes and the gasping came from a garret over the two rooms forming her +dwelling, and she supposed that a young man who had but lately come +to lodge in this attic--which had been vacant for three years--was +committing suicide. She ran upstairs, broke in the door by a push with +her peasant strength, and found the lodger writhing on a camp-bed in the +convulsions of death. She extinguished the brazier; the door was open, +the air rushed in, and the exile was saved. Then, when Lisbeth had +put him to bed like a patient, and he was asleep, she could detect the +motives of his suicide in the destitution of the rooms, where there was +nothing whatever but a wretched table, the camp-bed, and two chairs. + +On the table lay a document, which she read: + + "I am Count Wenceslas Steinbock, born at Prelia, in Livonia. + + "No one is to be accused of my death; my reasons for killing + myself are, in the words of Kosciusko, _Finis Polonioe_! + + "The grand-nephew of a valiant General under Charles XII. could + not beg. My weakly constitution forbids my taking military + service, and I yesterday saw the last of the hundred thalers which + I had brought with me from Dresden to Paris. I have left + twenty-five francs in the drawer of this table to pay the rent I owe + to the landlord. + + "My parents being dead, my death will affect nobody. I desire that + my countrymen will not blame the French Government. I have never + registered myself as a refugee, and I have asked for nothing; I + have met none of my fellow-exiles; no one in Paris knows of my + existence. + + "I am dying in Christian beliefs. May God forgive the last of the + Steinbocks! + +"WENCESLAS." + + +Mademoiselle Fischer, deeply touched by the dying man's honesty, opened +the drawer and found the five five-franc pieces to pay his rent. + +"Poor young man!" cried she. "And with no one in the world to care about +him!" + +She went downstairs to fetch her work, and sat stitching in the garret, +watching over the Livonian gentleman. + +When he awoke his astonishment may be imagined on finding a woman +sitting by his bed; it was like the prolongation of a dream. As she sat +there, covering aiguillettes with gold thread, the old maid had resolved +to take charge of the poor youth whom she admired as he lay sleeping. + +As soon as the young Count was fully awake, Lisbeth talked to give him +courage, and questioned him to find out how he might make a living. +Wenceslas, after telling his story, added that he owed his position +to his acknowledged talent for the fine arts. He had always had a +preference for sculpture; the necessary time for study had, however, +seemed to him too long for a man without money; and at this moment he +was far too weak to do any hard manual labor or undertake an important +work in sculpture. All this was Greek to Lisbeth Fischer. She replied +to the unhappy man that Paris offered so many openings that any man with +will and courage might find a living there. A man of spirit need never +perish if he had a certain stock of endurance. + +"I am but a poor girl myself, a peasant, and I have managed to make +myself independent," said she in conclusion. "If you will work in +earnest, I have saved a little money, and I will lend you, month by +month, enough to live upon; but to live frugally, and not to play ducks +and drakes with or squander in the streets. You can dine in Paris for +twenty-five sous a day, and I will get you your breakfast with mine +every day. I will furnish your rooms and pay for such teaching as you +may think necessary. You shall give me formal acknowledgment for the +money I may lay out for you, and when you are rich you shall repay me +all. But if you do not work, I shall not regard myself as in any way +pledged to you, and I shall leave you to your fate." + +"Ah!" cried the poor fellow, still smarting from the bitterness of his +first struggle with death, "exiles from every land may well stretch out +their hands to France, as the souls in Purgatory do to Paradise. In what +other country is such help to be found, and generous hearts even in such +a garret as this? You will be everything to me, my beloved benefactress; +I am your slave! Be my sweetheart," he added, with one of the caressing +gestures familiar to the Poles, for which they are unjustly accused of +servility. + +"Oh, no; I am too jealous, I should make you unhappy; but I will gladly +be a sort of comrade," replied Lisbeth. + +"Ah, if only you knew how I longed for some fellow-creature, even a +tyrant, who would have something to say to me when I was struggling in +the vast solitude of Paris!" exclaimed Wenceslas. "I regretted +Siberia, whither I should be sent by the Emperor if I went home.--Be my +Providence!--I will work; I will be a better man than I am, though I am +not such a bad fellow!" + +"Will you do whatever I bid you?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"Well, then, I will adopt you as my child," said she lightly. "Here I am +with a son risen from the grave. Come! we will begin at once. I will go +out and get what I want; you can dress, and come down to breakfast with +me when I knock on the ceiling with the broomstick." + +That day, Mademoiselle Fischer made some inquiries, at the houses to +which she carried her work home, as to the business of a sculptor. +By dint of many questions she ended by hearing of the studio kept by +Florent and Chanor, a house that made a special business of casting and +finishing decorative bronzes and handsome silver plate. Thither she went +with Steinbock, recommending him as an apprentice in sculpture, an idea +that was regarded as too eccentric. Their business was to copy the +works of the greatest artists, but they did not teach the craft. The old +maid's persistent obstinacy so far succeeded that Steinbock was taken on +to design ornament. He very soon learned to model ornament, and invented +novelties; he had a gift for it. + +Five months after he was out of his apprenticeship as a finisher, he +made acquaintance with Stidmann, the famous head of Florent's studios. +Within twenty months Wenceslas was ahead of his master; but in thirty +months the old maid's savings of sixteen years had melted entirely. Two +thousand five hundred francs in gold!--a sum with which she had intended +to purchase an annuity; and what was there to show for it? A Pole's +receipt! And at this moment Lisbeth was working as hard as in her young +days to supply the needs of her Livonian. + +When she found herself the possessor of a piece of paper instead of her +gold louis, she lost her head, and went to consult Monsieur Rivet, +who for fifteen years had been his clever head-worker's friend and +counselor. On hearing her story, Monsieur and Madame Rivet scolded +Lisbeth, told her she was crazy, abused all refugees whose plots for +reconstructing their nation compromised the prosperity of the country +and the maintenance of peace; and they urged Lisbeth to find what in +trade is called security. + +"The only hold you have over this fellow is on his liberty," observed +Monsieur Rivet. + +Monsieur Achille Rivet was assessor at the Tribunal of Commerce. + +"Imprisonment is no joke for a foreigner," said he. "A Frenchman remains +five years in prison and comes out, free of his debts to be sure, for +he is thenceforth bound only by his conscience, and that never troubles +him; but a foreigner never comes out.--Give me your promissory note; my +bookkeeper will take it up; he will get it protested; you will both be +prosecuted and both be condemned to imprisonment in default of payment; +then, when everything is in due form, you must sign a declaration. +By doing this your interest will be accumulating, and you will have a +pistol always primed to fire at your Pole!" + +The old maid allowed these legal steps to be taken, telling her protege +not to be uneasy, as the proceedings were merely to afford a guarantee +to a money-lender who agreed to advance them certain sums. This +subterfuge was due to the inventive genius of Monsieur Rivet. The +guileless artist, blindly trusting to his benefactress, lighted his pipe +with the stamped paper, for he smoked as all men do who have sorrows or +energies that need soothing. + +One fine day Monsieur Rivet showed Mademoiselle Fischer a schedule, and +said to her: + +"Here you have Wenceslas Steinbock bound hand and foot, and so +effectually, that within twenty-four hours you can have him snug in +Clichy for the rest of his days." + +This worthy and honest judge at the Chamber of Commerce experienced +that day the satisfaction that must come of having done a malignant good +action. Beneficence has so many aspects in Paris that this contradictory +expression really represents one of them. The Livonian being fairly +entangled in the toils of commercial procedure, the point was to +obtain payment; for the illustrious tradesman looked on Wenceslas as +a swindler. Feeling, sincerity, poetry, were in his eyes mere folly in +business matters. + +So Rivet went off to see, in behalf of that poor Mademoiselle Fischer, +who, as he said, had been "done" by the Pole, the rich manufacturers for +whom Steinbock had worked. It happened that Stidmann--who, with the +help of these distinguished masters of the goldsmiths' art, was raising +French work to the perfection it has now reached, allowing it to hold +its own against Florence and the Renaissance--Stidmann was in Chanor's +private room when the army lace manufacturer called to make inquiries as +to "One Steinbock, a Polish refugee." + +"Whom do you call 'One Steinbock'? Do you mean a young Livonian who was +a pupil of mine?" cried Stidmann ironically. "I may tell you, monsieur, +that he is a very great artist. It is said of me that I believe myself +to be the Devil. Well, that poor fellow does not know that he is capable +of becoming a god." + +"Indeed," said Rivet, well pleased. And then he added, "Though you take +a rather cavalier tone with a man who has the honor to be an Assessor on +the Tribunal of Commerce of the Department of the Seine." + +"Your pardon, Consul!" said Stidmann, with a military salute. + +"I am delighted," the Assessor went on, "to hear what you say. The man +may make money then?" + +"Certainly," said Chanor; "but he must work. He would have a tidy sum by +now if he had stayed with us. What is to be done? Artists have a horror +of not being free." + +"They have a proper sense of their value and dignity," replied Stidmann. +"I do not blame Wenceslas for walking alone, trying to make a name, and +to become a great man; he had a right to do so! But he was a great loss +to me when he left." + +"That, you see," exclaimed Rivet, "is what all young students aim at as +soon as they are hatched out of the school-egg. Begin by saving money, I +say, and seek glory afterwards." + +"It spoils your touch to be picking up coin," said Stidmann. "It is +Glory's business to bring us wealth." + +"And, after all," said Chanor to Rivet, "you cannot tether them." + +"They would eat the halter," replied Stidmann. + +"All these gentlemen have as much caprice as talent," said Chanor, +looking at Stidmann. "They spend no end of money; they keep their girls, +they throw coin out of window, and then they have no time to work. They +neglect their orders; we have to employ workmen who are very inferior, +but who grow rich; and then they complain of the hard times, while, if +they were but steady, they might have piles of gold." + +"You old Lumignon," said Stidmann, "you remind me of the publisher +before the Revolution who said--'If only I could keep Montesquieu, +Voltaire, and Rousseau very poor in my backshed, and lock up their +breeches in a cupboard, what a lot of nice little books they would write +to make my fortune.'--If works of art could be hammered out like nails, +workmen would make them.--Give me a thousand francs, and don't talk +nonsense." + +Worthy Monsieur Rivet went home, delighted for poor Mademoiselle +Fischer, who dined with him every Monday, and whom he found waiting for +him. + +"If you can only make him work," said he, "you will have more luck than +wisdom; you will be repaid, interest, capital, and costs. This Pole has +talent, he can make a living; but lock up his trousers and his shoes, +do not let him go to the _Chaumiere_ or the parish of Notre-Dame +de Lorette, keep him in leading-strings. If you do not take such +precautions, your artist will take to loafing, and if you only knew what +these artists mean by loafing! Shocking! Why, I have just heard that +they will spend a thousand-franc note in a day!" + +This episode had a fatal influence on the home-life of Wenceslas and +Lisbeth. The benefactress flavored the exile's bread with the wormwood +of reproof, now that she saw her money in danger, and often believed +it to be lost. From a kind mother she became a stepmother; she took the +poor boy to task, she nagged him, scolded him for working too slowly, +and blamed him for having chosen so difficult a profession. She could +not believe that those models in red wax--little figures and sketches +for ornamental work--could be of any value. Before long, vexed with +herself for her severity, she would try to efface the tears by her care +and attention. + +Then the poor young man, after groaning to think that he was dependent +on this shrew and under the thumb of a peasant of the Vosges, was +bewitched by her coaxing ways and by a maternal affection that attached +itself solely to the physical and material side of life. He was like +a woman who forgives a week of ill-usage for the sake of a kiss and a +brief reconciliation. + +Thus Mademoiselle Fischer obtained complete power over his mind. The +love of dominion that lay as a germ in the old maid's heart developed +rapidly. She could now satisfy her pride and her craving for action; had +she not a creature belonging to her, to be schooled, scolded, flattered, +and made happy, without any fear of a rival? Thus the good and bad sides +of her nature alike found play. If she sometimes victimized the poor +artist, she had, on the other hand, delicate impulses like the grace +of wild flowers; it was a joy to her to provide for all his wants; she +would have given her life for him, and Wenceslas knew it. Like every +noble soul, the poor fellow forgot the bad points, the defects of the +woman who had told him the story of her life as an excuse for her rough +ways, and he remembered only the benefits she had done him. + +One day, exasperated with Wenceslas for having gone out walking instead +of sitting at work, she made a great scene. + +"You belong to me," said she. "If you were an honest man, you would try +to repay me the money you owe as soon as possible." + +The gentleman, in whose veins the blood of the Steinbocks was fired, +turned pale. + +"Bless me," she went on, "we soon shall have nothing to live on but the +thirty sous I earn--a poor work-woman!" + +The two penniless creatures, worked up by their own war of words, grew +vehement; and for the first time the unhappy artist reproached his +benefactress for having rescued him from death only to make him lead the +life of a galley slave, worse than the bottomless void, where at least, +said he, he would have found rest. And he talked of flight. + +"Flight!" cried Lisbeth. "Ah, Monsieur Rivet was right." + +And she clearly explained to the Pole that within twenty-four hours he +might be clapped into prison for the rest of his days. It was a crushing +blow. Steinbock sank into deep melancholy and total silence. + +In the course of the following night, Lisbeth hearing overhead some +preparations for suicide, went up to her pensioner's room, and gave him +the schedule and a formal release. + +"Here, dear child, forgive me," she said with tears in her eyes. "Be +happy; leave me! I am too cruel to you; only tell me that you will +sometimes remember the poor girl who has enabled you to make a +living.--What can I say? You are the cause of my ill-humor. I might die; +where would you be without me? That is the reason of my being impatient +to see you do some salable work. I do not want my money back for myself, +I assure you! I am only frightened at your idleness, which you call +meditation; at your ideas, which take up so many hours when you sit +gazing at the sky; I want you to get into habits of industry." + +All this was said with an emphasis, a look, and tears that moved the +high-minded artist; he clasped his benefactress to his heart and kissed +her forehead. + +"Keep these pieces," said he with a sort of cheerfulness. "Why should +you send me to Clichy? Am I not a prisoner here out of gratitude?" + +This episode of their secret domestic life had occurred six months +previously, and had led to Steinbock's producing three finished works: +the seal in Hortense's possession, the group he had placed with the +curiosity dealer, and a beautiful clock to which he was putting the last +touches, screwing in the last rivets. + +This clock represented the twelve Hours, charmingly personified by +twelve female figures whirling round in so mad and swift a dance that +three little Loves perched on a pile of fruit and flowers could not stop +one of them; only the torn skirts of Midnight remained in the hand of +the most daring cherub. The group stood on an admirably treated base, +ornamented with grotesque beasts. The hours were told by a monstrous +mouth that opened to yawn, and each Hour bore some ingeniously +appropriate symbol characteristic of the various occupations of the day. + +It is now easy to understand the extraordinary attachment of +Mademoiselle Fischer for her Livonian; she wanted him to be happy, +and she saw him pining, fading away in his attic. The causes of this +wretched state of affairs may be easily imagined. The peasant woman +watched this son of the North with the affection of a mother, with the +jealousy of a wife, and the spirit of a dragon; hence she managed to +put every kind of folly or dissipation out of his power by leaving him +destitute of money. She longed to keep her victim and companion for +herself alone, well conducted perforce, and she had no conception of +the cruelty of this senseless wish, since she, for her own part, was +accustomed to every privation. She loved Steinbock well enough not to +marry him, and too much to give him up to any other woman; she could not +resign herself to be no more than a mother to him, though she saw that +she was mad to think of playing the other part. + +These contradictions, this ferocious jealousy, and the joy of having a +man to herself, all agitated her old maid's heart beyond measure. Really +in love as she had been for four years, she cherished the foolish hope +of prolonging this impossible and aimless way of life in which her +persistence would only be the ruin of the man she thought of as her +child. This contest between her instincts and her reason made her unjust +and tyrannical. She wreaked on the young man her vengeance for her own +lot in being neither young, rich, nor handsome; then, after each fit +of rage, recognizing herself wrong, she stooped to unlimited humility, +infinite tenderness. She never could sacrifice to her idol till she had +asserted her power by blows of the axe. In fact, it was the converse of +Shakespeare's _Tempest_--Caliban ruling Ariel and Prospero. + +As to the poor youth himself, high-minded, meditative, and inclined to +be lazy, the desert that his protectress made in his soul might be seen +in his eyes, as in those of a caged lion. The penal servitude forced on +him by Lisbeth did not fulfil the cravings of his heart. His weariness +became a physical malady, and he was dying without daring to ask, +or knowing where to procure, the price of some little necessary +dissipation. On some days of special energy, when a feeling of utter +ill-luck added to his exasperation, he would look at Lisbeth as a +thirsty traveler on a sandy shore must look at the bitter sea-water. + +These harsh fruits of indigence, and this isolation in the midst of +Paris, Lisbeth relished with delight. And besides, she foresaw that +the first passion would rob her of her slave. Sometimes she even blamed +herself because her own tyranny and reproaches had compelled the poetic +youth to become so great an artist of delicate work, and she had thus +given him the means of casting her off. + + + +On the day after, these three lives, so differently but so utterly +wretched--that of a mother in despair, that of the Marneffe household, +and that of the unhappy exile--were all to be influenced by Hortense's +guileless passion, and by the strange outcome of the Baron's luckless +passion for Josepha. + +Just as Hulot was going into the opera-house, he was stopped by the +darkened appearance of the building and of the Rue le Peletier, where +there were no gendarmes, no lights, no theatre-servants, no barrier to +regulate the crowd. He looked up at the announcement-board, and beheld a +strip of white paper, on which was printed the solemn notice: + +"CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF ILLNESS." + +He rushed off to Josepha's lodgings in the Rue Chauchat; for, like all +the singers, she lived close at hand. + +"Whom do you want, sir?" asked the porter, to the Baron's great +astonishment. + +"Have you forgotten me?" said Hulot, much puzzled. + +"On the contrary, sir, it is because I have the honor to remember you +that I ask you, Where are you going?" + +A mortal chill fell upon the Baron. + +"What has happened?" he asked. + +"If you go up to Mademoiselle Mirah's rooms, Monsieur le Baron, you will +find Mademoiselle Heloise Brisetout there--and Monsieur Bixiou, Monsieur +Leon de Lora, Monsieur Lousteau, Monsieur de Vernisset, Monsieur +Stidmann; and ladies smelling of patchouli--holding a housewarming." + +"Then, where--where is----?" + +"Mademoiselle Mirah?--I don't know that I ought to tell you." + +The Baron slipped two five-franc pieces into the porter's hand. + +"Well, she is now in the Rue de la Ville l'Eveque, in a fine house, +given to her, they say, by the Duc d'Herouville," replied the man in a +whisper. + +Having ascertained the number of the house, Monsieur Hulot called a +_milord_ and drove to one of those pretty modern houses with double +doors, where everything, from the gaslight at the entrance, proclaims +luxury. + +The Baron, in his blue cloth coat, white neckcloth, nankeen trousers, +patent leather boots, and stiffly starched shirt-frill, was supposed to +be a guest, though a late arrival, by the janitor of this new Eden. His +alacrity of manner and quick step justified this opinion. + +The porter rang a bell, and a footman appeared in the hall. This man, as +new as the house, admitted the visitor, who said to him in an imperious +tone, and with a lordly gesture: + +"Take in this card to Mademoiselle Josepha." + +The victim mechanically looked round the room in which he found +himself--an anteroom full of choice flowers and of furniture that must +have cost twenty thousand francs. The servant, on his return, begged +monsieur to wait in the drawing-room till the company came to their +coffee. + +Though the Baron had been familiar with Imperial luxury, which was +undoubtedly prodigious, while its productions, though not durable in +kind, had nevertheless cost enormous sums, he stood dazzled, dumfounded, +in this drawing-room with three windows looking out on a garden like +fairyland, one of those gardens that are created in a month with a made +soil and transplanted shrubs, while the grass seems as if it must +be made to grow by some chemical process. He admired not only the +decoration, the gilding, the carving, in the most expensive Pompadour +style, as it is called, and the magnificent brocades, all of which any +enriched tradesman could have procured for money; but he also noted +such treasures as only princes can select and find, can pay for and give +away; two pictures by Greuze, two by Watteau, two heads by Vandyck, two +landscapes by Ruysdael, and two by le Guaspre, a Rembrandt, a Holbein, a +Murillo, and a Titian, two paintings, by Teniers, and a pair by Metzu, +a Van Huysum, and an Abraham Mignon--in short, two hundred thousand +francs' worth of pictures superbly framed. The gilding was worth almost +as much as the paintings. + +"Ah, ha! Now you understand, my good man?" said Josepha. + +She had stolen in on tiptoe through a noiseless door, over Persian +carpets, and came upon her adorer, standing lost in amazement--in +the stupid amazement when a man's ears tingle so loudly that he hears +nothing but that fatal knell. + +The words "my good man," spoken to an official of such high importance, +so perfectly exemplified the audacity with which these creatures +pour contempt on the loftiest, that the Baron was nailed to the spot. +Josepha, in white and yellow, was so beautifully dressed for the +banquet, that amid all this lavish magnificence she still shone like a +rare jewel. + +"Isn't this really fine?" said she. "The Duke has spent all the money on +it that he got out of floating a company, of which the shares all sold +at a premium. He is no fool, is my little Duke. There is nothing like a +man who has been a grandee in his time for turning coals into gold. +Just before dinner the notary brought me the title-deeds to sign and the +bills receipted!--They are all a first-class set in there--d'Esgrignon, +Rastignac, Maxime, Lenoncourt, Verneuil, Laginski, Rochefide, la +Palferine, and from among the bankers Nucingen and du Tillet, with +Antonia, Malaga, Carabine, and la Schontz; and they all feel for +you deeply.--Yes, old boy, and they hope you will join them, but on +condition that you forthwith drink up to two bottles full of Hungarian +wine, Champagne, or Cape, just to bring you up to their mark.--My dear +fellow, we are all so much _on_ here, that it was necessary to close +the Opera. The manager is as drunk as a cornet-a-piston; he is hiccuping +already." + +"Oh, Josepha!----" cried the Baron. + +"Now, can anything be more absurd than explanations?" she broke in with +a smile. "Look here; can you stand six hundred thousand francs which +this house and furniture cost? Can you give me a bond to the tune of +thirty thousand francs a year, which is what the Duke has just given +me in a packet of common sugared almonds from the grocer's?--a pretty +notion that----" + +"What an atrocity!" cried Hulot, who in his fury would have given his +wife's diamonds to stand in the Duc d'Herouville's shoes for twenty-four +hours. + +"Atrocity is my trade," said she. "So that is how you take it? Well, why +don't you float a company? Goodness me! my poor dyed Tom, you ought to +be grateful to me; I have thrown you over just when you would have spent +on me your widow's fortune, your daughter's portion.--What, tears! The +Empire is a thing of the past--I hail the coming Empire!" + +She struck a tragic attitude, and exclaimed: + + "They call you Hulot! Nay, I know you not--" + +And she went into the other room. + +Through the door, left ajar, there came, like a lightning-flash, a +streak of light with an accompaniment of the crescendo of the orgy and +the fragrance of a banquet of the choicest description. + +The singer peeped through the partly open door, and seeing Hulot +transfixed as if he had been a bronze image, she came one step forward +into the room. + +"Monsieur," said she, "I have handed over the rubbish in the Rue +Chauchat to Bixiou's little Heloise Brisetout. If you wish to claim +your cotton nightcap, your bootjack, your belt, and your wax dye, I have +stipulated for their return." + +This insolent banter made the Baron leave the room as precipitately as +Lot departed from Gomorrah, but he did not look back like Mrs. Lot. + +Hulot went home, striding along in a fury, and talking to himself; he +found his family still playing the game of whist at two sous a point, at +which he left them. On seeing her husband return, poor Adeline imagined +something dreadful, some dishonor; she gave her cards to Hortense, and +led Hector away into the very room where, only five hours since, Crevel +had foretold her the utmost disgrace of poverty. + +"What is the matter?" she said, terrified. + +"Oh, forgive me--but let me tell you all these horrors." And for ten +minutes he poured out his wrath. + +"But, my dear," said the unhappy woman, with heroic courage, "these +creatures do not know what love means--such pure and devoted love as you +deserve. How could you, so clear-sighted as you are, dream of competing +with millions?" + +"Dearest Adeline!" cried the Baron, clasping her to his heart. + +The Baroness' words had shed balm on the bleeding wounds to his vanity. + +"To be sure, take away the Duc d'Herouville's fortune, and she could not +hesitate between us!" said the Baron. + +"My dear," said Adeline with a final effort, "if you positively must +have mistresses, why do you not seek them, like Crevel, among women who +are less extravagant, and of a class that can for a time be content +with little? We should all gain by that arrangement.--I understand your +need--but I do not understand that vanity----" + +"Oh, what a kind and perfect wife you are!" cried he. "I am an old +lunatic, I do not deserve to have such a wife!" + +"I am simply the Josephine of my Napoleon," she replied, with a touch of +melancholy. + +"Josephine was not to compare with you!" said he. "Come; I will play a +game of whist with my brother and the children. I must try my hand at +the business of a family man; I must get Hortense a husband, and bury +the libertine." + +His frankness so greatly touched poor Adeline, that she said: + +"The creature has no taste to prefer any man in the world to my Hector. +Oh, I would not give you up for all the gold on earth. How can any woman +throw you over who is so happy as to be loved by you?" + +The look with which the Baron rewarded his wife's fanaticism confirmed +her in her opinion that gentleness and docility were a woman's strongest +weapons. + +But in this she was mistaken. The noblest sentiments, carried to an +excess, can produce mischief as great as do the worst vices. Bonaparte +was made Emperor for having fired on the people, at a stone's throw from +the spot where Louis XVI. lost his throne and his head because he would +not allow a certain Monsieur Sauce to be hurt. + + + +On the following morning, Hortense, who had slept with the seal under +her pillow, so as to have it close to her all night, dressed very early, +and sent to beg her father to join her in the garden as soon as he +should be down. + +By about half-past nine, the father, acceding to his daughter's +petition, gave her his arm for a walk, and they went along the quays by +the Pont Royal to the Place du Carrousel. + +"Let us look into the shop windows, papa," said Hortense, as they went +through the little gate to cross the wide square. + +"What--here?" said her father, laughing at her. + +"We are supposed to have come to see the pictures, and over there"--and +she pointed to the stalls in front of the houses at a right angle to +the Rue du Doyenne--"look! there are dealers in curiosities and +pictures----" + +"Your cousin lives there." + +"I know it, but she must not see us." + +"And what do you want to do?" said the Baron, who, finding himself +within thirty yards of Madame Marneffe's windows, suddenly remembered +her. + +Hortense had dragged her father in front of one of the shops forming the +angle of a block of houses built along the front of the Old Louvre, and +facing the Hotel de Nantes. She went into this shop; her father stood +outside, absorbed in gazing at the windows of the pretty little lady, +who, the evening before, had left her image stamped on the old beau's +heart, as if to alleviate the wound he was so soon to receive; and he +could not help putting his wife's sage advice into practice. + +"I will fall back on a simple little citizen's wife," said he to +himself, recalling Madame Marneffe's adorable graces. "Such a woman as +that will soon make me forget that grasping Josepha." + +Now, this was what was happening at the same moment outside and inside +the curiosity shop. + +As he fixed his eyes on the windows of his new _belle_, the Baron +saw the husband, who, while brushing his coat with his own hands, was +apparently on the lookout, expecting to see some one on the square. +Fearing lest he should be seen, and subsequently recognized, the +amorous Baron turned his back on the Rue du Doyenne, or rather stood at +three-quarters' face, as it were, so as to be able to glance round +from time to time. This manoeuvre brought him face to face with Madame +Marneffe, who, coming up from the quay, was doubling the promontory of +houses to go home. + +Valerie was evidently startled as she met the Baron's astonished eye, +and she responded with a prudish dropping of her eyelids. + +"A pretty woman," exclaimed he, "for whom a man would do many foolish +things." + +"Indeed, monsieur?" said she, turning suddenly, like a woman who has +just come to some vehement decision, "you are Monsieur le Baron Hulot, I +believe?" + +The Baron, more and more bewildered, bowed assent. + +"Then, as chance has twice made our eyes meet, and I am so fortunate as +to have interested or puzzled you, I may tell you that, instead of doing +anything foolish, you ought to do justice.--My husband's fate rests with +you." + +"And how may that be?" asked the gallant Baron. + +"He is employed in your department in the War Office, under Monsieur +Lebrun, in Monsieur Coquet's room," said she with a smile. + +"I am quite disposed, Madame--Madame----?" + +"Madame Marneffe." + +"Dear little Madame Marneffe, to do injustice for your sake.--I have a +cousin living in your house; I will go to see her one day soon--as soon +as possible; bring your petition to me in her rooms." + +"Pardon my boldness, Monsieur le Baron; you must understand that if +I dare to address you thus, it is because I have no friend to protect +me----" + +"Ah, ha!" + +"Monsieur, you misunderstand me," said she, lowering her eyelids. + +Hulot felt as if the sun had disappeared. + +"I am at my wits' end, but I am an honest woman!" she went on. "About +six months ago my only protector died, Marshal Montcornet--" + +"Ah! You are his daughter?" + +"Yes, monsieur; but he never acknowledged me." + +"That was that he might leave you part of his fortune." + +"He left me nothing; he made no will." + +"Indeed! Poor little woman! The Marshal died suddenly of apoplexy. But, +come, madame, hope for the best. The State must do something for the +daughter of one of the Chevalier Bayards of the Empire." + +Madame Marneffe bowed gracefully and went off, as proud of her success +as the Baron was of his. + +"Where the devil has she been so early?" thought he watching the flow +of her skirts, to which she contrived to impart a somewhat exaggerated +grace. "She looks too tired to have just come from a bath, and her +husband is waiting for her. It is strange, and puzzles me altogether." + +Madame Marneffe having vanished within, the Baron wondered what his +daughter was doing in the shop. As he went in, still staring at Madame +Marneffe's windows, he ran against a young man with a pale brow and +sparkling gray eyes, wearing a summer coat of black merino, coarse drill +trousers, and tan shoes, with gaiters, rushing away headlong; he saw him +run to the house in the Rue du Doyenne, into which he went. + +Hortense, on going into the shop, had at once recognized the famous +group, conspicuously placed on a table in the middle and in front of the +door. Even without the circumstances to which she owed her knowledge +of this masterpiece, it would probably have struck her by the peculiar +power which we must call the _brio_--the _go_--of great works; and +the girl herself might in Italy have been taken as a model for the +personification of _Brio_. + +Not every work by a man of genius has in the same degree that +brilliancy, that glory which is at once patent even to the most +ignoble beholder. Thus, certain pictures by Raphael, such as the famous +_Transfiguration_, the _Madonna di Foligno_, and the frescoes of the +_Stanze_ in the Vatican, do not at first captivate our admiration, as +do the _Violin-player_ in the Sciarra Palace, the portraits of the Doria +family, and the _Vision of Ezekiel_ in the Pitti Gallery, the _Christ +bearing His Cross_ in the Borghese collection, and the _Marriage of +the Virgin_ in the Brera at Milan. The _Saint John the Baptist_ of +the Tribuna, and _Saint Luke painting the Virgin's portrait_ in the +Accademia at Rome, have not the charm of the _Portrait of Leo X._, and +of the _Virgin_ at Dresden. + +And yet they are all of equal merit. Nay, more. The _Stanze_, the +_Transfiguration_, the panels, and the three easel pictures in the +Vatican are in the highest degree perfect and sublime. But they demand +a stress of attention, even from the most accomplished beholder, and +serious study, to be fully understood; while the _Violin-player_, the +_Marriage of the Virgin_, and the _Vision of Ezekiel_ go straight to the +heart through the portal of sight, and make their home there. It is +a pleasure to receive them thus without an effort; if it is not the +highest phase of art, it is the happiest. This fact proves that, in the +begetting of works of art, there is as much chance in the character of +the offspring as there is in a family of children; that some will +be happily graced, born beautiful, and costing their mothers little +suffering, creatures on whom everything smiles, and with whom everything +succeeds; in short, genius, like love, has its fairer blossoms. + +This _brio_, an Italian word which the French have begun to use, is +characteristic of youthful work. It is the fruit of an impetus and fire +of early talent--an impetus which is met with again later in some happy +hours; but this particular _brio_ no longer comes from the artist's +heart; instead of his flinging it into his work as a volcano flings up +its fires, it comes to him from outside, inspired by circumstances, by +love, or rivalry, often by hatred, and more often still by the imperious +need of glory to be lived up to. + +This group by Wenceslas was to his later works what the _Marriage of the +Virgin_ is to the great mass of Raphael's, the first step of a gifted +artist taken with the inimitable grace, the eagerness, and delightful +overflowingness of a child, whose strength is concealed under the +pink-and-white flesh full of dimples which seem to echo to a mother's +laughter. Prince Eugene is said to have paid four hundred thousand +francs for this picture, which would be worth a million to any nation +that owned no picture by Raphael, but no one would give that sum for the +finest of the frescoes, though their value is far greater as works of +art. + +Hortense restrained her admiration, for she reflected on the amount of +her girlish savings; she assumed an air of indifference, and said to the +dealer: + +"What is the price of that?" + +"Fifteen hundred francs," replied the man, sending a glance of +intelligence to a young man seated on a stool in the corner. + +The young man himself gazed in a stupefaction at Monsieur Hulot's living +masterpiece. Hortense, forewarned, at once identified him as the artist, +from the color that flushed a face pale with endurance; she saw the +spark lighted up in his gray eyes by her question; she looked on the +thin, drawn features, like those of a monk consumed by asceticism; she +loved the red, well-formed mouth, the delicate chin, and the Pole's +silky chestnut hair. + +"If it were twelve hundred," said she, "I would beg you to send it to +me." + +"It is antique, mademoiselle," the dealer remarked, thinking, like +all his fraternity, that, having uttered this _ne plus ultra_ of +bric-a-brac, there was no more to be said. + +"Excuse me, monsieur," she replied very quietly, "it was made this year; +I came expressly to beg you, if my price is accepted, to send the +artist to see us, as it might be possible to procure him some important +commissions." + +"And if he is to have the twelve hundred francs, what am I to get? I am +the dealer," said the man, with candid good-humor. + +"To be sure!" replied the girl, with a slight curl of disdain. + +"Oh! mademoiselle, take it; I will make terms with the dealer," cried +the Livonian, beside himself. + +Fascinated by Hortense's wonderful beauty and the love of art she +displayed, he added: + +"I am the sculptor of the group, and for ten days I have come here three +times a day to see if anybody would recognize its merit and bargain for +it. You are my first admirer--take it!" + +"Come, then, monsieur, with the dealer, an hour hence.--Here is my +father's card," replied Hortense. + +Then, seeing the shopkeeper go into a back room to wrap the group in a +piece of linen rag, she added in a low voice, to the great astonishment +of the artist, who thought he must be dreaming: + +"For the benefit of your future prospects, Monsieur Wenceslas, do not +mention the name of the purchaser to Mademoiselle Fischer, for she is +our cousin." + +The word cousin dazzled the artist's mind; he had a glimpse of Paradise +whence this daughter of Eve had come to him. He had dreamed of the +beautiful girl of whom Lisbeth had told him, as Hortense had dreamed of +her cousin's lover; and, as she had entered the shop-- + +"Ah!" thought he, "if she could but be like this!" + +The look that passed between the lovers may be imagined; it was a flame, +for virtuous lovers have no hypocrisies. + +"Well, what the deuce are you doing here?" her father asked her. + +"I have been spending twelve hundred francs that I had saved. Come." And +she took her father's arm. + +"Twelve hundred francs?" he repeated. + +"To be exact, thirteen hundred; you will lend me the odd hundred?" + +"And on what, in such a place, could you spend so much?" + +"Ah! that is the question!" replied the happy girl. "If I have got a +husband, he is not dear at the money." + +"A husband! In that shop, my child?" + +"Listen, dear little father; would you forbid my marrying a great +artist?" + +"No, my dear. A great artist in these days is a prince without a +title--he has glory and fortune, the two chief social advantages--next +to virtue," he added, in a smug tone. + +"Oh, of course!" said Hortense. "And what do you think of sculpture?" + +"It is very poor business," replied Hulot, shaking his head. "It needs +high patronage as well as great talent, for Government is the only +purchaser. It is an art with no demand nowadays, where there are no +princely houses, no great fortunes, no entailed mansions, no hereditary +estates. Only small pictures and small figures can find a place; the +arts are endangered by this need of small things." + +"But if a great artist could find a demand?" said Hortense. + +"That indeed would solve the problem." + +"Or had some one to back him?" + +"That would be even better." + +"If he were of noble birth?" + +"Pooh!" + +"A Count." + +"And a sculptor?" + +"He has no money." + +"And so he counts on that of Mademoiselle Hortense Hulot?" said the +Baron ironically, with an inquisitorial look into his daughter's eyes. + +"This great artist, a Count and a sculptor, has just seen your daughter +for the first time in his life, and for the space of five minutes, +Monsieur le Baron," Hortense calmly replied. "Yesterday, you must know, +dear little father, while you were at the Chamber, mamma had a fainting +fit. This, which she ascribed to a nervous attack, was the result of +some worry that had to do with the failure of my marriage, for she told +me that to get rid of me---" + +"She is too fond of you to have used an expression----" + +"So unparliamentary!" Hortense put in with a laugh. "No, she did not use +those words; but I know that a girl old enough to marry and who does not +find a husband is a heavy cross for respectable parents to bear.--Well, +she thinks that if a man of energy and talent could be found, who would +be satisfied with thirty thousand francs for my marriage portion, we +might all be happy. In fact, she thought it advisable to prepare me for +the modesty of my future lot, and to hinder me from indulging in too +fervid dreams.--Which evidently meant an end to the intended marriage, +and no settlements for me!" + +"Your mother is a very good woman, noble, admirable!" replied the +father, deeply humiliated, though not sorry to hear this confession. + +"She told me yesterday that she had your permission to sell her diamonds +so as to give me something to marry on; but I should like her to keep +her jewels, and to find a husband myself. I think I have found the man, +the possible husband, answering to mamma's prospectus----" + +"There?--in the Place du Carrousel?--and in one morning?" + +"Oh, papa, the mischief lies deeper!" said she archly. + +"Well, come, my child, tell the whole story to your good old father," +said he persuasively, and concealing his uneasiness. + +Under promise of absolute secrecy, Hortense repeated the upshot of her +various conversations with her Cousin Betty. Then, when they got home, +she showed the much-talked-of-seal to her father in evidence of the +sagacity of her views. The father, in the depth of his heart, wondered +at the skill and acumen of girls who act on instinct, discerning the +simplicity of the scheme which her idealized love had suggested in the +course of a single night to his guileless daughter. + +"You will see the masterpiece I have just bought; it is to be brought +home, and that dear Wenceslas is to come with the dealer.--The man who +made that group ought to make a fortune; only use your influence to get +him an order for a statue, and rooms at the Institut----" + +"How you run on!" cried her father. "Why, if you had your own way, you +would be man and wife within the legal period--in eleven days----" + +"Must we wait so long?" said she, laughing. "But I fell in love with him +in five minutes, as you fell in love with mamma at first sight. And he +loves me as if we had known each other for two years. Yes," she said in +reply to her father's look, "I read ten volumes of love in his eyes. And +will not you and mamma accept him as my husband when you see that he +is a man of genius? Sculpture is the greatest of the Arts," she cried, +clapping her hands and jumping. "I will tell you everything----" + +"What, is there more to come?" asked her father, smiling. + +The child's complete and effervescent innocence had restored her +father's peace of mind. + +"A confession of the first importance," said she. "I loved him without +knowing him; and, for the last hour, since seeing him, I am crazy about +him." + +"A little too crazy!" said the Baron, who was enjoying the sight of this +guileless passion. + +"Do not punish me for confiding in you," replied she. "It is so +delightful to say to my father's heart, 'I love him! I am so happy in +loving him!'--You will see my Wenceslas! His brow is so sad. The sun +of genius shines in his gray eyes--and what an air he has! What do you +think of Livonia? Is it a fine country?--The idea of Cousin Betty's +marrying that young fellow! She might be his mother. It would be murder! +I am quite jealous of all she has ever done for him. But I don't think +my marriage will please her." + +"See, my darling, we must hide nothing from your mother." + +"I should have to show her the seal, and I promised not to betray Cousin +Lisbeth, who is afraid, she says, of mamma's laughing at her," said +Hortense. + +"You have scruples about the seal, and none about robbing your cousin of +her lover." + +"I promised about the seal--I made no promise about the sculptor." + +This adventure, patriarchal in its simplicity, came admirably _a propos_ +to the unconfessed poverty of the family; the Baron, while praising +his daughter for her candor, explained to her that she must now leave +matters to the discretion of her parents. + +"You understand, my child, that it is not your part to ascertain whether +your cousin's lover is a Count, if he has all his papers properly +certified, and if his conduct is a guarantee for his respectability.--As +for your cousin, she refused five offers when she was twenty years +younger; that will prove no obstacle, I undertake to say." + +"Listen to me, papa; if you really wish to see me married, never say a +word to Lisbeth about it till just before the contract is signed. I have +been catechizing her about this business for the last six months! Well, +there is something about her quite inexplicable----" + +"What?" said her father, puzzled. + +"Well, she looks evil when I say too much, even in joke, about her +lover. Make inquiries, but leave me to row my own boat. My confidence +ought to reassure you." + +"The Lord said, 'Suffer little children to come unto Me.' You are one +of those who have come back again," replied the Baron with a touch of +irony. + +After breakfast the dealer was announced, and the artist with his group. +The sudden flush that reddened her daughter's face at once made the +Baroness suspicious and then watchful, and the girl's confusion and +the light in her eyes soon betrayed the mystery so badly guarded in her +simple heart. + +Count Steinbock, dressed in black, struck the Baron as a very +gentlemanly young man. + +"Would you undertake a bronze statue?" he asked, as he held up the +group. + +After admiring it on trust, he passed it on to his wife, who knew +nothing about sculpture. + +"It is beautiful, isn't it, mamma?" said Hortense in her mother' ear. + +"A statue! Monsieur, it is less difficult to execute a statue than to +make a clock like this, which my friend here has been kind enough to +bring," said the artist in reply. + +The dealer was placing on the dining-room sideboard the wax model of the +twelve Hours that the Loves were trying to delay. + +"Leave the clock with me," said the Baron, astounded at the beauty of +the sketch. "I should like to show it to the Ministers of the Interior +and of Commerce." + +"Who is the young man in whom you take so much interest?" the Baroness +asked her daughter. + +"An artist who could afford to execute this model could get a hundred +thousand francs for it," said the curiosity-dealer, putting on a +knowing and mysterious look as he saw that the artist and the girl were +interchanging glances. "He would only need to sell twenty copies +at eight thousand francs each--for the materials would cost about a +thousand crowns for each example. But if each copy were numbered and +the mould destroyed, it would certainly be possible to meet with twenty +amateurs only too glad to possess a replica of such a work." + +"A hundred thousand francs!" cried Steinbock, looking from the dealer to +Hortense, the Baron, and the Baroness. + +"Yes, a hundred thousand francs," repeated the dealer. "If I were rich +enough, I would buy it of you myself for twenty thousand francs; for by +destroying the mould it would become a valuable property. But one of the +princes ought to pay thirty or forty thousand francs for such a work to +ornament his drawing-room. No man has ever succeeded in making a clock +satisfactory alike to the vulgar and to the connoisseur, and this one, +sir, solves the difficulty." + +"This is for yourself, monsieur," said Hortense, giving six gold pieces +to the dealer. + +"Never breath a word of this visit to any one living," said the artist +to his friend, at the door. "If you should be asked where we sold the +group, mention the Duc d'Herouville, the famous collector in the Rue de +Varenne." + +The dealer nodded assent. + +"And your name?" said Hulot to the artist when he came back. + +"Count Steinbock." + +"Have you the papers that prove your identity?" + +"Yes, Monsieur le Baron. They are in Russian and in German, but not +legalized." + +"Do you feel equal to undertaking a statue nine feet high?" + +"Yes, monsieur." + +"Well, then, if the persons whom I shall consult are satisfied with +your work, I can secure you the commission for the statue of Marshal +Montcornet, which is to be erected on his monument at Pere-Lachaise. +The Minister of War and the old officers of the Imperial Guard have +subscribed a sum large enough to enable us to select our artist." + +"Oh, monsieur, it will make my fortune!" exclaimed Steinbock, +overpowered by so much happiness at once. + +"Be easy," replied the Baron graciously. "If the two ministers to whom +I propose to show your group and this sketch in wax are delighted with +these two pieces, your prospects of a fortune are good." + +Hortense hugged her father's arm so tightly as to hurt him. + +"Bring me your papers, and say nothing of your hopes to anybody, not +even to our old Cousin Betty." + +"Lisbeth?" said Madame Hulot, at last understanding the end of all this, +though unable to guess the means. + +"I could give proof of my skill by making a bust of the Baroness," added +Wenceslas. + +The artist, struck by Madame Hulot's beauty, was comparing the mother +and daughter. + +"Indeed, monsieur, life may smile upon you," said the Baron, quite +charmed by Count Steinbock's refined and elegant manner. "You will find +out that in Paris no man is clever for nothing, and that persevering +toil always finds its reward here." + +Hortense, with a blush, held out to the young man a pretty Algerine +purse containing sixty gold pieces. The artist, with something still +of a gentleman's pride, responded with a mounting color easy enough to +interpret. + +"This, perhaps, is the first money your works have brought you?" said +Adeline. + +"Yes, madame--my works of art. It is not the first-fruits of my labor, +for I have been a workman." + +"Well, we must hope my daughter's money will bring you good luck," said +she. + +"And take it without scruple," added the Baron, seeing that Wenceslas +held the purse in his hand instead of pocketing it. "The sum will +be repaid by some rich man, a prince perhaps, who will offer it with +interest to possess so fine a work." + +"Oh, I want it too much myself, papa, to give it up to anybody in the +world, even a royal prince!" + +"I can make a far prettier thing than that for you, mademoiselle." + +"But it would not be this one," replied she; and then, as if ashamed of +having said too much, she ran out into the garden. + +"Then I shall break the mould and the model as soon as I go home," said +Steinbock. + +"Fetch me your papers, and you will hear of me before long, if you are +equal to what I expect of you, monsieur." + +The artist on this could but take leave. After bowing to Madame Hulot +and Hortense, who came in from the garden on purpose, he went off to +walk in the Tuileries, not bearing--not daring--to return to his attic, +where his tyrant would pelt him with questions and wring his secret from +him. + +Hortense's adorer conceived of groups and statues by the hundred; he +felt strong enough to hew the marble himself, like Canova, who was also +a feeble man, and nearly died of it. He was transfigured by Hortense, +who was to him inspiration made visible. + +"Now then," said the Baroness to her daughter, "what does all this +mean?" + +"Well, dear mamma, you have just seen Cousin Lisbeth's lover, who now, I +hope, is mine. But shut your eyes, know nothing. Good Heavens! I was to +keep it all from you, and I cannot help telling you everything----" + +"Good-bye, children!" said the Baron, kissing his wife and daughter; "I +shall perhaps go to call on the Nanny, and from her I shall hear a great +deal about our young man." + +"Papa, be cautious!" said Hortense. + +"Oh! little girl!" cried the Baroness when Hortense had poured out her +poem, of which the morning's adventure was the last canto, "dear little +girl, Artlessness will always be the artfulest puss on earth!" + +Genuine passions have an unerring instinct. Set a greedy man before a +dish of fruit and he will make no mistake, but take the choicest even +without seeing it. In the same way, if you allow a girl who is well +brought up to choose a husband for herself, if she is in a position to +meet the man of her heart, rarely will she blunder. The act of nature in +such cases is known as love at first sight; and in love, first sight is +practically second sight. + +The Baroness' satisfaction, though disguised under maternal dignity, was +as great as her daughter's; for, of the three ways of marrying Hortense +of which Crevel had spoken, the best, as she opined, was about to be +realized. And she regarded this little drama as an answer by Providence +to her fervent prayers. + + + +Mademoiselle Fischer's galley slave, obliged at last to go home, thought +he might hide his joy as a lover under his glee as an artist rejoicing +over his first success. + +"Victory! my group is sold to the Duc d'Herouville, who is going to give +me some commissions," cried he, throwing the twelve hundred francs in +gold on the table before the old maid. + +He had, as may be supposed concealed Hortense's purse; it lay next to +his heart. + +"And a very good thing too," said Lisbeth. "I was working myself to +death. You see, child, money comes in slowly in the business you have +taken up, for this is the first you have earned, and you have been +grinding at it for near on five years now. That money barely repays me +for what you have cost me since I took your promissory note; that is +all I have got by my savings. But be sure of one thing," she said, after +counting the gold, "this money will all be spent on you. There is enough +there to keep us going for a year. In a year you may now be able to pay +your debt and have a snug little sum of your own, if you go on in the +same way." + +Wenceslas, finding his trick successful, expatiated on the Duc +d'Herouville. + +"I will fit you out in a black suit, and get you some new linen," said +Lisbeth, "for you must appear presentably before your patrons; and then +you must have a larger and better apartment than your horrible garret, +and furnish it property.--You look so bright, you are not like the same +creature," she added, gazing at Wenceslas. + +"But my work is pronounced a masterpiece." + +"Well, so much the better! Do some more," said the arid creature, who +was nothing but practical, and incapable of understanding the joy of +triumph or of beauty in Art. "Trouble your head no further about what +you have sold; make something else to sell. You have spent two hundred +francs in money, to say nothing of your time and your labor, on that +devil of a _Samson_. Your clock will cost you more than two thousand +francs to execute. I tell you what, if you will listen to me, you will +finish the two little boys crowning the little girl with cornflowers; +that would just suit the Parisians.--I will go round to Monsieur Graff +the tailor before going to Monsieur Crevel.--Go up now and leave me to +dress." + +Next day the Baron, perfectly crazy about Madame Marneffe, went to see +Cousin Betty, who was considerably amazed on opening the door to see who +her visitor was, for he had never called on her before. She at once said +to herself, "Can it be that Hortense wants my lover?"--for she had heard +the evening before, at Monsieur Crevel's, that the marriage with the +Councillor of the Supreme Court was broken off. + +"What, Cousin! you here? This is the first time you have ever been to +see me, and it is certainly not for love of my fine eyes that you have +come now." + +"Fine eyes is the truth," said the Baron; "you have as fine eyes as I +have ever seen----" + +"Come, what are you here for? I really am ashamed to receive you in such +a kennel." + +The outer room of the two inhabited by Lisbeth served her as +sitting-room, dining-room, kitchen, and workroom. The furniture was such +as beseemed a well-to-do artisan--walnut-wood chairs with straw seats, +a small walnut-wood dining table, a work table, some colored prints in +black wooden frames, short muslin curtains to the windows, the floor +well polished and shining with cleanliness, not a speck of dust +anywhere, but all cold and dingy, like a picture by Terburg in every +particular, even to the gray tone given by a wall paper once blue and +now faded to gray. As to the bedroom, no human being had ever penetrated +its secrets. + +The Baron took it all in at a glance, saw the sign-manual of commonness +on every detail, from the cast-iron stove to the household utensils, and +his gorge rose as he said to himself, "And _this_ is virtue!--What am I +here for?" said he aloud. "You are far too cunning not to guess, and +I had better tell you plainly," cried he, sitting down and looking out +across the courtyard through an opening he made in the puckered curtain. +"There is a very pretty woman in the house----" + +"Madame Marneffe! Now I understand!" she exclaimed, seeing it all. "But +Josepha?" + +"Alas, Cousin, Josepha is no more. I was turned out of doors like a +discarded footman." + +"And you would like...?" said Lisbeth, looking at the Baron with the +dignity of a prude on her guard a quarter of an hour too soon. + +"As Madame Marneffe is very much the lady, and the wife of an employe, +you can meet her without compromising yourself," the Baron went on, "and +I should like to see you neighborly. Oh! you need not be alarmed; she +will have the greatest consideration for the cousin of her husband's +chief." + +At this moment the rustle of a gown was heard on the stairs and the +footstep of a woman wearing the thinnest boots. The sound ceased on the +landing. There was a tap at the door, and Madame Marneffe came in. + +"Pray excuse me, mademoiselle, for thus intruding upon you, but I failed +to find you yesterday when I came to call; we are near neighbors; and +if I had known that you were related to Monsieur le Baron, I should long +since have craved your kind interest with him. I saw him come in, so I +took the liberty of coming across; for my husband, Monsieur le Baron, +spoke to me of a report on the office clerks which is to be laid before +the minister to-morrow." + +She seemed quite agitated and nervous--but she had only run upstairs. + +"You have no need to play the petitioner, fair lady," replied the Baron. +"It is I who should ask the favor of seeing you." + +"Very well, if mademoiselle allows it, pray come!" said Madame Marneffe. + +"Yes--go, Cousin, I will join you," said Lisbeth judiciously. + +The Parisienne had so confidently counted on the chief's visit and +intelligence, that not only had she dressed herself for so important +an interview--she had dressed her room. Early in the day it had been +furnished with flowers purchased on credit. Marneffe had helped his +wife to polish the furniture, down to the smallest objects, washing, +brushing, and dusting everything. Valerie wished to be found in an +atmosphere of sweetness, to attract the chief and to please him enough +to have a right to be cruel; to tantalize him as a child would, with all +the tricks of fashionable tactics. She had gauged Hulot. Give a Paris +woman at bay four-and-twenty hours, and she will overthrow a ministry. + +The man of the Empire, accustomed to the ways to the Empire, was no +doubt quite ignorant of the ways of modern love-making, of the scruples +in vogue and the various styles of conversation invented since 1830, +which led to the poor weak woman being regarded as the victim of +her lover's desires--a Sister of Charity salving a wound, an angel +sacrificing herself. + +This modern art of love uses a vast amount of evangelical phrases in the +service of the Devil. Passion is martyrdom. Both parties aspire to the +Ideal, to the Infinite; love is to make them so much better. All these +fine words are but a pretext for putting increased ardor into the +practical side of it, more frenzy into a fall than of old. This +hypocrisy, a characteristic of the times, is a gangrene in gallantry. +The lovers are both angels, and they behave, if they can, like two +devils. + +Love had no time for such subtle analysis between two campaigns, and in +1809 its successes were as rapid as those of the Empire. So, under the +Restoration, the handsome Baron, a lady's man once more, had begun by +consoling some old friends now fallen from the political firmament, +like extinguished stars, and then, as he grew old, was captured by Jenny +Cadine and Josepha. + +Madame Marneffe had placed her batteries after due study of the Baron's +past life, which her husband had narrated in much detail, after picking +up some information in the offices. The comedy of modern sentiment might +have the charm of novelty to the Baron; Valerie had made up her mind as +to her scheme; and we may say the trial of her power that she made this +morning answered her highest expectations. Thanks to her manoeuvres, +sentimental, high-flown, and romantic, Valerie, without committing +herself to any promises, obtained for her husband the appointment as +deputy head of the office and the Cross of the Legion of Honor. + +The campaign was not carried out without little dinners at the _Rocher +de Cancale_, parties to the play, and gifts in the form of lace, +scarves, gowns, and jewelry. The apartment in the Rue du Doyenne was not +satisfactory; the Baron proposed to furnish another magnificently in a +charming new house in the Rue Vanneau. + +Monsieur Marneffe got a fortnight's leave, to be taken a month hence +for urgent private affairs in the country, and a present in money; +he promised himself that he would spend both in a little town in +Switzerland, studying the fair sex. + +While Monsieur Hulot thus devoted himself to the lady he was +"protecting," he did not forget the young artist. Comte Popinot, +Minister of Commerce, was a patron of Art; he paid two thousand francs +for a copy of the _Samson_ on condition that the mould should be broken, +and that there should be no _Samson_ but his and Mademoiselle Hulot's. +The group was admired by a Prince, to whom the model sketch for the +clock was also shown, and who ordered it; but that again was to be +unique, and he offered thirty thousand francs for it. + +Artists who were consulted, and among them Stidmann, were of opinion +that the man who had sketched those two models was capable of achieving +a statue. The Marshal Prince de Wissembourg, Minister of War, and +President of the Committee for the subscriptions to the monument of +Marshal Montcornet, called a meeting, at which it was decided that the +execution of the work should be placed in Steinbock's hands. The Comte +de Rastignac, at that time Under-secretary of State, wished to possess a +work by the artist, whose glory was waxing amid the acclamations of +his rivals. Steinbock sold to him the charming group of two little boys +crowning a little girl, and he promised to secure for the sculptor a +studio attached to the Government marble-quarries, situated, as all the +world knows, at Le Gros-Caillou. + +This was a success, such success as is won in Paris, that is to say, +stupendous success, that crushes those whose shoulders and loins are not +strong enough to bear it--as, be it said, not unfrequently is the case. +Count Wenceslas Steinbock was written about in all the newspapers and +reviews without his having the least suspicion of it, any more than +had Mademoiselle Fischer. Every day, as soon as Lisbeth had gone out to +dinner, Wenceslas went to the Baroness' and spent an hour or two there, +excepting on the evenings when Lisbeth dined with the Hulots. + + + +This state of things lasted for several days. + +The Baron, assured of Count Steinbock's titles and position; the +Baroness, pleased with his character and habits; Hortense, proud of her +permitted love and of her suitor's fame, none of them hesitated to speak +of the marriage; in short, the artist was in the seventh heaven, when an +indiscretion on Madame Marneffe's part spoilt all. + +And this was how. + +Lisbeth, whom the Baron wished to see intimate with Madame Marneffe, +that she might keep an eye on the couple, had already dined with +Valerie; and she, on her part, anxious to have an ear in the Hulot +house, made much of the old maid. It occurred to Valerie to invite +Mademoiselle Fischer to a house-warming in the new apartments she was +about to move into. Lisbeth, glad to have found another house to +dine in, and bewitched by Madame Marneffe, had taken a great fancy to +Valerie. Of all the persons she had made acquaintance with, no one had +taken so much pains to please her. In fact, Madame Marneffe, full of +attentions for Mademoiselle Fischer, found herself in the position +towards Lisbeth that Lisbeth held towards the Baroness, Monsieur Rivet, +Crevel, and the others who invited her to dinner. + +The Marneffes had excited Lisbeth's compassion by allowing her to see +the extreme poverty of the house, while varnishing it as usual with +the fairest colors; their friends were under obligations to them and +ungrateful; they had had much illness; Madame Fortin, her mother, had +never known of their distress, and had died believing herself wealthy to +the end, thanks to their superhuman efforts--and so forth. + +"Poor people!" said she to her Cousin Hulot, "you are right to do what +you can for them; they are so brave and so kind! They can hardly live on +the thousand crowns he gets as deputy-head of the office, for they have +got into debt since Marshal Montcornet's death. It is barbarity on the +part of the Government to suppose that a clerk with a wife and family +can live in Paris on two thousand four hundred francs a year." + +And so, within a very short time, a young woman who affected regard for +her, who told her everything, and consulted her, who flattered her, +and seemed ready to yield to her guidance, had become dearer to the +eccentric Cousin Lisbeth than all her relations. + +The Baron, on his part, admiring in Madame Marneffe such propriety, +education, and breeding as neither Jenny Cadine nor Josepha, nor any +friend of theirs had to show, had fallen in love with her in a +month, developing a senile passion, a senseless passion, which had an +appearance of reason. In fact, he found here neither the banter, nor the +orgies, nor the reckless expenditure, nor the depravity, nor the scorn +of social decencies, nor the insolent independence which had brought him +to grief alike with the actress and the singer. He was spared, too, the +rapacity of the courtesan, like unto the thirst of dry sand. + +Madame Marneffe, of whom he had made a friend and confidante, made the +greatest difficulties over accepting any gift from him. + +"Appointments, official presents, anything you can extract from the +Government; but do not begin by insulting a woman whom you profess to +love," said Valerie. "If you do, I shall cease to believe you--and +I like to believe you," she added, with a glance like Saint Theresa +leering at heaven. + +Every time he made her a present there was a fortress to be stormed, a +conscience to be over-persuaded. The hapless Baron laid deep stratagems +to offer her some trifle--costly, nevertheless--proud of having at last +met with virtue and the realization of his dreams. In this primitive +household, as he assured himself, he was the god as much as in his own. +And Monsieur Marneffe seemed at a thousand leagues from suspecting that +the Jupiter of his office intended to descend on his wife in a shower of +gold; he was his august chief's humblest slave. + +Madame Marneffe, twenty-three years of age, a pure and bashful +middle-class wife, a blossom hidden in the Rue du Doyenne, could know +nothing of the depravity and demoralizing harlotry which the Baron could +no longer think of without disgust, for he had never known the charm +of recalcitrant virtue, and the coy Valerie made him enjoy it to the +utmost--all along the line, as the saying goes. + +The question having come to this point between Hector and Valerie, it is +not astonishing that Valerie should have heard from Hector the secret of +the intended marriage between the great sculptor Steinbock and Hortense +Hulot. Between a lover on his promotion and a lady who hesitates +long before becoming his mistress, there are contests, uttered or +unexpressed, in which a word often betrays a thought; as, in fencing, +the foils fly as briskly as the swords in duel. Then a prudent man +follows the example of Monsieur de Turenne. Thus the Baron had hinted at +the greater freedom his daughter's marriage would allow him, in reply to +the tender Valerie, who more than once had exclaimed: + +"I cannot imagine how a woman can go wrong for a man who is not wholly +hers." + +And a thousand times already the Baron had declared that for +five-and-twenty years all had been at an end between Madame Hulot and +himself. + +"And they say she is so handsome!" replied Madame Marneffe. "I want +proof." + +"You shall have it," said the Baron, made happy by this demand, by which +his Valerie committed herself. + +Hector had then been compelled to reveal his plans, already being +carried into effect in the Rue Vanneau, to prove to Valerie that he +intended to devote to her that half of his life which belonged to his +lawful wife, supposing that day and night equally divide the existence +of civilized humanity. He spoke of decently deserting his wife, leaving +her to herself as soon as Hortense should be married. The Baroness would +then spend all her time with Hortense or the young Hulot couple; he was +sure of her submission. + +"And then, my angel, my true life, my real home will be in the Rue +Vanneau." + +"Bless me, how you dispose of me!" said Madame Marneffe. "And my +husband----" + +"That rag!" + +"To be sure, as compared with you so he is!" said she with a laugh. + +Madame Marneffe, having heard Steinbock's history, was frantically eager +to see the young Count; perhaps she wished to have some trifle of his +work while they still lived under the same roof. This curiosity so +seriously annoyed the Baron that Valerie swore to him that she would +never even look at Wenceslas. But though she obtained, as the reward +of her surrender of this wish, a little tea-service of old Sevres _pate +tendre_, she kept her wish at the bottom of her heart, as if written on +tablets. + +So one day when she had begged "_my_ Cousin Betty" to come to take +coffee with her in her room, she opened on the subject of her lover, to +know how she might see him without risk. + +"My dear child," said she, for they called each my dear, "why have you +never introduced your lover to me? Do you know that within a short time +he has become famous?" + +"He famous?" + +"He is the one subject of conversation." + +"Pooh!" cried Lisbeth. + +"He is going to execute the statue of my father, and I could be of great +use to him and help him to succeed in the work; for Madame Montcornet +cannot lend him, as I can, a miniature by Sain, a beautiful thing +done in 1809, before the Wagram Campaign, and given to my poor +mother--Montcornet when he was young and handsome." + +Sain and Augustin between them held the sceptre of miniature painting +under the Empire. + +"He is going to make a statue, my dear, did you say?" + +"Nine feet high--by the orders of the Minister of War. Why, where have +you dropped from that I should tell you the news? Why, the Government is +going to give Count Steinbock rooms and a studio at Le Gros-Caillou, +the depot for marble; your Pole will be made the Director, I should not +wonder, with two thousand francs a year and a ring on his finger." + +"How do you know all this when I have heard nothing about it?" said +Lisbeth at last, shaking off her amazement. + +"Now, my dear little Cousin Betty," said Madame Marneffe, in an +insinuating voice, "are you capable of devoted friendship, put to any +test? Shall we henceforth be sisters? Will you swear to me never to have +a secret from me any more than I from you--to act as my spy, as I will +be yours?--Above all, will you pledge yourself never to betray me either +to my husband or to Monsieur Hulot, and never reveal that it was I who +told you----?" + +Madame Marneffe broke off in this spurring harangue; Lisbeth frightened +her. The peasant-woman's face was terrible; her piercing black eyes +had the glare of the tiger's; her face was like that we ascribe to a +pythoness; she set her teeth to keep them from chattering, and her whole +frame quivered convulsively. She had pushed her clenched fingers under +her cap to clutch her hair and support her head, which felt too heavy; +she was on fire. The smoke of the flame that scorched her seemed to +emanate from her wrinkles as from the crevasses rent by a volcanic +eruption. It was a startling spectacle. + +"Well, why do you stop?" she asked in a hollow voice. "I will be all to +you that I have been to him.--Oh, I would have given him my life-blood!" + +"You loved him then?" + +"Like a child of my own!" + +"Well, then," said Madame Marneffe, with a breath of relief, "if you +only love him in that way, you will be very happy--for you wish him to +be happy?" + +Lisbeth replied by a nod as hasty as a madwoman's. + +"He is to marry your Cousin Hortense in a month's time." + +"Hortense!" shrieked the old maid, striking her forehead, and starting +to her feet. + +"Well, but then you were really in love with this young man?" asked +Valerie. + +"My dear, we are bound for life and death, you and I," said Mademoiselle +Fischer. "Yes, if you have any love affairs, to me they are sacred. Your +vices will be virtues in my eyes.--For I shall need your vices!" + +"Then did you live with him?" asked Valerie. + +"No; I meant to be a mother to him." + +"I give it up. I cannot understand," said Valerie. "In that case you are +neither betrayed nor cheated, and you ought to be very happy to see him +so well married; he is now fairly afloat. And, at any rate, your day is +over. Our artist goes to Madame Hulot's every evening as soon as you go +out to dinner." + +"Adeline!" muttered Lisbeth. "Oh, Adeline, you shall pay for this! I +will make you uglier than I am." + +"You are as pale as death!" exclaimed Valerie. "There is something +wrong?--Oh, what a fool I am! The mother and daughter must have +suspected that you would raise some obstacles in the way of this affair +since they have kept it from you," said Madame Marneffe. "But if you did +not live with the young man, my dear, all this is a greater puzzle to me +than my husband's feelings----" + +"Ah, you don't know," said Lisbeth; "you have no idea of all their +tricks. It is the last blow that kills. And how many such blows have I +had to bruise my soul! You don't know that from the time when I could +first feel, I have been victimized for Adeline. I was beaten, and she +was petted; I was dressed like a scullion, and she had clothes like a +lady's; I dug in the garden and cleaned the vegetables, and she--she +never lifted a finger for anything but to make up some finery!--She +married the Baron, she came to shine at the Emperor's Court, while I +stayed in our village till 1809, waiting for four years for a suitable +match; they brought me away, to be sure, but only to make me a +work-woman, and to offer me clerks or captains like coalheavers for a +husband! I have had their leavings for twenty-six years!--And now like +the story in the Old Testament, the poor relation has one ewe-lamb which +is all her joy, and the rich man who has flocks covets the ewe-lamb and +steals it--without warning, without asking. Adeline has meanly robbed me +of my happiness!--Adeline! Adeline! I will see you in the mire, and sunk +lower than myself!--And Hortense--I loved her, and she has cheated me. +The Baron.--No, it is impossible. Tell me again what is really true of +all this." + +"Be calm, my dear child." + +"Valerie, my darling, I will be calm," said the strange creature, +sitting down again. "One thing only can restore me to reason; give me +proofs." + +"Your Cousin Hortense has the _Samson_ group--here is a lithograph from +it published in a review. She paid for it out of her pocket-money, and +it is the Baron who, to benefit his future son-in-law, is pushing him, +getting everything for him." + +"Water!--water!" said Lisbeth, after glancing at the print, below which +she read, "A group belonging to Mademoiselle Hulot d'Ervy." "Water! my +head is burning, I am going mad!" + +Madame Marneffe fetched some water. Lisbeth took off her cap, unfastened +her black hair, and plunged her head into the basin her new friend held +for her. She dipped her forehead into it several times, and checked the +incipient inflammation. After this douche she completely recovered her +self-command. + +"Not a word," said she to Madame Marneffe as she wiped her face--"not a +word of all this.--You see, I am quite calm; everything is forgotten. I +am thinking of something very different." + +"She will be in Charenton to-morrow, that is very certain," thought +Madame Marneffe, looking at the old maid. + +"What is to be done?" Lisbeth went on. "You see, my angel, there is +nothing for it but to hold my tongue, bow my head, and drift to the +grave, as all water runs to the river. What could I try to do? I should +like to grind them all--Adeline, her daughter, and the Baron--all to +dust! But what can a poor relation do against a rich family? It would be +the story of the earthen pot and the iron pot." + +"Yes; you are right," said Valerie. "You can only pull as much hay as +you can to your side of the manger. That is all the upshot of life in +Paris." + +"Besides," said Lisbeth, "I shall soon die, I can tell you, if I lose +that boy to whom I fancied I could always be a mother, and with whom I +counted on living all my days----" + +There were tears in her eyes, and she paused. Such emotion in this woman +made of sulphur and flame, made Valerie shudder. + +"Well, at any rate, I have found you," said Lisbeth, taking Valerie's +hand, "that is some consolation in this dreadful trouble.--We shall +be true friends; and why should we ever part? I shall never cross +your track. No one will ever be in love with me!--Those who would +have married me, would only have done it to secure my Cousin Hulot's +interest. With energy enough to scale Paradise, to have to devote it to +procuring bread and water, a few rags, and a garret!--That is martyrdom, +my dear, and I have withered under it." + +She broke off suddenly, and shot a black flash into Madame Marneffe's +blue eyes, a glance that pierced the pretty woman's soul, as the point +of a dagger might have pierced her heart. + +"And what is the use of talking?" she exclaimed in reproof to herself. +"I never said so much before, believe me! The tables will be turned +yet!" she added after a pause. "As you so wisely say, let us sharpen our +teeth, and pull down all the hay we can get." + +"You are very wise," said Madame Marneffe, who had been frightened by +this scene, and had no remembrance of having uttered this maxim. "I am +sure you are right, my dear child. Life is not so long after all, and +we must make the best of it, and make use of others to contribute to our +enjoyment. Even I have learned that, young as I am. I was brought up a +spoilt child, my father married ambitiously, and almost forgot me, after +making me his idol and bringing me up like a queen's daughter! My poor +mother, who filled my head with splendid visions, died of grief at +seeing me married to an office clerk with twelve hundred francs a year, +at nine-and-thirty an aged and hardened libertine, as corrupt as +the hulks, looking on me, as others looked on you, as a means of +fortune!--Well, in that wretched man, I have found the best of husbands. +He prefers the squalid sluts he picks up at the street corners, and +leaves me free. Though he keeps all his salary to himself, he never asks +me where I get money to live on----" + +And she in her turn stopped short, as a woman does who feels herself +carried away by the torrent of her confessions; struck, too, by +Lisbeth's eager attention, she thought well to make sure of Lisbeth +before revealing her last secrets. + +"You see, dear child, how entire is my confidence in you!" she presently +added, to which Lisbeth replied by a most comforting nod. + +An oath may be taken by a look and a nod more solemnly than in a court +of justice. + +"I keep up every appearance of respectability," Valerie went on, laying +her hand on Lisbeth's as if to accept her pledge. "I am a married +woman, and my own mistress, to such a degree, that in the morning, when +Marneffe sets out for the office, if he takes it into his head to say +good-bye and finds my door locked, he goes off without a word. He cares +less for his boy than I care for one of the marble children that play +at the feet of one of the river-gods in the Tuileries. If I do not come +home to dinner, he dines quite contentedly with the maid, for the maid +is devoted to monsieur; and he goes out every evening after dinner, and +does not come in till twelve or one o'clock. Unfortunately, for a year +past, I have had no ladies' maid, which is as much as to say that I am a +widow! + +"I have had one passion, once have been happy--a rich Brazilian--who +went away a year ago--my only lapse!--He went away to sell his estates, +to realize his land, and come back to live in France. What will he find +left of his Valerie? A dunghill. Well! it is his fault and not mine; +why does he delay coming so long? Perhaps he has been wrecked--like my +virtue." + +"Good-bye, my dear," said Lisbeth abruptly; "we are friends for ever. I +love you, I esteem you, I am wholly yours! My cousin is tormenting me +to go and live in the house you are moving to, in the Rue Vanneau; but +I would not go, for I saw at once the reasons for this fresh piece of +kindness----" + +"Yes; you would have kept an eye on me, I know!" said Madame Marneffe. + +"That was, no doubt, the motive of his generosity," replied Lisbeth. "In +Paris, most beneficence is a speculation, as most acts of ingratitude +are revenge! To a poor relation you behave as you do to rats to whom +you offer a bit of bacon. Now, I will accept the Baron's offer, for this +house has grown intolerable to me. You and I have wit enough to hold our +tongues about everything that would damage us, and tell all that needs +telling. So, no blabbing--and we are friends." + +"Through thick and thin!" cried Madame Marneffe, delighted to have a +sheep-dog, a confidante, a sort of respectable aunt. "Listen to me; the +Baron is doing a great deal in the Rue Vanneau----" + +"I believe you!" interrupted Lisbeth. "He has spent thirty thousand +francs! Where he got the money, I am sure I don't know, for Josepha +the singer bled him dry.--Oh! you are in luck," she went on. "The Baron +would steal for a woman who held his heart in two little white satin +hands like yours!" + +"Well, then," said Madame Marneffe, with the liberality of such +creatures, which is mere recklessness, "look here, my dear child; +take away from here everything that may serve your turn in your new +quarters--that chest of drawers, that wardrobe and mirror, the carpet, +the curtains----" + +Lisbeth's eyes dilated with excessive joy; she was incredulous of such a +gift. + +"You are doing more for me in a breath than my rich relations have done +in thirty years!" she exclaimed. "They have never even asked themselves +whether I had any furniture at all. On his first visit, a few weeks ago, +the Baron made a rich man's face on seeing how poor I was.--Thank you, +my dear; and I will give you your money's worth, you will see how by and +by." + +Valerie went out on the landing with _her_ Cousin Betty, and the two +women embraced. + +"Pouh! How she stinks of hard work!" said the pretty little woman to +herself when she was alone. "I shall not embrace you often, my dear +cousin! At the same time, I must look sharp. She must be skilfully +managed, for she can be of use, and help me to make my fortune." + + + +Like the true Creole of Paris, Madame Marneffe abhorred trouble; she had +the calm indifference of a cat, which never jumps or runs but when +urged by necessity. To her, life must be all pleasure; and the pleasure +without difficulties. She loved flowers, provided they were brought to +her. She could not imagine going to the play but to a good box, at her +own command, and in a carriage to take her there. Valerie inherited +these courtesan tastes from her mother, on whom General Montcornet had +lavished luxury when he was in Paris, and who for twenty years had +seen all the world at her feet; who had been wasteful and prodigal, +squandering her all in the luxurious living of which the programme has +been lost since the fall of Napoleon. + +The grandees of the Empire were a match in their follies for the great +nobles of the last century. Under the Restoration the nobility cannot +forget that it has been beaten and robbed, and so, with two or three +exceptions, it has become thrifty, prudent, and stay-at-home, in short, +bourgeois and penurious. Since then, 1830 has crowned the work of 1793. +In France, henceforth, there will be great names, but no great houses, +unless there should be political changes which we can hardly foresee. +Everything takes the stamp of individuality. The wisest invest in +annuities. Family pride is destroyed. + +The bitter pressure of poverty which had stung Valerie to the quick on +the day when, to use Marneffe's expression, she had "caught on" with +Hulot, had brought the young woman to the conclusion that she would make +a fortune by means of her good looks. So, for some days, she had been +feeling the need of having a friend about her to take the place of a +mother--a devoted friend, to whom such things may be told as must be +hidden from a waiting-maid, and who could act, come and go, and think +for her, a beast of burden resigned to an unequal share of life. Now, +she, quite as keenly as Lisbeth, had understood the Baron's motives for +fostering the intimacy between his cousin and herself. + +Prompted by the formidable perspicacity of the Parisian half-breed, +who spends her days stretched on a sofa, turning the lantern of her +detective spirit on the obscurest depths of souls, sentiments, and +intrigues, she had decided on making an ally of the spy. This supremely +rash step was, perhaps premeditated; she had discerned the true nature +of this ardent creature, burning with wasted passion, and meant to +attach her to herself. Thus, their conversation was like the stone +a traveler casts into an abyss to demonstrate its depth. And Madame +Marneffe had been terrified to find this old maid a combination of Iago +and Richard III., so feeble as she seemed, so humble, and so little to +be feared. + +For that instant, Lisbeth Fischer had been her real self; that Corsican +and savage temperament, bursting the slender bonds that held it under, +had sprung up to its terrible height, as the branch of a tree flies +up from the hand of a child that has bent it down to gather the green +fruit. + +To those who study the social world, it must always be a matter of +astonishment to see the fulness, the perfection, and the rapidity with +which an idea develops in a virgin nature. + +Virginity, like every other monstrosity, has its special richness, its +absorbing greatness. Life, whose forces are always economized, +assumes in the virgin creature an incalculable power of resistance and +endurance. The brain is reinforced in the sum-total of its reserved +energy. When really chaste natures need to call on the resources of +body or soul, and are required to act or to think, they have muscles +of steel, or intuitive knowledge in their intelligence--diabolical +strength, or the black magic of the Will. + +From this point of view the Virgin Mary, even if we regard her only as +a symbol, is supremely great above every other type, whether Hindoo, +Egyptian, or Greek. Virginity, the mother of great things, _magna parens +rerum_, holds in her fair white hands the keys of the upper worlds. In +short, that grand and terrible exception deserves all the honors decreed +to her by the Catholic Church. + +Thus, in one moment, Lisbeth Fischer had become the Mohican whose +snares none can escape, whose dissimulation is inscrutable, whose swift +decisiveness is the outcome of the incredible perfection of every organ +of sense. She was Hatred and Revenge, as implacable as they are +in Italy, Spain, and the East. These two feelings, the obverse of +friendship and love carried to the utmost, are known only in lands +scorched by the sun. But Lisbeth was also a daughter of Lorraine, bent +on deceit. + +She accepted this detail of her part against her will; she began by +making a curious attempt, due to her ignorance. She fancied, as children +do, that being imprisoned meant the same thing as solitary confinement. +But this is the superlative degree of imprisonment, and that superlative +is the privilege of the Criminal Bench. + +As soon as she left Madame Marneffe, Lisbeth hurried off to Monsieur +Rivet, and found him in his office. + +"Well, my dear Monsieur Rivet," she began, when she had bolted the +door of the room. "You were quite right. Those Poles! They are low +villains--all alike, men who know neither law nor fidelity." + +"And who want to set Europe on fire," said the peaceable Rivet, "to +ruin every trade and every trader for the sake of a country that is all +bog-land, they say, and full of horrible Jews, to say nothing of the +Cossacks and the peasants--a sort of wild beasts classed by mistake with +human beings. Your Poles do not understand the times we live in; we are +no longer barbarians. War is coming to an end, my dear mademoiselle; it +went out with the Monarchy. This is the age of triumph for commerce, and +industry, and middle-class prudence, such as were the making of Holland. + +"Yes," he went on with animation, "we live in a period when nations must +obtain all they need by the legal extension of their liberties and by +the pacific action of Constitutional Institutions; that is what the +Poles do not see, and I hope---- + +"You were saying, my dear?--" he added, interrupting himself when he +saw from his work-woman's face that high politics were beyond her +comprehension. + +"Here is the schedule," said Lisbeth. "If I don't want to lose my +three thousand two hundred and ten francs, I must clap this rogue into +prison." + +"Didn't I tell you so?" cried the oracle of the Saint-Denis quarter. + +The Rivets, successor to Pons Brothers, had kept their shop still in the +Rue des Mauvaises-Paroles, in the ancient Hotel Langeais, built by that +illustrious family at the time when the nobility still gathered round +the Louvre. + +"Yes, and I blessed you on my way here," replied Lisbeth. + +"If he suspects nothing, he can be safe in prison by eight o'clock in +the morning," said Rivet, consulting the almanac to ascertain the hour +of sunrise; "but not till the day after to-morrow, for he cannot be +imprisoned till he has had notice that he is to be arrested by writ, +with the option of payment or imprisonment. And so----" + +"What an idiotic law!" exclaimed Lisbeth. "Of course the debtor +escapes." + +"He has every right to do so," said the Assessor, smiling. "So this is +the way----" + +"As to that," said Lisbeth, interrupting him, "I will take the paper and +hand it to him, saying that I have been obliged to raise the money, and +that the lender insists on this formality. I know my gentleman. He will +not even look at the paper; he will light his pipe with it." + +"Not a bad idea, not bad, Mademoiselle Fischer! Well, make your mind +easy; the job shall be done.--But stop a minute; to put your man in +prison is not the only point to be considered; you only want to indulge +in that legal luxury in order to get your money. Who is to pay you?" + +"Those who give him money." + +"To be sure; I forgot that the Minister of War had commissioned him +to erect a monument to one of our late customers. Ah! the house has +supplied many an uniform to General Montcornet; he soon blackened them +with the smoke of cannon. A brave man, he was! and he paid on the nail." + +A marshal of France may have saved the Emperor or his country; "He +paid on the nail" will always be the highest praise he can have from a +tradesman. + +"Very well. And on Saturday, Monsieur Rivet, you shall have the flat +tassels.--By the way, I am moving from the Rue du Doyenne; I am going to +live in the Rue Vanneau." + +"You are very right. I could not bear to see you in that hole which, +in spite of my aversion to the Opposition, I must say is a disgrace; I +repeat it, yes! is a disgrace to the Louvre and the Place du Carrousel. +I am devoted to Louis-Philippe, he is my idol; he is the august and +exact representative of the class on whom he founded his dynasty, and +I can never forget what he did for the trimming-makers by restoring the +National Guard----" + +"When I hear you speak so, Monsieur Rivet, I cannot help wondering why +you are not made a deputy." + +"They are afraid of my attachment to the dynasty," replied Rivet. "My +political enemies are the King's. He has a noble character! They are +a fine family; in short," said he, returning to the charge, "he is our +ideal: morality, economy, everything. But the completion of the Louvre +is one of the conditions on which we gave him the crown, and the civil +list, which, I admit, had no limits set to it, leaves the heart of Paris +in a most melancholy state.--It is because I am so strongly in favor +of the middle course that I should like to see the middle of Paris in +a better condition. Your part of the town is positively terrifying. +You would have been murdered there one fine day.--And so your Monsieur +Crevel has been made Major of his division! He will come to us, I hope, +for his big epaulette." + +"I am dining with him to-night, and will send him to you." + +Lisbeth believed that she had secured her Livonian to herself by cutting +him off from all communication with the outer world. If he could no +longer work, the artist would be forgotten as completely as a man buried +in a cellar, where she alone would go to see him. Thus she had two +happy days, for she hoped to deal a mortal blow at the Baroness and her +daughter. + +To go to Crevel's house, in the Rue des Saussayes, she crossed the Pont +du Carrousel, went along the Quai Voltaire, the Quai d'Orsay, the Rue +Bellechasse, Rue de l'Universite, the Pont de la Concorde, and the +Avenue de Marigny. This illogical route was traced by the logic of +passion, always the foe of the legs. + +Cousin Betty, as long as she followed the line of the quays, kept watch +on the opposite shore of the Seine, walking very slowly. She had guessed +rightly. She had left Wenceslas dressing; she at once understood that, +as soon as he should be rid of her, the lover would go off to the +Baroness' by the shortest road. And, in fact, as she wandered along by +the parapet of the Quai Voltaire, in fancy suppressing the river and +walking along the opposite bank, she recognized the artist as he came +out of the Tuileries to cross the Pont Royal. She there came up with +the faithless one, and could follow him unseen, for lovers rarely look +behind them. She escorted him as far as Madame Hulot's house, where he +went in like an accustomed visitor. + +This crowning proof, confirming Madame Marneffe's revelations, put +Lisbeth quite beside herself. + +She arrived at the newly promoted Major's door in the state of mental +irritation which prompts men to commit murder, and found Monsieur Crevel +_senior_ in his drawing-room awaiting his children, Monsieur and Madame +Hulot _junior_. + +But Celestin Crevel was so unconscious and so perfect a type of the +Parisian parvenu, that we can scarcely venture so unceremoniously into +the presence of Cesar Birotteau's successor. Celestin Crevel was a world +in himself; and he, even more than Rivet, deserves the honors of the +palette by reason of his importance in this domestic drama. + + + +Have you ever observed how in childhood, or at the early stages of +social life, we create a model for our own imitation, with our own +hands as it were, and often without knowing it? The banker's clerk, for +instance, as he enters his master's drawing-room, dreams of possessing +such another. If he makes a fortune, it will not be the luxury of +the day, twenty years later, that you will find in his house, but the +old-fashioned splendor that fascinated him of yore. It is impossible to +tell how many absurdities are due to this retrospective jealousy; and +in the same way we know nothing of the follies due to the covert rivalry +that urges men to copy the type they have set themselves, and exhaust +their powers in shining with a reflected light, like the moon. + +Crevel was deputy mayor because his predecessor had been; he was Major +because he coveted Cesar Birotteau's epaulettes. In the same way, +struck by the marvels wrought by Grindot the architect, at the time +when Fortune had carried his master to the top of the wheel, Crevel had +"never looked at both sides of a crown-piece," to use his own language, +when he wanted to "do up" his rooms; he had gone with his purse open and +his eyes shut to Grindot, who by this time was quite forgotten. It +is impossible to guess how long an extinct reputation may survive, +supported by such stale admiration. + +So Grindot, for the thousandth time had displayed his white-and-gold +drawing-room paneled with crimson damask. The furniture, of rosewood, +clumsily carved, as such work is done for the trade, had in the country +been the source of just pride in Paris workmanship on the occasion of +an industrial exhibition. The candelabra, the fire-dogs, the fender, +the chandelier, the clock, were all in the most unmeaning style of +scroll-work; the round table, a fixture in the middle of the room, was +a mosaic of fragments of Italian and antique marbles, brought from Rome, +where these dissected maps are made of mineralogical specimens--for all +the world like tailors' patterns--an object of perennial admiration +to Crevel's citizen friends. The portraits of the late lamented Madame +Crevel, of Crevel himself, of his daughter and his son-in-law, hung +on the walls, two and two; they were the work of Pierre Grassou, the +favored painter of the bourgeoisie, to whom Crevel owed his ridiculous +Byronic attitude. The frames, costing a thousand francs each, were quite +in harmony with this coffee-house magnificence, which would have made +any true artist shrug his shoulders. + +Money never yet missed the smallest opportunity of being stupid. We +should have in Paris ten Venices if our retired merchants had had the +instinct for fine things characteristic of the Italians. Even in our own +day a Milanese merchant could leave five hundred thousand francs to +the Duomo, to regild the colossal statue of the Virgin that crowns the +edifice. Canova, in his will, desired his brother to build a church +costing four million francs, and that brother adds something on his own +account. Would a citizen of Paris--and they all, like Rivet, love their +Paris in their heart--ever dream of building the spires that are lacking +to the towers of Notre-Dame? And only think of the sums that revert to +the State in property for which no heirs are found. + +All the improvements of Paris might have been completed with the money +spent on stucco castings, gilt mouldings, and sham sculpture during the +last fifteen years by individuals of the Crevel stamp. + +Beyond this drawing-room was a splendid boudoir furnished with tables +and cabinets in imitation of Boulle. + +The bedroom, smart with chintz, also opened out of the drawing-room. +Mahogany in all its glory infested the dining-room, and Swiss views, +gorgeously framed, graced the panels. Crevel, who hoped to travel in +Switzerland, had set his heart on possessing the scenery in painting +till the time should come when he might see it in reality. + +So, as will have been seen, Crevel, the Mayor's deputy, of the Legion +of Honor and of the National Guard, had faithfully reproduced all the +magnificence, even as to furniture, of his luckless predecessor. Under +the Restoration, where one had sunk, this other, quite overlooked, had +come to the top--not by any strange stroke of fortune, but by the force +of circumstance. In revolutions, as in storms at sea, solid treasure +goes to the bottom, and light trifles are floated to the surface. Cesar +Birotteau, a Royalist, in favor and envied, had been made the mark of +bourgeois hostility, while bourgeoisie triumphant found its incarnation +in Crevel. + +This apartment, at a rent of a thousand crowns, crammed with all the +vulgar magnificence that money can buy, occupied the first floor of +a fine old house between a courtyard and a garden. Everything was as +spick-and-span as the beetles in an entomological case, for Crevel lived +very little at home. + +This gorgeous residence was the ambitious citizen's legal domicile. His +establishment consisted of a woman-cook and a valet; he hired two extra +men, and had a dinner sent in by Chevet, whenever he gave a banquet to +his political friends, to men he wanted to dazzle or to a family party. + +The seat of Crevel's real domesticity, formerly in the Rue Notre-Dame +de Lorette, with Mademoiselle Heloise Brisetout, had lately been +transferred, as we have seen, to the Rue Chauchat. Every morning the +retired merchant--every ex-tradesman is a retired merchant--spent two +hours in the Rue des Saussayes to attend to business, and gave the +rest of his time to Mademoiselle Zaire, which annoyed Zaire very much. +Orosmanes-Crevel had a fixed bargain with Mademoiselle Heloise; she owed +him five hundred francs worth of enjoyment every month, and no "bills +delivered." He paid separately for his dinner and all extras. This +agreement, with certain bonuses, for he made her a good many presents, +seemed cheap to the ex-attache of the great singer; and he would say to +widowers who were fond of their daughters, that it paid better to job +your horses than to have a stable of your own. At the same time, if the +reader remembers the speech made to the Baron by the porter at the Rue +Chauchat, Crevel did not escape the coachman and the groom. + +Crevel, as may be seen, had turned his passionate affection for his +daughter to the advantage of his self-indulgence. The immoral aspect +of the situation was justified by the highest morality. And then the +ex-perfumer derived from this style of living--it was the inevitable, +a free-and-easy life, _Regence, Pompadour, Marechal de Richelieu_, what +not--a certain veneer of superiority. Crevel set up for being a man of +broad views, a fine gentleman with an air and grace, a liberal man with +nothing narrow in his ideas--and all for the small sum of about +twelve to fifteen hundred francs a month. This was the result not of +hypocritical policy, but of middle-class vanity, though it came to the +same in the end. + +On the Bourse Crevel was regarded as a man superior to his time, and +especially as a man of pleasure, a _bon vivant_. In this particular +Crevel flattered himself that he had overtopped his worthy friend +Birotteau by a hundred cubits. + +"And is it you?" cried Crevel, flying into a rage as he saw Lisbeth +enter the room, "who have plotted this marriage between Mademoiselle +Hulot and your young Count, whom you have been bringing up by hand for +her?" + +"You don't seem best pleased at it?" said Lisbeth, fixing a piercing +eye on Crevel. "What interest can you have in hindering my cousin's +marriage? For it was you, I am told, who hindered her marrying Monsieur +Lebas' son." + +"You are a good soul and to be trusted," said Crevel. "Well, then, do +you suppose that I will ever forgive Monsieur Hulot for the crime of +having robbed me of Josepha--especially when he turned a decent girl, +whom I should have married in my old age, into a good-for-nothing slut, +a mountebank, an opera singer!--No, no. Never!" + +"He is a very good fellow, too, is Monsieur Hulot," said Cousin Betty. + +"Amiable, very amiable--too amiable," replied Crevel. "I wish him no +harm; but I do wish to have my revenge, and I will have it. It is my one +idea." + +"And is that desire the reason why you no longer visit Madame Hulot?" + +"Possibly." + +"Ah, ha! then you were courting my fair cousin?" said Lisbeth, with a +smile. "I thought as much." + +"And she treated me like a dog!--worse, like a footman; nay, I might say +like a political prisoner.--But I will succeed yet," said he, striking +his brow with his clenched fist. + +"Poor man! It would be dreadful to catch his wife deceiving him after +being packed off by his mistress." + +"Josepha?" cried Crevel. "Has Josepha thrown him over, packed him off, +turned him out neck and crop? Bravo, Josepha, you have avenged me! +I will send you a pair of pearls to hang in your ears, my +ex-sweetheart!--I knew nothing of it; for after I had seen you, on the +day after that when the fair Adeline had shown me the door, I went back +to visit the Lebas, at Corbeil, and have but just come back. Heloise +played the very devil to get me into the country, and I have found out +the purpose of her game; she wanted me out of the way while she gave a +house-warming in the Rue Chauchat, with some artists, and players, and +writers.--She took me in! But I can forgive her, for Heloise amuses me. +She is a Dejazet under a bushel. What a character the hussy is! There is +the note I found last evening: + + "'DEAR OLD CHAP,--I have pitched my tent in the Rue Chauchat. I + have taken the precaution of getting a few friends to clean up the + paint. All is well. Come when you please, monsieur; Hagar awaits + her Abraham.' + +"Heloise will have some news for me, for she has her bohemia at her +fingers' end." + +"But Monsieur Hulot took the disaster very calmly," said Lisbeth. + +"Impossible!" cried Crevel, stopping in a parade as regular as the swing +of a pendulum. + +"Monsieur Hulot is not as young as he was," Lisbeth remarked +significantly. + +"I know that," said Crevel, "but in one point we are alike: Hulot cannot +do without an attachment. He is capable of going back to his wife. +It would be a novelty for him, but an end to my vengeance. You smile, +Mademoiselle Fischer--ah! perhaps you know something?" + +"I am smiling at your notions," replied Lisbeth. "Yes, my cousin is +still handsome enough to inspire a passion. I should certainly fall in +love with her if I were a man." + +"Cut and come again!" exclaimed Crevel. "You are laughing at me.--The +Baron has already found consolation?" + +Lisbeth bowed affirmatively. + +"He is a lucky man if he can find a second Josepha within twenty-four +hours!" said Crevel. "But I am not altogether surprised, for he told me +one evening at supper that when he was a young man he always had three +mistresses on hand that he might not be left high and dry--the one he +was giving over, the one in possession, and the one he was courting for +a future emergency. He had some smart little work-woman in reserve, no +doubt--in his fish-pond--his _Parc-aux-cerfs_! He is very Louis XV., is +my gentleman. He is in luck to be so handsome!--However, he is ageing; +his face shows it.--He has taken up with some little milliner?" + +"Dear me, no," replied Lisbeth. + +"Oh!" cried Crevel, "what would I not do to hinder him from hanging up +his hat! I could not win back Josepha; women of that kind never come +back to their first love.--Besides, it is truly said, such a return +is not love.--But, Cousin Betty, I would pay down fifty thousand +francs--that is to say, I would spend it--to rob that great good-looking +fellow of his mistress, and to show him that a Major with a portly +stomach and a brain made to become Mayor of Paris, though he is a +grandfather, is not to have his mistress tickled away by a poacher +without turning the tables." + +"My position," said Lisbeth, "compels me to hear everything and know +nothing. You may talk to me without fear; I never repeat a word of what +any one may choose to tell me. How can you suppose I should ever break +that rule of conduct? No one would ever trust me again." + +"I know," said Crevel; "you are the very jewel of old maids. Still, +come, there are exceptions. Look here, the family have never settled an +allowance on you?" + +"But I have my pride," said Lisbeth. "I do not choose to be an expense +to anybody." + +"If you will but help me to my revenge," the tradesman went on, "I will +sink ten thousand francs in an annuity for you. Tell me, my fair cousin, +tell me who has stepped into Josepha's shoes, and you will have money to +pay your rent, your little breakfast in the morning, the good coffee you +love so well--you might allow yourself pure Mocha, heh! And a very good +thing is pure Mocha!" + +"I do not care so much for the ten thousand francs in an annuity, +which would bring me nearly five hundred francs a year, as for absolute +secrecy," said Lisbeth. "For, you see, my dear Monsieur Crevel, the +Baron is very good to me; he is to pay my rent----" + +"Oh yes, long may that last! I advise you to trust him," cried Crevel. +"Where will he find the money?" + +"Ah, that I don't know. At the same time, he is spending more than +thirty thousand francs on the rooms he is furnishing for this little +lady." + +"A lady! What, a woman in society; the rascal, what luck he has! He is +the only favorite!" + +"A married woman, and quite the lady," Lisbeth affirmed. + +"Really and truly?" cried Crevel, opening wide eyes flashing with envy, +quite as much as at the magic words _quite the lady_. + +"Yes, really," said Lisbeth. "Clever, a musician, three-and-twenty, a +pretty, innocent face, a dazzling white skin, teeth like a puppy's, eyes +like stars, a beautiful forehead--and tiny feet, I never saw the like, +they are not wider than her stay-busk." + +"And ears?" asked Crevel, keenly alive to this catalogue of charms. + +"Ears for a model," she replied. + +"And small hands?" + +"I tell you, in few words, a gem of a woman--and high-minded, and +modest, and refined! A beautiful soul, an angel--and with every +distinction, for her father was a Marshal of France----" + +"A Marshal of France!" shrieked Crevel, positively bounding with +excitement. "Good Heavens! by the Holy Piper! By all the joys in +Paradise!--The rascal!--I beg your pardon, Cousin, I am going crazy!--I +think I would give a hundred thousand francs----" + +"I dare say you would, and, I tell you, she is a respectable woman--a +woman of virtue. The Baron has forked out handsomely." + +"He has not a sou, I tell you." + +"There is a husband he has pushed----" + +"Where did he push him?" asked Crevel, with a bitter laugh. + +"He is promoted to be second in his office--this husband who will +oblige, no doubt;--and his name is down for the Cross of the Legion of +Honor." + +"The Government ought to be judicious and respect those who have the +Cross by not flinging it broadcast," said Crevel, with the look of an +aggrieved politician. "But what is there about the man--that old bulldog +of a Baron?" he went on. "It seems to me that I am quite a match for +him," and he struck an attitude as he looked at himself in the glass. +"Heloise has told me many a time, at moments when a woman speaks the +truth, that I was wonderful." + +"Oh," said Lisbeth, "women like big men; they are almost always +good-natured; and if I had to decide between you and the Baron, I should +choose you. Monsieur Hulot is amusing, handsome, and has a figure; but +you, you are substantial, and then--you see--you look an even greater +scamp than he does." + +"It is incredible how all women, even pious women, take to men who have +that about them!" exclaimed Crevel, putting his arm round Lisbeth's +waist, he was so jubilant. + +"The difficulty does not lie there," said Betty. "You must see that a +woman who is getting so many advantages will not be unfaithful to +her patron for nothing; and it would cost you more than a hundred odd +thousand francs, for our little friend can look forward to seeing her +husband at the head of his office within two years' time.--It is poverty +that is dragging the poor little angel into that pit." + +Crevel was striding up and down the drawing-room in a state of frenzy. + +"He must be uncommonly fond of the woman?" he inquired after a pause, +while his desires, thus goaded by Lisbeth, rose to a sort of madness. + +"You may judge for yourself," replied Lisbeth. "I don't believe he has +had _that_ of her," said she, snapping her thumbnail against one of her +enormous white teeth, "and he has given her ten thousand francs' worth +of presents already." + +"What a good joke it would be!" cried Crevel, "if I got to the winning +post first!" + +"Good heavens! It is too bad of me to be telling you all this +tittle-tattle," said Lisbeth, with an air of compunction. + +"No.--I mean to put your relations to the blush. To-morrow I shall +invest in your name such a sum in five-per-cents as will give you +six hundred francs a year; but then you must tell me everything--his +Dulcinea's name and residence. To you I will make a clean breast of +it.--I never have had a real lady for a mistress, and it is the height +of my ambition. Mahomet's houris are nothing in comparison with what I +fancy a woman of fashion must be. In short, it is my dream, my mania, +and to such a point, that I declare to you the Baroness Hulot to me will +never be fifty," said he, unconsciously plagiarizing one of the greatest +wits of the last century. "I assure you, my good Lisbeth, I am prepared +to sacrifice a hundred, two hundred--Hush! Here are the young people, +I see them crossing the courtyard. I shall never have learned anything +through you, I give you my word of honor; for I do not want you to lose +the Baron's confidence, quite the contrary. He must be amazingly fond of +this woman--that old boy." + +"He is crazy about her," said Lisbeth. "He could not find forty thousand +francs to marry his daughter off, but he has got them somehow for his +new passion." + +"And do you think that she loves him?" + +"At his age!" said the old maid. + +"Oh, what an owl I am!" cried Crevel, "when I myself allowed Heloise to +keep her artist exactly as Henri IX. allowed Gabrielle her Bellegrade. +Alas! old age, old age!--Good-morning, Celestine. How do, my jewel!--And +the brat? Ah! here he comes; on my honor, he is beginning to be like +me!--Good-day, Hulot--quite well? We shall soon be having another +wedding in the family." + +Celestine and her husband, as a hint to their father, glanced at the old +maid, who audaciously asked, in reply to Crevel: + +"Indeed--whose?" + +Crevel put on an air of reserve which was meant to convey that he would +make up for her indiscretions. + +"That of Hortense," he replied; "but it is not yet quite settled. I have +just come from the Lebas', and they were talking of Mademoiselle Popinot +as a suitable match for their son, the young councillor, for he would +like to get the presidency of a provincial court.--Now, come to dinner." + + + +By seven o'clock Lisbeth had returned home in an omnibus, for she was +eager to see Wenceslas, whose dupe she had been for three weeks, and to +whom she was carrying a basket filled with fruit by the hands of Crevel +himself, whose attentions were doubled towards _his_ Cousin Betty. + +She flew up to the attic at a pace that took her breath away, and found +the artist finishing the ornamentation of a box to be presented to the +adored Hortense. The framework of the lid represented hydrangeas--in +French called _Hortensias_--among which little Loves were playing. The +poor lover, to enable him to pay for the materials of the box, of which +the panels were of malachite, had designed two candlesticks for Florent +and Chanor, and sold them the copyright--two admirable pieces of work. + +"You have been working too hard these last few days, my dear fellow," +said Lisbeth, wiping the perspiration from his brow, and giving him +a kiss. "Such laborious diligence is really dangerous in the month +of August. Seriously, you may injure your health. Look, here are some +peaches and plums from Monsieur Crevel.--Now, do not worry yourself so +much; I have borrowed two thousand francs, and, short of some disaster, +we can repay them when you sell your clock. At the same time, the lender +seems to me suspicious, for he has just sent in this document." + +She laid the writ under the model sketch of the statue of General +Montcornet. + +"For whom are you making this pretty thing?" said she, taking up the +model sprays of hydrangea in red wax which Wenceslas had laid down while +eating the fruit. + +"For a jeweler." + +"For what jeweler?" + +"I do not know. Stidmann asked me to make something out of them, as he +is very busy." + +"But these," she said in a deep voice, "are _Hortensias_. How is it that +you have never made anything in wax for me? Is it so difficult to design +a pin, a little box--what not, as a keepsake?" and she shot a fearful +glance at the artist, whose eyes were happily lowered. "And yet you say +you love me?" + +"Can you doubt it, mademoiselle?" + +"That is indeed an ardent _mademoiselle_!--Why, you have been my only +thought since I found you dying--just there. When I saved you, you vowed +you were mine, I mean to hold you to that pledge; but I made a vow to +myself! I said to myself, 'Since the boy says he is mine, I mean to make +him rich and happy!' Well, and I can make your fortune." + +"How?" said the hapless artist, at the height of joy, and too artless to +dream of a snare. + +"Why, thus," said she. + +Lisbeth could not deprive herself of the savage pleasure of gazing at +Wenceslas, who looked up at her with filial affection, the expression +really of his love for Hortense, which deluded the old maid. Seeing in +a man's eyes, for the first time in her life, the blazing torch of +passion, she fancied it was for her that it was lighted. + +"Monsieur Crevel will back us to the extent of a hundred thousand francs +to start in business, if, as he says, you will marry me. He has queer +ideas, has the worthy man.--Well, what do you say to it?" she added. + +The artist, as pale as the dead, looked at his benefactress with a +lustreless eye, which plainly spoke his thoughts. He stood stupefied and +open-mouthed. + +"I never before was so distinctly told that I am hideous," said she, +with a bitter laugh. + +"Mademoiselle," said Steinbock, "my benefactress can never be ugly in +my eyes; I have the greatest affection for you. But I am not yet thirty, +and----" + +"I am forty-three," said Lisbeth. "My cousin Adeline is forty-eight, and +men are still madly in love with her; but then she is handsome--she is!" + +"Fifteen years between us, mademoiselle! How could we get on together! +For both our sakes I think we should be wise to think it over. My +gratitude shall be fully equal to your great kindness.--And your money +shall be repaid in a few days." + +"My money!" cried she. "You treat me as if I were nothing but an +unfeeling usurer." + +"Forgive me," said Wenceslas, "but you remind me of it so often.--Well, +it is you who have made me; do not crush me." + +"You mean to be rid of me, I can see," said she, shaking her head. "Who +has endowed you with this strength of ingratitude--you who are a man of +papier-mache? Have you ceased to trust me--your good genius?--me, when +I have spent so many nights working for you--when I have given you every +franc I have saved in my lifetime--when for four years I have shared my +bread with you, the bread of a hard-worked woman, and given you all I +had, to my very courage." + +"Mademoiselle--no more, no more!" he cried, kneeling before her with +uplifted hands. "Say not another word! In three days I will tell you, +you shall know all.--Let me, let me be happy," and he kissed her hands. +"I love--and I am loved." + +"Well, well, my child, be happy," she said, lifting him up. And she +kissed his forehead and hair with the eagerness that a man condemned to +death must feel as he lives through the last morning. + +"Ah! you are of all creatures the noblest and best! You are a match for +the woman I love," said the poor artist. + +"I love you well enough to tremble for your future fate," said she +gloomily. "Judas hanged himself--the ungrateful always come to a bad +end! You are deserting me, and you will never again do any good work. +Consider whether, without being married--for I know I am an old maid, +and I do not want to smother the blossom of your youth, your poetry, as +you call it, in my arms, that are like vine-stocks--but whether, +without being married, we could not get on together? Listen; I have +the commercial spirit; I could save you a fortune in the course of ten +years' work, for Economy is my name!--while, with a young wife, who +would be sheer Expenditure, you would squander everything; you would +work only to indulge her. But happiness creates nothing but memories. +Even I, when I am thinking of you, sit for hours with my hands in my +lap---- + +"Come, Wenceslas, stay with me.--Look here, I understand all about +it; you shall have your mistresses; pretty ones too, like that little +Marneffe woman who wants to see you, and who will give you happiness you +could never find with me. Then, when I have saved you thirty thousand +francs a year in the funds----" + +"Mademoiselle, you are an angel, and I shall never forget this hour," +said Wenceslas, wiping away his tears. + +"That is how I like to see you, my child," said she, gazing at him with +rapture. + +Vanity is so strong a power in us all that Lisbeth believed in her +triumph. She had conceded so much when offering him Madame Marneffe. It +was the crowning emotion of her life; for the first time she felt the +full tide of joy rising in her heart. To go through such an experience +again she would have sold her soul to the Devil. + +"I am engaged to be married," Steinbock replied, "and I love a woman +with whom no other can compete or compare.--But you are, and always will +be, to me the mother I have lost." + +The words fell like an avalanche of snow on a burning crater. Lisbeth +sat down. She gazed with despondent eyes on the youth before her, on his +aristocratic beauty--the artist's brow, the splendid hair, everything +that appealed to her suppressed feminine instincts, and tiny tears +moistened her eyes for an instant and immediately dried up. She looked +like one of those meagre statues which the sculptors of the Middle Ages +carved on monuments. + +"I cannot curse you," said she, suddenly rising. "You--you are but a +boy. God preserve you!" + +She went downstairs and shut herself into her own room. + +"She is in love with me, poor creature!" said Wenceslas to himself. "And +how fervently eloquent! She is crazy." + +This last effort on the part of an arid and narrow nature to keep hold +on an embodiment of beauty and poetry was, in truth, so violent that it +can only be compared to the frenzied vehemence of a shipwrecked creature +making the last struggle to reach shore. + +On the next day but one, at half-past four in the morning, when Count +Steinbock was sunk in the deepest sleep, he heard a knock at the door of +his attic; he rose to open it, and saw two men in shabby clothing, and a +third, whose dress proclaimed him a bailiff down on his luck. + +"You are Monsieur Wenceslas, Count Steinbock?" said this man. + +"Yes, monsieur." + +"My name is Grasset, sir, successor to Louchard, sheriff's officer----" + +"What then?" + +"You are under arrest, sir. You must come with us to prison--to +Clichy.--Please to get dressed.--We have done the civil, as you see; I +have brought no police, and there is a hackney cab below." + +"You are safely nabbed, you see," said one of the bailiffs; "and we look +to you to be liberal." + +Steinbock dressed and went downstairs, a man holding each arm; when he +was in the cab, the driver started without orders, as knowing where he +was to go, and within half an hour the unhappy foreigner found himself +safely under bolt and bar without even a remonstrance, so utterly amazed +was he. + +At ten o'clock he was sent for to the prison-office, where he found +Lisbeth, who, in tears, gave him some money to feed himself adequately +and to pay for a room large enough to work in. + +"My dear boy," said she, "never say a word of your arrest to anybody, +do not write to a living soul; it would ruin you for life; we must hide +this blot on your character. I will soon have you out. I will collect +the money--be quite easy. Write down what you want for your work. You +shall soon be free, or I will die for it." + +"Oh, I shall owe you my life a second time!" cried he, "for I should +lose more than my life if I were thought a bad fellow." + +Lisbeth went off in great glee; she hoped, by keeping her artist under +lock and key, to put a stop to his marriage by announcing that he was +a married man, pardoned by the efforts of his wife, and gone off to +Russia. + +To carry out this plan, at about three o'clock she went to the Baroness, +though it was not the day when she was due to dine with her; but she +wished to enjoy the anguish which Hortense must endure at the hour when +Wenceslas was in the habit of making his appearance. + +"Have you come to dinner?" asked the Baroness, concealing her +disappointment. + +"Well, yes." + +"That's well," replied Hortense. "I will go and tell them to be +punctual, for you do not like to be kept waiting." + +Hortense nodded reassuringly to her mother, for she intended to tell the +man-servant to send away Monsieur Steinbock if he should call; the man, +however, happened to be out, so Hortense was obliged to give her orders +to the maid, and the girl went upstairs to fetch her needlework and sit +in the ante-room. + +"And about my lover?" said Cousin Betty to Hortense, when the girl came +back. "You never ask about him now?" + +"To be sure, what is he doing?" said Hortense. "He has become famous. +You ought to be very happy," she added in an undertone to Lisbeth. +"Everybody is talking of Monsieur Wenceslas Steinbock." + +"A great deal too much," replied she in her clear tones. "Monsieur is +departing.--If it were only a matter of charming him so far as to defy +the attractions of Paris, I know my power; but they say that in order to +secure the services of such an artist, the Emperor Nichols has pardoned +him----" + +"Nonsense!" said the Baroness. + +"When did you hear that?" asked Hortense, who felt as if her heart had +the cramp. + +"Well," said the villainous Lisbeth, "a person to whom he is bound by +the most sacred ties--his wife--wrote yesterday to tell him so. He +wants to be off. Oh, he will be a great fool to give up France to go to +Russia!--" + +Hortense looked at her mother, but her head sank on one side; the +Baroness was only just in time to support her daughter, who dropped +fainting, and as white as her lace kerchief. + +"Lisbeth! you have killed my child!" cried the Baroness. "You were born +to be our curse!" + +"Bless me! what fault of mine is this, Adeline?" replied Lisbeth, as she +rose with a menacing aspect, of which the Baroness, in her alarm, took +no notice. + +"I was wrong," said Adeline, supporting the girl. "Ring." + +At this instant the door opened, the women both looked round, and saw +Wenceslas Steinbock, who had been admitted by the cook in the maid's +absence. + +"Hortense!" cried the artist, with one spring to the group of women. And +he kissed his betrothed before her mother's eyes, on the forehead, and +so reverently, that the Baroness could not be angry. It was a better +restorative than any smelling salts. Hortense opened her eyes, saw +Wenceslas, and her color came back. In a few minutes she had quite +recovered. + +"So this was your secret?" said Lisbeth, smiling at Wenceslas, and +affecting to guess the facts from her two cousins' confusion. + +"But how did you steal away my lover?" said she, leading Hortense into +the garden. + +Hortense artlessly told the romance of her love. Her father and mother, +she said, being convinced that Lisbeth would never marry, had authorized +the Count's visits. Only Hortense, like a full-blown Agnes, attributed +to chance her purchase of the group and the introduction of the artist, +who, by her account, had insisted on knowing the name of his first +purchaser. + +Presently Steinbock came out to join the cousins, and thanked the old +maid effusively for his prompt release. Lisbeth replied Jesuitically +that the creditor having given very vague promises, she had not hoped +to be able to get him out before the morrow, and that the person who +had lent her the money, ashamed, perhaps, of such mean conduct, had been +beforehand with her. The old maid appeared to be perfectly content, and +congratulated Wenceslas on his happiness. + +"You bad boy!" said she, before Hortense and her mother, "if you had +only told me the evening before last that you loved my cousin Hortense, +and that she loved you, you would have spared me many tears. I thought +that you were deserting your old friend, your governess; while, on the +contrary, you are to become my cousin; henceforth, you will be connected +with me, remotely, it is true, but by ties that amply justify the +feelings I have for you." And she kissed Wenceslas on the forehead. + +Hortense threw herself into Lisbeth's arms and melted into tears. + +"I owe my happiness to you," said she, "and I will never forget it." + +"Cousin Betty," said the Baroness, embracing Lisbeth in her excitement +at seeing matters so happily settled, "the Baron and I owe you a debt of +gratitude, and we will pay it. Come and talk things over with me," she +added, leading her away. + +So Lisbeth, to all appearances, was playing the part of a good angel +to the whole family; she was adored by Crevel and Hulot, by Adeline and +Hortense. + +"We wish you to give up working," said the Baroness. "If you earn forty +sous a day, Sundays excepted, that makes six hundred francs a year. +Well, then, how much have you saved?" + +"Four thousand five hundred francs." + +"Poor Betty!" said her cousin. + +She raised her eyes to heaven, so deeply was she moved at the thought of +all the labor and privation such a sum must represent accumulated during +thirty years. + +Lisbeth, misunderstanding the meaning of the exclamation, took it as the +ironical pity of the successful woman, and her hatred was strengthened +by a large infusion of venom at the very moment when her cousin had cast +off her last shred of distrust of the tyrant of her childhood. + +"We will add ten thousand five hundred francs to that sum," said +Adeline, "and put it in trust so that you shall draw the interest for +life with reversion to Hortense. Thus, you will have six hundred francs +a year." + +Lisbeth feigned the utmost satisfaction. When she went in, her +handkerchief to her eyes, wiping away tears of joy, Hortense told her of +all the favors being showered on Wenceslas, beloved of the family. + +So when the Baron came home, he found his family all present; for the +Baroness had formally accepted Wenceslas by the title of Son, and the +wedding was fixed, if her husband should approve, for a day a fortnight +hence. The moment he came into the drawing-room, Hulot was rushed at +by his wife and daughter, who ran to meet him, Adeline to speak to him +privately, and Hortense to kiss him. + +"You have gone too far in pledging me to this, madame," said the Baron +sternly. "You are not married yet," he added with a look at Steinbock, +who turned pale. + +"He has heard of my imprisonment," said the luckless artist to himself. + +"Come, children," said he, leading his daughter and the young man +into the garden; they all sat down on the moss-eaten seat in the +summer-house. + +"Monsieur le Comte, do you love my daughter as well as I loved her +mother?" he asked. + +"More, monsieur," said the sculptor. + +"Her mother was a peasant's daughter, and had not a farthing of her +own." + +"Only give me Mademoiselle Hortense just as she is, without a trousseau +even----" + +"So I should think!" said the Baron, smiling. "Hortense is the daughter +of the Baron Hulot d'Ervy, Councillor of State, high up in the War +Office, Grand Commander of the Legion of Honor, and the brother to Count +Hulot, whose glory is immortal, and who will ere long be Marshal of +France! And--she has a marriage portion. + +"It is true," said the impassioned artist. "I must seem very ambitious. +But if my dear Hortense were a laborer's daughter, I would marry +her----" + +"That is just what I wanted to know," replied the Baron. "Run away, +Hortense, and leave me to talk business with Monsieur le Comte.--He +really loves you, you see!" + +"Oh, papa, I was sure you were only in jest," said the happy girl. + +"My dear Steinbock," said the Baron, with elaborate grace of diction and +the most perfect manners, as soon as he and the artist were alone, "I +promised my son a fortune of two hundred thousand francs, of which +the poor boy has never had a sou; and he never will get any of it. My +daughter's fortune will also be two hundred thousand francs, for which +you will give a receipt----" + +"Yes, Monsieur le Baron." + +"You go too fast," said Hulot. "Have the goodness to hear me out. I +cannot expect from a son-in-law such devotion as I look for from my son. +My son knew exactly all I could and would do for his future promotion: +he will be a Minister, and will easily make good his two hundred +thousand francs. But with you, young man, matters are different. I shall +give you a bond for sixty thousand francs in State funds at five per +cent, in your wife's name. This income will be diminished by a small +charge in the form of an annuity to Lisbeth; but she will not live long; +she is consumptive, I know. Tell no one; it is a secret; let the poor +soul die in peace.--My daughter will have a trousseau worth twenty +thousand francs; her mother will give her six thousand francs worth of +diamonds. + +"Monsieur, you overpower me!" said Steinbock, quite bewildered. + +"As to the remaining hundred and twenty thousand francs----" + +"Say no more, monsieur," said Wenceslas. "I ask only for my beloved +Hortense----" + +"Will you listen to me, effervescent youth!--As to the remaining hundred +and twenty thousand francs, I have not got them; but you will have +them--" + +"Monsieur?" + +"You will get them from the Government, in payment for commissions which +I will secure for you, I pledge you my word of honor. You are to have +a studio, you see, at the Government depot. Exhibit a few fine statues, +and I will get you received at the Institute. The highest personages +have a regard for my brother and for me, and I hope to succeed in +securing for you a commission for sculpture at Versailles up to a +quarter of the whole sum. You will have orders from the City of Paris +and from the Chamber of Peers; in short, my dear fellow, you will have +so many that you will be obliged to get assistants. In that way I +shall pay off my debt to you. You must say whether this way of giving a +portion will suit you; whether you are equal to it." + +"I am equal to making a fortune for my wife single-handed if all else +failed!" cried the artist-nobleman. + +"That is what I admire!" cried the Baron. "High-minded youth that fears +nothing. Come," he added, clasping hands with the young sculptor to +conclude the bargain, "you have my consent. We will sign the contract +on Sunday next, and the wedding shall be on the following Saturday, my +wife's fete-day." + +"It is all right," said the Baroness to her daughter, who stood glued to +the window. "Your suitor and your father are embracing each other." + +On going home in the evening, Wenceslas found the solution of the +mystery of his release. The porter handed him a thick sealed packet, +containing the schedule of his debts, with a signed receipt affixed at +the bottom of the writ, and accompanied by this letter:-- + + "MY DEAR WENCESLAS,--I went to fetch you at ten o'clock this + morning to introduce you to a Royal Highness who wishes to see + you. There I learned that the duns had had you conveyed to a + certain little domain--chief town, _Clichy Castle_. + + "So off I went to Leon de Lora, and told him, for a joke, that you + could not leave your country quarters for lack of four thousand + francs, and that you would spoil your future prospects if you did + not make your bow to your royal patron. Happily, Bridau was there + --a man of genius, who has known what it is to be poor, and has + heard your story. My boy, between them they have found the money, + and I went off to pay the Turk who committed treason against + genius by putting you in quod. As I had to be at the Tuileries at + noon, I could not wait to see you sniffing the outer air. I know + you to be a gentleman, and I answered for you to my two friends + --but look them up to-morrow. + + "Leon and Bridau do not want your cash; they will ask you to do + them each a group--and they are right. At least, so thinks the man + who wishes he could sign himself your rival, but is only your + faithful ally, + + "STIDMANN. + + "P. S.--I told the Prince you were away, and would not return till + to-morrow, so he said, 'Very good--to-morrow.'" + + +Count Wenceslas went to bed in sheets of purple, without a rose-leaf to +wrinkle them, that Favor can make for us--Favor, the halting divinity +who moves more slowly for men of genius than either Justice or Fortune, +because Jove has not chosen to bandage her eyes. Hence, lightly deceived +by the display of impostors, and attracted by their frippery and +trumpets, she spends the time in seeing them and the money in paying +them which she ought to devote to seeking out men of merit in the nooks +where they hide. + +It will now be necessary to explain how Monsieur le Baron Hulot had +contrived to count up his expenditure on Hortense's wedding portion, +and at the same time to defray the frightful cost of the charming rooms +where Madame Marneffe was to make her home. His financial scheme bore +that stamp of talent which leads prodigals and men in love into the +quagmires where so many disasters await them. Nothing can demonstrate +more completely the strange capacity communicated by vice, to which +we owe the strokes of skill which ambitious or voluptuous men can +occasionally achieve--or, in short, any of the Devil's pupils. + +On the day before, old Johann Fischer, unable to pay thirty thousand +francs drawn for on him by his nephew, had found himself under the +necessity of stopping payment unless the Baron could remit the sum. + +This ancient worthy, with the white hairs of seventy years, had such +blind confidence in Hulot--who, to the old Bonapartist, was an emanation +from the Napoleonic sun--that he was calmly pacing his anteroom with +the bank clerk, in the little ground-floor apartment that he rented +for eight hundred francs a year as the headquarters of his extensive +dealings in corn and forage. + +"Marguerite is gone to fetch the money from close by," said he. + +The official, in his gray uniform braided with silver, was so convinced +of the old Alsatian's honesty, that he was prepared to leave the thirty +thousand francs' worth of bills in his hands; but the old man would not +let him go, observing that the clock had not yet struck eight. A cab +drew up, the old man rushed into the street, and held out his hand +to the Baron with sublime confidence--Hulot handed him out thirty +thousand-franc notes. + +"Go on three doors further, and I will tell you why," said Fischer. + +"Here, young man," he said, returning to count out the money to the bank +emissary, whom he then saw to the door. + +When the clerk was out of sight, Fischer called back the cab containing +his august nephew, Napoleon's right hand, and said, as he led him into +the house: + +"You do not want them to know at the Bank of France that you paid me the +thirty thousand francs, after endorsing the bills?--It was bad enough to +see them signed by such a man as you!--" + +"Come to the bottom of your little garden, Father Fischer," said the +important man. "You are hearty?" he went on, sitting down under a vine +arbor and scanning the old man from head to foot, as a dealer in human +flesh scans a substitute for the conscription. + +"Ay, hearty enough for a tontine," said the lean little old man; his +sinews were wiry, and his eye bright. + +"Does heat disagree with you?" + +"Quite the contrary." + +"What do you say to Africa?" + +"A very nice country!--The French went there with the little Corporal" +(Napoleon). + +"To get us all out of the present scrape, you must go to Algiers," said +the Baron. + +"And how about my business?" + +"An official in the War Office, who has to retire, and has not enough to +live on with his pension, will buy your business." + +"And what am I to do in Algiers?" + +"Supply the Commissariat with victuals, corn, and forage; I have your +commission ready filled in and signed. You can collect supplies in the +country at seventy per cent below the prices at which you can credit +us." + +"How shall we get them?" + +"Oh, by raids, by taxes in kind, and the Khaliphat.--The country is +little known, though we settled there eight years ago; Algeria produces +vast quantities of corn and forage. When this produce belongs to Arabs, +we take it from them under various pretences; when it belongs to us, the +Arabs try to get it back again. There is a great deal of fighting over +the corn, and no one ever knows exactly how much each party has stolen +from the other. There is not time in the open field to measure the +corn as we do in the Paris market, or the hay as it is sold in the Rue +d'Enfer. The Arab chiefs, like our Spahis, prefer hard cash, and sell +the plunder at a very low price. The Commissariat needs a fixed quantity +and must have it. It winks at exorbitant prices calculated on the +difficulty of procuring food, and the dangers to which every form of +transport is exposed. That is Algiers from the army contractor's point +of view. + +"It is a muddle tempered by the ink-bottle, like every incipient +government. We shall not see our way through it for another ten +years--we who have to do the governing; but private enterprise has sharp +eyes.--So I am sending you there to make a fortune; I give you the job, +as Napoleon put an impoverished Marshal at the head of a kingdom where +smuggling might be secretly encouraged. + +"I am ruined, my dear Fischer; I must have a hundred thousand francs +within a year." + +"I see no harm in getting it out of the Bedouins," said the Alsatian +calmly. "It was always done under the Empire----" + +"The man who wants to buy your business will be here this morning, and +pay you ten thousand francs down," the Baron went on. "That will be +enough, I suppose, to take you to Africa?" + +The old man nodded assent. + +"As to capital out there, be quite easy. I will draw the remainder of +the money due if I find it necessary." + +"All I have is yours--my very blood," said old Fischer. + +"Oh, do not be uneasy," said Hulot, fancying that his uncle saw more +clearly than was the fact. "As to our excise dealings, your character +will not be impugned. Everything depends on the authority at your back; +now I myself appointed the authorities out there; I am sure of them. +This, Uncle Fischer, is a dead secret between us. I know you well, and I +have spoken out without concealment or circumlocution." + +"It shall be done," said the old man. "And it will go on----?" + +"For two years, You will have made a hundred thousand francs of your own +to live happy on in the Vosges." + +"I will do as you wish; my honor is yours," said the little old man +quietly. + +"That is the sort of man I like.--However, you must not go till you have +seen your grand-niece happily married. She is to be a Countess." + +But even taxes and raids and the money paid by the War Office clerk for +Fischer's business could not forthwith provide sixty thousand francs to +give Hortense, to say nothing of her trousseau, which was to cost about +five thousand, and the forty thousand spent--or to be spent--on Madame +Marneffe. + +Where, then had the Baron found the thirty thousand francs he had just +produced? This was the history. + +A few days previously Hulot had insured his life for the sum of a +hundred and fifty thousand francs, for three years, in two separate +companies. Armed with the policies, of which he paid the premium, he had +spoken as follows to the Baron de Nucingen, a peer of the Chamber, in +whose carriage he found himself after a sitting, driving home, in fact, +to dine with him:-- + +"Baron, I want seventy thousand francs, and I apply to you. You must +find some one to lend his name, to whom I will make over the right to +draw my pay for three years; it amounts to twenty-five thousand francs a +year--that is, seventy-five thousand francs.--You will say, 'But you +may die'"--the banker signified his assent--"Here, then, is a policy of +insurance for a hundred and fifty thousand francs, which I will deposit +with you till you have drawn up the eighty thousand francs," said Hulot, +producing the document form his pocket. + +"But if you should lose your place?" said the millionaire Baron, +laughing. + +The other Baron--not a millionaire--looked grave. + +"Be quite easy; I only raised the question to show you that I was not +devoid of merit in handing you the sum. Are you so short of cash? for +the Bank will take your signature." + +"My daughter is to be married," said Baron Hulot, "and I have no +fortune--like every one else who remains in office in these thankless +times, when five hundred ordinary men seated on benches will never +reward the men who devote themselves to the service as handsomely as the +Emperor did." + +"Well, well; but you had Josepha on your hands!" replied Nucingen, "and +that accounts for everything. Between ourselves, the Duc d'Herouville +has done you a very good turn by removing that leech from sucking your +purse dry. 'I have known what that is, and can pity your case,'" he +quoted. "Take a friend's advice: Shut up shop, or you will be done for." + +This dirty business was carried out in the name of one Vauvinet, a small +money-lender; one of those jobbers who stand forward to screen great +banking houses, like the little fish that is said to attend the shark. +This stock-jobber's apprentice was so anxious to gain the patronage of +Monsieur le Baron Hulot, that he promised the great man to negotiate +bills of exchange for thirty thousand francs at eighty days, and pledged +himself to renew them four times, and never pass them out of his hands. + +Fischer's successor was to pay forty thousand francs for the house +and the business, with the promise that he should supply forage to a +department close to Paris. + +This was the desperate maze of affairs into which a man who had +hitherto been absolutely honest was led by his passions--one of the +best administrative officials under Napoleon--peculation to pay the +money-lenders, and borrowing of the money-lenders to gratify his +passions and provide for his daughter. All the efforts of this elaborate +prodigality were directed at making a display before Madame Marneffe, +and to playing Jupiter to this middle-class Danae. A man could not +expend more activity, intelligence, and presence of mind in the honest +acquisition of a fortune than the Baron displayed in shoving his head +into a wasp's nest: He did all the business of his department, he +hurried on the upholsterers, he talked to the workmen, he kept a sharp +lookout on the smallest details of the house in the Rue Vanneau. Wholly +devoted to Madame Marneffe, he nevertheless attended the sittings of the +Chambers; he was everywhere at once, and neither his family nor anybody +else discovered where his thoughts were. + +Adeline, quite amazed to hear that her uncle was rescued, and to see a +handsome sum figure in the marriage-contract, was not altogether easy, +in spite of her joy at seeing her daughter married under such creditable +circumstances. But, on the day before the wedding, fixed by the Baron +to coincide with Madame Marneffe's removal to her new apartment, Hector +allayed his wife's astonishment by this ministerial communication:-- + +"Now, Adeline, our girl is married; all our anxieties on the subject are +at an end. The time is come for us to retire from the world: I shall not +remain in office more than three years longer--only the time necessary +to secure my pension. Why, henceforth, should we be at any unnecessary +expense? Our apartment costs us six thousand francs a year in rent, we +have four servants, we eat thirty thousand francs' worth of food in a +year. If you want me to pay off my bills--for I have pledged my salary +for the sums I needed to give Hortense her little money, and pay off +your uncle----" + +"You did very right!" said she, interrupting her husband, and kissing +his hands. + +This explanation relieved Adeline of all her fears. + +"I shall have to ask some little sacrifices of you," he went on, +disengaging his hands and kissing his wife's brow. "I have found in the +Rue Plumet a very good flat on the first floor, handsome, splendidly +paneled, at only fifteen hundred francs a year, where you would only +need one woman to wait on you, and I could be quite content with a boy." + +"Yes, my dear." + +"If we keep house in a quiet way, keeping up a proper appearance of +course, we should not spend more than six thousand francs a year, +excepting my private account, which I will provide for." + +The generous-hearted woman threw her arms round her husband's neck in +her joy. + +"How happy I shall be, beginning again to show you how truly I love +you!" she exclaimed. "And what a capital manager you are!" + +"We will have the children to dine with us once a week. I, as you know, +rarely dine at home. You can very well dine twice a week with Victorin +and twice a week with Hortense. And, as I believe, I may succeed in +making matters up completely between Crevel and us; we can dine once a +week with him. These five dinners and our own at home will fill up the +week all but one day, supposing that we may occasionally be invited to +dine elsewhere." + +"I shall save a great deal for you," said Adeline. + +"Oh!" he cried, "you are the pearl of women!" + +"My kind, divine Hector, I shall bless you with my latest breath," said +she, "for you have done well for my dear Hortense." + +This was the beginning of the end of the beautiful Madame Hulot's home; +and, it may be added, of her being totally neglected, as Hulot had +solemnly promised Madame Marneffe. + +Crevel, the important and burly, being invited as a matter of course +to the party given for the signing of the marriage-contract, behaved as +though the scene with which this drama opened had never taken place, as +though he had no grievance against the Baron. Celestin Crevel was quite +amiable; he was perhaps rather too much the ex-perfumer, but as a Major +he was beginning to acquire majestic dignity. He talked of dancing at +the wedding. + +"Fair lady," said he politely to the Baroness, "people like us know how +to forget. Do not banish me from your home; honor me, pray, by gracing +my house with your presence now and then to meet your children. Be quite +easy; I will never say anything of what lies buried at the bottom of my +heart. I behaved, indeed, like an idiot, for I should lose too much by +cutting myself off from seeing you." + +"Monsieur, an honest woman has no ears for such speeches as those you +refer to. If you keep your word, you need not doubt that it will give me +pleasure to see the end of a coolness which must always be painful in a +family." + +"Well, you sulky old fellow," said Hulot, dragging Crevel out into the +garden, "you avoid me everywhere, even in my own house. Are two admirers +of the fair sex to quarrel for ever over a petticoat? Come; this is +really too plebeian!" + +"I, monsieur, am not such a fine man as you are, and my small +attractions hinder me from repairing my losses so easily as you can----" + +"Sarcastic!" said the Baron. + +"Irony is allowable from the vanquished to the conquerer." + +The conversation, begun in this strain, ended in a complete +reconciliation; still Crevel maintained his right to take his revenge. + + + +Madame Marneffe particularly wished to be invited to Mademoiselle +Hulot's wedding. To enable him to receive his future mistress in his +drawing-room, the great official was obliged to invite all the clerks of +his division down to the deputy head-clerks inclusive. Thus a grand ball +was a necessity. The Baroness, as a prudent housewife, calculated that +an evening party would cost less than a dinner, and allow of a larger +number of invitations; so Hortense's wedding was much talked about. + +Marshal Prince Wissembourg and the Baron de Nucingen signed in behalf of +the bride, the Comtes de Rastignac and Popinot in behalf of Steinbock. +Then, as the highest nobility among the Polish emigrants had been +civil to Count Steinbock since he had become famous, the artist thought +himself bound to invite them. The State Council, and the War Office to +which the Baron belonged, and the army, anxious to do honor to the Comte +de Forzheim, were all represented by their magnates. There were nearly +two hundred indispensable invitations. How natural, then, that little +Madame Marneffe was bent on figuring in all her glory amid such an +assembly. The Baroness had, a month since, sold her diamonds to set up +her daughter's house, while keeping the finest for the trousseau. The +sale realized fifteen thousand francs, of which five thousand were +sunk in Hortense's clothes. And what was ten thousand francs for the +furniture of the young folks' apartment, considering the demands of +modern luxury? However, young Monsieur and Madame Hulot, old Crevel, and +the Comte de Forzheim made very handsome presents, for the old +soldier had set aside a sum for the purchase of plate. Thanks to these +contributions, even an exacting Parisian would have been pleased with +the rooms the young couple had taken in the Rue Saint-Dominique, near +the Invalides. Everything seemed in harmony with their love, pure, +honest, and sincere. + +At last the great day dawned--for it was to be a great day not only for +Wenceslas and Hortense, but for old Hulot too. Madame Marneffe was to +give a house-warming in her new apartment the day after becoming Hulot's +mistress _en titre_, and after the marriage of the lovers. + +Who but has once in his life been a guest at a wedding-ball? Every +reader can refer to his reminiscences, and will probably smile as he +calls up the images of all that company in their Sunday-best faces as +well as their finest frippery. + +If any social event can prove the influence of environment, is it not +this? In fact, the Sunday-best mood of some reacts so effectually on +the rest that the men who are most accustomed to wearing full dress look +just like those to whom the party is a high festival, unique in their +life. And think too of the serious old men to whom such things are +so completely a matter of indifference, that they are wearing their +everyday black coats; the long-married men, whose faces betray their sad +experience of the life the young pair are but just entering on; and the +lighter elements, present as carbonic-acid gas is in champagne; and +the envious girls, the women absorbed in wondering if their dress is a +success, the poor relations whose parsimonious "get-up" contrasts with +that of the officials in uniform; and the greedy ones, thinking only of +the supper; and the gamblers, thinking only of cards. + +There are some of every sort, rich and poor, envious and envied, +philosophers and dreamers, all grouped like the plants in a flower-bed +round the rare, choice blossom, the bride. A wedding-ball is an epitome +of the world. + +At the liveliest moment of the evening Crevel led the Baron aside, and +said in a whisper, with the most natural manner possible: + +"By Jove! that's a pretty woman--the little lady in pink who has opened +a racking fire on you from her eyes." + +"Which?" + +"The wife of that clerk you are promoting, heaven knows how!--Madame +Marneffe." + +"What do you know about it?" + +"Listen, Hulot; I will try to forgive you the ill you have done me if +only you will introduce me to her--I will take you to Heloise. Everybody +is asking who is that charming creature. Are you sure that it will +strike no one how and why her husband's appointment got itself +signed?--You happy rascal, she is worth a whole office.--I would serve +in her office only too gladly.--Come, cinna, let us be friends." + +"Better friends than ever," said the Baron to the perfumer, "and I +promise you I will be a good fellow. Within a month you shall dine with +that little angel.--For it is an angel this time, old boy. And I advise +you, like me, to have done with the devils." + +Cousin Betty, who had moved to the Rue Vanneau, into a nice little +apartment on the third floor, left the ball at ten o'clock, but came +back to see with her own eyes the two bonds bearing twelve hundred +francs interest; one of them was the property of the Countess Steinbock, +the other was in the name of Madame Hulot. + +It is thus intelligible that Monsieur Crevel should have spoken to Hulot +about Madame Marneffe, as knowing what was a secret to the rest of the +world; for, as Monsieur Marneffe was away, no one but Lisbeth Fischer, +besides the Baron and Valerie, was initiated into the mystery. + +The Baron had made a blunder in giving Madame Marneffe a dress far too +magnificent for the wife of a subordinate official; other women were +jealous alike of her beauty and of her gown. There was much whispering +behind fans, for the poverty of the Marneffes was known to every one in +the office; the husband had been petitioning for help at the very moment +when the Baron had been so smitten with madame. Also, Hector could not +conceal his exultation at seeing Valerie's success; and she, severely +proper, very lady-like, and greatly envied, was the object of that +strict examination which women so greatly fear when they appear for the +first time in a new circle of society. + +After seeing his wife into a carriage with his daughter and his +son-in-law, Hulot managed to escape unperceived, leaving his son and +Celestine to do the honors of the house. He got into Madame Marneffe's +carriage to see her home, but he found her silent and pensive, almost +melancholy. + +"My happiness makes you very sad, Valerie," said he, putting his arm +round her and drawing her to him. + +"Can you wonder, my dear," said she, "that a hapless woman should be a +little depressed at the thought of her first fall from virtue, even when +her husband's atrocities have set her free? Do you suppose that I have +no soul, no beliefs, no religion? Your glee this evening has been really +too barefaced; you have paraded me odiously. Really, a schoolboy would +have been less of a coxcomb. And the ladies have dissected me with their +side-glances and their satirical remarks. Every woman has some care for +her reputation, and you have wrecked mine. + +"Oh, I am yours and no mistake! And I have not an excuse left but that +of being faithful to you.--Monster that you are!" she added, laughing, +and allowing him to kiss her, "you knew very well what you were doing! +Madame Coquet, our chief clerk's wife, came to sit down by me, and +admired my lace. 'English point!' said she. 'Was it very expensive, +madame?'--'I do not know. This lace was my mother's. I am not rich +enough to buy the like,' said I." + +Madame Marneffe, in short, had so bewitched the old beau, that he really +believed she was sinning for the first time for his sake, and that he +had inspired such a passion as had led her to this breach of duty. She +told him that the wretch Marneffe had neglected her after they had been +three days married, and for the most odious reasons. Since then she had +lived as innocently as a girl; marriage had seemed to her so horrible. +This was the cause of her present melancholy. + +"If love should prove to be like marriage----" said she in tears. + +These insinuating lies, with which almost every woman in Valerie's +predicament is ready, gave the Baron distant visions of the roses of +the seventh heaven. And so Valerie coquetted with her lover, while +the artist and Hortense were impatiently awaiting the moment when the +Baroness should have given the girl her last kiss and blessing. + +At seven in the morning the Baron, perfectly happy--for his Valerie +was at once the most guileless of girls and the most consummate of +demons--went back to release his son and Celestine from their duties. +All the dancers, for the most part strangers, had taken possession of +the territory, as they do at every wedding-ball, and were keeping up +the endless figures of the cotillions, while the gamblers were still +crowding round the _bouillotte_ tables, and old Crevel had won six +thousand francs. + +The morning papers, carried round the town, contained this paragraph in +the Paris article:-- + + "The marriage was celebrated this morning, at the Church of + Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, between Monsieur le Comte Steinbock and + Mademoiselle Hortense Hulot, daughter of Baron Hulot d'Ervy, + Councillor of State, and a Director at the War Office; niece of + the famous General Comte de Forzheim. The ceremony attracted a + large gathering. There were present some of the most distinguished + artists of the day: Leon de Lora, Joseph Bridau, Stidmann, and + Bixiou; the magnates of the War Office, of the Council of State, + and many members of the two Chambers; also the most distinguished + of the Polish exiles living in Paris: Counts Paz, Laginski, and + others. + + "Monsieur le Comte Wenceslas Steinbock is grandnephew to the + famous general who served under Charles XII., King of Sweden. The + young Count, having taken part in the Polish rebellion, found a + refuge in France, where his well-earned fame as a sculptor has + procured him a patent of naturalization." + +And so, in spite of the Baron's cruel lack of money, nothing was lacking +that public opinion could require, not even the trumpeting of the +newspapers over his daughter's marriage, which was solemnized in the +same way, in every particular, as his son's had been to Mademoiselle +Crevel. This display moderated the reports current as to the Baron's +financial position, while the fortune assigned to his daughter explained +the need for having borrowed money. + +Here ends what is, in a way, the introduction to this story. It is to +the drama that follows that the premise is to a syllogism, what the +prologue is to a classical tragedy. + + + +In Paris, when a woman determines to make a business, a trade, of +her beauty, it does not follow that she will make a fortune. Lovely +creatures may be found there, and full of wit, who are in wretched +circumstances, ending in misery a life begun in pleasure. And this is +why. It is not enough merely to accept the shameful life of a courtesan +with a view to earning its profits, and at the same time to bear the +simple garb of a respectable middle-class wife. Vice does not triumph so +easily; it resembles genius in so far that they both need a concurrence +of favorable conditions to develop the coalition of fortune and gifts. +Eliminate the strange prologue of the Revolution, and the Emperor would +never have existed; he would have been no more than a second edition of +Fabert. Venal beauty, if it finds no amateurs, no celebrity, no cross +of dishonor earned by squandering men's fortunes, is Correggio in a +hay-loft, is genius starving in a garret. Lais, in Paris, must first and +foremost find a rich man mad enough to pay her price. She must keep up a +very elegant style, for this is her shop-sign; she must be sufficiently +well bred to flatter the vanity of her lovers; she must have the +brilliant wit of a Sophie Arnould, which diverts the apathy of rich men; +finally, she must arouse the passions of libertines by appearing to be +mistress to one man only who is envied by the rest. + +These conditions, which a woman of that class calls being in luck, are +difficult to combine in Paris, although it is a city of millionaires, of +idlers, of used-up and capricious men. + +Providence has, no doubt, vouchsafed protection to clerks and +middle-class citizens, for whom obstacles of this kind are at least +double in the sphere in which they move. At the same time, there are +enough Madame Marneffes in Paris to allow of our taking Valerie to +figure as a type in this picture of manners. Some of these women yield +to the double pressure of a genuine passion and of hard necessity, +like Madame Colleville, who was for long attached to one of the famous +orators of the left, Keller the banker. Others are spurred by vanity, +like Madame de la Baudraye, who remained almost respectable in spite of +her elopement with Lousteau. Some, again, are led astray by the love of +fine clothes, and some by the impossibility of keeping a house going +on obviously too narrow means. The stinginess of the State--or of +Parliament--leads to many disasters and to much corruption. + +At the present moment the laboring classes are the fashionable object +of compassion; they are being murdered--it is said--by the manufacturing +capitalist; but the Government is a hundred times harder than the +meanest tradesman, it carries its economy in the article of salaries to +absolute folly. If you work harder, the merchant will pay you more in +proportion; but what does the State do for its crowd of obscure and +devoted toilers? + +In a married woman it is an inexcusable crime when she wanders from the +path of honor; still, there are degrees even in such a case. Some +women, far from being depraved, conceal their fall and remain to all +appearances quite respectable, like those two just referred to, while +others add to their fault the disgrace of speculation. Thus Madame +Marneffe is, as it were, the type of those ambitious married courtesans +who from the first accept depravity with all its consequences, and +determine to make a fortune while taking their pleasure, perfectly +unscrupulous as to the means. But almost always a woman like Madame +Marneffe has a husband who is her confederate and accomplice. These +Machiavellis in petticoats are the most dangerous of the sisterhood; of +every evil class of Parisian woman, they are the worst. + +A mere courtesan--a Josepha, a Malaga, a Madame Schontz, a Jenny +Cadine--carries in her frank dishonor a warning signal as conspicuous as +the red lamp of a house of ill-fame or the flaring lights of a gambling +hell. A man knows that they light him to his ruin. + +But mealy-mouthed propriety, the semblance of virtue, the hypocritical +ways of a married woman who never allows anything to be seen but the +vulgar needs of the household, and affects to refuse every kind of +extravagance, leads to silent ruin, dumb disaster, which is all the more +startling because, though condoned, it remains unaccounted for. It is +the ignoble bill of daily expenses and not gay dissipation that devours +the largest fortune. The father of a family ruins himself ingloriously, +and the great consolation of gratified vanity is wanting in his misery. + +This little sermon will go like a javelin to the heart of many a home. +Madame Marneffes are to be seen in every sphere of social life, even at +Court; for Valerie is a melancholy fact, modeled from the life in the +smallest details. And, alas! the portrait will not cure any man of the +folly of loving these sweetly-smiling angels, with pensive looks and +candid faces, whose heart is a cash-box. + + + +About three years after Hortense's marriage, in 1841, Baron Hulot d'Ervy +was supposed to have sown his wild oats, to have "put up his horses," +to quote the expression used by Louis XV.'s head surgeon, and yet Madame +Marneffe was costing him twice as much as Josepha had ever cost him. +Still, Valerie, though always nicely dressed, affected the simplicity +of a subordinate official's wife; she kept her luxury for her +dressing-gowns, her home wear. She thus sacrificed her Parisian vanity +to her dear Hector. At the theatre, however, she always appeared in a +pretty bonnet and a dress of extreme elegance; and the Baron took her in +a carriage to a private box. + +Her rooms, the whole of the second floor of a modern house in the +Rue Vanneau, between a fore-court and a garden, was redolent of +respectability. All its luxury was in good chintz hangings and handsome +convenient furniture. + +Her bedroom, indeed, was the exception, and rich with such profusion +as Jenny Cadine or Madame Schontz might have displayed. There were +lace curtains, cashmere hangings, brocade portieres, a set of chimney +ornaments modeled by Stidmann, a glass cabinet filled with dainty +nicknacks. Hulot could not bear to see his Valerie in a bower of +inferior magnificence to the dunghill of gold and pearls owned by +a Josepha. The drawing-room was furnished with red damask, and the +dining-room had carved oak panels. But the Baron, carried away by his +wish to have everything in keeping, had at the end of six months, +added solid luxury to mere fashion, and had given her handsome portable +property, as, for instance, a service of plate that was to cost more +than twenty-four thousand francs. + +Madame Marneffe's house had in a couple of years achieved a reputation +for being a very pleasant one. Gambling went on there. Valerie herself +was soon spoken of as an agreeable and witty woman. To account for her +change of style, a rumor was set going of an immense legacy bequeathed +to her by her "natural father," Marshal Montcornet, and left in trust. + +With an eye to the future, Valerie had added religious to social +hypocrisy. Punctual at the Sunday services, she enjoyed all the honors +due to the pious. She carried the bag for the offertory, she was a +member of a charitable association, presented bread for the sacrament, +and did some good among the poor, all at Hector's expense. Thus +everything about the house was extremely seemly. And a great many +persons maintained that her friendship with the Baron was entirely +innocent, supporting the view by the gentleman's mature age, and +ascribing to him a Platonic liking for Madame Marneffe's pleasant wit, +charming manners, and conversation--such a liking as that of the late +lamented Louis XVIII. for a well-turned note. + +The Baron always withdrew with the other company at about midnight, and +came back a quarter of an hour later. + +The secret of this secrecy was as follows. The lodge-keepers of the +house were a Monsieur and Madame Olivier, who, under the Baron's +patronage, had been promoted from their humble and not very lucrative +post in the Rue du Doyenne to the highly-paid and handsome one in +the Rue Vanneau. Now, Madame Olivier, formerly a needlewoman in the +household of Charles X., who had fallen in the world with the legitimate +branch, had three children. The eldest, an under-clerk in a notary's +office, was object of his parents' adoration. This Benjamin, for six +years in danger of being drawn for the army, was on the point of being +interrupted in his legal career, when Madame Marneffe contrived to have +him declared exempt for one of those little malformations which the +Examining Board can always discern when requested in a whisper by some +power in the ministry. So Olivier, formerly a huntsman to the King, and +his wife would have crucified the Lord again for the Baron or for Madame +Marneffe. + +What could the world have to say? It knew nothing of the former episode +of the Brazilian, Monsieur Montes de Montejanos--it could say nothing. +Besides, the world is very indulgent to the mistress of a house where +amusement is to be found. + +And then to all her charms Valerie added the highly-prized advantage +of being an occult power. Claude Vignon, now secretary to Marshal the +Prince de Wissembourg, and dreaming of promotion to the Council of State +as a Master of Appeals, was constantly seen in her rooms, to which came +also some Deputies--good fellows and gamblers. Madame Marneffe had got +her circle together with prudent deliberation; only men whose opinions +and habits agreed foregathered there, men whose interest it was to +hold together and to proclaim the many merits of the lady of the house. +Scandal is the true Holy Alliance in Paris. Take that as an axiom. +Interests invariably fall asunder in the end; vicious natures can always +agree. + +Within three months of settling in the Rue Vanneau, Madame Marneffe +had entertained Monsieur Crevel, who by that time was Mayor of his +_arrondissement_ and Officer of the Legion of Honor. Crevel had +hesitated; he would have to give up the famous uniform of the National +Guard in which he strutted at the Tuileries, believing himself quite +as much a soldier as the Emperor himself; but ambition, urged by Madame +Marneffe, had proved stronger than vanity. Then Monsieur le Maire had +considered his connection with Mademoiselle Heloise Brisetout as quite +incompatible with his political position. + +Indeed, long before his accession to the civic chair of the Mayoralty, +his gallant intimacies had been wrapped in the deepest mystery. But, +as the reader may have guessed, Crevel had soon purchased the right of +taking his revenge, as often as circumstances allowed, for having been +bereft of Josepha, at the cost of a bond bearing six thousand francs of +interest in the name of Valerie Fortin, wife of Sieur Marneffe, for her +sole and separate use. Valerie, inheriting perhaps from her mother the +special acumen of the kept woman, read the character of her grotesque +adorer at a glance. The phrase "I never had a lady for a mistress," +spoken by Crevel to Lisbeth, and repeated by Lisbeth to her dear +Valerie, had been handsomely discounted in the bargain by which she got +her six thousand francs a year in five per cents. And since then she had +never allowed her prestige to grow less in the eyes of Cesar Birotteau's +erewhile bagman. + +Crevel himself had married for money the daughter of a miller of la +Brie, an only child indeed, whose inheritance constituted three-quarters +of his fortune; for when retail-dealers grow rich, it is generally not +so much by trade as through some alliance between the shop and rural +thrift. A large proportion of the farmers, corn-factors, dairy-keepers, +and market-gardeners in the neighborhood of Paris, dream of the glories +of the desk for their daughters, and look upon a shopkeeper, a jeweler, +or a money-changer as a son-in-law after their own heart, in preference +to a notary or an attorney, whose superior social position is a ground +of suspicion; they are afraid of being scorned in the future by these +citizen bigwigs. + +Madame Crevel, ugly, vulgar, and silly, had given her husband no +pleasures but those of paternity; she died young. Her libertine husband, +fettered at the beginning of his commercial career by the necessity +for working, and held in thrall by want of money, had led the life of +Tantalus. Thrown in--as he phrased it--with the most elegant women in +Paris, he let them out of the shop with servile homage, while admiring +their grace, their way of wearing the fashions, and all the nameless +charms of what is called breeding. To rise to the level of one of these +fairies of the drawing-room was a desire formed in his youth, but buried +in the depths of his heart. Thus to win the favors of Madame Marneffe +was to him not merely the realization of his chimera, but, as has been +shown, a point of pride, of vanity, of self-satisfaction. His ambition +grew with success; his brain was turned with elation; and when the +mind is captivated, the heart feels more keenly, every gratification is +doubled. + +Also, it must be said that Madame Marneffe offered to Crevel a +refinement of pleasure of which he had no idea; neither Josepha nor +Heloise had loved him; and Madame Marneffe thought it necessary +to deceive him thoroughly, for this man, she saw, would prove an +inexhaustible till. The deceptions of a venal passion are more +delightful than the real thing. True love is mixed up with birdlike +squabbles, in which the disputants wound each other to the quick; but a +quarrel without animus is, on the contrary, a piece of flattery to the +dupe's conceit. + +The rare interviews granted to Crevel kept his passion at white heat. +He was constantly blocked by Valerie's virtuous severity; she acted +remorse, and wondered what her father must be thinking of her in the +paradise of the brave. Again and again he had to contend with a sort +of coldness, which the cunning slut made him believe he had overcome +by seeming to surrender to the man's crazy passion; and then, as if +ashamed, she entrenched herself once more in her pride of respectability +and airs of virtue, just like an Englishwoman, neither more nor less; +and she always crushed her Crevel under the weight of her dignity--for +Crevel had, in the first instance, swallowed her pretensions to virtue. + +In short, Valerie had special veins of affections which made her equally +indispensable to Crevel and to the Baron. Before the world she +displayed the attractive combination of modest and pensive innocence, +of irreproachable propriety, with a bright humor enhanced by the +suppleness, the grace and softness of the Creole; but in a _tete-a-tete_ +she would outdo any courtesan; she was audacious, amusing, and full of +original inventiveness. Such a contrast is irresistible to a man of the +Crevel type; he is flattered by believing himself sole author of the +comedy, thinking it is performed for his benefit alone, and he laughs at +the exquisite hypocrisy while admiring the hypocrite. + +Valerie had taken entire possession of Baron Hulot; she had persuaded +him to grow old by one of those subtle touches of flattery which reveal +the diabolical wit of women like her. In all evergreen constitutions a +moment arrives when the truth suddenly comes out, as in a besieged +town which puts a good face on affairs as long as possible. Valerie, +foreseeing the approaching collapse of the old beau of the Empire, +determined to forestall it. + +"Why give yourself so much bother, my dear old veteran?" said she one +day, six months after their doubly adulterous union. "Do you want to be +flirting? To be unfaithful to me? I assure you, I should like you better +without your make-up. Oblige me by giving up all your artificial charms. +Do you suppose that it is for two sous' worth of polish on your boots +that I love you? For your india-rubber belt, your strait-waistcoat, +and your false hair? And then, the older you look, the less need I fear +seeing my Hulot carried off by a rival." + +And Hulot, trusting to Madame Marneffe's heavenly friendship as much as +to her love, intending, too, to end his days with her, had taken this +confidential hint, and ceased to dye his whiskers and hair. After +this touching declaration from his Valerie, handsome Hector made his +appearance one morning perfectly white. Madame Marneffe could assure him +that she had a hundred times detected the white line of the growth of +the hair. + +"And white hair suits your face to perfection," said she; "it softens +it. You look a thousand times better, quite charming." + +The Baron, once started on this path of reform, gave up his leather +waistcoat and stays; he threw off all his bracing. His stomach fell +and increased in size. The oak became a tower, and the heaviness of his +movements was all the more alarming because the Baron grew immensely +older by playing the part of Louis XII. His eyebrows were still black, +and left a ghostly reminiscence of Handsome Hulot, as sometimes on the +wall of some feudal building a faint trace of sculpture remains to show +what the castle was in the days of its glory. This discordant detail +made his eyes, still bright and youthful, all the more remarkable in his +tanned face, because it had so long been ruddy with the florid hues of +a Rubens; and now a certain discoloration and the deep tension of the +wrinkles betrayed the efforts of a passion at odds with natural decay. +Hulot was now one of those stalwart ruins in which virile force asserts +itself by tufts of hair in the ears and nostrils and on the fingers, as +moss grows on the almost eternal monuments of the Roman Empire. + +How had Valerie contrived to keep Crevel and Hulot side by side, each +tied to an apron-string, when the vindictive Mayor only longed to +triumph openly over Hulot? Without immediately giving an answer to this +question, which the course of the story will supply, it may be said that +Lisbeth and Valerie had contrived a powerful piece of machinery which +tended to this result. Marneffe, as he saw his wife improved in beauty +by the setting in which she was enthroned, like the sun at the centre of +the sidereal system, appeared, in the eyes of the world, to have fallen +in love with her again himself; he was quite crazy about her. Now, +though his jealousy made him somewhat of a marplot, it gave enhanced +value to Valerie's favors. Marneffe meanwhile showed a blind confidence +in his chief, which degenerated into ridiculous complaisance. The only +person whom he really would not stand was Crevel. + +Marneffe, wrecked by the debauchery of great cities, described by Roman +authors, though modern decency has no name for it, was as hideous as +an anatomical figure in wax. But this disease on feet, clothed in good +broadcloth, encased his lathlike legs in elegant trousers. The hollow +chest was scented with fine linen, and musk disguised the odors of +rotten humanity. This hideous specimen of decaying vice, trotting in red +heels--for Valerie dressed the man as beseemed his income, his cross, +and his appointment--horrified Crevel, who could not meet the colorless +eyes of the Government clerk. Marneffe was an incubus to the Mayor. And +the mean rascal, aware of the strange power conferred on him by Lisbeth +and his wife, was amused by it; he played on it as on an instrument; and +cards being the last resource of a mind as completely played out as +the body, he plucked Crevel again and again, the Mayor thinking himself +bound to subserviency to the worthy official whom _he was cheating_. + +Seeing Crevel a mere child in the hands of that hideous and atrocious +mummy, of whose utter vileness the Mayor knew nothing; and seeing him, +yet more, an object of deep contempt to Valerie, who made game of Crevel +as of some mountebank, the Baron apparently thought him so impossible as +a rival that he constantly invited him to dinner. + +Valerie, protected by two lovers on guard, and by a jealous husband, +attracted every eye, and excited every desire in the circle she shone +upon. And thus, while keeping up appearances, she had, in the course +of three years, achieved the most difficult conditions of the success a +courtesan most cares for and most rarely attains, even with the help +of audacity and the glitter of an existence in the light of the sun. +Valerie's beauty, formerly buried in the mud of the Rue du Doyenne, now, +like a well-cut diamond exquisitely set by Chanor, was worth more than +its real value--it could break hearts. Claude Vignon adored Valerie in +secret. + + + +This retrospective explanation, quite necessary after the lapse of +three years, shows Valerie's balance-sheet. Now for that of her partner, +Lisbeth. + +Lisbeth Fischer filled the place in the Marneffe household of a relation +who combines the functions of a lady companion and a housekeeper; but +she suffered from none of the humiliations which, for the most part, +weigh upon the women who are so unhappy as to be obliged to fill these +ambiguous situations. Lisbeth and Valerie offered the touching spectacle +of one of those friendships between women, so cordial and so improbable, +that men, always too keen-tongued in Paris, forthwith slander them. The +contrast between Lisbeth's dry masculine nature and Valerie's creole +prettiness encouraged calumny. And Madame Marneffe had unconsciously +given weight to the scandal by the care she took of her friend, with +matrimonial views, which were, as will be seen, to complete Lisbeth's +revenge. + +An immense change had taken place in Cousin Betty; and Valerie, who +wanted to smarten her, had turned it to the best account. The strange +woman had submitted to stays, and laced tightly, she used bandoline to +keep her hair smooth, wore her gowns as the dressmaker sent them home, +neat little boots, and gray silk stockings, all of which were included +in Valerie's bills, and paid for by the gentleman in possession. Thus +furbished up, and wearing the yellow cashmere shawl, Lisbeth would have +been unrecognizable by any one who had not seen her for three years. + +This other diamond--a black diamond, the rarest of all--cut by a skilled +hand, and set as best became her, was appreciated at her full value by +certain ambitious clerks. Any one seeing her for the first time might +have shuddered involuntarily at the look of poetic wildness which the +clever Valerie had succeeded in bringing out by the arts of dress in +this Bleeding Nun, framing the ascetic olive face in thick bands of +hair as black as the fiery eyes, and making the most of the rigid, slim +figure. Lisbeth, like a Virgin by Cranach or Van Eyck, or a Byzantine +Madonna stepped out of its frame, had all the stiffness, the precision +of those mysterious figures, the more modern cousins of Isis and her +sister goddesses sheathed in marble folds by Egyptian sculptors. It was +granite, basalt, porphyry, with life and movement. + +Saved from want for the rest of her life, Lisbeth was most amiable; +wherever she dined she brought merriment. And the Baron paid the rent +of her little apartment, furnished, as we know, with the leavings of her +friend Valerie's former boudoir and bedroom. + +"I began," she would say, "as a hungry nanny goat, and I am ending as a +_lionne_." + +She still worked for Monsieur Rivet at the more elaborate kinds of +gold-trimming, merely, as she said, not to lose her time. At the +same time, she was, as we shall see, very full of business; but it is +inherent in the nature of country-folks never to give up bread-winning; +in this they are like the Jews. + +Every morning, very early, Cousin Betty went off to market with the +cook. It was part of Lisbeth's scheme that the house-book, which was +ruining Baron Hulot, was to enrich her dear Valerie--as it did indeed. + +Is there a housewife who, since 1838, has not suffered from the evil +effects of Socialist doctrines diffused among the lower classes by +incendiary writers? In every household the plague of servants is +nowadays the worst of financial afflictions. With very few exceptions, +who ought to be rewarded with the Montyon prize, the cook, male or +female, is a domestic robber, a thief taking wages, and perfectly +barefaced, with the Government for a fence, developing the tendency to +dishonesty, which is almost authorized in the cook by the time-honored +jest as to the "handle of the basket." The women who formerly picked up +their forty sous to buy a lottery ticket now take fifty francs to put +into the savings bank. And the smug Puritans who amuse themselves in +France with philanthropic experiments fancy that they are making the +common people moral! + +Between the market and the master's table the servants have their secret +toll, and the municipality of Paris is less sharp in collecting the +city-dues than the servants are in taking theirs on every single thing. +To say nothing of fifty per cent charged on every form of food, they +demand large New Year's premiums from the tradesmen. The best class of +dealers tremble before this occult power, and subsidize it without a +word--coachmakers, jewelers, tailors, and all. If any attempt is made +to interfere with them, the servants reply with impudent retorts, or +revenge themselves by the costly blunders of assumed clumsiness; and in +these days they inquire into their master's character as, formerly, the +master inquired into theirs. This mischief is now really at its height, +and the law-courts are beginning to take cognizance of it; but in vain, +for it cannot be remedied but by a law which shall compel domestic +servants, like laborers, to have a pass-book as a guarantee of conduct. +Then the evil will vanish as if by magic. If every servant were obliged +to show his pass-book, and if masters were required to state in it the +cause of his dismissal, this would certainly prove a powerful check to +the evil. + +The men who are giving their attentions to the politics of the day +know not to what lengths the depravity of the lower classes has gone. +Statistics are silent as to the startling number of working men of +twenty who marry cooks of between forty and fifty enriched by robbery. +We shudder to think of the result of such unions from the three points +of view of increasing crime, degeneracy of the race, and miserable +households. + +As to the mere financial mischief that results from domestic peculation, +that too is immense from a political point of view. Life being made to +cost double, any superfluity becomes impossible in most households. +Now superfluity means half the trade of the world, as it is half the +elegance of life. Books and flowers are to many persons as necessary as +bread. + +Lisbeth, well aware of this dreadful scourge of Parisian households, +determined to manage Valerie's, promising her every assistance in the +terrible scene when the two women had sworn to be like sisters. So +she had brought from the depths of the Vosges a humble relation on her +mother's side, a very pious and honest soul, who had been cook to the +Bishop of Nancy. Fearing, however, her inexperience of Paris ways, and +yet more the evil counsel which wrecks such fragile virtue, at first +Lisbeth always went to market with Mathurine, and tried to teach +her what to buy. To know the real prices of things and command the +salesman's respect; to purchase unnecessary delicacies, such as fish, +only when they were cheap; to be well informed as to the price current +of groceries and provisions, so as to buy when prices are low in +anticipation of a rise,--all this housekeeping skill is in Paris +essential to domestic economy. As Mathurine got good wages and many +presents, she liked the house well enough to be glad to drive good +bargains. And by this time Lisbeth had made her quite a match for +herself, sufficiently experienced and trustworthy to be sent to market +alone, unless Valerie was giving a dinner--which, in fact, was not +unfrequently the case. And this was how it came about. + +The Baron had at first observed the strictest decorum; but his passion +for Madame Marneffe had ere long become so vehement, so greedy, that he +would never quit her if he could help it. At first he dined there four +times a week; then he thought it delightful to dine with her every day. +Six months after his daughter's marriage he was paying her two thousand +francs a month for his board. Madame Marneffe invited any one her dear +Baron wished to entertain. The dinner was always arranged for six; he +could bring in three unexpected guests. Lisbeth's economy enabled her +to solve the extraordinary problem of keeping up the table in the best +style for a thousand francs a month, giving the other thousand to Madame +Marneffe. Valerie's dress being chiefly paid for by Crevel and the +Baron, the two women saved another thousand francs a month on this. + +And so this pure and innocent being had already accumulated a hundred +and fifty thousand francs in savings. She had capitalized her income +and monthly bonus, and swelled the amount by enormous interest, due to +Crevel's liberality in allowing his "little Duchess" to invest her money +in partnership with him in his financial operations. Crevel had taught +Valerie the slang and the procedure of the money market, and, like every +Parisian woman, she had soon outstripped her master. Lisbeth, who never +spent a sou of her twelve hundred francs, whose rent and dress were +given to her, and who never put her hand in her pocket, had likewise +a small capital of five or six thousand francs, of which Crevel took +fatherly care. + +At the same time, two such lovers were a heavy burthen on Valerie. +On the day when this drama reopens, Valerie, spurred by one of those +incidents which have the effect in life that the ringing of a bell has +in inducing a swarm of bees to settle, went up to Lisbeth's rooms to +give vent to one of those comforting lamentations--a sort of cigarette +blown off from the tongue--by which women alleviate the minor miseries +of life. + +"Oh, Lisbeth, my love, two hours of Crevel this morning! It is crushing! +How I wish I could send you in my place!" + +"That, unluckily, is impossible," said Lisbeth, smiling. "I shall die a +maid." + +"Two old men lovers! Really, I am ashamed sometimes! If my poor mother +could see me." + +"You are mistaking me for Crevel!" said Lisbeth. + +"Tell me, my little Betty, do you not despise me?" + +"Oh! if I had but been pretty, what adventures I would have had!" cried +Lisbeth. "That is your justification." + +"But you would have acted only at the dictates of your heart," said +Madame Marneffe, with a sigh. + +"Pooh! Marneffe is a dead man they have forgotten to bury," replied +Lisbeth. "The Baron is as good as your husband; Crevel is your adorer; +it seems to me that you are quite in order--like every other married +woman." + +"No, it is not that, dear, adorable thing; that is not where the shoe +pinches; you do not choose to understand." + +"Yes, I do," said Lisbeth. "The unexpressed factor is part of my +revenge; what can I do? I am working it out." + +"I love Wenceslas so that I am positively growing thin, and I can never +see him," said Valerie, throwing up her arms. "Hulot asks him to dinner, +and my artist declines. He does not know that I idolize him, the wretch! +What is his wife after all? Fine flesh! Yes, she is handsome, but I--I +know myself--I am worse!" + +"Be quite easy, my child, he will come," said Lisbeth, in the tone of a +nurse to an impatient child. "He shall." + +"But when?" + +"This week perhaps." + +"Give me a kiss." + +As may be seen, these two women were but one. Everything Valerie did, +even her most reckless actions, her pleasures, her little sulks, were +decided on after serious deliberation between them. + +Lisbeth, strangely excited by this harlot existence, advised Valerie on +every step, and pursued her course of revenge with pitiless logic. She +really adored Valerie; she had taken her to be her child, her friend, +her love; she found her docile, as Creoles are, yielding from voluptuous +indolence; she chattered with her morning after morning with more +pleasure than with Wenceslas; they could laugh together over the +mischief they plotted, and over the folly of men, and count up the +swelling interest on their respective savings. + +Indeed, in this new enterprise and new affection, Lisbeth had found food +for her activity that was far more satisfying than her insane passion +for Wenceslas. The joys of gratified hatred are the fiercest and +strongest the heart can know. Love is the gold, hatred the iron of +the mine of feeling that lies buried in us. And then, Valerie was, +to Lisbeth, Beauty in all its glory--the beauty she worshiped, as we +worship what we have not, beauty far more plastic to her hand than that +of Wenceslas, who had always been cold to her and distant. + +At the end of nearly three years, Lisbeth was beginning to perceive the +progress of the underground mine on which she was expending her life and +concentrating her mind. Lisbeth planned, Madame Marneffe acted. Madame +Marneffe was the axe, Lisbeth was the hand the wielded it, and that hand +was rapidly demolishing the family which was every day more odious +to her; for we can hate more and more, just as, when we love, we love +better every day. + +Love and hatred are feelings that feed on themselves; but of the two, +hatred has the longer vitality. Love is restricted within limits of +power; it derives its energies from life and from lavishness. Hatred +is like death, like avarice; it is, so to speak, an active abstraction, +above beings and things. + +Lisbeth, embarked on the existence that was natural to her, expended in +it all her faculties; governing, like the Jesuits, by occult influences. +The regeneration of her person was equally complete; her face was +radiant. Lisbeth dreamed of becoming Madame la Marechale Hulot. + +This little scene, in which the two friends had bluntly uttered +their ideas without any circumlocution in expressing them, took place +immediately on Lisbeth's return from market, whither she had been to +procure the materials for an elegant dinner. Marneffe, who hoped to get +Coquet's place, was to entertain him and the virtuous Madame Coquet, +and Valerie hoped to persuade Hulot, that very evening, to consider the +head-clerk's resignation. + +Lisbeth dressed to go to the Baroness, with whom she was to dine. + +"You will come back in time to make tea for us, my Betty?" said Valerie. + +"I hope so." + +"You hope so--why? Have you come to sleeping with Adeline to drink her +tears while she is asleep?" + +"If only I could!" said Lisbeth, laughing. "I would not refuse. She is +expiating her happiness--and I am glad, for I remember our young days. +It is my turn now. She will be in the mire, and I shall be Comtesse de +Forzheim!" + +Lisbeth set out for the Rue Plumet, where she now went as to the +theatre--to indulge her emotions. + + + +The residence Hulot had found for his wife consisted of a large, +bare entrance-room, a drawing-room, and a bed and dressing-room. The +dining-room was next the drawing-room on one side. Two servants' rooms +and a kitchen on the third floor completed the accommodation, which was +not unworthy of a Councillor of State, high up in the War Office. The +house, the court-yard, and the stairs were extremely handsome. + +The Baroness, who had to furnish her drawing-room, bed-room, and +dining-room with the relics of her splendor, had brought away the best +of the remains from the house in the Rue de l'Universite. Indeed, the +poor woman was attached to these mute witnesses of her happier life; +to her they had an almost consoling eloquence. In memory she saw her +flowers, as in the carpets she could trace patterns hardly visible now +to other eyes. + +On going into the spacious anteroom, where twelve chairs, a barometer, +a large stove, and long, white cotton curtains, bordered with red, +suggested the dreadful waiting-room of a Government office, the visitor +felt oppressed, conscious at once of the isolation in which the mistress +lived. Grief, like pleasure, infects the atmosphere. A first glance into +any home is enough to tell you whether love or despair reigns there. + +Adeline would be found sitting in an immense bedroom with beautiful +furniture by Jacob Desmalters, of mahogany finished in the Empire style +with ormolu, which looks even less inviting than the brass-work of Louis +XVI.! It gave one a shiver to see this lonely woman sitting on a Roman +chair, a work-table with sphinxes before her, colorless, affecting false +cheerfulness, but preserving her imperial air, as she had preserved +the blue velvet gown she always wore in the house. Her proud spirit +sustained her strength and preserved her beauty. + +The Baroness, by the end of her first year of banishment to this +apartment, had gauged every depth of misfortune. + +"Still, even here my Hector has made my life much handsomer than it +should be for a mere peasant," said she to herself. "He chooses that it +should be so; his will be done! I am Baroness Hulot, the sister-in-law +of a Marshal of France. I have done nothing wrong; my two children are +settled in life; I can wait for death, wrapped in the spotless veil of +an immaculate wife and the crape of departed happiness." + +A portrait of Hulot, in the uniform of a Commissary General of the +Imperial Guard, painted in 1810 by Robert Lefebvre, hung above the +work-table, and when visitors were announced, Adeline threw into +a drawer an _Imitation of Jesus Christ_, her habitual study. This +blameless Magdalen thus heard the Voice of the Spirit in her desert. + +"Mariette, my child," said Lisbeth to the woman who opened the door, +"how is my dear Adeline to-day?" + +"Oh, she looks pretty well, mademoiselle; but between you and me, if she +goes on in this way, she will kill herself," said Mariette in a whisper. +"You really ought to persuade her to live better. Now, yesterday madame +told me to give her two sous' worth of milk and a roll for one sou; to +get her a herring for dinner and a bit of cold veal; she had a pound +cooked to last her the week--of course, for the days when she dines +at home and alone. She will not spend more than ten sous a day for her +food. It is unreasonable. If I were to say anything about it to Monsieur +le Marechal, he might quarrel with Monsieur le Baron and leave him +nothing, whereas you, who are so kind and clever, can manage things----" + +"But why do you not apply to my cousin the Baron?" said Lisbeth. + +"Oh, dear mademoiselle, he has not been here for three weeks or more; in +fact, not since we last had the pleasure of seeing you! Besides, madame +has forbidden me, under threat of dismissal, ever to ask the master for +money. But as for grief!--oh, poor lady, she has been very unhappy. It +is the first time that monsieur has neglected her for so long. Every +time the bell rang she rushed to the window--but for the last five days +she has sat still in her chair. She reads. Whenever she goes out to see +Madame la Comtesse, she says, 'Mariette, if monsieur comes in,' says +she, 'tell him I am at home, and send the porter to fetch me; he shall +be well paid for his trouble.'" + +"Poor soul!" said Lisbeth; "it goes to my heart. I speak of her to the +Baron every day. What can I do? 'Yes,' says he, 'Betty, you are right; +I am a wretch. My wife is an angel, and I am a monster! I will go +to-morrow----' And he stays with Madame Marneffe. That woman is ruining +him, and he worships her; he lives only in her sight.--I do what I can; +if I were not there, and if I had not Mathurine to depend upon, he would +spend twice as much as he does; and as he has hardly any money in the +world, he would have blown his brains out by this time. And, I tell +you, Mariette, Adeline would die of her husband's death, I am perfectly +certain. At any rate, I pull to make both ends meet, and prevent my +cousin from throwing too much money into the fire." + +"Yes, that is what madame says, poor soul! She knows how much she owes +you," replied Mariette. "She said she had judged you unjustly for many +years----" + +"Indeed!" said Lisbeth. "And did she say anything else?" + +"No, mademoiselle. If you wish to please her, talk to her about Monsieur +le Baron; she envies you your happiness in seeing him every day." + +"Is she alone?" + +"I beg pardon, no; the Marshal is with her. He comes every day, and she +always tells him she saw monsieur in the morning, but that he comes in +very late at night." + +"And is there a good dinner to-day?" + +Mariette hesitated; she could not meet Lisbeth's eye. The drawing-room +door opened, and Marshal Hulot rushed out in such haste that he bowed to +Lisbeth without looking at her, and dropped a paper. Lisbeth picked it +up and ran after him downstairs, for it was vain to hail a deaf man; but +she managed not to overtake the Marshal, and as she came up again she +furtively read the following lines written in pencil:-- + + "MY DEAR BROTHER,--My husband has given me the money for my + quarter's expenses; but my daughter Hortense was in such need of + it, that I lent her the whole sum, which was scarcely enough to + set her straight. Could you lend me a few hundred francs? For I + cannot ask Hector for more; if he were to blame me, I could not + bear it." + +"My word!" thought Lisbeth, "she must be in extremities to bend her +pride to such a degree!" + +Lisbeth went in. She saw tears in Adeline's eyes, and threw her arms +round her neck. + +"Adeline, my dearest, I know all," cried Cousin Betty. "Here, the +Marshal dropped this paper--he was in such a state of mind, and +running like a greyhound.--Has that dreadful Hector given you no money +since----?" + +"He gives it me quite regularly," replied the Baroness, "but Hortense +needed it, and--" + +"And you had not enough to pay for dinner to-night," said Lisbeth, +interrupting her. "Now I understand why Mariette looked so confused when +I said something about the soup. You really are childish, Adeline; come, +take my savings." + +"Thank you, my kind cousin," said Adeline, wiping away a tear. "This +little difficulty is only temporary, and I have provided for the future. +My expenses henceforth will be no more than two thousand four hundred +francs a year, rent inclusive, and I shall have the money.--Above all, +Betty, not a word to Hector. Is he well?" + +"As strong as the Pont Neuf, and as gay as a lark; he thinks of nothing +but his charmer Valerie." + +Madame Hulot looked out at a tall silver-fir in front of the window, and +Lisbeth could not see her cousin's eyes to read their expression. + +"Did you mention that it was the day when we all dine together here?" + +"Yes. But, dear me! Madame Marneffe is giving a grand dinner; she +hopes to get Monsieur Coquet to resign, and that is of the first +importance.--Now, Adeline, listen to me. You know that I am fiercely +proud as to my independence. Your husband, my dear, will certainly bring +you to ruin. I fancied I could be of use to you all by living near this +woman, but she is a creature of unfathomable depravity, and she will +make your husband promise things which will bring you all to disgrace." +Adeline writhed like a person stabbed to the heart. "My dear Adeline, I +am sure of what I say. I feel it is my duty to enlighten you.--Well, let +us think of the future. The Marshal is an old man, but he will last a +long time yet--he draws good pay; when he dies his widow would have a +pension of six thousand francs. On such an income I would undertake to +maintain you all. Use your influence over the good man to get him to +marry me. It is not for the sake of being Madame la Marechale; I value +such nonsense at no more than I value Madame Marneffe's conscience; but +you will all have bread. I see that Hortense must be wanting it, since +you give her yours." + +The Marshal now came in; he had made such haste, that he was mopping his +forehead with his bandana. + +"I have given Mariette two thousand francs," he whispered to his +sister-in-law. + +Adeline colored to the roots of her hair. Two tears hung on the fringes +of the still long lashes, and she silently pressed the old man's hand; +his beaming face expressed the glee of a favored lover. + +"I intended to spend the money in a present for you, Adeline," said +he. "Instead of repaying me, you must choose for yourself the thing you +would like best." + +He took Lisbeth's hand, which she held out to him, and so bewildered was +he by his satisfaction, that he kissed it. + +"That looks promising," said Adeline to Lisbeth, smiling so far as she +was able to smile. + +The younger Hulot and his wife now came in. + +"Is my brother coming to dinner?" asked the Marshal sharply. + +Adeline took up a pencil and wrote these words on a scrap of paper: + +"I expect him; he promised this morning that he would be here; but if +he should not come, it would be because the Marshal kept him. He is +overwhelmed with business." + +And she handed him the paper. She had invented this way of conversing +with Marshal Hulot, and kept a little collection of paper scraps and a +pencil at hand on the work-table. + +"I know," said the Marshal, "he is worked very hard over the business in +Algiers." + +At this moment, Hortense and Wenceslas arrived, and the Baroness, as +she saw all her family about her, gave the Marshal a significant glance +understood by none but Lisbeth. + +Happiness had greatly improved the artist, who was adored by his wife +and flattered by the world. His face had become almost round, and his +graceful figure did justice to the advantages which blood gives to men +of birth. His early fame, his important position, the delusive eulogies +that the world sheds on artists as lightly as we say, "How d'ye do?" or +discuss the weather, gave him that high sense of merit which degenerates +into sheer fatuity when talent wanes. The Cross of the Legion of Honor +was the crowning stamp of the great man he believed himself to be. + +After three years of married life, Hortense was to her husband what a +dog is to its master; she watched his every movement with a look that +seemed a constant inquiry, her eyes were always on him, like those of +a miser on his treasure; her admiring abnegation was quite pathetic. In +her might be seen her mother's spirit and teaching. Her beauty, as +great as ever, was poetically touched by the gentle shadow of concealed +melancholy. + +On seeing Hortense come in, it struck Lisbeth that some long-suppressed +complaint was about to break through the thin veil of reticence. +Lisbeth, from the first days of the honeymoon, had been sure that this +couple had too small an income for so great a passion. + +Hortense, as she embraced her mother, exchanged with her a few whispered +phrases, heart to heart, of which the mystery was betrayed to Lisbeth by +certain shakes of the head. + +"Adeline, like me, must work for her living," thought Cousin Betty. "She +shall be made to tell me what she will do! Those pretty fingers will +know at last, like mine, what it is to work because they must." + +At six o'clock the family party went in to dinner. A place was laid for +Hector. + +"Leave it so," said the Baroness to Mariette, "monsieur sometimes comes +in late." + +"Oh, my father will certainly come," said Victorin to his mother. "He +promised me he would when we parted at the Chamber." + +Lisbeth, like a spider in the middle of its net, gloated over all these +countenances. Having known Victorin and Hortense from their birth, their +faces were to her like panes of glass, through which she could read +their young souls. Now, from certain stolen looks directed by Victorin +on his mother, she saw that some disaster was hanging over Adeline which +Victorin hesitated to reveal. The famous young lawyer had some covert +anxiety. His deep reverence for his mother was evident in the regret +with which he gazed at her. + +Hortense was evidently absorbed in her own woes; for a fortnight past, +as Lisbeth knew, she had been suffering the first uneasiness which want +of money brings to honest souls, and to young wives on whom life +has hitherto smiled, and who conceal their alarms. Also Lisbeth had +immediately guessed that her mother had given her no money. Adeline's +delicacy had brought her so low as to use the fallacious excuses that +necessity suggests to borrowers. + +Hortense's absence of mind, with her brother's and the Baroness' deep +dejection, made the dinner a melancholy meal, especially with the added +chill of the Marshal's utter deafness. Three persons gave a little life +to the scene: Lisbeth, Celestine, and Wenceslas. Hortense's affection +had developed the artist's natural liveliness as a Pole, the somewhat +swaggering vivacity and noisy high spirits that characterize these +Frenchmen of the North. His frame of mind and the expression of his +face showed plainly that he believed in himself, and that poor Hortense, +faithful to her mother's training, kept all domestic difficulties to +herself. + +"You must be content, at any rate," said Lisbeth to her young cousin, as +they rose from table, "since your mother has helped you with her money." + +"Mamma!" replied Hortense in astonishment. "Oh, poor mamma! It is for me +that she would like to make money. You do not know, Lisbeth, but I have +a horrible suspicion that she works for it in secret." + +They were crossing the large, dark drawing-room where there were +no candles, all following Mariette, who was carrying the lamp into +Adeline's bedroom. At this instant Victorin just touched Lisbeth +and Hortense on the arm. The two women, understanding the hint, left +Wenceslas, Celestine, the Marshal, and the Baroness to go on together, +and remained standing in a window-bay. + +"What is it, Victorin?" said Lisbeth. "Some disaster caused by your +father, I dare wager." + +"Yes, alas!" replied Victorin. "A money-lender named Vauvinet has bills +of my father's to the amount of sixty thousand francs, and wants to +prosecute. I tried to speak of the matter to my father at the Chamber, +but he would not understand me; he almost avoided me. Had we better tell +my mother?" + +"No, no," said Lisbeth, "she has too many troubles; it would be a +death-blow; you must spare her. You have no idea how low she has fallen. +But for your uncle, you would have found no dinner here this evening." + +"Dear Heaven! Victorin, what wretches we are!" said Hortense to her +brother. "We ought to have guessed what Lisbeth has told us. My dinner +is choking me!" + +Hortense could say no more; she covered her mouth with her handkerchief +to smother a sob, and melted into tears. + +"I told the fellow Vauvinet to call on me to-morrow," replied Victorin, +"but will he be satisfied by my guarantee on a mortgage? I doubt it. +Those men insist on ready money to sweat others on usurious terms." + +"Let us sell out of the funds!" said Lisbeth to Hortense. + +"What good would that do?" replied Victorin. "It would bring fifteen or +sixteen thousand francs, and we want sixty thousand." + +"Dear cousin!" cried Hortense, embracing Lisbeth with the enthusiasm of +guilelessness. + +"No, Lisbeth, keep your little fortune," said Victorin, pressing the old +maid's hand. "I shall see to-morrow what this man would be up to. +With my wife's consent, I can at least hinder or postpone the +prosecution--for it would really be frightful to see my father's honor +impugned. What would the War Minister say? My father's salary, which +he pledged for three years, will not be released before the month of +December, so we cannot offer that as a guarantee. This Vauvinet has +renewed the bills eleven times; so you may imagine what my father must +pay in interest. We must close this pit." + +"If only Madame Marneffe would throw him over!" said Hortense bitterly. + +"Heaven forbid!" exclaimed Victorin. "He would take up some one else; +and with her, at any rate, the worst outlay is over." + +What a change in children formerly so respectful, and kept so long by +their mother in blind worship of their father! They knew him now for +what he was. + +"But for me," said Lisbeth, "your father's ruin would be more complete +than it is." + +"Come in to mamma," said Hortense; "she is very sharp, and will suspect +something; as our kind Lisbeth says, let us keep everything from +her--let us be cheerful." + +"Victorin," said Lisbeth, "you have no notion of what your father +will be brought to by his passion for women. Try to secure some future +resource by getting the Marshal to marry me. Say something about it this +evening; I will leave early on purpose." + +Victorin went into the bedroom. + +"And you, poor little thing!" said Lisbeth in an undertone to Hortense, +"what can you do?" + +"Come to dinner with us to-morrow, and we will talk it over," answered +Hortense. "I do not know which way to turn; you know how hard life is, +and you will advise me." + + + +While the whole family with one consent tried to persuade the Marshal to +marry, and while Lisbeth was making her way home to the Rue Vanneau, one +of those incidents occurred which, in such women as Madame Marneffe, are +a stimulus to vice by compelling them to exert their energy and +every resource of depravity. One fact, at any rate, must however be +acknowledged: life in Paris is too full for vicious persons to do wrong +instinctively and unprovoked; vice is only a weapon of defence against +aggressors--that is all. + +Madame Marneffe's drawing-room was full of her faithful admirers, and +she had just started the whist-tables, when the footman, a pensioned +soldier recruited by the Baron, announced: + +"Monsieur le Baron Montes de Montejanos." + +Valerie's heart jumped, but she hurried to the door, exclaiming: + +"My cousin!" and as she met the Brazilian, she whispered: + +"You are my relation--or all is at an end between us!--And so you were +not wrecked, Henri?" she went on audibly, as she led him to the fire. "I +heard you were lost, and have mourned for you these three years." + +"How are you, my good fellow?" said Marneffe, offering his hand to the +stranger, whose get-up was indeed that of a Brazilian and a millionaire. + +Monsieur le Baron Henri Montes de Montejanos, to whom the climate of the +equator had given the color and stature we expect to see in Othello on +the stage, had an alarming look of gloom, but it was a merely pictorial +illusion; for, sweet and affectionate by nature, he was predestined +to be the victim that a strong man often is to a weak woman. The scorn +expressed in his countenance, the muscular strength of his stalwart +frame, all his physical powers were shown only to his fellow-men; a form +of flattery which women appreciate, nay, which so intoxicates them, that +every man with his mistress on his arm assumes a matador swagger that +provokes a smile. Very well set up, in a closely fitting blue coat with +solid gold buttons, in black trousers, spotless patent evening boots, +and gloves of a fashionable hue, the only Brazilian touch in the Baron's +costume was a large diamond, worth about a hundred thousand francs, +which blazed like a star on a handsome blue silk cravat, tucked into a +white waistcoat in such a way as to show corners of a fabulously fine +shirt front. + +His brow, bossy like that of a satyr, a sign of tenacity in his +passions, was crowned by thick jet-black hair like a virgin forest, and +under it flashed a pair of hazel eyes, so wild looking as to suggest +that before his birth his mother must have been scared by a jaguar. + +This fine specimen of the Portuguese race in Brazil took his stand with +his back to the fire, in an attitude that showed familiarity with +Paris manners; holding his hat in one hand, his elbow resting on the +velvet-covered shelf, he bent over Madame Marneffe, talking to her in an +undertone, and troubling himself very little about the dreadful people +who, in his opinion, were so very much in the way. + +This fashion of taking the stage, with the Brazilian's attitude and +expression, gave, alike to Crevel and to the baron, an identical shock +of curiosity and anxiety. Both were struck by the same impression and +the same surmise. And the manoeuvre suggested in each by their very +genuine passion was so comical in its simultaneous results, that it +made everybody smile who was sharp enough to read its meaning. Crevel, +a tradesman and shopkeeper to the backbone, though a mayor of Paris, +unluckily, was a little slower to move than his rival partner, and +this enabled the Baron to read at a glance Crevel's involuntary +self-betrayal. This was a fresh arrow to rankle in the very amorous old +man's heart, and he resolved to have an explanation from Valerie. + +"This evening," said Crevel to himself too, as he sorted his hand, "I +must know where I stand." + +"You have a heart!" cried Marneffe. "You have just revoked." + +"I beg your pardon," said Crevel, trying to withdraw his card.--"This +Baron seems to me very much in the way," he went on, thinking to +himself. "If Valerie carries on with my Baron, well and good--it is a +means to my revenge, and I can get rid of him if I choose; but as for +this cousin!--He is one Baron too many; I do not mean to be made a fool +of. I will know how they are related." + +That evening, by one of those strokes of luck which come to pretty +women, Valerie was charmingly dressed. Her white bosom gleamed under a +lace tucker of rusty white, which showed off the satin texture of her +beautiful shoulders--for Parisian women, Heaven knows how, have some way +of preserving their fine flesh and remaining slender. She wore a black +velvet gown that looked as if it might at any moment slip off her +shoulders, and her hair was dressed with lace and drooping flowers. Her +arms, not fat but dimpled, were graced by deep ruffles to her sleeves. +She was like a luscious fruit coquettishly served in a handsome dish, +and making the knife-blade long to be cutting it. + +"Valerie," the Brazilian was saying in her ear, "I have come back +faithful to you. My uncle is dead; I am twice as rich as I was when I +went away. I mean to live and die in Paris, for you and with you." + +"Lower, Henri, I implore you----" + +"Pooh! I mean to speak to you this evening, even if I should have to +pitch all these creatures out of window, especially as I have lost two +days in looking for you. I shall stay till the last.--I can, I suppose?" + +Valerie smiled at her adopted cousin, and said: + +"Remember that you are the son of my mother's sister, who married your +father during Junot's campaign in Portugal." + +"What, I, Montes de Montejanos, great grandson of a conquerer of Brazil! +Tell a lie?" + +"Hush, lower, or we shall never meet again." + +"Pray, why?" + +"Marneffe, like all dying wretches, who always take up some last whim, +has a revived passion for me----" + +"That cur?" said the Brazilian, who knew his Marneffe; "I will settle +him!" + +"What violence!" + +"And where did you get all this splendor?" the Brazilian went on, just +struck by the magnificence of the apartment. + +She began to laugh. + +"Henri! what bad taste!" said she. + +She had felt two burning flashes of jealousy which had moved her so +far as to make her look at the two souls in purgatory. Crevel, playing +against Baron Hulot and Monsieur Coquet, had Marneffe for his +partner. The game was even, because Crevel and the Baron were equally +absent-minded, and made blunder after blunder. Thus, in one instant, the +old men both confessed the passion which Valerie had persuaded them to +keep secret for the past three years; but she too had failed to hide +the joy in her eyes at seeing the man who had first taught her heart +to beat, the object of her first love. The rights of such happy mortals +survive as long as the woman lives over whom they have acquired them. + +With these three passions at her side--one supported by the insolence of +wealth, the second by the claims of possession, and the third by youth, +strength, fortune, and priority--Madame Marneffe preserved her coolness +and presence of mind, like General Bonaparte when, at the siege of +Mantua, he had to fight two armies, and at the same time maintain the +blockade. + +Jealousy, distorting Hulot's face, made him look as terrible as the late +Marshal Montcornet leading a cavalry charge against a Russian square. +Being such a handsome man, he had never known any ground for jealousy, +any more than Murat knew what it was to be afraid. He had always felt +sure that he should triumph. His rebuff by Josepha, the first he +had ever met, he ascribed to her love of money; "he was conquered by +millions, and not by a changeling," he would say when speaking of the +Duc d'Herouville. And now, in one instant, the poison and delirium +that the mad passion sheds in a flood had rushed to his heart. He kept +turning from the whist-table towards the fireplace with an action _a la_ +Mirabeau; and as he laid down his cards to cast a challenging glance +at the Brazilian and Valerie, the rest of the company felt the sort of +alarm mingled with curiosity that is caused by evident violence ready +to break out at any moment. The sham cousin stared at Hulot as he might +have looked at some big China mandarin. + +This state of things could not last; it was bound to end in some +tremendous outbreak. Marneffe was as much afraid of Hulot as Crevel was +of Marneffe, for he was anxious not to die a mere clerk. Men marked for +death believe in life as galley-slaves believe in liberty; this man was +bent on being a first-class clerk at any cost. Thoroughly frightened by +the pantomime of the Baron and Crevel, he rose, said a few words in +his wife's ear, and then, to the surprise of all, Valerie went into the +adjoining bedroom with the Brazilian and her husband. + +"Did Madame Marneffe ever speak to you of this cousin of hers?" said +Crevel to Hulot. + +"Never!" replied the Baron, getting up. "That is enough for this +evening," said he. "I have lost two louis--there they are." + +He threw the two gold pieces on the table, and seated himself on the +sofa with a look which everybody else took as a hint to go. Monsieur and +Madame Coquet, after exchanging a few words, left the room, and Claude +Vignon, in despair, followed their example. These two departures were +a hint to less intelligent persons, who now found that they were not +wanted. The Baron and Crevel were left together, and spoke never a word. +Hulot, at last, ignoring Crevel, went on tiptoe to listen at the bedroom +door; but he bounded back with a prodigious jump, for Marneffe opened +the door and appeared with a calm face, astonished to find only the two +men. + +"And the tea?" said he. + +"Where is Valerie?" replied the Baron in a rage. + +"My wife," said Marneffe. "She is gone upstairs to speak to mademoiselle +your cousin. She will come down directly." + +"And why has she deserted us for that stupid creature?" + +"Well," said Marneffe, "Mademoiselle Lisbeth came back from dining with +the Baroness with an attack of indigestion and Mathurine asked Valerie +for some tea for her, so my wife went up to see what was the matter." + +"And _her_ cousin?" + +"He is gone." + +"Do you really believe that?" said the Baron. + +"I have seen him to his carriage," replied Marneffe, with a hideous +smirk. + +The wheels of a departing carriage were audible in the street. The +Baron, counting Marneffe for nothing, went upstairs to Lisbeth. An idea +flashed through him such as the heart sends to the brain when it is on +fire with jealousy. Marneffe's baseness was so well known to him, that +he could imagine the most degrading connivance between husband and wife. + +"What has become of all the ladies and gentlemen?" said Marneffe, +finding himself alone with Crevel. + +"When the sun goes to bed, the cocks and hens follow suit," said Crevel. +"Madame Marneffe disappeared, and her adorers departed. Will you play a +game of piquet?" added Crevel, who meant to remain. + +He too believed that the Brazilian was in the house. + +Monsieur Marneffe agreed. The Mayor was a match for the Baron. Simply +by playing cards with the husband he could stay on indefinitely; +and Marneffe, since the suppression of the public tables, was quite +satisfied with the more limited opportunities of private play. + +Baron Hulot went quickly up to Lisbeth's apartment, but the door was +locked, and the usual inquiries through the door took up time enough to +enable the two light-handed and cunning women to arrange the scene of an +attack of indigestion with the accessories of tea. Lisbeth was in such +pain that Valerie was very much alarmed, and consequently hardly paid +any heed to the Baron's furious entrance. Indisposition is one of the +screens most often placed by women to ward off a quarrel. Hulot peeped +about, here and there, but could see no spot in Cousin Betty's room +where a Brazilian might lie hidden. + +"Your indigestion does honor to my wife's dinner, Lisbeth," said he, +scrutinizing her, for Lisbeth was perfectly well, trying to imitate the +hiccough of spasmodic indigestion as she drank her tea. + +"How lucky it is that dear Betty should be living under my roof!" said +Madame Marneffe. "But for me, the poor thing would have died." + +"You look as if you only half believed it," added Lisbeth, turning to +the Baron, "and that would be a shame----" + +"Why?" asked the Baron. "Do you know the purpose of my visit?" + +And he leered at the door of a dressing-closet from which the key had +been withdrawn. + +"Are you talking Greek?" said Madame Marneffe, with an appealing look of +misprized tenderness and devotedness. + +"But it is all through you, my dear cousin; yes, it is your doing that I +am in such a state," said Lisbeth vehemently. + +This speech diverted the Baron's attention; he looked at the old maid +with the greatest astonishment. + +"You know that I am devoted to you," said Lisbeth. "I am here, that says +everything. I am wearing out the last shreds of my strength in watching +over your interests, since they are one with our dear Valerie's. Her +house costs one-tenth of what any other does that is kept on the same +scale. But for me, Cousin, instead of two thousand francs a month, you +would be obliged to spend three or four thousand." + +"I know all that," replied the Baron out of patience; "you are our +protectress in many ways," he added, turning to Madame Marneffe and +putting his arm round her neck.--"Is not she, my pretty sweet?" + +"On my honor," exclaimed Valerie, "I believe you are gone mad!" + +"Well, you cannot doubt my attachment," said Lisbeth. "But I am also +very fond of my cousin Adeline, and I found her in tears. She has not +seen you for a month. Now that is really too bad; you leave my poor +Adeline without a sou. Your daughter Hortense almost died of it when +she was told that it is thanks to your brother that we had any dinner at +all. There was not even bread in your house this day. + +"Adeline is heroically resolved to keep her sufferings to herself. She +said to me, 'I will do as you have done!' The speech went to my heart; +and after dinner, as I thought of what my cousin had been in 1811, +and of what she is in 1841--thirty years after--I had a violent +indigestion.--I fancied I should get over it; but when I got home, I +thought I was dying--" + +"You see, Valerie, to what my adoration of you has brought me! To +crime--domestic crime!" + +"Oh! I was wise never to marry!" cried Lisbeth, with savage joy. "You +are a kind, good man; Adeline is a perfect angel;--and this is the +reward of her blind devotion." + +"An elderly angel!" said Madame Marneffe softly, as she looked half +tenderly, half mockingly, at her Hector, who was gazing at her as an +examining judge gazes at the accused. + +"My poor wife!" said Hulot. "For more than nine months I have given her +no money, though I find it for you, Valerie; but at what a cost! No +one else will ever love you so, and what torments you inflict on me in +return!" + +"Torments?" she echoed. "Then what do you call happiness?" + +"I do not yet know on what terms you have been with this so-called +cousin whom you never mentioned to me," said the Baron, paying no heed +to Valerie's interjection. "But when he came in I felt as if a penknife +had been stuck into my heart. Blinded I may be, but I am not blind. I +could read his eyes, and yours. In short, from under that ape's eyelids +there flashed sparks that he flung at you--and your eyes!--Oh! you have +never looked at me so, never! As to this mystery, Valerie, it shall all +be cleared up. You are the only woman who ever made me know the meaning +of jealousy, so you need not be surprised by what I say.--But another +mystery which has rent its cloud, and it seems to me infamous----" + +"Go on, go on," said Valerie. + +"It is that Crevel, that square lump of flesh and stupidity, is in love +with you, and that you accept his attentions with so good a grace that +the idiot flaunts his passion before everybody." + +"Only three! Can you discover no more?" asked Madame Marneffe. + +"There may be more!" retorted the Baron. + +"If Monsieur Crevel is in love with me, he is in his rights as a man +after all; if I favored his passion, that would indeed be the act of +a coquette, or of a woman who would leave much to be desired on your +part.--Well, love me as you find me, or let me alone. If you restore +me to freedom, neither you nor Monsieur Crevel will ever enter my doors +again. But I will take up with my cousin, just to keep my hand in, in +those charming habits you suppose me to indulge.--Good-bye, Monsieur le +Baron Hulot." + +She rose, but the Baron took her by the arm and made her sit down +again. The old man could not do without Valerie. She had become more +imperatively indispensable to him than the necessaries of life; he +preferred remaining in uncertainty to having any proof of Valerie's +infidelity. + +"My dearest Valerie," said he, "do you not see how miserable I am? I +only ask you to justify yourself. Give me sufficient reasons--" + +"Well, go downstairs and wait for me; for I suppose you do not wish to +look on at the various ceremonies required by your cousin's state." + +Hulot slowly turned away. + +"You old profligate," cried Lisbeth, "you have not even asked me how +your children are? What are you going to do for Adeline? I, at any rate, +will take her my savings to-morrow." + +"You owe your wife white bread to eat at least," said Madame Marneffe, +smiling. + +The Baron, without taking offence at Lisbeth's tone, as despotic as +Josepha's, got out of the room, only too glad to escape so importunate a +question. + + + +The door bolted once more, the Brazilian came out of the +dressing-closet, where he had been waiting, and he appeared with his +eyes full of tears, in a really pitiable condition. Montes had heard +everything. + +"Henri, you must have ceased to love me, I know it!" said Madame +Marneffe, hiding her face in her handkerchief and bursting into tears. + +It was the outcry of real affection. The cry of a woman's despair is +so convincing that it wins the forgiveness that lurks at the bottom of +every lover's heart--when she is young and pretty, and wears a gown so +low that she could slip out at the top and stand in the garb of Eve. + +"But why, if you love me, do you not leave everything for my sake?" +asked the Brazilian. + +This South American born, being logical, as men are who have lived the +life of nature, at once resumed the conversation at the point where it +had been broken off, putting his arm round Valerie's waist. + +"Why?" she repeated, gazing up at Henri, whom she subjugated at once by +a look charged with passion, "why, my dear boy, I am married; we are in +Paris, not in the savannah, the pampas, the backwoods of America.--My +dear Henri, my first and only love, listen to me. That husband of mine, +a second clerk in the War Office, is bent on being a head-clerk and +officer of the Legion of Honor; can I help his being ambitious? Now for +the very reason that made him leave us our liberty--nearly four years +ago, do you remember, you bad boy?--he now abandons me to Monsieur +Hulot. I cannot get rid of that dreadful official, who snorts like a +grampus, who has fins in his nostrils, who is sixty-three years old, and +who had grown ten years older by dint of trying to be young; who is so +odious to me that the very day when Marneffe is promoted, and gets his +Cross of the Legion of Honor----" + +"How much more will your husband get then?" + +"A thousand crowns." + +"I will pay him as much in an annuity," said Baron Montes. "We will +leave Paris and go----" + +"Where?" said Valerie, with one of the pretty sneers by which a woman +makes fun of a man she is sure of. "Paris is the only place where we can +live happy. I care too much for your love to risk seeing it die out in +a _tete-a-tete_ in the wilderness. Listen, Henri, you are the only man +I care for in the whole world. Write that down clearly in your tiger's +brain." + +For women, when they have made a sheep of a man, always tell him that he +is a lion with a will of iron. + +"Now, attend to me. Monsieur Marneffe has not five years to live; he is +rotten to the marrow of his bones. He spends seven months of the twelve +in swallowing drugs and decoctions; he lives wrapped in flannel; in +short, as the doctor says, he lives under the scythe, and may be cut off +at any moment. An illness that would not harm another man would be fatal +to him; his blood is corrupt, his life undermined at the root. For five +years I have never allowed him to kiss me--he is poisonous! Some day, +and the day is not far off, I shall be a widow. Well, then, I--who have +already had an offer from a man with sixty thousand francs a year, I who +am as completely mistress of that man as I am of this lump of sugar--I +swear to you that if you were as poor as Hulot and as foul as Marneffe, +if you beat me even, still you are the only man I will have for a +husband, the only man I love, or whose name I will ever bear. And I am +ready to give any pledge of my love that you may require." + +"Well, then, to-night----" + +"But you, son of the South, my splendid jaguar, come expressly for me +from the virgin forest of Brazil," said she, taking his hand and kissing +and fondling it, "I have some consideration for the poor creature you +mean to make your wife.--Shall I be your wife, Henri?" + +"Yes," said the Brazilian, overpowered by this unbridled volubility of +passion. And he knelt at her feet. + +"Well, then, Henri," said Valerie, taking his two hands and looking +straight into his eyes, "swear to me now, in the presence of Lisbeth, my +best and only friend, my sister--that you will make me your wife at the +end of my year's widowhood." + +"I swear it." + +"That is not enough. Swear by your mother's ashes and eternal salvation, +swear by the Virgin Mary and by all your hopes as a Catholic!" + +Valerie knew that the Brazilian would keep that oath even if she should +have fallen into the foulest social slough. + +The Baron solemnly swore it, his nose almost touching Valerie's white +bosom, and his eyes spellbound. He was drunk, drunk as a man is when he +sees the woman he loves once more, after a sea voyage of a hundred and +twenty days. + +"Good. Now be quite easy. And in Madame Marneffe respect the future +Baroness de Montejanos. You are not to spend a sou upon me; I forbid +it.--Stay here in the outer room; sleep on the sofa. I myself will come +and tell you when you may move.--We will breakfast to-morrow morning, +and you can be leaving at about one o'clock as if you had come to call +at noon. There is nothing to fear; the gate-keepers love me as much as +if they were my father and mother.--Now I must go down and make tea." + +She beckoned to Lisbeth, who followed her out on to the landing. There +Valerie whispered in the old maid's ear: + +"My darkie has come back too soon. I shall die if I cannot avenge you on +Hortense!" + +"Make your mind easy, my pretty little devil!" said Lisbeth, kissing her +forehead. "Love and Revenge on the same track will never lose the game. +Hortense expects me to-morrow; she is in beggary. For a thousand francs +you may have a thousand kisses from Wenceslas." + +On leaving Valerie, Hulot had gone down to the porter's lodge and made a +sudden invasion there. + +"Madame Olivier?" + +On hearing the imperious tone of this address, and seeing the action +by which the Baron emphasized it, Madame Olivier came out into the +courtyard as far as the Baron led her. + +"You know that if any one can help your son to a connection by and by, +it is I; it is owing to me that he is already third clerk in a notary's +office, and is finishing his studies." + +"Yes, Monsieur le Baron; and indeed, sir, you may depend on our +gratitude. Not a day passes that I do not pray to God for Monsieur le +Baron's happiness." + +"Not so many words, my good woman," said Hulot, "but deeds----" + +"What can I do, sir?" asked Madame Olivier. + +"A man came here to-night in a carriage. Do you know him?" + +Madame Olivier had recognized Montes well enough. How could she have +forgotten him? In the Rue du Doyenne the Brazilian had always slipped a +five-franc piece into her hand as he went out in the morning, rather too +early. If the Baron had applied to Monsieur Olivier, he would perhaps +have learned all he wanted to know. But Olivier was in bed. In the +lower orders the woman is not merely the superior of the man--she almost +always has the upper hand. Madame Olivier had long since made up her +mind as to which side to take in case of a collision between her two +benefactors; she regarded Madame Marneffe as the stronger power. + +"Do I know him?" she repeated. "No, indeed, no. I never saw him before!" + +"What! Did Madame Marneffe's cousin never go to see her when she was +living in the Rue du Doyenne?" + +"Oh! Was it her cousin?" cried Madame Olivier. "I dare say he did come, +but I did not know him again. Next time, sir, I will look at him----" + +"He will be coming out," said Hulot, hastily interrupting Madame +Olivier. + +"He has left," said Madame Olivier, understanding the situation. "The +carriage is gone." + +"Did you see him go?" + +"As plainly as I see you. He told his servant to drive to the Embassy." + +This audacious statement wrung a sigh of relief from the Baron; he took +Madame Olivier's hand and squeezed it. + +"Thank you, my good Madame Olivier. But that is not all.--Monsieur +Crevel?" + +"Monsieur Crevel? What can you mean, sir? I do not understand," said +Madame Olivier. + +"Listen to me. He is Madame Marneffe's lover----" + +"Impossible, Monsieur le Baron; impossible," said she, clasping her +hands. + +"He is Madame Marneffe's lover," the Baron repeated very positively. +"How do they manage it? I don't know; but I mean to know, and you are to +find out. If you can put me on the tracks of this intrigue, your son is +a notary." + +"Don't you fret yourself so, Monsieur le Baron," said Madame Olivier. +"Madame cares for you, and for no one but you; her maid knows that for +true, and we say, between her and me, that you are the luckiest man in +this world--for you know what madame is.--Just perfection! + +"She gets up at ten every morning; then she breakfasts. Well and good. +After that she takes an hour or so to dress; that carries her on till +two; then she goes for a walk in the Tuileries in the sight of all +men, and she is always in by four to be ready for you. She lives like +clockwork. She keeps no secrets from her maid, and Reine keeps nothing +from me, you may be sure. Reine can't if she would--along of my son, for +she is very sweet upon him. So, you see, if madame had any intimacy with +Monsieur Crevel, we should be bound to know it." + +The Baron went upstairs again with a beaming countenance, convinced that +he was the only man in the world to that shameless slut, as treacherous, +but as lovely and as engaging as a siren. + +Crevel and Marneffe had begun a second rubber at piquet. Crevel was +losing, as a man must who is not giving his thoughts to his game. +Marneffe, who knew the cause of the Mayor's absence of mind, took +unscrupulous advantage of it; he looked at the cards in reverse, and +discarded accordingly; thus, knowing his adversary's hand, he played +to beat him. The stake being a franc a point, he had already robbed the +Mayor of thirty francs when Hulot came in. + +"Hey day!" said he, amazed to find no company. "Are you alone? Where is +everybody gone?" + +"Your pleasant temper put them all to flight," said Crevel. + +"No, it was my wife's cousin," replied Marneffe. "The ladies and +gentlemen supposed that Valerie and Henri might have something to say +to each other after three years' separation, and they very discreetly +retired.--If I had been in the room, I would have kept them; but then, +as it happens, it would have been a mistake, for Lisbeth, who always +comes down to make tea at half-past ten, was taken ill, and that upset +everything--" + +"Then is Lisbeth really unwell?" asked Crevel in a fury. + +"So I was told," replied Marneffe, with the heartless indifference of a +man to whom women have ceased to exist. + +The Mayor looked at the clock; and, calculating the time, the Baron +seemed to have spent forty minutes in Lisbeth's rooms. Hector's jubilant +expression seriously incriminated Valerie, Lisbeth, and himself. + +"I have just seen her; she is in great pain, poor soul!" said the Baron. + +"Then the sufferings of others must afford you much joy, my friend," +retorted Crevel with acrimony, "for you have come down with a face that +is positively beaming. Is Lisbeth likely to die? For your daughter, they +say, is her heiress. You are not like the same man. You left this room +looking like the Moor of Venice, and you come back with the air +of Saint-Preux!--I wish I could see Madame Marneffe's face at this +minute----" + +"And pray, what do you mean by that?" said Marneffe to Crevel, packing +his cards and laying them down in front of him. + +A light kindled in the eyes of this man, decrepit at the age of +forty-seven; a faint color flushed his flaccid cold cheeks, his +ill-furnished mouth was half open, and on his blackened lips a sort +of foam gathered, thick, and as white as chalk. This fury in such a +helpless wretch, whose life hung on a thread, and who in a duel would +risk nothing while Crevel had everything to lose, frightened the Mayor. + +"I said," repeated Crevel, "that I should like to see Madame Marneffe's +face. And with all the more reason since yours, at this moment, is most +unpleasant. On my honor, you are horribly ugly, my dear Marneffe----" + +"Do you know that you are very uncivil?" + +"A man who has won thirty francs of me in forty-five minutes cannot look +handsome in my eyes." + +"Ah, if you had but seen me seventeen years ago!" replied the clerk. + +"You were so good-looking?" asked Crevel. + +"That was my ruin; now, if I had been like you--I might be a mayor and a +peer." + +"Yes," said Crevel, with a smile, "you have been too much in the wars; +and of the two forms of metal that may be earned by worshiping the +god of trade, you have taken the worse--the dross!" [This dialogue +is garnished with puns for which it is difficult to find any English +equivalent.] And Crevel roared with laughter. Though Marneffe could +take offence if his honor were in peril, he always took these rough +pleasantries in good part; they were the small coin of conversation +between him and Crevel. + +"The daughters of Eve cost me dear, no doubt; but, by the powers! 'Short +and sweet' is my motto." + +"'Long and happy' is more to my mind," returned Crevel. + +Madame Marneffe now came in; she saw that her husband was at cards with +Crevel, and only the Baron in the room besides; a mere glance at the +municipal dignitary showed her the frame of mind he was in, and her line +of conduct was at once decided on. + +"Marneffe, my dear boy," said she, leaning on her husband's shoulder, +and passing her pretty fingers through his dingy gray hair, but without +succeeding in covering his bald head with it, "it is very late for you; +you ought to be in bed. To-morrow, you know, you must dose yourself by +the doctor's orders. Reine will give you your herb tea at seven. If you +wish to live, give up your game." + +"We will pay it out up to five points," said Marneffe to Crevel. + +"Very good--I have scored two," replied the Mayor. + +"How long will it take you?" + +"Ten minutes," said Marneffe. + +"It is eleven o'clock," replied Valerie. "Really, Monsieur Crevel, one +might fancy you meant to kill my husband. Make haste, at any rate." + +This double-barreled speech made Crevel and Hulot smile, and even +Marneffe himself. Valerie sat down to talk to Hector. + +"You must leave, my dearest," said she in Hulot's ear. "Walk up and down +the Rue Vanneau, and come in again when you see Crevel go out." + +"I would rather leave this room and go into your room through the +dressing-room door. You could tell Reine to let me in." + +"Reine is upstairs attending to Lisbeth." + +"Well, suppose then I go up to Lisbeth's rooms?" + +Danger hemmed in Valerie on every side; she foresaw a discussion with +Crevel, and could not allow Hulot to be in her room, where he could hear +all that went on.--And the Brazilian was upstairs with Lisbeth. + +"Really, you men, when you have a notion in your head, you would burn +a house down to get into it!" exclaimed she. "Lisbeth is not in a fit +state to admit you.--Are you afraid of catching cold in the street? Be +off there--or good-night." + +"Good evening, gentlemen," said the Baron to the other two. + +Hulot, when piqued in his old man's vanity, was bent on proving that he +could play the young man by waiting for the happy hour in the open air, +and he went away. + +Marneffe bid his wife good-night, taking her hands with a semblance of +devotion. Valerie pressed her husband's hand with a significant glance, +conveying: + +"Get rid of Crevel." + +"Good-night, Crevel," said Marneffe. "I hope you will not stay long with +Valerie. Yes! I am jealous--a little late in the day, but it has me hard +and fast. I shall come back to see if you are gone." + +"We have a little business to discuss, but I shall not stay long," said +Crevel. + +"Speak low.--What is it?" said Valerie, raising her voice, and looking +at him with a mingled expression of haughtiness and scorn. + +Crevel, as he met this arrogant stare, though he was doing Valerie +important services, and had hoped to plume himself on the fact, was at +once reduced to submission. + +"That Brazilian----" he began, but, overpowered by Valerie's fixed look +of contempt, he broke off. + +"What of him?" said she. + +"That cousin--" + +"Is no cousin of mine," said she. "He is my cousin to the world and to +Monsieur Marneffe. And if he were my lover, it would be no concern of +yours. A tradesman who pays a woman to be revenged on another man, is, +in my opinion, beneath the man who pays her for love of her. You did not +care for me; all you saw in me was Monsieur Hulot's mistress. You bought +me as a man buys a pistol to kill his adversary. I wanted bread--I +accepted the bargain." + +"But you have not carried it out," said Crevel, the tradesman once more. + +"You want Baron Hulot to be told that you have robbed him of his +mistress, to pay him out for having robbed you of Josepha? Nothing can +more clearly prove your baseness. You say you love a woman, you treat +her like a duchess, and then you want to degrade her? Well, my good +fellow, and you are right. This woman is no match for Josepha. That +young person has the courage of her disgrace, while I--I am a hypocrite, +and deserve to be publicly whipped.--Alas! Josepha is protected by +her cleverness and her wealth. I have nothing to shelter me but my +reputation; I am still the worthy and blameless wife of a plain citizen; +if you create a scandal, what is to become of me? If I were rich, then +indeed; but my income is fifteen thousand francs a year at most, I +suppose." + +"Much more than that," said Crevel. "I have doubled your savings in +these last two months by investing in _Orleans_." + +"Well, a position in Paris begins with fifty thousand. And you certainly +will not make up to me for the position I should surrender.--What was +my aim? I want to see Marneffe a first-class clerk; he will then draw +a salary of six thousand francs. He has been twenty-seven years in his +office; within three years I shall have a right to a pension of fifteen +hundred francs when he dies. You, to whom I have been entirely kind, to +whom I have given your fill of happiness--you cannot wait!--And that is +what men call love!" she exclaimed. + +"Though I began with an ulterior purpose," said Crevel, "I have become +your poodle. You trample on my heart, you crush me, you stultify me, and +I love you as I have never loved in my life. Valerie, I love you as much +as I love my Celestine. I am capable of anything for your sake.--Listen, +instead of coming twice a week to the Rue du Dauphin, come three times." + +"Is that all! You are quite young again, my dear boy!" + +"Only let me pack off Hulot, humiliate him, rid you of him," said +Crevel, not heeding her impertinence! "Have nothing to say to the +Brazilian, be mine alone; you shall not repent of it. To begin with, I +will give you eight thousand francs a year, secured by bond, but only as +an annuity; I will not give you the capital till the end of five years' +constancy--" + +"Always a bargain! A tradesman can never learn to give. You want to stop +for refreshments on the road of love--in the form of Government bonds! +Bah! Shopman, pomatum seller! you put a price on everything!--Hector +told me that the Duc d'Herouville gave Josepha a bond for thirty +thousand francs a year in a packet of sugar almonds! And I am worth six +of Josepha. + +"Oh! to be loved!" she went on, twisting her ringlets round her fingers, +and looking at herself in the glass. "Henri loves me. He would smash +you like a fly if I winked at him! Hulot loves me; he leaves his wife in +beggary! As for you, go my good man, be the worthy father of a family. +You have three hundred thousand francs over and above your fortune, +only to amuse yourself, a hoard, in fact, and you think of nothing but +increasing it--" + +"For you, Valerie, since I offer you half," said he, falling on his +knees. + +"What, still here!" cried Marneffe, hideous in his dressing-gown. "What +are you about?" + +"He is begging my pardon, my dear, for an insulting proposal he has +dared to make me. Unable to obtain my consent, my gentleman proposed to +pay me----" + +Crevel only longed to vanish into the cellar, through a trap, as is done +on the stage. + +"Get up, Crevel," said Marneffe, laughing, "you are ridiculous. I can +see by Valerie's manner that my honor is in no danger." + +"Go to bed and sleep in peace," said Madame Marneffe. + +"Isn't she clever?" thought Crevel. "She has saved me. She is adorable!" + +As Marneffe disappeared, the Mayor took Valerie's hands and kissed them, +leaving on them the traces of tears. + +"It shall all stand in your name," he said. + +"That is true love," she whispered in his ear. "Well, love for love. +Hulot is below, in the street. The poor old thing is waiting to return +when I place a candle in one of the windows of my bedroom. I give you +leave to tell him that you are the man I love; he will refuse to believe +you; take him to the Rue du Dauphin, give him every proof, crush him; I +allow it--I order it! I am tired of that old seal; he bores me to death. +Keep your man all night in the Rue du Dauphin, grill him over a slow +fire, be revenged for the loss of Josepha. Hulot may die of it perhaps, +but we shall save his wife and children from utter ruin. Madame Hulot is +working for her bread--" + +"Oh! poor woman! On my word, it is quite shocking!" exclaimed Crevel, +his natural feeling coming to the top. + +"If you love me, Celestin," said she in Crevel's ear, which she +touched with her lips, "keep him there, or I am done for. Marneffe is +suspicious. Hector has a key of the outer gate, and will certainly come +back." + +Crevel clasped Madame Marneffe to his heart, and went away in the +seventh heaven of delight. Valerie fondly escorted him to the landing, +and then followed him, like a woman magnetized, down the stairs to the +very bottom. + +"My Valerie, go back, do not compromise yourself before the porters.--Go +back; my life, my treasure, all is yours.--Go in, my duchess!" + +"Madame Olivier," Valerie called gently when the gate was closed. + +"Why, madame! You here?" said the woman in bewilderment. + +"Bolt the gates at top and bottom, and let no one in." + +"Very good, madame." + +Having barred the gate, Madame Olivier told of the bribe that the War +Office chief had tried to offer her. + +"You behaved like an angel, my dear Olivier; we shall talk of that +to-morrow." + +Valerie flew like an arrow to the third floor, tapped three times +at Lisbeth's door, and then went down to her room, where she gave +instructions to Mademoiselle Reine, for a woman must make the most of +the opportunity when a Montes arrives from Brazil. + + + +"By Heaven! only a woman of the world is capable of such love," said +Crevel to himself. "How she came down those stairs, lighting them +up with her eyes, following me! Never did Josepha--Josepha! she is +cag-mag!" cried the ex-bagman. "What have I said? _Cag-mag_--why, I +might have let the word slip out at the Tuileries! I can never do +any good unless Valerie educates me--and I was so bent on being a +gentleman.--What a woman she is! She upsets me like a fit of the colic +when she looks at me coldly. What grace! What wit! Never did Josepha +move me so. And what perfection when you come to know her!--Ha, there is +my man!" + +He perceived in the gloom of the Rue de Babylone the tall, somewhat +stooping figure of Hulot, stealing along close to a boarding, and he +went straight up to him. + +"Good-morning, Baron, for it is past midnight, my dear fellow. What +the devil are your doing here? You are airing yourself under a pleasant +drizzle. That is not wholesome at our time of life. Will you let me give +you a little piece of advice? Let each of us go home; for, between you +and me, you will not see the candle in the window." + +The last words made the Baron suddenly aware that he was sixty-three, +and that his cloak was wet. + +"Who on earth told you--?" he began. + +"Valerie, of course, _our_ Valerie, who means henceforth to be _my_ +Valerie. We are even now, Baron; we will play off the tie when you +please. You have nothing to complain of; you know, I always stipulated +for the right of taking my revenge; it took you three months to rob me +of Josepha; I took Valerie from you in--We will say no more about that. +Now I mean to have her all to myself. But we can be very good friends, +all the same." + +"Crevel, no jesting," said Hulot, in a voice choked by rage. "It is a +matter of life and death." + +"Bless me, is that how you take it!--Baron, do you not remember what you +said to me the day of Hortense's marriage: 'Can two old gaffers like us +quarrel over a petticoat? It is too low, too common. We are _Regence_, +we agreed, Pompadour, eighteenth century, quite the Marechal Richelieu, +Louis XV., nay, and I may say, _Liaisons dangereuses_!" + +Crevel might have gone on with his string of literary allusions; the +Baron heard him as a deaf man listens when he is but half deaf. But, +seeing in the gaslight the ghastly pallor of his face, the triumphant +Mayor stopped short. This was, indeed, a thunderbolt after Madame +Olivier's asservations and Valerie's parting glance. + +"Good God! And there are so many other women in Paris!" he said at last. + +"That is what I said to you when you took Josepha," said Crevel. + +"Look here, Crevel, it is impossible. Give me some proof.--Have you a +key, as I have, to let yourself in?" + +And having reached the house, the Baron put the key into the lock; but +the gate was immovable; he tried in vain to open it. + +"Do not make a noise in the streets at night," said Crevel coolly. "I +tell you, Baron, I have far better proof than you can show." + +"Proofs! give me proof!" cried the Baron, almost crazy with +exasperation. + +"Come, and you shall have them," said Crevel. + +And in obedience to Valerie's instructions, he led the Baron away +towards the quay, down the Rue Hillerin-Bertin. The unhappy Baron walked +on, as a merchant walks on the day before he stops payment; he was lost +in conjectures as to the reasons of the depravity buried in the depths +of Valerie's heart, and still believed himself the victim of some +practical joke. As they crossed the Pont Royal, life seemed to him +so blank, so utterly a void, and so out of joint from his financial +difficulties, that he was within an ace of yielding to the evil +prompting that bid him fling Crevel into the river and throw himself in +after. + +On reaching the Rue du Dauphin, which had not yet been widened, Crevel +stopped before a door in a wall. It opened into a long corridor paved +with black-and-white marble, and serving as an entrance-hall, at the end +of which there was a flight of stairs and a doorkeeper's lodge, lighted +from an inner courtyard, as is often the case in Paris. This courtyard, +which was shared with another house, was oddly divided into two unequal +portions. Crevel's little house, for he owned it, had additional +rooms with a glass skylight, built out on to the adjoining plot, under +conditions that it should have no story added above the ground floor, so +that the structure was entirely hidden by the lodge and the projecting +mass of the staircase. + +This back building had long served as a store-room, backshop, and +kitchen to one of the shops facing the street. Crevel had cut off +these three rooms from the rest of the ground floor, and Grindot had +transformed them into an inexpensive private residence. There were two +ways in--from the front, through the shop of a furniture-dealer, to whom +Crevel let it at a low price, and only from month to month, so as to be +able to get rid of him in case of his telling tales, and also through a +door in the wall of the passage, so ingeniously hidden as to be almost +invisible. The little apartment, comprising a dining-room, drawing-room, +and bedroom, all lighted from above, and standing partly on Crevel's +ground and partly on his neighbor's, was very difficult to find. With +the exception of the second-hand furniture-dealer, the tenants knew +nothing of the existence of this little paradise. + +The doorkeeper, paid to keep Crevel's secrets, was a capital cook. So +Monsieur le Maire could go in and out of his inexpensive retreat at any +hour of the night without any fear of being spied upon. By day, a lady, +dressed as Paris women dress to go shopping, and having a key, ran +no risk in coming to Crevel's lodgings; she would stop to look at the +cheapened goods, ask the price, go into the shop, and come out again, +without exciting the smallest suspicion if any one should happen to meet +her. + +As soon as Crevel had lighted the candles in the sitting-room, the Baron +was surprised at the elegance and refinement it displayed. The perfumer +had given the architect a free hand, and Grindot had done himself +credit by fittings in the Pompadour style, which had in fact cost sixty +thousand francs. + +"What I want," said Crevel to Grindot, "is that a duchess, if I brought +one there, should be surprised at it." + +He wanted to have a perfect Parisian Eden for his Eve, his "real lady," +his Valerie, his duchess. + +"There are two beds," said Crevel to Hulot, showing him a sofa that +could be made wide enough by pulling out a drawer. "This is one, the +other is in the bedroom. We can both spend the night here." + +"Proof!" was all the Baron could say. + +Crevel took a flat candlestick and led Hulot into the adjoining room, +where he saw, on a sofa, a superb dressing-gown belonging to Valerie, +which he had seen her wear in the Rue Vanneau, to display it before +wearing it in Crevel's little apartment. The Mayor pressed the spring of +a little writing-table of inlaid work, known as a _bonheur-du-jour_, and +took out of it a letter that he handed to the Baron. + +"Read that," said he. + +The Councillor read these words written in pencil: + + "I have waited in vain, you old wretch! A woman of my quality does + not expect to be kept waiting by a retired perfumer. There was no + dinner ordered--no cigarettes. I will make you pay for this!" + +"Well, is that her writing?" + +"Good God!" gasped Hulot, sitting down in dismay. "I see all the things +she uses--her caps, her slippers. Why, how long since--?" + +Crevel nodded that he understood, and took a packet of bills out of the +little inlaid cabinet. + +"You can see, old man. I paid the decorators in December, 1838. In +October, two months before, this charming little place was first used." + +Hulot bent his head. + +"How the devil do you manage it? I know how she spends every hour of her +day." + +"How about her walk in the Tuileries?" said Crevel, rubbing his hands in +triumph. + +"What then?" said Hulot, mystified. + +"Your lady love comes to the Tuileries, she is supposed to be airing +herself from one till four. But, hop, skip, and jump, and she is here. +You know your Moliere? Well, Baron, there is nothing imaginary in your +title." + +Hulot, left without a shred of doubt, sat sunk in ominous silence. +Catastrophes lead intelligent and strong-minded men to be philosophical. +The Baron, morally, was at this moment like a man trying to find his +way by night through a forest. This gloomy taciturnity and the change in +that dejected countenance made Crevel very uneasy, for he did not wish +the death of his colleague. + +"As I said, old fellow, we are now even; let us play for the odd. Will +you play off the tie by hook and by crook? Come!" + +"Why," said Hulot, talking to himself--"why is it that out of ten pretty +women at least seven are false?" + +But the Baron was too much upset to answer his own question. Beauty +is the greatest of human gifts for power. Every power that has no +counterpoise, no autocratic control, leads to abuses and folly. +Despotism is the madness of power; in women the despot is caprice. + +"You have nothing to complain of, my good friend; you have a beautiful +wife, and she is virtuous." + +"I deserve my fate," said Hulot. "I have undervalued my wife and +made her miserable, and she is an angel! Oh, my poor Adeline! you are +avenged! She suffers in solitude and silence, and she is worthy of my +love; I ought--for she is still charming, fair and girlish even--But was +there ever a woman known more base, more ignoble, more villainous than +this Valerie?" + +"She is a good-for-nothing slut," said Crevel, "a hussy that deserves +whipping on the Place du Chatelet. But, my dear Canillac, though we are +such blades, so Marechal de Richelieu, Louis XV., Pompadour, Madame du +Barry, gay dogs, and everything that is most eighteenth century, there +is no longer a lieutenant of police." + +"How can we make them love us?" Hulot wondered to himself without +heeding Crevel. + +"It is sheer folly in us to expect to be loved, my dear fellow," said +Crevel. "We can only be endured; for Madame Marneffe is a hundred times +more profligate than Josepha." + +"And avaricious! she costs me a hundred and ninety-two thousand francs a +year!" cried Hulot. + +"And how many centimes!" sneered Crevel, with the insolence of a +financier who scorns so small a sum. + +"You do not love her, that is very evident," said the Baron dolefully. + +"I have had enough of her," replied Crevel, "for she has had more than +three hundred thousand francs of mine!" + +"Where is it? Where does it all go?" said the Baron, clasping his head +in his hands. + +"If we had come to an agreement, like the simple young men who combine +to maintain a twopenny baggage, she would have cost us less." + +"That is an idea"! replied the Baron. "But she would still be cheating +us; for, my burly friend, what do you say to this Brazilian?" + +"Ay, old sly fox, you are right, we are swindled like--like +shareholders!" said Crevel. "All such women are an unlimited liability, +and we the sleeping partners." + +"Then it was she who told you about the candle in the window?" + +"My good man," replied Crevel, striking an attitude, "she has fooled us +both. Valerie is a--She told me to keep you here.--Now I see it all. She +has got her Brazilian!--Oh, I have done with her, for if you hold her +hands, she would find a way to cheat you with her feet! There! she is a +minx, a jade!" + +"She is lower than a prostitute," said the Baron. "Josepha and Jenny +Cadine were in their rights when they were false to us; they make a +trade of their charms." + +"But she, who affects the saint--the prude!" said Crevel. "I tell you +what, Hulot, do you go back to your wife; your money matters are not +looking well; I have heard talk of certain notes of hand given to a low +usurer whose special line of business is lending to these sluts, a man +named Vauvinet. For my part, I am cured of your 'real ladies.' And, +after all, at our time of life what do we want of these swindling +hussies, who, to be honest, cannot help playing us false? You have white +hair and false teeth; I am of the shape of Silenus. I shall go in for +saving. Money never deceives one. Though the Treasury is indeed open +to all the world twice a year, it pays you interest, and this woman +swallows it. With you, my worthy friend, as Gubetta, as my partner in +the concern, I might have resigned myself to a shady bargain--no, a +philosophical calm. But with a Brazilian who has possibly smuggled in +some doubtful colonial produce----" + +"Woman is an inexplicable creature!" said Hulot. + +"I can explain her," said Crevel. "We are old; the Brazilian is young +and handsome." + +"Yes; that, I own, is true," said Hulot; "we are older than we +were. But, my dear fellow, how is one to do without these pretty +creatures--seeing them undress, twist up their hair, smile cunningly +through their fingers as they screw up their curl-papers, put on all +their airs and graces, tell all their lies, declare that we don't love +them when we are worried with business; and they cheer us in spite of +everything." + +"Yes, by the Power! It is the only pleasure in life!" cried Crevel. +"When a saucy little mug smiles at you and says, 'My old dear, you don't +know how nice you are! I am not like other women, I suppose, who go +crazy over mere boys with goats' beards, smelling of smoke, and as +coarse as serving-men! For in their youth they are so insolent!--They +come in and they bid you good-morning, and out they go.--I, whom you +think such a flirt, I prefer a man of fifty to these brats. A man who +will stick by me, who is devoted, who knows a woman is not to be picked +up every day, and appreciates us.--That is what I love you for, you +old monster!'--and they fill up these avowals with little pettings and +prettinesses and--Faugh! they are as false as the bills on the Hotel de +Ville." + +"A lie is sometimes better than the truth," said Hulot, remembering +sundry bewitching scenes called up by Crevel, who mimicked Valerie. +"They are obliged to act upon their lies, to sew spangles on their stage +frocks--" + +"And they are ours, after all, the lying jades!" said Crevel coarsely. + +"Valerie is a witch," said the Baron. "She can turn an old man into a +young one." + +"Oh, yes!" said Crevel, "she is an eel that wriggles through your +hands; but the prettiest eel, as white and sweet as sugar, as amusing as +Arnal--and ingenious!" + +"Yes, she is full of fun," said Hulot, who had now quite forgotten his +wife. + +The colleagues went to bed the best friends in the world, reminding each +other of Valerie's perfections, the tones of her voice, her kittenish +way, her movements, her fun, her sallies of wit, and of affections; for +she was an artist in love, and had charming impulses, as tenors may sing +a scena better one day than another. And they fell asleep, cradled in +tempting and diabolical visions lighted by the fires of hell. + +At nine o'clock next morning Hulot went off to the War Office, Crevel +had business out of town; they left the house together, and Crevel held +out his hand to the Baron, saying: + +"To show that there is no ill-feeling. For we, neither of us, will have +anything more to say to Madame Marneffe?" + +"Oh, this is the end of everything," replied Hulot with a sort of +horror. + + + +By half-past ten Crevel was mounting the stairs, four at a time, up to +Madame Marneffe's apartment. He found the infamous wretch, the adorable +enchantress, in the most becoming morning wrapper, enjoying an elegant +little breakfast in the society of the Baron Montes de Montejanos and +Lisbeth. Though the sight of the Brazilian gave him a shock, Crevel +begged Madame Marneffe to grant him two minutes' speech with her. +Valerie led Crevel into the drawing-room. + +"Valerie, my angel," said the amorous Mayor, "Monsieur Marneffe cannot +have long to live. If you will be faithful to me, when he dies we will +be married. Think it over. I have rid you of Hulot.--So just consider +whether this Brazilian is to compare with a Mayor of Paris, a man who, +for your sake, will make his way to the highest dignities, and who can +already offer you eighty-odd thousand francs a year." + +"I will think it over," said she. "You will see me in the Rue du Dauphin +at two o'clock, and we can discuss the matter. But be a good boy--and do +not forget the bond you promised to transfer to me." + +She returned to the dining-room, followed by Crevel, who flattered +himself that he had hit on a plan for keeping Valerie to himself; but +there he found Baron Hulot, who, during this short colloquy, had also +arrived with the same end in view. He, like Crevel, begged for a brief +interview. Madame Marneffe again rose to go to the drawing-room, with a +smile at the Brazilian that seemed to say, "What fools they are! Cannot +they see you?" + +"Valerie," said the official, "my child, that cousin of yours is an +American cousin--" + +"Oh, that is enough!" she cried, interrupting the Baron. "Marneffe never +has been, and never will be, never can be my husband! The first, the +only man I ever loved, has come back quite unexpectedly. It is no fault +of mine! But look at Henri and look at yourself. Then ask yourself +whether a woman, and a woman in love, can hesitate for a moment. My dear +fellow, I am not a kept mistress. From this day forth I refuse to play +the part of Susannah between the two Elders. If you really care for me, +you and Crevel, you will be our friends; but all else is at an end, for +I am six-and-twenty, and henceforth I mean to be a saint, an admirable +and worthy wife--as yours is." + +"Is that what you have to say?" answered Hulot. "Is this the way +you receive me when I come like a Pope with my hands full of +Indulgences?--Well, your husband will never be a first-class clerk, nor +be promoted in the Legion of Honor." + +"That remains to be seen," said Madame Marneffe, with a meaning look at +Hulot. + +"Well, well, no temper," said Hulot in despair. "I will call this +evening, and we will come to an understanding." + +"In Lisbeth's rooms then." + +"Very good--at Lisbeth's," said the old dotard. + +Hulot and Crevel went downstairs together without speaking a word till +they were in the street; but outside on the sidewalk they looked at each +other with a dreary laugh. + +"We are a couple of old fools," said Crevel. + +"I have got rid of them," said Madame Marneffe to Lisbeth, as she sat +down once more. "I never loved and I never shall love any man but my +Jaguar," she added, smiling at Henri Montes. "Lisbeth, my dear, you +don't know. Henri has forgiven me the infamy to which I was reduced by +poverty." + +"It was my own fault," said the Brazilian. "I ought to have sent you a +hundred thousand francs." + +"Poor boy!" said Valerie; "I might have worked for my living, but my +fingers were not made for that--ask Lisbeth." + +The Brazilian went away the happiest man in Paris. + +At noon Valerie and Lisbeth were chatting in the splendid bedroom where +this dangerous woman was giving to her dress those finishing touches +which a lady alone can give. The doors were bolted, the curtains drawn +over them, and Valerie related in every detail all the events of the +evening, the night, the morning. + +"What do you think of it all, my darling?" she said to Lisbeth in +conclusion. "Which shall I be when the time comes--Madame Crevel, or +Madame Montes?" + +"Crevel will not last more than ten years, such a profligate as he is," +replied Lisbeth. "Montes is young. Crevel will leave you about thirty +thousand francs a year. Let Montes wait; he will be happy enough as +Benjamin. And so, by the time you are three-and-thirty, if you take care +of your looks, you may marry your Brazilian and make a fine show with +sixty thousand francs a year of your own--especially under the wing of a +Marechale." + +"Yes, but Montes is a Brazilian; he will never make his mark," observed +Valerie. + +"We live in the day of railways," said Lisbeth, "when foreigners rise to +high positions in France." + +"We shall see," replied Valerie, "when Marneffe is dead. He has not much +longer to suffer." + +"These attacks that return so often are a sort of physical remorse," +said Lisbeth. "Well, I am off to see Hortense." + +"Yes--go, my angel!" replied Valerie. "And bring me my artist.--Three +years, and I have not gained an inch of ground! It is a disgrace to both +of us!--Wenceslas and Henri--these are my two passions--one for love, +the other for fancy." + +"You are lovely this morning," said Lisbeth, putting her arm round +Valerie's waist and kissing her forehead. "I enjoy all your pleasures, +your good fortune, your dresses--I never really lived till the day when +we became sisters." + +"Wait a moment, my tiger-cat!" cried Valerie, laughing; "your shawl is +crooked. You cannot put a shawl on yet in spite of my lessons for three +years--and you want to be Madame la Marechale Hulot!" + +Shod in prunella boots, over gray silk stockings, in a gown of handsome +corded silk, her hair in smooth bands under a very pretty black velvet +bonnet, lined with yellow satin, Lisbeth made her way to the Rue +Saint-Dominique by the Boulevard des Invalides, wondering whether sheer +dejection would at last break down Hortense's brave spirit, and whether +Sarmatian instability, taken at a moment when, with such a character, +everything is possible, would be too much for Steinbock's constancy. + + + +Hortense and Wenceslas had the ground floor of a house situated at the +corner of the Rue Saint-Dominique and the Esplanade des Invalides. +These rooms, once in harmony with the honeymoon, now had that half-new, +half-faded look that may be called the autumnal aspect of furniture. +Newly married folks are as lavish and wasteful, without knowing it or +intending it, of everything about them as they are of their affection. +Thinking only of themselves, they reck little of the future, which, at a +later time, weighs on the mother of a family. + +Lisbeth found Hortense just as she had finished dressing a baby +Wenceslas, who had been carried into the garden. + +"Good-morning, Betty," said Hortense, opening the door herself to her +cousin. The cook was gone out, and the house-servant, who was also the +nurse, was doing some washing. + +"Good-morning, dear child," replied Lisbeth, kissing her. "Is Wenceslas +in the studio?" she added in a whisper. + +"No; he is in the drawing-room talking to Stidmann and Chanor." + +"Can we be alone?" asked Lisbeth. + +"Come into my room." + +In this room, the hangings of pink-flowered chintz with green leaves on +a white ground, constantly exposed to the sun, were much faded, as was +the carpet. The muslin curtains had not been washed for many a day. The +smell of tobacco hung about the room; for Wenceslas, now an artist of +repute, and born a fine gentleman, left his cigar-ash on the arms of the +chairs and the prettiest pieces of furniture, as a man does to whom love +allows everything--a man rich enough to scorn vulgar carefulness. + +"Now, then, let us talk over your affairs," said Lisbeth, seeing her +pretty cousin silent in the armchair into which she had dropped. "But +what ails you? You look rather pale, my dear." + +"Two articles have just come out in which my poor Wenceslas is pulled +to pieces; I have read them, but I have hidden them from him, for they +would completely depress him. The marble statue of Marshal Montcornet +is pronounced utterly bad. The bas-reliefs are allowed to pass muster, +simply to allow of the most perfidious praise of his talent as a +decorative artist, and to give the greater emphasis to the statement +that serious art is quite out of his reach! Stidmann, whom I besought +to tell me the truth, broke my heart by confessing that his own opinion +agreed with that of every other artist, of the critics, and the public. +He said to me in the garden before breakfast, 'If Wenceslas cannot +exhibit a masterpiece next season, he must give up heroic sculpture +and be content to execute idyllic subjects, small figures, pieces of +jewelry, and high-class goldsmiths' work!' This verdict is dreadful to +me, for Wenceslas, I know, will never accept it; he feels he has so many +fine ideas." + +"Ideas will not pay the tradesman's bills," remarked Lisbeth. "I was +always telling him so--nothing but money. Money is only to be had for +work done--things that ordinary folks like well enough to buy them. When +an artist has to live and keep a family, he had far better have a design +for a candlestick on his counter, or for a fender or a table, than for +groups or statues. Everybody must have such things, while he may wait +months for the admirer of the group--and for his money---" + +"You are right, my good Lisbeth. Tell him all that; I have not the +courage.--Besides, as he was saying to Stidmann, if he goes back to +ornamental work and small sculpture, he must give up all hope of the +Institute and grand works of art, and we should not get the three +hundred thousand francs' worth of work promised at Versailles and by the +City of Paris and the Ministers. That is what we are robbed of by those +dreadful articles, written by rivals who want to step into our shoes." + +"And that is not what you dreamed of, poor little puss!" said Lisbeth, +kissing Hortense on the brow. "You expected to find a gentleman, a +leader of Art, the chief of all living sculptors.--But that is poetry, +you see, a dream requiring fifty thousand francs a year, and you have +only two thousand four hundred--so long as I live. After my death three +thousand." + +A few tears rose to Hortense's eyes, and Lisbeth drank them with her +eyes as a cat laps milk. + +This is the story of their honeymoon--the tale will perhaps not be lost +on some artists. + +Intellectual work, labor in the upper regions of mental effort, is one +of the grandest achievements of man. That which deserves real glory +in Art--for by Art we must understand every creation of the mind--is +courage above all things--a sort of courage of which the vulgar have no +conception, and which has never perhaps been described till now. + +Driven by the dreadful stress of poverty, goaded by Lisbeth, and kept +by her in blinders, as a horse is, to hinder it from seeing to the right +and left of its road, lashed on by that hard woman, the personification +of Necessity, a sort of deputy Fate, Wenceslas, a born poet and dreamer, +had gone on from conception to execution, and overleaped, without +sounding it, the gulf that divides these two hemispheres of Art. To +muse, to dream, to conceive of fine works, is a delightful occupation. +It is like smoking a magic cigar or leading the life of a courtesan who +follows her own fancy. The work then floats in all the grace of infancy, +in the mad joy of conception, with the fragrant beauty of a flower, and +the aromatic juices of a fruit enjoyed in anticipation. + +The man who can sketch his purpose beforehand in words is regarded as +a wonder, and every artist and writer possesses that faculty. But +gestation, fruition, the laborious rearing of the offspring, putting it +to bed every night full fed with milk, embracing it anew every morning +with the inexhaustible affection of a mother's heart, licking it clean, +dressing it a hundred times in the richest garb only to be instantly +destroyed; then never to be cast down at the convulsions of this +headlong life till the living masterpiece is perfected which in +sculpture speaks to every eye, in literature to every intellect, in +painting to every memory, in music to every heart!--This is the task of +execution. The hand must be ready at every instant to come forward and +obey the brain. But the brain has no more a creative power at command +than love has a perennial spring. + +The habit of creativeness, the indefatigable love of motherhood which +makes a mother--that miracle of nature which Raphael so perfectly +understood--the maternity of the brain, in short, which is so difficult +to develop, is lost with prodigious ease. Inspiration is the opportunity +of genius. She does not indeed dance on the razor's edge, she is in the +air and flies away with the suspicious swiftness of a crow; she wears +no scarf by which the poet can clutch her; her hair is a flame; she +vanishes like the lovely rose and white flamingo, the sportsman's +despair. And work, again, is a weariful struggle, alike dreaded and +delighted in by these lofty and powerful natures who are often broken +by it. A great poet of our day has said in speaking of this overwhelming +labor, "I sit down to it in despair, but I leave it with regret." Be it +known to all who are ignorant! If the artist does not throw himself into +his work as Curtius sprang into the gulf, as a soldier leads a forlorn +hope without a moment's thought, and if when he is in the crater he does +not dig on as a miner does when the earth has fallen in on him; if he +contemplates the difficulties before him instead of conquering them +one by one, like the lovers in fairy tales, who to win their princesses +overcome ever new enchantments, the work remains incomplete; it perishes +in the studio where creativeness becomes impossible, and the artist +looks on at the suicide of his own talent. + +Rossini, a brother genius to Raphael, is a striking instance in his +poverty-stricken youth, compared with his latter years of opulence. This +is the reason why the same prize, the same triumph, the same bays are +awarded to great poets and to great generals. + +Wenceslas, by nature a dreamer, had expended so much energy in +production, in study, and in work under Lisbeth's despotic rule, that +love and happiness resulted in reaction. His real character reappeared, +the weakness, recklessness, and indolence of the Sarmatian returned to +nestle in the comfortable corners of his soul, whence the schoolmaster's +rod had routed them. + +For the first few months the artist adored his wife. Hortense and +Wenceslas abandoned themselves to the happy childishness of a legitimate +and unbounded passion. Hortense was the first to release her husband +from his labors, proud to triumph over her rival, his Art. And, indeed, +a woman's caresses scare away the Muse, and break down the sturdy, +brutal resolution of the worker. + +Six or seven months slipped by, and the artist's fingers had forgotten +the use of the modeling tool. When the need for work began to be +felt, when the Prince de Wissembourg, president of the committee of +subscribers, asked to see the statue, Wenceslas spoke the inevitable +byword of the idler, "I am just going to work on it," and he lulled his +dear Hortense with fallacious promises and the magnificent schemes of +the artist as he smokes. Hortense loved her poet more than ever; she +dreamed of a sublime statue of Marshal Montcornet. Montcornet would +be the embodied ideal of bravery, the type of the cavalry officer, of +courage _a la Murat_. Yes, yes; at the mere sight of that statue all the +Emperor's victories were to seem a foregone conclusion. And then such +workmanship! The pencil was accommodating and answered to the word. + +By way of a statue the result was a delightful little Wenceslas. + +When the progress of affairs required that he should go to the studio +at le Gros-Caillou to mould the clay and set up the life-size model, +Steinbock found one day that the Prince's clock required his presence +in the workshop of Florent and Chanor, where the figures were being +finished; or, again, the light was gray and dull; to-day he had +business to do, to-morrow they had a family dinner, to say nothing of +indispositions of mind and body, and the days when he stayed at home to +toy with his adored wife. + +Marshal the Prince de Wissembourg was obliged to be angry to get the +clay model finished; he declared that he must put the work into other +hands. It was only by dint of endless complaints and much strong +language that the committee of subscribers succeeded in seeing the +plaster-cast. Day after day Steinbock came home, evidently tired, +complaining of this "hodman's work" and his own physical weakness. +During that first year the household felt no pinch; the Countess +Steinbock, desperately in love with her husband cursed the War Minister. +She went to see him; she told him that great works of art were not to be +manufactured like cannon; and that the State--like Louis XIV., Francis +I., and Leo X.--ought to be at the beck and call of genius. Poor +Hortense, believing she held a Phidias in her embrace, had the sort of +motherly cowardice for her Wenceslas that is in every wife who carries +her love to the pitch of idolatry. + +"Do not be hurried," said she to her husband, "our whole future life is +bound up with that statue. Take your time and produce a masterpiece." + +She would go to the studio, and then the enraptured Steinbock wasted +five hours out of seven in describing the statue instead of working at +it. He thus spent eighteen months in finishing the design, which to him +was all-important. + +When the plaster was cast and the model complete, poor Hortense, who had +looked on at her husband's toil, seeing his health really suffer +from the exertions which exhaust a sculptor's frame and arms and +hands--Hortense thought the result admirable. Her father, who knew +nothing of sculpture, and her mother, no less ignorant, lauded it as a +triumph; the War Minister came with them to see it, and, overruled by +them, expressed approval of the figure, standing as it did alone, in a +favorable light, thrown up against a green baize background. + +Alas! at the exhibition of 1841, the disapprobation of the public soon +took the form of abuse and mockery in the mouths of those who were +indignant with the idol too hastily set up for worship. Stidmann tried +to advise his friend, but was accused of jealousy. Every article in a +newspaper was to Hortense an outcry of envy. Stidmann, the best of +good fellows, got articles written, in which adverse criticism was +contravened, and it was pointed out that sculptors altered their works +in translating the plaster into marble, and that the marble would be the +test. + +"In reproducing the plaster sketch in marble," wrote Claude Vignon, "a +masterpiece may be ruined, or a bad design made beautiful. The plaster +is the manuscript, the marble is the book." + +So in two years and a half Wenceslas had produced a statue and a son. +The child was a picture of beauty; the statue was execrable. + +The clock for the Prince and the price of the statue paid off the young +couple's debts. Steinbock had acquired fashionable habits; he went to +the play, to the opera; he talked admirably about art; and in the eyes +of the world he maintained his reputation as a great artist by his +powers of conversation and criticism. There are many clever men in Paris +who spend their lives in talking themselves out, and are content with a +sort of drawing-room celebrity. Steinbock, emulating these emasculated +but charming men, grew every day more averse to hard work. As soon as +he began a thing, he was conscious of all its difficulties, and the +discouragement that came over him enervated his will. Inspiration, the +frenzy of intellectual procreation, flew swiftly away at the sight of +this effete lover. + +Sculpture--like dramatic art--is at once the most difficult and the +easiest of all arts. You have but to copy a model, and the task is +done; but to give it a soul, to make it typical by creating a man or +a woman--this is the sin of Prometheus. Such triumphs in the annals +of sculpture may be counted, as we may count the few poets among +men. Michael Angelo, Michel Columb, Jean Goujon, Phidias, Praxiteles, +Polycletes, Puget, Canova, Albert Durer, are the brothers of Milton, +Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Tasso, Homer, and Moliere. And such an +achievement is so stupendous that a single statue is enough to make a +man immortal, as Figaro, Lovelace, and Manon Lescaut have immortalized +Beaumarchais, Richardson, and the Abbe Prevost. + +Superficial thinkers--and there are many in the artist world--have +asserted that sculpture lives only by the nude, that it died with the +Greeks, and that modern vesture makes it impossible. But, in the first +place, the Ancients have left sublime statues entirely clothed--the +_Polyhymnia_, the _Julia_, and others, and we have not found one-tenth +of all their works; and then, let any lover of art go to Florence and +see Michael Angelo's _Penseroso_, or to the Cathedral of Mainz, and +behold the _Virgin_ by Albert Durer, who has created a living woman +out of ebony, under her threefold drapery, with the most flowing, +the softest hair that ever a waiting-maid combed through; let all the +ignorant flock thither, and they will acknowledge that genius can give +mind to drapery, to armor, to a robe, and fill it with a body, just as +a man leaves the stamp of his individuality and habits of life on the +clothes he wears. + +Sculpture is the perpetual realization of the fact which once, and never +again, was, in painting called Raphael! + +The solution of this hard problem is to be found only in constant +persevering toil; for, merely to overcome the material difficulties +to such an extent, the hand must be so practised, so dexterous and +obedient, that the sculptor may be free to struggle soul to soul with +the elusive moral element that he has to transfigure as he embodies it. +If Paganini, who uttered his soul through the strings of his violin, +spent three days without practising, he lost what he called the _stops_ +of his instrument, meaning the sympathy between the wooden frame, the +strings, the bow, and himself; if he had lost this alliance, he would +have been no more than an ordinary player. + +Perpetual work is the law of art, as it is the law of life, for art is +idealized creation. Hence great artists and perfect poets wait neither +for commission nor for purchasers. They are constantly creating--to-day, +to-morrow, always. The result is the habit of work, the unfailing +apprehension of the difficulties which keep them in close intercourse +with the Muse and her productive forces. Canova lived in his studio, as +Voltaire lived in his study; and so must Homer and Phidias have lived. + +While Lisbeth kept Wenceslas Steinbock in thraldom in his garret, he was +on the thorny road trodden by all these great men, which leads to the +Alpine heights of glory. Then happiness, in the person of Hortense, had +reduced the poet to idleness--the normal condition of all artists, since +to them idleness is fully occupied. Their joy is such as that of the +pasha of a seraglio; they revel with ideas, they get drunk at the founts +of intellect. Great artists, such as Steinbock, wrapped in reverie, are +rightly spoken of as dreamers. They, like opium-eaters, all sink into +poverty, whereas if they had been kept up to the mark by the stern +demands of life, they might have been great men. + +At the same time, these half-artists are delightful; men like them and +cram them with praise; they even seem superior to the true artists, who +are taxed with conceit, unsociableness, contempt of the laws of society. +This is why: Great men are the slaves of their work. Their indifference +to outer things, their devotion to their work, make simpletons regard +them as egotists, and they are expected to wear the same garb as the +dandy who fulfils the trivial evolutions called social duties. These +men want the lions of the Atlas to be combed and scented like a lady's +poodle. + +These artists, who are too rarely matched to meet their fellows, fall +into habits of solitary exclusiveness; they are inexplicable to the +majority, which, as we know, consists mostly of fools--of the envious, +the ignorant, and the superficial. + +Now you may imagine what part a wife should play in the life of these +glorious and exceptional beings. She ought to be what, for five years, +Lisbeth had been, but with the added offering of love, humble and +patient love, always ready and always smiling. + +Hortense, enlightened by her anxieties as a mother, and driven by +dire necessity, had discovered too late the mistakes she had been +involuntarily led into by her excessive love. Still, the worthy daughter +of her mother, her heart ached at the thought of worrying Wenceslas; +she loved her dear poet too much to become his torturer; and she could +foresee the hour when beggary awaited her, her child, and her husband. + +"Come, come, my child," said Lisbeth, seeing the tears in her cousin's +lovely eyes, "you must not despair. A glassful of tears will not buy a +plate of soup. How much do you want?" + +"Well, five or six thousand francs." + +"I have but three thousand at the most," said Lisbeth. "And what is +Wenceslas doing now?" + +"He has had an offer to work in partnership with Stidmann at a table +service for the Duc d'Herouville for six thousand francs. Then Monsieur +Chanor will advance four thousand to repay Monsieur de Lora and +Bridau--a debt of honor." + +"What, you have had the money for the statue and the bas-reliefs for +Marshal Montcornet's monument, and you have not paid them yet?" + +"For the last three years," said Hortense, "we have spent twelve +thousand francs a year, and I have but a hundred louis a year of my own. +The Marshal's monument, when all the expenses were paid, brought us no +more than sixteen thousand francs. Really and truly, if Wenceslas gets +no work, I do not know what is to become of us. Oh, if only I could +learn to make statues, I would handle the clay!" she cried, holding up +her fine arms. + +The woman, it was plain, fulfilled the promise of the girl; there was +a flash in her eye; impetuous blood, strong with iron, flowed in her +veins; she felt that she was wasting her energy in carrying her infant. + +"Ah, my poor little thing! a sensible girl should not marry an artist +till his fortune is made--not while it is still to make." + +At this moment they heard voices; Stidmann and Wenceslas were seeing +Chanor to the door; then Wenceslas and Stidmann came in again. + +Stidmann, an artist in vogue in the world of journalists, famous +actresses, and courtesans of the better class, was a young man of +fashion whom Valerie much wished to see in her rooms; indeed, he had +already been introduced to her by Claude Vignon. Stidmann had lately +broken off an intimacy with Madame Schontz, who had married some months +since and gone to live in the country. Valerie and Lisbeth, hearing of +this upheaval from Claude Vignon, thought it well to get Steinbock's +friend to visit in the Rue Vanneau. + +Stidmann, out of good feeling, went rarely to the Steinbocks'; and as it +happened that Lisbeth was not present when he was introduced by Claude +Vignon, she now saw him for the first time. As she watched this noted +artist, she caught certain glances from his eyes at Hortense, which +suggested to her the possibility of offering him to the Countess +Steinbock as a consolation if Wenceslas should be false to her. In point +of fact, Stidmann was reflecting that if Steinbock were not his friend, +Hortense, the young and superbly beautiful countess, would be an +adorable mistress; it was this very notion, controlled by honor, that +kept him away from the house. Lisbeth was quick to mark the significant +awkwardness that troubles a man in the presence of a woman with whom he +will not allow himself to flirt. + +"Very good-looking--that young man," said she in a whisper to Hortense. + +"Oh, do you think so?" she replied. "I never noticed him." + +"Stidmann, my good fellow," said Wenceslas, in an undertone to his +friend, "we are on no ceremony, you and I--we have some business to +settle with this old girl." + +Stidmann bowed to the ladies and went away. + +"It is settled," said Wenceslas, when he came in from taking leave of +Stidmann. "But there are six months' work to be done, and we must live +meanwhile." + +"There are my diamonds," cried the young Countess, with the impetuous +heroism of a loving woman. + +A tear rose in Wenceslas' eye. + +"Oh, I am going to work," said he, sitting down by his wife and drawing +her on to his knee. "I will do odd jobs--a wedding chest, bronze +groups----" + +"But, my children," said Lisbeth; "for, as you know, you will be +my heirs, and I shall leave you a very comfortable sum, believe me, +especially if you help me to marry the Marshal; nay, if we succeed in +that quickly, I will take you all to board with me--you and Adeline. We +should live very happily together.--But for the moment, listen to the +voice of my long experience. Do not fly to the Mont-de-Piete; it is the +ruin of the borrower. I have always found that when the interest was +due, those who had pledged their things had nothing wherewith to pay up, +and then all is lost. I can get you a loan at five per cent on your note +of hand." + +"Oh, we are saved!" said Hortense. + +"Well, then, child, Wenceslas had better come with me to see the lender, +who will oblige him at my request. It is Madame Marneffe. If you flatter +her a little--for she is as vain as a _parvenue_--she will get you out +of the scrape in the most obliging way. Come yourself and see her, my +dear Hortense." + +Hortense looked at her husband with the expression a man condemned to +death must wear on his way to the scaffold. + +"Claude Vignon took Stidmann there," said Wenceslas. "He says it is a +very pleasant house." + +Hortense's head fell. What she felt can only be expressed in one word; +it was not pain; it was illness. + +"But, my dear Hortense, you must learn something of life!" exclaimed +Lisbeth, understanding the eloquence of her cousin's looks. "Otherwise, +like your mother, you will find yourself abandoned in a deserted room, +where you will weep like Calypso on the departure of Ulysses, and at an +age when there is no hope of Telemachus--" she added, repeating a jest +of Madame Marneffe's. "We have to regard the people in the world as +tools which we can make use of or let alone, according as they can serve +our turn. Make use of Madame Marneffe now, my dears, and let her alone +by and by. Are you afraid lest Wenceslas, who worships you, should fall +in love with a woman four or five years older than himself, as yellow as +a bundle of field peas, and----?" + +"I would far rather pawn my diamonds," said Hortense. "Oh, never go +there, Wenceslas!--It is hell!" + +"Hortense is right," said Steinbock, kissing his wife. + +"Thank you, my dearest," said Hortense, delighted. "My husband is an +angel, you see, Lisbeth. He does not gamble, he goes nowhere without me; +if he only could stick to work--oh, I should be too happy. Why take us +on show to my father's mistress, a woman who is ruining him and is the +cause of troubles that are killing my heroic mother?" + +"My child, that is not where the cause of your father's ruin lies. It +was his singer who ruined him, and then your marriage!" replied her +cousin. "Bless me! why, Madame Marneffe is of the greatest use to him. +However, I must tell no tales." + +"You have a good word for everybody, dear Betty--" + +Hortense was called into the garden by hearing the child cry; Lisbeth +was left alone with Wenceslas. + +"You have an angel for your wife, Wenceslas!" said she. "Love her as you +ought; never give her cause for grief." + +"Yes, indeed, I love her so well that I do not tell her all," replied +Wenceslas; "but to you, Lisbeth, I may confess the truth.--If I took my +wife's diamonds to the Monte-de-Piete, we should be no further forward." + +"Then borrow of Madame Marneffe," said Lisbeth. "Persuade Hortense, +Wenceslas, to let you go there, or else, bless me! go there without +telling her." + +"That is what I was thinking of," replied Wenceslas, "when I refused for +fear of grieving Hortense." + +"Listen to me; I care too much for you both not to warn you of your +danger. If you go there, hold your heart tight in both hands, for +the woman is a witch. All who see her adore her; she is so wicked, so +inviting! She fascinates men like a masterpiece. Borrow her money, but +do not leave your soul in pledge. I should never be happy again if you +were false to Hortense--here she is! not another word! I will settle the +matter." + +"Kiss Lisbeth, my darling," said Wenceslas to his wife. "She will help +us out of our difficulties by lending us her savings." + +And he gave Lisbeth a look which she understood. + +"Then, I hope you mean to work, my dear treasure," said Hortense. + +"Yes, indeed," said the artist. "I will begin to-morrow." + +"To-morrow is our ruin!" said his wife, with a smile. + +"Now, my dear child! say yourself whether some hindrance has not come in +the way every day; some obstacle or business?" + +"Yes, very true, my love." + +"Here!" cried Steinbock, striking his brow, "here I have swarms of +ideas! I mean to astonish all my enemies. I am going to design a service +in the German style of the sixteenth century; the romantic style: +foliage twined with insects, sleeping children, newly invented monsters, +chimeras--real chimeras, such as we dream of!--I see it all! It will be +undercut, light, and yet crowded. Chanor was quite amazed.--And I wanted +some encouragement, for the last article on Montcornet's monument had +been crushing." + +At a moment in the course of the day when Lisbeth and Wenceslas were +left together, the artist agreed to go on the morrow to see Madame +Marneffe--he either would win his wife's consent, or he would go without +telling her. + + + +Valerie, informed the same evening of this success, insisted that Hulot +should go to invite Stidmann, Claude Vignon, and Steinbock to dinner; +for she was beginning to tyrannize over him as women of that type +tyrannize over old men, who trot round town, and go to make interest +with every one who is necessary to the interests or the vanity of their +task-mistress. + +Next evening Valerie armed herself for conquest by making such a toilet +as a Frenchwoman can devise when she wishes to make the most of herself. +She studied her appearance in this great work as a man going out to +fight a duel practises his feints and lunges. Not a speck, not a wrinkle +was to be seen. Valerie was at her whitest, her softest, her sweetest. +And certain little "patches" attracted the eye. + +It is commonly supposed that the patch of the eighteenth century is out +of date or out of fashion; that is a mistake. In these days women, more +ingenious perhaps than of yore, invite a glance through the opera-glass +by other audacious devices. One is the first to hit on a rosette in +her hair with a diamond in the centre, and she attracts every eye for a +whole evening; another revives the hair-net, or sticks a dagger through +the twist to suggest a garter; this one wears velvet bands round her +wrists, that one appears in lace lippets. These valiant efforts, an +Austerlitz of vanity or of love, then set the fashion for lower spheres +by the time the inventive creatress has originated something new. This +evening, which Valerie meant to be a success for her, she had placed +three patches. She had washed her hair with some lye, which changed +its hue for a few days from a gold color to a duller shade. Madame +Steinbock's was almost red, and she would be in every point unlike her. +This new effect gave her a piquant and strange appearance, which puzzled +her followers so much, that Montes asked her: + +"What have you done to yourself this evening?"--Then she put on a rather +wide black velvet neck-ribbon, which showed off the whiteness of her +skin. One patch took the place of the _assassine_ of our grandmothers. +And Valerie pinned the sweetest rosebud into her bodice, just in the +middle above the stay-busk, and in the daintiest little hollow! It was +enough to make every man under thirty drop his eyelids. + +"I am as sweet as a sugar-plum," said she to herself, going through her +attitudes before the glass, exactly as a dancer practises her curtesies. + +Lisbeth had been to market, and the dinner was to be one of those +superfine meals which Mathurine had been wont to cook for her Bishop +when he entertained the prelate of the adjoining diocese. + +Stidmann, Claude Vignon, and Count Steinbock arrived almost together, +just at six. An ordinary, or, if you will, a natural woman would have +hastened at the announcement of a name so eagerly longed for; but +Valerie, though ready since five o'clock, remained in her room, leaving +her three guests together, certain that she was the subject of their +conversation or of their secret thoughts. She herself had arranged +the drawing-room, laying out the pretty trifles produced in Paris and +nowhere else, which reveal the woman and announce her presence: albums +bound in enamel or embroidered with beads, saucers full of pretty rings, +marvels of Sevres or Dresden mounted exquisitely by Florent and Chanor, +statues, books, all the frivolities which cost insane sums, and which +passion orders of the makers in its first delirium--or to patch up its +last quarrel. + +Besides, Valerie was in the state of intoxication that comes of triumph. +She had promised to marry Crevel if Marneffe should die; and the amorous +Crevel had transferred to the name of Valerie Fortin bonds bearing ten +thousand francs a year, the sum-total of what he had made in railway +speculations during the past three years, the returns on the capital of +a hundred thousand crowns which he had at first offered to the Baronne +Hulot. So Valerie now had an income of thirty-two thousand francs. + +Crevel had just committed himself to a promise of far greater magnitude +than this gift of his surplus. In the paroxysm of rapture which _his +Duchess_ had given him from two to four--he gave this fine title to +Madame _de_ Marneffe to complete the illusion--for Valerie had surpassed +herself in the Rue du Dauphin that afternoon, he had thought well to +encourage her in her promised fidelity by giving her the prospect of +a certain little mansion, built in the Rue Barbette by an imprudent +contractor, who now wanted to sell it. Valerie could already see herself +in this delightful residence, with a fore-court and a garden, and +keeping a carriage! + +"What respectable life can ever procure so much in so short a time, or +so easily?" said she to Lisbeth as she finished dressing. Lisbeth was to +dine with Valerie that evening, to tell Steinbock those things about the +lady which nobody can say about herself. + +Madame Marneffe, radiant with satisfaction, came into the drawing-room +with modest grace, followed by Lisbeth dressed in black and yellow to +set her off. + +"Good-evening, Claude," said she, giving her hand to the famous old +critic. + +Claude Vignon, like many another, had become a political personage--a +word describing an ambitious man at the first stage of his career. The +_political personage_ of 1840 represents, in some degree, the _Abbe_ of +the eighteenth century. No drawing-room circle is complete without one. + +"My dear, this is my cousin, Count Steinbock," said Lisbeth, introducing +Wenceslas, whom Valerie seemed to have overlooked. + +"Oh yes, I recognized Monsieur le Comte," replied Valerie with a +gracious bow to the artist. "I often saw you in the Rue du Doyenne, +and I had the pleasure of being present at your wedding.--It would be +difficult, my dear," said she to Lisbeth, "to forget your adopted son +after once seeing him.--It is most kind of you, Monsieur Stidmann," +she went on, "to have accepted my invitation at such short notice; +but necessity knows no law. I knew you to be the friend of both these +gentlemen. Nothing is more dreary, more sulky, than a dinner where all +the guests are strangers, so it was for their sake that I hailed you +in--but you will come another time for mine, I hope?--Say that you +will." + +And for a few minutes she moved about the room with Stidmann, wholly +occupied with him. + +Crevel and Hulot were announced separately, and then a deputy named +Beauvisage. + +This individual, a provincial Crevel, one of the men created to make +up the crowd in the world, voted under the banner of Giraud, a State +Councillor, and Victorin Hulot. These two politicians were trying to +form a nucleus of progressives in the loose array of the Conservative +Party. Giraud himself occasionally spent the evening at Madame +Marneffe's, and she flattered herself that she should also capture +Victorin Hulot; but the puritanical lawyer had hitherto found excuses +for refusing to accompany his father and father-in-law. It seemed to +him criminal to be seen in the house of the woman who cost his mother so +many tears. Victorin Hulot was to the puritans of political life what a +pious woman is among bigots. + +Beauvisage, formerly a stocking manufacturer at Arcis, was anxious to +_pick up the Paris style_. This man, one of the outer stones of the +Chamber, was forming himself under the auspices of this delicious and +fascinating Madame Marneffe. Introduced here by Crevel, he had accepted +him, at her instigation, as his model and master. He consulted him on +every point, took the address of his tailor, imitated him, and tried to +strike the same attitudes. In short, Crevel was his Great Man. + +Valerie, surrounded by these bigwigs and the three artists, and +supported by Lisbeth, struck Wenceslas as a really superior woman, all +the more so because Claude Vignon spoke of her like a man in love. + +"She is Madame de Maintenon in Ninon's petticoats!" said the veteran +critic. "You may please her in an evening if you have the wit; but +as for making her love you--that would be a triumph to crown a man's +ambition and fill up his life." + +Valerie, while seeming cold and heedless of her former neighbor, piqued +his vanity, quite unconsciously indeed, for she knew nothing of the +Polish character. There is in the Slav a childish element, as there +is in all these primitively wild nations which have overflowed into +civilization rather than that they have become civilized. The race has +spread like an inundation, and has covered a large portion of the globe. +It inhabits deserts whose extent is so vast that it expands at its ease; +there is no jostling there, as there is in Europe, and civilization is +impossible without the constant friction of minds and interests. The +Ukraine, Russia, the plains by the Danube, in short, the Slav nations, +are a connecting link between Europe and Asia, between civilization and +barbarism. Thus the Pole, the wealthiest member of the Slav family, has +in his character all the childishness and inconsistency of a +beardless race. He has courage, spirit, and strength; but, cursed with +instability, that courage, strength, and energy have neither method nor +guidance; for the Pole displays a variability resembling that of the +winds which blow across that vast plain broken with swamps; and though +he has the impetuosity of the snow squalls that wrench and sweep away +buildings, like those aerial avalanches he is lost in the first pool and +melts into water. Man always assimilates something from the surroundings +in which he lives. Perpetually at strife with the Turk, the Pole has +imbibed a taste for Oriental splendor; he often sacrifices what is +needful for the sake of display. The men dress themselves out like +women, yet the climate has given them the tough constitution of Arabs. + +The Pole, sublime in suffering, has tired his oppressors' arms by sheer +endurance of beating; and, in the nineteenth century, has reproduced the +spectacle presented by the early Christians. Infuse only ten per cent +of English cautiousness into the frank and open Polish nature, and +the magnanimous white eagle would at this day be supreme wherever +the two-headed eagle has sneaked in. A little Machiavelism would have +hindered Poland from helping to save Austria, who has taken a share of +it; from borrowing from Prussia, the usurer who had undermined it; and +from breaking up as soon as a division was first made. + +At the christening of Poland, no doubt, the Fairy Carabosse, overlooked +by the genii who endowed that attractive people with the most brilliant +gifts, came in to say: + +"Keep all the gifts that my sisters have bestowed on you; but you shall +never know what you wish for!" + +If, in its heroic duel with Russia, Poland had won the day, the Poles +would now be fighting among themselves, as they formerly fought in their +Diets to hinder each other from being chosen King. When that nation, +composed entirely of hot-headed dare-devils, has good sense enough to +seek a Louis XI. among her own offspring, to accept his despotism and a +dynasty, she will be saved. + +What Poland has been politically, almost every Pole is in private life, +especially under the stress of disaster. Thus Wenceslas Steinbock, after +worshiping his wife for three years and knowing that he was a god to +her, was so much nettled at finding himself barely noticed by Madame +Marneffe, that he made it a point of honor to attract her attention. +He compared Valerie with his wife and gave her the palm. Hortense was +beautiful flesh, as Valerie had said to Lisbeth; but Madame Marneffe had +spirit in her very shape, and the savor of vice. + +Such devotion as Hortense's is a feeling which a husband takes as his +due; the sense of the immense preciousness of such perfect love soon +wears off, as a debtor, in the course of time, begins to fancy that the +borrowed money is his own. This noble loyalty becomes the daily bread of +the soul, and an infidelity is as tempting as a dainty. The woman who +is scornful, and yet more the woman who is reputed dangerous, excites +curiosity, as spices add flavor to good food. Indeed, the disdain so +cleverly acted by Valerie was a novelty to Wenceslas, after three years +of too easy enjoyment. Hortense was a wife; Valerie a mistress. + +Many men desire to have two editions of the same work, though it is in +fact a proof of inferiority when a man cannot make his mistress of his +wife. Variety in this particular is a sign of weakness. Constancy will +always be the real genius of love, the evidence of immense power--the +power that makes the poet! A man ought to find every woman in his wife, +as the squalid poets of the seventeenth century made their Manons figure +as Iris and Chloe. + +"Well," said Lisbeth to the Pole, as she beheld him fascinated, "what do +you think of Valerie?" + +"She is too charming," replied Wenceslas. + +"You would not listen to me," said Betty. "Oh! my little Wenceslas, if +you and I had never parted, you would have been that siren's lover; you +might have married her when she was a widow, and you would have had her +forty thousand francs a year----" + +"Really?" + +"Certainly," replied Lisbeth. "Now, take care of yourself; I warned you +of the danger; do not singe your wings in the candle!--Come, give me +your arm, dinner is served." + +No language could be so thoroughly demoralizing as this; for if you show +a Pole a precipice, he is bound to leap it. As a nation they have the +very spirit of cavalry; they fancy they can ride down every obstacle and +come out victorious. The spur applied by Lisbeth to Steinbock's vanity +was intensified by the appearance of the dining-room, bright with +handsome silver plate; the dinner was served with every refinement and +extravagance of Parisian luxury. + +"I should have done better to take Celimene," thought he to himself. + +All through the dinner Hulot was charming; pleased to see his son-in-law +at that table, and yet more happy in the prospect of a reconciliation +with Valerie, whose fidelity he proposed to secure by the promise of +Coquet's head-clerkship. Stidmann responded to the Baron's amiability by +shafts of Parisian banter and an artist's high spirits. Steinbock would +not allow himself to be eclipsed by his friend; he too was witty, said +amusing things, made his mark, and was pleased with himself; Madame +Marneffe smiled at him several times to show that she quite understood +him. + +The good meal and heady wines completed the work; Wenceslas was deep in +what must be called the slough of dissipation. Excited by just a +glass too much, he stretched himself on a settee after dinner, sunk +in physical and mental ecstasy, which Madame Marneffe wrought to the +highest pitch by coming to sit down by him--airy, scented, pretty enough +to damn an angel. She bent over Wenceslas and almost touched his ear as +she whispered to him: + +"We cannot talk over business matters this evening, unless you will +remain till the last. Between us--you, Lisbeth, and me--we can settle +everything to suit you." + +"Ah, Madame, you are an angel!" replied Wenceslas, also in a murmur. "I +was a pretty fool not to listen to Lisbeth--" + +"What did she say?" + +"She declared, in the Rue du Doyenne, that you loved me!" + +Madame Marneffe looked at him, seemed covered with confusion, and +hastily left her seat. A young and pretty woman never rouses the hope of +immediate success with impunity. This retreat, the impulse of a virtuous +woman who is crushing a passion in the depths of her heart, was a +thousand times more effective than the most reckless avowal. Desire was +so thoroughly aroused in Wenceslas that he doubled his attentions to +Valerie. A woman seen by all is a woman wished for. Hence the terrible +power of actresses. Madame Marneffe, knowing that she was watched, +behaved like an admired actress. She was quite charming, and her success +was immense. + +"I no longer wonder at my father-in-law's follies," said Steinbock to +Lisbeth. + +"If you say such things, Wenceslas, I shall to my dying day repent of +having got you the loan of these ten thousand francs. Are you, like +all these men," and she indicated the guests, "madly in love with that +creature? Remember, you would be your father-in-law's rival. And think +of the misery you would bring on Hortense." + +"That is true," said Wenceslas. "Hortense is an angel; I should be a +wretch." + +"And one is enough in the family!" said Lisbeth. + +"Artists ought never to marry!" exclaimed Steinbock. + +"Ah! that is what I always told you in the Rue du Doyenne. Your groups, +your statues, your great works, ought to be your children." + +"What are you talking about?" Valerie asked, joining Lisbeth.--"Give us +tea, Cousin." + +Steinbock, with Polish vainglory, wanted to appear familiar with this +drawing-room fairy. After defying Stidmann, Vignon, and Crevel with a +look, he took Valerie's hand and forced her to sit down by him on the +settee. + +"You are rather too lordly, Count Steinbock," said she, resisting a +little. But she laughed as she dropped on to the seat, not without +arranging the rosebud pinned into her bodice. + +"Alas! if I were really lordly," said he, "I should not be here to +borrow money." + +"Poor boy! I remember how you worked all night in the Rue du Doyenne. +You really were rather a spooney; you married as a starving man snatches +a loaf. You knew nothing of Paris, and you see where you are landed. But +you turned a deaf ear to Lisbeth's devotion, as you did to the love of a +woman who knows her Paris by heart." + +"Say no more!" cried Steinbock; "I am done for!" + +"You shall have your ten thousand francs, my dear Wenceslas; but on one +condition," she went on, playing with his handsome curls. + +"What is that?" + +"I will take no interest----" + +"Madame!" + +"Oh, you need not be indignant; you shall make it good by giving me a +bronze group. You began the story of Samson; finish it.--Do a Delilah +cutting off the Jewish Hercules' hair. And you, who, if you will listen +to me, will be a great artist, must enter into the subject. What you +have to show is the power of woman. Samson is a secondary consideration. +He is the corpse of dead strength. It is Delilah--passion--that ruins +everything. How far more beautiful is that _replica_--That is what you +call it, I think--" She skilfully interpolated, as Claude Vignon and +Stidmann came up to them on hearing her talk of sculpture--"how far more +beautiful than the Greek myth is that _replica_ of Hercules at Omphale's +feet.--Did Greece copy Judaea, or did Judaea borrow the symbolism from +Greece?" + +"There, madame, you raise an important question--that of the date of +the various writings in the Bible. The great and immortal Spinoza--most +foolishly ranked as an atheist, whereas he gave mathematical proof +of the existence of God--asserts that the Book of Genesis and all +the political history of the Bible are of the time of Moses, and he +demonstrates the interpolated passages by philological evidence. And he +was thrice stabbed as he went into the synagogue." + +"I had no idea I was so learned," said Valerie, annoyed at this +interruption to her _tete-a-tete_. + +"Women know everything by instinct," replied Claude Vignon. + +"Well, then, you promise me?" she said to Steinbock, taking his hand +with the timidity of a girl in love. + +"You are indeed a happy man, my dear fellow," cried Stidmann, "if madame +asks a favor of you!" + +"What is it?" asked Claude Vignon. + +"A small bronze group," replied Steinbock, "Delilah cutting off Samson's +hair." + +"It is difficult," remarked Vignon. "A bed----" + +"On the contrary, it is exceedingly easy," replied Valerie, smiling. + +"Ah ha! teach us sculpture!" said Stidmann. + +"You should take madame for your subject," replied Vignon, with a keen +glance at Valerie. + +"Well," she went on, "this is my notion of the composition. Samson on +waking finds he has no hair, like many a dandy with a false top-knot. +The hero is sitting on the bed, so you need only show the foot of it, +covered with hangings and drapery. There he is, like Marius among +the ruins of Carthage, his arms folded, his head shaven--Napoleon at +Saint-Helena--what you will! Delilah is on her knees, a good deal like +Canova's Magdalen. When a hussy has ruined her man, she adores him. As I +see it, the Jewess was afraid of Samson in his strength and terrors, but +she must have loved him when she saw him a child again. So Delilah is +bewailing her sin, she would like to give her lover his hair again. She +hardly dares to look at him; but she does look, with a smile, for she +reads forgiveness in Samson's weakness. Such a group as this, and one of +the ferocious Judith, would epitomize woman. Virtue cuts off your head; +vice only cuts off your hair. Take care of your wigs, gentlemen!" + +And she left the artists quite overpowered, to sing her praises in +concert with the critic. + +"It is impossible to be more bewitching!" cried Stidmann. + +"Oh! she is the most intelligent and desirable woman I have ever met," +said Claude Vignon. "Such a combination of beauty and cleverness is so +rare." + +"And if you who had the honor of being intimate with Camille Maupin can +pronounce such a verdict," replied Stidmann, "what are we to think?" + +"If you will make your Delilah a portrait of Valerie, my dear Count," +said Crevel, who had risen for a moment from the card-table, and who +had heard what had been said, "I will give you a thousand crowns for an +example--yes, by the Powers! I will shell out to the tune of a thousand +crowns!" + +"Shell out! What does that mean?" asked Beauvisage of Claude Vignon. + +"Madame must do me the honor to sit for it then," said Steinbock to +Crevel. "Ask her--" + +At this moment Valerie herself brought Steinbock a cup of tea. This was +more than a compliment, it was a favor. There is a complete language +in the manner in which a woman does this little civility; but women +are fully aware of the fact, and it is a curious thing to study their +movements, their manner, their look, tone, and accent when they perform +this apparently simple act of politeness.--From the question, "Do you +take tea?"--"Will you have some tea?"--"A cup of tea?" coldly asked, +and followed by instructions to the nymph of the urn to bring it, to the +eloquent poem of the odalisque coming from the tea-table, cup in hand, +towards the pasha of her heart, presenting it submissively, offering it +in an insinuating voice, with a look full of intoxicating promises, +a physiologist could deduce the whole scale of feminine emotion, from +aversion or indifference to Phaedra's declaration to Hippolytus. Women +can make it, at will, contemptuous to the verge of insult, or humble to +the expression of Oriental servility. + +And Valerie was more than woman; she was the serpent made woman; she +crowned her diabolical work by going up to Steinbock, a cup of tea in +her hand. + +"I will drink as many cups of tea as you will give me," said the artist, +murmuring in her ear as he rose, and touching her fingers with his, "to +have them given to me thus!" + +"What were you saying about sitting?" said she, without betraying that +this declaration, so frantically desired, had gone straight to her +heart. + +"Old Crevel promises me a thousand crowns for a copy of your group." + +"He! a thousand crowns for a bronze group?" + +"Yes--if you will sit for Delilah," said Steinbock. + +"He will not be there to see, I hope!" replied she. "The group would +be worth more than all his fortune, for Delilah's costume is rather +un-dressy." + +Just as Crevel loved to strike an attitude, every woman has a victorious +gesture, a studied movement, which she knows must win admiration. You +may see in a drawing-room how one spends all her time looking down at +her tucker or pulling up the shoulder-piece of her gown, how another +makes play with the brightness of her eyes by glancing up at the +cornice. Madame Marneffe's triumph, however, was not face to face like +that of other women. She turned sharply round to return to Lisbeth at +the tea-table. This ballet-dancer's pirouette, whisking her skirts, by +which she had overthrown Hulot, now fascinated Steinbock. + +"Your vengeance is secure," said Valerie to Lisbeth in a whisper. +"Hortense will cry out all her tears, and curse the day when she robbed +you of Wenceslas." + +"Till I am Madame la Marechale I shall not think myself successful," +replied the cousin; "but they are all beginning to wish for it.--This +morning I went to Victorin's--I forgot to tell you.--The young Hulots +have bought up their father's notes of hand given to Vauvinet, and +to-morrow they will endorse a bill for seventy-two thousand francs at +five per cent, payable in three years, and secured by a mortgage on +their house. So the young people are in straits for three years; +they can raise no more money on that property. Victorin is dreadfully +distressed; he understands his father. And Crevel is capable of refusing +to see them; he will be so angry at this piece of self-sacrifice." + +"The Baron cannot have a sou now," said Valerie, and she smiled at +Hulot. + +"I don't see where he can get it. But he will draw his salary again in +September." + +"And he has his policy of insurance; he has renewed it. Come, it is +high time he should get Marneffe promoted. I will drive it home this +evening." + +"My dear cousin," said Lisbeth to Wenceslas, "go home, I beg. You are +quite ridiculous. Your eyes are fixed on Valerie in a way that is enough +to compromise her, and her husband is insanely jealous. Do not tread in +your father-in-law's footsteps. Go home; I am sure Hortense is sitting +up for you." + +"Madame Marneffe told me to stay till the last to settle my little +business with you and her," replied Wenceslas. + +"No, no," said Lisbeth; "I will bring you the ten thousand francs, for +her husband has his eye on you. It would be rash to remain. To-morrow +at eleven o'clock bring your note of hand; at that hour that mandarin +Marneffe is at his office, Valerie is free.--Have you really asked her +to sit for your group?--Come up to my rooms first.--Ah! I was sure +of it," she added, as she caught the look which Steinbock flashed at +Valerie, "I knew you were a profligate in the bud! Well, Valerie is +lovely--but try not to bring trouble on Hortense." + + + +Nothing annoys a married man so much as finding his wife perpetually +interposing between himself and his wishes, however transient. + +Wenceslas got home at about one in the morning; Hortense had expected +him ever since half-past nine. From half-past nine till ten she had +listened to the passing carriages, telling herself that never before had +her husband come in so late from dining with Florent and Chanor. She sat +sewing by the child's cot, for she had begun to save a needlewoman's pay +for the day by doing the mending herself.--From ten till half-past, a +suspicion crossed her mind; she sat wondering: + +"Is he really gone to dinner, as he told me, with Chanor and Florent? He +put on his best cravat and his handsomest pin when he dressed. He took +as long over his toilet as a woman when she wants to make the best of +herself.--I am crazy! He loves me!--And here he is!" + +But instead of stopping, the cab she heard went past. + +From eleven till midnight Hortense was a victim to terrible alarms; the +quarter where they lived was now deserted. + +"If he has set out on foot, some accident may have happened," thought +she. "A man may be killed by tumbling over a curbstone or failing to +see a gap. Artists are so heedless! Or if he should have been stopped +by robbers!--It is the first time he has ever left me alone here for six +hours and a half!--But why should I worry myself? He cares for no one +but me." + +Men ought to be faithful to the wives who love them, were it only on +account of the perpetual miracles wrought by true love in the sublime +regions of the spiritual world. The woman who loves is, in relation +to the man she loves, in the position of a somnambulist to whom the +magnetizer should give the painful power, when she ceases to be the +mirror of the world, of being conscious as a woman of what she has seen +as a somnambulist. Passion raises the nervous tension of a woman to the +ecstatic pitch at which presentiment is as acute as the insight of a +clairvoyant. A wife knows she is betrayed; she will not let herself say +so, she doubts still--she loves so much! She gives the lie to the outcry +of her own Pythian power. This paroxysm of love deserves a special form +of worship. + +In noble souls, admiration of this divine phenomenon will always be a +safeguard to protect them from infidelity. How should a man not worship +a beautiful and intellectual creature whose soul can soar to such +manifestations? + +By one in the morning Hortense was in a state of such intense anguish, +that she flew to the door as she recognized her husband's ring at the +bell, and clasped him in her arms like a mother. + +"At last--here you are!" cried she, finding her voice again. "My +dearest, henceforth where you go I go, for I cannot again endure the +torture of such waiting.--I pictured you stumbling over a curbstone, +with a fractured skull! Killed by thieves!--No, a second time I know I +should go mad.--Have you enjoyed yourself so much?--And without me!--Bad +boy!" + +"What can I say, my darling? There was Bixiou, who drew fresh +caricatures for us; Leon de Lora, as witty as ever; Claude Vignon, to +whom I owe the only consolatory article that has come out about the +Montcornet statue. There were--" + +"Were there no ladies?" Hortense eagerly inquired. + +"Worthy Madame Florent--" + +"You said the Rocher de Cancale.--Were you at the Florents'?" + +"Yes, at their house; I made a mistake." + +"You did not take a coach to come home?" + +"No." + +"And you have walked from the Rue des Tournelles?" + +"Stidmann and Bixiou came back with me along the boulevards as far as +the Madeleine, talking all the way." + +"It is dry then on the boulevards and the Place de la Concorde and the +Rue de Bourgogne? You are not muddy at all!" said Hortense, looking at +her husband's patent leather boots. + +It had been raining, but between the Rue Vanneau and the Rue +Saint-Dominique Wenceslas had not got his boots soiled. + +"Here--here are five thousand francs Chanor has been so generous as to +lend me," said Wenceslas, to cut short this lawyer-like examination. + +He had made a division of the ten thousand-franc notes, half for +Hortense and half for himself, for he had five thousand francs' worth of +debts of which Hortense knew nothing. He owed money to his foreman and +his workmen. + +"Now your anxieties are relieved," said he, kissing his wife. "I am +going to work to-morrow morning. So I am going to bed this minute to get +up early, by your leave, my pet." + +The suspicion that had dawned in Hortense's mind vanished; she was miles +away from the truth. Madame Marneffe! She had never thought of her. +Her fear for her Wenceslas was that he should fall in with street +prostitutes. The names of Bixiou and Leon de Lora, two artists noted for +their wild dissipations, had alarmed her. + +Next morning she saw Wenceslas go out at nine o'clock, and was quite +reassured. + +"Now he is at work again," said she to herself, as she proceeded to +dress her boy. "I see he is quite in the vein! Well, well, if we +cannot have the glory of Michael Angelo, we may have that of Benvenuto +Cellini!" + +Lulled by her own hopes, Hortense believed in a happy future; and +she was chattering to her son of twenty months in the language of +onomatopoeia that amuses babes when, at about eleven o'clock, the cook, +who had not seen Wenceslas go out, showed in Stidmann. + +"I beg pardon, madame," said he. "Is Wenceslas gone out already?" + +"He is at the studio." + +"I came to talk over the work with him." + +"I will send for him," said Hortense, offering Stidmann a chair. + +Thanking Heaven for this piece of luck, Hortense was glad to detain +Stidmann to ask some questions about the evening before. Stidmann bowed +in acknowledgment of her kindness. The Countess Steinbock rang; the cook +appeared, and was desired to go at once and fetch her master from the +studio. + +"You had an amusing dinner last night?" said Hortense. "Wenceslas did +not come in till past one in the morning." + +"Amusing? not exactly," replied the artist, who had intended to +fascinate Madame Marneffe. "Society is not very amusing unless one is +interested in it. That little Madame Marneffe is clever, but a great +flirt." + +"And what did Wenceslas think of her?" asked poor Hortense, trying to +keep calm. "He said nothing about her to me." + +"I will only say one thing," said Stidmann, "and that is, that I think +her a very dangerous woman." + +Hortense turned as pale as a woman after childbirth. + +"So--it was at--at Madame Marneffe's that you dined--and not--not with +Chanor?" said she, "yesterday--and Wenceslas--and he----" + +Stidmann, without knowing what mischief he had done, saw that he had +blundered. + +The Countess did not finish her sentence; she simply fainted away. The +artist rang, and the maid came in. When Louise tried to get her mistress +into her bedroom, a serious nervous attack came on, with violent +hysterics. Stidmann, like any man who by an involuntary indiscretion has +overthrown the structure built on a husband's lie to his wife, could not +conceive that his words should produce such an effect; he supposed +that the Countess was in such delicate health that the slightest +contradiction was mischievous. + +The cook presently returned to say, unfortunately in loud tones, that +her master was not in the studio. In the midst of her anguish, Hortense +heard, and the hysterical fit came on again. + +"Go and fetch madame's mother," said Louise to the cook. "Quick--run!" + +"If I knew where to find Steinbock, I would go and fetch him!" exclaimed +Stidmann in despair. + +"He is with that woman!" cried the unhappy wife. "He was not dressed to +go to his work!" + +Stidmann hurried off to Madame Marneffe's, struck by the truth of this +conclusion, due to the second-sight of passion. + +At that moment Valerie was posed as Delilah. Stidmann, too sharp to ask +for Madame Marneffe, walked straight in past the lodge, and ran quickly +up to the second floor, arguing thus: "If I ask for Madame Marneffe, she +will be out. If I inquire point-blank for Steinbock, I shall be laughed +at to my face.--Take the bull by the horns!" + +Reine appeared in answer to his ring. + +"Tell Monsieur le Comte Steinbock to come at once, his wife is dying--" + +Reine, quite a match for Stidmann, looked at him with blank surprise. + +"But, sir--I don't know--did you suppose----" + +"I tell you that my friend Monsieur Steinbock is here; his wife is very +ill. It is quite serious enough for you to disturb your mistress." And +Stidmann turned on his heel. + +"He is there, sure enough!" said he to himself. + +And in point of fact, after waiting a few minutes in the Rue Vanneau, +he saw Wenceslas come out, and beckoned to him to come quickly. After +telling him of the tragedy enacted in the Rue Saint-Dominique, Stidmann +scolded Steinbock for not having warned him to keep the secret of +yesterday's dinner. + +"I am done for," said Wenceslas, "but you are forgiven. I had totally +forgotten that you were to call this morning, and I blundered in not +telling you that we were to have dined with Florent.--What can I say? +That Valerie has turned my head; but, my dear fellow, for her glory is +well lost, misfortune well won! She really is!--Good Heavens!--But I am +in a dreadful fix. Advise me. What can I say? How can I excuse myself?" + +"I! advise you! I don't know," replied Stidmann. "But your wife loves +you, I imagine? Well, then, she will believe anything. Tell her that you +were on your way to me when I was on my way to you; that, at any rate, +will set this morning's business right. Good-bye." + +Lisbeth, called down by Reine, ran after Wenceslas and caught him up +at the corner of the Rue Hillerin-Bertin; she was afraid of his Polish +artlessness. Not wishing to be involved in the matter, she said a few +words to Wenceslas, who in his joy hugged her then and there. She had +no doubt pushed out a plank to enable the artist to cross this awkward +place in his conjugal affairs. + +At the sight of her mother, who had flown to her aid, Hortense burst +into floods of tears. This happily changed the character of the +hysterical attack. + +"Treachery, dear mamma!" cried she. "Wenceslas, after giving me his word +of honor that he would not go near Madame Marneffe, dined with her last +night, and did not come in till a quarter-past one in the morning.--If +you only knew! The day before we had had a discussion, not a quarrel, +and I had appealed to him so touchingly. I told him I was jealous, that +I should die if he were unfaithful; that I was easily suspicious, but +that he ought to have some consideration for my weaknesses, as they came +of my love for him; that I had my father's blood in my veins as well as +yours; that at the first moment of such discovery I should be mad, and +capable of mad deeds--of avenging myself--of dishonoring us all, him, +his child, and myself; that I might even kill him first and myself +after--and so on. + +"And yet he went there; he is there!--That woman is bent on breaking all +our hearts! Only yesterday my brother and Celestine pledged their all +to pay off seventy thousand francs on notes of hand signed for that +good-for-nothing creature.--Yes, mamma, my father would have been +arrested and put into prison. Cannot that dreadful woman be content with +having my father, and with all your tears? Why take my Wenceslas?--I +will go to see her and stab her!" + +Madame Hulot, struck to the heart by the dreadful secrets Hortense +was unwittingly letting out, controlled her grief by one of the heroic +efforts which a magnanimous mother can make, and drew her daughter's +head on to her bosom to cover it with kisses. + +"Wait for Wenceslas, my child; all will be explained. The evil cannot +be so great as you picture it!--I, too, have been deceived, my dear +Hortense; you think me handsome, I have lived blameless; and yet I have +been utterly forsaken for three-and-twenty years--for a Jenny Cadine, a +Josepha, a Madame Marneffe!--Did you know that?" + +"You, mamma, you! You have endured this for twenty----" + +She broke off, staggered by her own thoughts. + +"Do as I have done, my child," said her mother. "Be gentle and kind, and +your conscience will be at peace. On his death-bed a man may say, 'My +wife has never cost me a pang!' And God, who hears that dying breath, +credits it to us. If I had abandoned myself to fury like you, what would +have happened? Your father would have been embittered, perhaps he would +have left me altogether, and he would not have been withheld by any fear +of paining me. Our ruin, utter as it now is, would have been complete +ten years sooner, and we should have shown the world the spectacle of +a husband and wife living quite apart--a scandal of the most horrible, +heart-breaking kind, for it is the destruction of the family. Neither +your brother nor you could have married. + +"I sacrificed myself, and that so bravely, that, till this last +connection of your father's, the world has believed me happy. My +serviceable and indeed courageous falsehood has, till now, screened +Hector; he is still respected; but this old man's passion is taking him +too far, that I see. His own folly, I fear, will break through the veil +I have kept between the world and our home. However, I have held +that curtain steady for twenty-three years, and have wept behind +it--motherless, I, without a friend to trust, with no help but in +religion--I have for twenty-three years secured the family honor----" + +Hortense listened with a fixed gaze. The calm tone of resignation and +of such crowning sorrow soothed the smart of her first wound; the tears +rose again and flowed in torrents. In a frenzy of filial affection, +overcome by her mother's noble heroism, she fell on her knees before +Adeline, took up the hem of her dress and kissed it, as pious Catholics +kiss the holy relics of a martyr. + +"Nay, get up, Hortense," said the Baroness. "Such homage from my +daughter wipes out many sad memories. Come to my heart, and weep for no +sorrows but your own. It is the despair of my dear little girl, whose +joy was my only joy, that broke the solemn seal which nothing ought to +have removed from my lips. Indeed, I meant to have taken my woes to +the tomb, as a shroud the more. It was to soothe your anguish that I +spoke.--God will forgive me! + +"Oh! if my life were to be your life, what would I not do? Men, the +world, Fate, Nature, God Himself, I believe, make us pay for love +with the most cruel grief. I must pay for ten years of happiness and +twenty-four years of despair, of ceaseless sorrow, of bitterness--" + +"But you had ten years, dear mamma, and I have had but three!" said the +self-absorbed girl. + +"Nothing is lost yet," said Adeline. "Only wait till Wenceslas comes." + +"Mother," said she, "he lied, he deceived me. He said, 'I will not go,' +and he went. And that over his child's cradle." + +"For pleasure, my child, men will commit the most cowardly, the most +infamous actions--even crimes; it lies in their nature, it would seem. +We wives are set apart for sacrifice. I believed my troubles were ended, +and they are beginning again, for I never thought to suffer doubly by +suffering with my child. Courage--and silence!--My Hortense, swear that +you will never discuss your griefs with anybody but me, never let them +be suspected by any third person. Oh! be as proud as your mother has +been." + +Hortense started; she had heard her husband's step. + +"So it would seem," said Wenceslas, as he came in, "that Stidmann has +been here while I went to see him." + +"Indeed!" said Hortense, with the angry irony of an offended woman who +uses words to stab. + +"Certainly," said Wenceslas, affecting surprise. "We have just met." + +"And yesterday?" + +"Well, yesterday I deceived you, my darling love; and your mother shall +judge between us." + +This candor unlocked his wife's heart. All really lofty women like the +truth better than lies. They cannot bear to see their idol smirched; +they want to be proud of the despotism they bow to. + +There is a strain of this feeling in the devotion of the Russians to +their Czar. + +"Now, listen, dear mother," Wenceslas went on. "I so truly love my sweet +and kind Hortense, that I concealed from her the extent of our poverty. +What could I do? She was still nursing the boy, and such troubles would +have done her harm; you know what the risk is for a woman. Her beauty, +youth, and health are imperiled. Did I do wrong?--She believes that we +owe five thousand francs; but I owe five thousand more. The day before +yesterday we were in the depths! No one on earth will lend to us +artists. Our talents are not less untrustworthy than our whims. I +knocked in vain at every door. Lisbeth, indeed, offered us her savings." + +"Poor soul!" said Hortense. + +"Poor soul!" said the Baroness. + +"But what are Lisbeth's two thousand francs? Everything to her, nothing +to us.--Then, as you know, Hortense, she spoke to us of Madame Marneffe, +who, as she owes so much to the Baron, out of a sense of honor, +will take no interest. Hortense wanted to send her diamonds to the +Mont-de-Piete; they would have brought in a few thousand francs, but we +needed ten thousand. Those ten thousand francs were to be had free +of interest for a year!--I said to myself, 'Hortense will be none the +wiser; I will go and get them.' + +"Then the woman asked me to dinner through my father-in-law, giving me +to understand that Lisbeth had spoken of the matter, and I should have +the money. Between Hortense's despair on one hand, and the dinner on the +other, I could not hesitate.--That is all. + +"What! could Hortense, at four-and-twenty, lovely, pure, and virtuous, +and all my pride and glory, imagine that, when I have never left her +since we married, I could now prefer--what?--a tawny, painted, ruddled +creature?" said he, using the vulgar exaggeration of the studio to +convince his wife by the vehemence that women like. + +"Oh! if only your father had ever spoken so----!" cried the Baroness. + +Hortense threw her arms round her husband's neck. + +"Yes, that is what I should have done," said her mother. "Wenceslas, +my dear fellow, your wife was near dying of it," she went on very +seriously. "You see how well she loves you. And, alas--she is yours!" + +She sighed deeply. + +"He may make a martyr of her, or a happy woman," thought she to herself, +as every mother thinks when she sees her daughter married.--"It seems +to me," she said aloud, "that I am miserable enough to hope to see my +children happy." + +"Be quite easy, dear mamma," said Wenceslas, only too glad to see this +critical moment end happily. "In two months I shall have repaid that +dreadful woman. How could I help it," he went on, repeating this +essentially Polish excuse with a Pole's grace; "there are times when a +man would borrow of the Devil.--And, after all, the money belongs to the +family. When once she had invited me, should I have got the money at all +if I had responded to her civility with a rude refusal?" + +"Oh, mamma, what mischief papa is bringing on us!" cried Hortense. + +The Baroness laid her finger on her daughter's lips, aggrieved by +this complaint, the first blame she had ever uttered of a father so +heroically screened by her mother's magnanimous silence. + +"Now, good-bye, my children," said Madame Hulot. "The storm is over. But +do not quarrel any more." + +When Wenceslas and his wife returned to their room after letting out the +Baroness, Hortense said to her husband: + +"Tell me all about last evening." + +And she watched his face all through the narrative, interrupting him +by the questions that crowd on a wife's mind in such circumstances. +The story made Hortense reflect; she had a glimpse of the infernal +dissipation which an artist must find in such vicious company. + +"Be honest, my Wenceslas; Stidmann was there, Claude Vignon, +Vernisset.--Who else? In short, it was good fun?" + +"I, I was thinking of nothing but our ten thousand francs, and I was +saying to myself, 'My Hortense will be freed from anxiety.'" + +This catechism bored the Livonian excessively; he seized a gayer moment +to say: + +"And you, my dearest, what would you have done if your artist had proved +guilty?" + +"I," said she, with an air of prompt decision, "I should have taken up +Stidmann--not that I love him, of course!" + +"Hortense!" cried Steinbock, starting to his feet with a sudden and +theatrical emphasis. "You would not have had the chance--I would have +killed you!" + +Hortense threw herself into his arms, clasping him closely enough to +stifle him, and covered him with kisses, saying: + +"Ah, you do love me! I fear nothing!--But no more Marneffe. Never go +plunging into such horrible bogs." + +"I swear to you, my dear Hortense, that I will go there no more, +excepting to redeem my note of hand." + +She pouted at this, but only as a loving woman sulks to get something +for it. Wenceslas, tired out with such a morning's work, went off to his +studio to make a clay sketch of the _Samson and Delilah_, for which he +had the drawings in his pocket. + +Hortense, penitent for her little temper, and fancying that her husband +was annoyed with her, went to the studio just as the sculptor had +finished handling the clay with the impetuosity that spurs an artist +when the mood is on him. On seeing his wife, Wenceslas hastily threw the +wet wrapper over the group, and putting both arms round her, he said: + +"We were not really angry, were we, my pretty puss?" + +Hortense had caught sight of the group, had seen the linen thrown over +it, and had said nothing; but as she was leaving, she took off the rag, +looked at the model, and asked: + +"What is that?" + +"A group for which I had just had an idea." + +"And why did you hide it?" + +"I did not mean you to see it till it was finished." + +"The woman is very pretty," said Hortense. + +And a thousand suspicions cropped up in her mind, as, in India, tall, +rank plants spring up in a night-time. + + + +By the end of three weeks, Madame Marneffe was intensely irritated by +Hortense. Women of that stamp have a pride of their own; they insist +that men shall kiss the devil's hoof; they have no forgiveness for the +virtue that does not quail before their dominion, or that even holds its +own against them. Now, in all that time Wenceslas had not paid one visit +in the Rue Vanneau, not even that which politeness required to a woman +who had sat for Delilah. + +Whenever Lisbeth called on the Steinbocks, there had been nobody at +home. Monsieur and madame lived in the studio. Lisbeth, following the +turtle doves to their nest at le Gros-Caillou, found Wenceslas hard at +work, and was informed by the cook that madame never left monsieur's +side. Wenceslas was a slave to the autocracy of love. So now Valerie, on +her own account, took part with Lisbeth in her hatred of Hortense. + +Women cling to a lover that another woman is fighting for, just as +much as men do to women round whom many coxcombs are buzzing. Thus any +reflections _a propos_ to Madame Marneffe are equally applicable to any +lady-killing rake; he is, in fact, a sort of male courtesan. Valerie's +last fancy was a madness; above all, she was bent on getting her +group; she was even thinking of going one morning to the studio to see +Wenceslas, when a serious incident arose of the kind which, to a woman +of that class, may be called the spoil of war. + +This is how Valerie announced this wholly personal event. + +She was breakfasting with Lisbeth and her husband. + +"I say, Marneffe, what would you say to being a second time a father?" + +"You don't mean it--a baby?--Oh, let me kiss you!" + +He rose and went round the table; his wife held up her head so that he +could just kiss her hair. + +"If that is so," he went on, "I am head-clerk and officer of the Legion +of Honor at once. But you must understand, my dear, Stanislas is not to +be the sufferer, poor little man." + +"Poor little man?" Lisbeth put in. "You have not set your eyes on him +these seven months. I am supposed to be his mother at the school; I am +the only person in the house who takes any trouble about him." + +"A brat that costs us a hundred crowns a quarter!" said Valerie. "And +he, at any rate, is your own child, Marneffe. You ought to pay for his +schooling out of your salary.--The newcomer, far from reminding us of +butcher's bills, will rescue us from want." + +"Valerie," replied Marneffe, assuming an attitude like Crevel, "I hope +that Monsieur le Baron Hulot will take proper charge of his son, and +not lay the burden on a poor clerk. I intend to keep him well up to the +mark. So take the necessary steps, madame! Get him to write you letters +in which he alludes to his satisfaction, for he is rather backward in +coming forward in regard to my appointment." + +And Marneffe went away to the office, where his chief's precious +leniency allowed him to come in at about eleven o'clock. And, indeed, +he did little enough, for his incapacity was notorious, and he detested +work. + +No sooner were they alone than Lisbeth and Valerie looked at each other +for a moment like Augurs, and both together burst into a loud fit of +laughter. + +"I say, Valerie--is it the fact?" said Lisbeth, "or merely a farce?" + +"It is a physical fact!" replied Valerie. "Now, I am sick and tired +of Hortense; and it occurred to me in the night that I might fire this +infant, like a bomb, into the Steinbock household." + +Valerie went back to her room, followed by Lisbeth, to whom she showed +the following letter:-- + + "WENCESLAS MY DEAR,--I still believe in your love, though it is + nearly three weeks since I saw you. Is this scorn? Delilah can + scarcely believe that. Does it not rather result from the tyranny + of a woman whom, as you told me, you can no longer love? + Wenceslas, you are too great an artist to submit to such dominion. + Home is the grave of glory.--Consider now, are you the Wenceslas + of the Rue du Doyenne? You missed fire with my father's statue; + but in you the lover is greater than the artist, and you have had + better luck with his daughter. You are a father, my beloved + Wenceslas. + + "If you do not come to me in the state I am in, your friends would + think very badly of you. But I love you so madly, that I feel I + should never have the strength to curse you. May I sign myself as + ever, + + "YOUR VALERIE." + + +"What do you say to my scheme for sending this note to the studio at a +time when our dear Hortense is there by herself?" asked Valerie. "Last +evening I heard from Stidmann that Wenceslas is to pick him up at eleven +this morning to go on business to Chanor's; so that gawk Hortense will +be there alone." + +"But after such a trick as that," replied Lisbeth, "I cannot continue to +be your friend in the eyes of the world; I shall have to break with you, +to be supposed never to visit you, or even to speak to you." + +"Evidently," said Valerie; "but--" + +"Oh! be quite easy," interrupted Lisbeth; "we shall often meet when I am +Madame la Marechale. They are all set upon it now. Only the Baron is in +ignorance of the plan, but you can talk him over." + +"Well," said Valerie, "but it is quite likely that the Baron and I may +be on distant terms before long." + +"Madame Olivier is the only person who can make Hortense demand to +see the letter," said Lisbeth. "And you must send her to the Rue +Saint-Dominique before she goes on to the studio." + +"Our beauty will be at home, no doubt," said Valerie, ringing for Reine +to call up Madame Olivier. + +Ten minutes after the despatch of this fateful letter, Baron Hulot +arrived. Madame Marneffe threw her arms round the old man's neck with +kittenish impetuosity. + +"Hector, you are a father!" she said in his ear. "That is what comes of +quarreling and making friends again----" + +Perceiving a look of surprise, which the Baron did not at once conceal, +Valerie assumed a reserve which brought the old man to despair. She made +him wring the proofs from her one by one. When conviction, led on +by vanity, had at last entered his mind, she enlarged on Monsieur +Marneffe's wrath. + +"My dear old veteran," said she, "you can hardly avoid getting your +responsible editor, our representative partner if you like, appointed +head-clerk and officer of the Legion of Honor, for you really have done +for the poor man, he adores his Stanislas, the little monstrosity who is +so like him, that to me he is insufferable. Unless you prefer to settle +twelve hundred francs a year on Stanislas--the capital to be his, and +the life-interest payable to me, of course--" + +"But if I am to settle securities, I would rather it should be on my own +son, and not on the monstrosity," said the Baron. + +This rash speech, in which the words "my own son" came out as full as +a river in flood, was, by the end of the hour, ratified as a formal +promise to settle twelve hundred francs a year on the future boy. And +this promise became, on Valerie's tongue and in her countenance, what +a drum is in the hands of a child; for three weeks she played on it +incessantly. + +At the moment when Baron Hulot was leaving the Rue Vanneau, as happy +as a man who after a year of married life still desires an heir, +Madame Olivier had yielded to Hortense, and given up the note she was +instructed to give only into the Count's own hands. The young wife paid +twenty francs for that letter. The wretch who commits suicide must pay +for the opium, the pistol, the charcoal. + +Hortense read and re-read the note; she saw nothing but this sheet of +white paper streaked with black lines; the universe held for her +nothing but that paper; everything was dark around her. The glare of the +conflagration that was consuming the edifice of her happiness lighted +up the page, for blackest night enfolded her. The shouts of her little +Wenceslas at play fell on her ear, as if he had been in the depths of a +valley and she on a high mountain. Thus insulted at four-and-twenty, in +all the splendor of her beauty, enhanced by pure and devoted love--it +was not a stab, it was death. The first shock had been merely on the +nerves, the physical frame had struggled in the grip of jealousy; but +now certainty had seized her soul, her body was unconscious. + +For about ten minutes Hortense sat under the incubus of this oppression. +Then a vision of her mother appeared before her, and revulsion ensued; +she was calm and cool, and mistress of her reason. + +She rang. + +"Get Louise to help you, child," said she to the cook. "As quickly as +you can, pack up everything that belongs to me and everything wanted for +the little boy. I give you an hour. When all is ready, fetch a hackney +coach from the stand, and call me. + +"Make no remarks! I am leaving the house, and shall take Louise with me. +You must stay here with monsieur; take good care of him----" + +She went into her room, and wrote the following letter:-- + + "MONSIEUR LE COMTE,-- + + "The letter I enclose will sufficiently account for the + determination I have come to. + + "When you read this, I shall have left your house and have found + refuge with my mother, taking our child with me. + + "Do not imagine that I shall retrace my steps. Do not imagine that + I am acting with the rash haste of youth, without reflection, with + the anger of offended affection; you will be greatly mistaken. + + "I have been thinking very deeply during the last fortnight of + life, of love, of our marriage, of our duties to each other. I + have known the perfect devotion of my mother; she has told me all + her sorrows! She has been heroical--every day for twenty-three + years. But I have not the strength to imitate her, not because I + love you less than she loves my father, but for reasons of spirit + and nature. Our home would be a hell; I might lose my head so far + as to disgrace you--disgrace myself and our child. + + "I refuse to be a Madame Marneffe; once launched on such a course, + a woman of my temper might not, perhaps, be able to stop. I am, + unfortunately for myself, a Hulot, not a Fischer. + + "Alone, and absent from the scene of your dissipations, I am sure + of myself, especially with my child to occupy me, and by the side + of a strong and noble mother, whose life cannot fail to influence + the vehement impetuousness of my feelings. There, I can be a good + mother, bring our boy up well, and live. Under your roof the wife + would oust the mother; and constant contention would sour my + temper. + + "I can accept a death-blow, but I will not endure for + twenty-five years, like my mother. If, at the end of three years of + perfect, unwavering love, you can be unfaithful to me with your + father-in-law's mistress, what rivals may I expect to have in later + years? Indeed, monsieur, you have begun your career of profligacy + much earlier than my father did, the life of dissipation, which is + a disgrace to the father of a family, which undermines the respect + of his children, and which ends in shame and despair. + + "I am not unforgiving. Unrelenting feelings do not beseem erring + creatures living under the eye of God. If you win fame and fortune + by sustained work, if you have nothing to do with courtesans and + ignoble, defiling ways, you will find me still a wife worthy of + you. + + "I believe you to be too much a gentleman, Monsieur le Comte, to + have recourse to the law. You will respect my wishes, and leave me + under my mother's roof. Above all, never let me see you there. I + have left all the money lent to you by that odious woman.-- + Farewell. + + "HORTENSE HULOT." + + +This letter was written in anguish. Hortense abandoned herself to the +tears, the outcries of murdered love. She laid down her pen and took +it up again, to express as simply as possible all that passion commonly +proclaims in this sort of testamentary letter. Her heart went forth in +exclamations, wailing and weeping; but reason dictated the words. + +Informed by Louise that all was ready, the young wife slowly went round +the little garden, through the bedroom and drawing-room, looking at +everything for the last time. Then she earnestly enjoined the cook to +take the greatest care for her master's comfort, promising to reward +her handsomely if she would be honest. At last she got into the hackney +coach to drive to her mother's house, her heart quite broken, crying so +much as to distress the maid, and covering little Wenceslas with kisses, +which betrayed her still unfailing love for his father. + +The Baroness knew already from Lisbeth that the father-in-law was +largely to blame for the son-in-law's fault; nor was she surprised to +see her daughter, whose conduct she approved, and she consented to give +her shelter. Adeline, perceiving that her own gentleness and patience +had never checked Hector, for whom her respect was indeed fast +diminishing, thought her daughter very right to adopt another course. + +In three weeks the poor mother had suffered two wounds of which the pain +was greater than any ill-fortune she had hitherto endured. The Baron +had placed Victorin and his wife in great difficulties; and then, by +Lisbeth's account, he was the cause of his son-in-law's misconduct, and +had corrupted Wenceslas. The dignity of the father of the family, so +long upheld by her really foolish self-sacrifice, was now overthrown. +Though they did not regret the money the young Hulots were full alike of +doubts and uneasiness as regarded the Baron. This sentiment, which was +evidence enough, distressed the Baroness; she foresaw a break-up of the +family tie. + +Hortense was accommodated in the dining-room, arranged as a bedroom +with the help of the Marshal's money, and the anteroom became the +dining-room, as it is in many apartments. + + + +When Wenceslas returned home and had read the two letters, he felt +a kind of gladness mingled with regret. Kept so constantly under his +wife's eye, so to speak, he had inwardly rebelled against this fresh +thraldom, _a la_ Lisbeth. Full fed with love for three years past, he +too had been reflecting during the last fortnight; and he found a family +heavy on his hands. He had just been congratulated by Stidmann on the +passion he had inspired in Valerie; for Stidmann, with an under-thought +that was not unnatural, saw that he might flatter the husband's vanity +in the hope of consoling the victim. And Wenceslas was glad to be able +to return to Madame Marneffe. + +Still, he remembered the pure and unsullied happiness he had known, +the perfections of his wife, her judgment, her innocent and guileless +affection,--and he regretted her acutely. He thought of going at once to +his mother-in-law's to crave forgiveness; but, in fact, like Hulot and +Crevel, he went to Madame Marneffe, to whom he carried his wife's +letter to show her what a disaster she had caused, and to discount +his misfortune, so to speak, by claiming in return the pleasures his +mistress could give him. + +He found Crevel with Valerie. The mayor, puffed up with pride, marched +up and down the room, agitated by a storm of feelings. He put himself +into position as if he were about to speak, but he dared not. His +countenance was beaming, and he went now and again to the window, where +he drummed on the pane with his fingers. He kept looking at Valerie with +a glance of tender pathos. Happily for him, Lisbeth presently came in. + +"Cousin Betty," he said in her ear, "have you heard the news? I am a +father! It seems to me I love my poor Celestine the less.--Oh! what +a thing it is to have a child by the woman one idolizes! It is the +fatherhood of the heart added to that of the flesh! I say--tell Valerie +that I will work for that child--it shall be rich. She tells me she has +some reason for believing that it will be a boy! If it is a boy, I shall +insist on his being called Crevel. I will consult my notary about it." + +"I know how much she loves you," said Lisbeth. "But for her sake in the +future, and for your own, control yourself. Do not rub your hands every +five minutes." + +While Lisbeth was speaking aside on this wise to Crevel, Valerie had +asked Wenceslas to give her back her letter, and she was saying things +that dispelled all his griefs. + +"So now you are free, my dear," said she. "Ought any great artist to +marry? You live only by fancy and freedom! There, I shall love you so +much, beloved poet, that you shall never regret your wife. At the +same time, if, like so many people, you want to keep up appearances, I +undertake to bring Hortense back to you in a very short time." + +"Oh, if only that were possible!" + +"I am certain of it," said Valerie, nettled. "Your poor father-in-law +is a man who is in every way utterly done for; who wants to appear as +though he could be loved, out of conceit, and to make the world believe +that he has a mistress; and he is so excessively vain on this point, +that I can do what I please with him. The Baroness is still so +devoted to her old Hector--I always feel as if I were talking of the +_Iliad_--that these two old folks will contrive to patch up matters +between you and Hortense. Only, if you want to avoid storms at home for +the future, do not leave me for three weeks without coming to see your +mistress--I was dying of it. My dear boy, some consideration is due from +a gentleman to a woman he has so deeply compromised, especially when, as +in my case, she has to be very careful of her reputation. + +"Stay to dinner, my darling--and remember that I must treat you with all +the more apparent coldness because you are guilty of this too obvious +mishap." + +Baron Montes was presently announced; Valerie rose and hurried forward +to meet him; she spoke a few sentences in his ear, enjoining on him the +same reserve as she had impressed on Wenceslas; the Brazilian assumed +a diplomatic reticence suitable to the great news which filled him with +delight, for he, at any rate was sure of his paternity. + +Thanks to these tactics, based on the vanity of the man in the lover +stage of his existence, Valerie sat down to table with four men, all +pleased and eager to please, all charmed, and each believing himself +adored; called by Marneffe, who included himself, in speaking to +Lisbeth, the five Fathers of the Church. + +Baron Hulot alone at first showed an anxious countenance, and this was +why. Just as he was leaving the office, the head of the staff of clerks +had come to his private room--a General with whom he had served for +thirty years--and Hulot had spoken to him as to appointing Marneffe to +Coquet's place, Coquet having consented to retire. + +"My dear fellow," said he, "I would not ask this favor of the Prince +without our having agreed on the matter, and knowing that you approved." + +"My good friend," replied the other, "you must allow me to observe that, +for your own sake, you should not insist on this nomination. I have +already told you my opinion. There would be a scandal in the office, +where there is a great deal too much talk already about you and Madame +Marneffe. This, of course, is between ourselves. I have no wish to touch +you on a sensitive spot, or disoblige you in any way, and I will prove +it. If you are determined to get Monsieur Coquet's place, and he will +really be a loss in the War Office, for he has been here since 1809, I +will go into the country for a fortnight, so as to leave the field open +between you and the Marshal, who loves you as a son. Then I shall +take neither part, and shall have nothing on my conscience as an +administrator." + +"Thank you very much," said Hulot. "I will reflect on what you have +said." + +"In allowing myself to say so much, my dear friend, it is because your +personal interest is far more deeply implicated than any concern or +vanity of mine. In the first place, the matter lies entirely with the +Marshal. And then, my good fellow, we are blamed for so many things, +that one more or less! We are not at the maiden stage in our experience +of fault-finding. Under the Restoration, men were put in simply to give +them places, without any regard for the office.--We are old friends----" + +"Yes," the Baron put in; "and it is in order not to impair our old and +valued friendship that I--" + +"Well, well," said the departmental manager, seeing Hulot's face clouded +with embarrassment, "I will take myself off, old fellow.--But I warn +you! you have enemies--that is to say, men who covet your splendid +appointment, and you have but one anchor out. Now if, like me, you were +a Deputy, you would have nothing to fear; so mind what you are about." + +This speech, in the most friendly spirit, made a deep impression on the +Councillor of State. + +"But, after all, Roger, what is it that is wrong? Do not make any +mysteries with me." + +The individual addressed as Roger looked at Hulot, took his hand, and +pressed it. + +"We are such old friends, that I am bound to give you warning. If you +want to keep your place, you must make a bed for yourself, and instead +of asking the Marshal to give Coquet's place to Marneffe, in your place +I would beg him to use his influence to reserve a seat for me on the +General Council of State; there you may die in peace, and, like the +beaver, abandon all else to the pursuers." + +"What, do you think the Marshal would forget--" + +"The Marshal has already taken your part so warmly at a General Meeting +of the Ministers, that you will not now be turned out; but it was +seriously discussed! So give them no excuse. I can say no more. At this +moment you may make your own terms; you may sit on the Council of State +and be made a Peer of the Chamber. If you delay too long, if you give +any one a hold against you, I can answer for nothing.--Now, am I to go?" + +"Wait a little. I will see the Marshal," replied Hulot, "and I will send +my brother to see which way the wind blows at headquarters." + +The humor in which the Baron came back to Madame Marneffe's may be +imagined; he had almost forgotten his fatherhood, for Roger had taken +the part of a true and kind friend in explaining the position. At +the same time Valerie's influence was so great that, by the middle +of dinner, the Baron was tuned up to the pitch, and was all the more +cheerful for having unwonted anxieties to conceal; but the hapless +man was not yet aware that in the course of that evening he would find +himself in a cleft stick, between his happiness and the danger pointed +out by his friend--compelled, in short, to choose between Madame +Marneffe and his official position. + +At eleven o'clock, when the evening was at its gayest, for the room was +full of company, Valerie drew Hector into a corner of her sofa. + +"My dear old boy," said she, "your daughter is so annoyed at knowing +that Wenceslas comes here, that she has left him 'planted.' Hortense is +wrong-headed. Ask Wenceslas to show you the letter the little fool has +written to him. + +"This division of two lovers, of which I am reputed to be the cause, may +do me the greatest harm, for this is how virtuous women undermine each +other. It is disgraceful to pose as a victim in order to cast the blame +on a woman whose only crime is that she keeps a pleasant house. If +you love me, you will clear my character by reconciling the sweet +turtle-doves. + +"I do not in the least care about your son-in-law's visits; you brought +him here--take him away again! If you have any authority in your family, +it seems to me that you may very well insist on your wife's patching up +this squabble. Tell the worthy old lady from me, that if I am unjustly +charged with having caused a young couple to quarrel, with upsetting the +unity of a family, and annexing both the father and the son-in-law, I +will deserve my reputation by annoying them in my own way! Why, here is +Lisbeth talking of throwing me over! She prefers to stick to her family, +and I cannot blame her for it. She will throw me over, says she, unless +the young people make friends again. A pretty state of things! Our +expenses here will be trebled!" + +"Oh, as for that!" said the Baron, on hearing of his daughter's strong +measures, "I will have no nonsense of that kind." + +"Very well," said Valerie. "And now for the next thing.--What about +Coquet's place?" + +"That," said Hector, looking away, "is more difficult, not to say +impossible." + +"Impossible, my dear Hector?" said Madame Marneffe in the Baron's ear. +"But you do not know to what lengths Marneffe will go. I am completely +in his power; he is immoral for his own gratification, like most men, +but he is excessively vindictive, like all weak and impotent natures. In +the position to which you have reduced me, I am in his power. I am +bound to be on terms with him for a few days, and he is quite capable of +refusing to leave my room any more." + +Hulot started with horror. + +"He would leave me alone on condition of being head-clerk. It is +abominable--but logical." + +"Valerie, do you love me?" + +"In the state in which I am, my dear, the question is the meanest +insult." + +"Well, then--if I were to attempt, merely to attempt, to ask the Prince +for a place for Marneffe, I should be done for, and Marneffe would be +turned out." + +"I thought that you and the Prince were such intimate friends." + +"We are, and he has amply proved it; but, my child, there is authority +above the Marshal's--for instance, the whole Council of Ministers. With +time and a little tacking, we shall get there. But, to succeed, I must +wait till the moment when some service is required of me. Then I can say +one good turn deserves another--" + +"If I tell Marneffe this tale, my poor Hector, he will play us some +mean trick. You must tell him yourself that he has to wait. I will not +undertake to do so. Oh! I know what my fate would be. He knows how to +punish me! He will henceforth share my room---- + +"Do not forget to settle the twelve hundred francs a year on the little +one!" + +Hulot, seeing his pleasures in danger, took Monsieur Marneffe aside, and +for the first time derogated from the haughty tone he had always +assumed towards him, so greatly was he horrified by the thought of that +half-dead creature in his pretty young wife's bedroom. + +"Marneffe, my dear fellow," said he, "I have been talking of you to-day. +But you cannot be promoted to the first class just yet. We must have +time." + +"I will be, Monsieur le Baron," said Marneffe shortly. + +"But, my dear fellow--" + +"I _will_ be, Monsieur le Baron," Marneffe coldly repeated, looking +alternately at the Baron and at Valerie. "You have placed my wife in a +position that necessitates her making up her differences with me, and I +mean to keep her; for, _my dear fellow_, she is a charming creature," he +added, with crushing irony. "I am master here--more than you are at the +War Office." + +The Baron felt one of those pangs of fury which have the effect, in the +heart, of a fit of raging toothache, and he could hardly conceal the +tears in his eyes. + +During this little scene, Valerie had been explaining Marneffe's +imaginary determination to Montes, and thus had rid herself of him for a +time. + +Of her four adherents, Crevel alone was exempted from the rule--Crevel, +the master of the little "bijou" apartment; and he displayed on his +countenance an air of really insolent beatitude, notwithstanding +the wordless reproofs administered by Valerie in frowns and meaning +grimaces. His triumphant paternity beamed in every feature. + +When Valerie was whispering a word of correction in his ear, he snatched +her hand, and put in: + +"To-morrow, my Duchess, you shall have your own little house! The papers +are to be signed to-morrow." + +"And the furniture?" said she, with a smile. + +"I have a thousand shares in the Versailles _rive gauche_ railway. I +bought them at twenty-five, and they will go up to three hundred in +consequence of the amalgamation of the two lines, which is a secret told +to me. You shall have furniture fit for a queen. But then you will be +mine alone henceforth?" + +"Yes, burly Maire," said this middle-class Madame de Merteuil. "But +behave yourself; respect the future Madame Crevel." + +"My dear cousin," Lisbeth was saying to the Baron, "I shall go to +see Adeline early to-morrow; for, as you must see, I cannot, with any +decency, remain here. I will go and keep house for your brother the +Marshal." + +"I am going home this evening," said Hulot. + +"Very well, you will see me at breakfast to-morrow," said Lisbeth, +smiling. + +She understood that her presence would be necessary at the family scene +that would take place on the morrow. And the very first thing in the +morning she went to see Victorin and to tell him that Hortense and +Wenceslas had parted. + +When the Baron went home at half-past ten, Mariette and Louise, who had +had a hard day, were locking up the apartment. Hulot had not to ring. + +Very much put out at this compulsory virtue, the husband went straight +to his wife's room, and through the half-open door he saw her kneeling +before her Crucifix, absorbed in prayer, in one of those attitudes +which make the fortune of the painter or the sculptor who is so happy +to invent and then to express them. Adeline, carried away by her +enthusiasm, was praying aloud: + +"O God, have mercy and enlighten him!" + +The Baroness was praying for her Hector. + +At this sight, so unlike what he had just left, and on hearing this +petition founded on the events of the day, the Baron heaved a sigh of +deep emotion. Adeline looked round, her face drowned in tears. She was +so convinced that her prayer had been heard, that, with one spring, she +threw her arms round Hector with the impetuosity of happy affection. +Adeline had given up all a wife's instincts; sorrow had effaced even the +memory of them. No feeling survived in her but those of motherhood, +of the family honor, and the pure attachment of a Christian wife for a +husband who has gone astray--the saintly tenderness which survives all +else in a woman's soul. + +"Hector!" she said, "are you come back to us? Has God taken pity on our +family?" + +"Dear Adeline," replied the Baron, coming in and seating his wife by his +side on a couch, "you are the saintliest creature I ever knew; I have +long known myself to be unworthy of you." + +"You would have very little to do, my dear," said she, holding Hulot's +hand and trembling so violently that it was as though she had a palsy, +"very little to set things in order--" + +She dared not proceed; she felt that every word would be a reproof, +and she did not wish to mar the happiness with which this meeting was +inundating her soul. + +"It is Hortense who has brought me here," said Hulot. "That child may +do us far more harm by her hasty proceeding than my absurd passion for +Valerie has ever done. But we will discuss all this to-morrow morning. +Hortense is asleep, Mariette tells me; we will not disturb her." + +"Yes," said Madame Hulot, suddenly plunged into the depths of grief. + +She understood that the Baron's return was prompted not so much by the +wish to see his family as by some ulterior interest. + +"Leave her in peace till to-morrow," said the mother. "The poor child is +in a deplorable condition; she has been crying all day." + + + +At nine the next morning, the Baron, awaiting his daughter, whom he had +sent for, was pacing the large, deserted drawing-room, trying to find +arguments by which to conquer the most difficult form of obstinacy +there is to deal with--that of a young wife, offended and implacable, as +blameless youth ever is, in its ignorance of the disgraceful compromises +of the world, of its passions and interests. + +"Here I am, papa," said Hortense in a tremulous voice, and looking pale +from her miseries. + +Hulot, sitting down, took his daughter round the waist, and drew her +down to sit on his knee. + +"Well, my child," said he, kissing her forehead, "so there are troubles +at home, and you have been hasty and headstrong? That is not like a +well-bred child. My Hortense ought not to have taken such a decisive +step as that of leaving her house and deserting her husband on her own +account, and without consulting her parents. If my darling girl had come +to see her kind and admirable mother, she would not have given me +this cruel pain I feel!--You do not know the world; it is malignantly +spiteful. People will perhaps say that your husband sent you back to +your parents. Children brought up as you were, on your mother's +lap, remain artless; maidenly passion like yours for Wenceslas, +unfortunately, makes no allowances; it acts on every impulse. The little +heart is moved, the head follows suit. You would burn down Paris to be +revenged, with no thought of the courts of justice! + +"When your old father tells you that you have outraged the proprieties, +you may take his word for it.--I say nothing of the cruel pain you have +given me. It is bitter, I assure you, for you throw all the blame on a +woman of whose heart you know nothing, and whose hostility may become +disastrous. And you, alas! so full of guileless innocence and purity, +can have no suspicions; but you may be vilified and slandered.--Besides, +my darling pet, you have taken a foolish jest too seriously. I can +assure you, on my honor, that your husband is blameless. Madame +Marneffe--" + +So far the Baron, artistically diplomatic, had formulated his +remonstrances very judiciously. He had, as may be observed, worked up to +the mention of this name with superior skill; and yet Hortense, as she +heard it, winced as if stung to the quick. + +"Listen to me; I have had great experience, and I have seen much," he +went on, stopping his daughter's attempt to speak. "That lady is very +cold to your husband. Yes, you have been made the victim of a practical +joke, and I will prove it to you. Yesterday Wenceslas was dining with +her--" + +"Dining with her!" cried the young wife, starting to her feet, and +looking at her father with horror in every feature. "Yesterday! After +having had my letter! Oh, great God!--Why did I not take the veil rather +than marry? But now my life is not my own! I have the child!" and she +sobbed. + +Her weeping went to Madame Hulot's heart. She came out of her room +and ran to her daughter, taking her in her arms, and asking her those +questions, stupid with grief, which first rose to her lips. + +"Now we have tears," said the Baron to himself, "and all was going so +well! What is to be done with women who cry?" + +"My child," said the Baroness, "listen to your father! He loves us +all--come, come--" + +"Come, Hortense, my dear little girl, cry no more, you make yourself too +ugly!" said the Baron, "Now, be a little reasonable. Go sensibly home, +and I promise you that Wenceslas shall never set foot in that woman's +house. I ask you to make the sacrifice, if it is a sacrifice to forgive +the husband you love so small a fault. I ask you--for the sake of my +gray hairs, and of the love you owe your mother. You do not want to +blight my later years with bitterness and regret?" + +Hortense fell at her father's feet like a crazed thing, with the +vehemence of despair; her hair, loosely pinned up, fell about her, and +she held out her hands with an expression that painted her misery. + +"Father," she said, "ask my life! Take it if you will, but at least take +it pure and spotless, and I will yield it up gladly. Do not ask me to +die in dishonor and crime. I am not at all like my husband; I cannot +swallow an outrage. If I went back under my husband's roof, I should be +capable of smothering him in a fit of jealousy--or of doing worse! Do no +exact from me a thing that is beyond my powers. Do not have to mourn for +me still living, for the least that can befall me is to go mad. I feel +madness close upon me! + +"Yesterday, yesterday, he could dine with that woman, after having read +my letter?--Are other men made so? My life I give you, but do not let my +death be ignominious!--His fault?--A small one! When he has a child by +that woman!" + +"A child!" cried Hulot, starting back a step or two. "Come. This is +really some fooling." + +At this juncture Victorin and Lisbeth arrived, and stood dumfounded +at the scene. The daughter was prostrate at her father's feet. The +Baroness, speechless between her maternal feelings and her conjugal +duty, showed a harassed face bathed in tears. + +"Lisbeth," said the Baron, seizing his cousin by the hand and pointing +to Hortense, "you can help me here. My poor child's brain is turned; she +believes that her Wenceslas is Madame Marneffe's lover, while all that +Valerie wanted was to have a group by him." + +"_Delilah_!" cried the young wife. "The only thing he has done since +our marriage. The man would not work for me or for his son, and he has +worked with frenzy for that good-for-nothing creature.--Oh, father, kill +me outright, for every word stabs like a knife!" + +Lisbeth turned to the Baroness and Victorin, pointing with a pitying +shrug to the Baron, who could not see her. + +"Listen to me," said she to him. "I had no idea--when you asked me to go +to lodge over Madame Marneffe and keep house for her--I had no idea +of what she was; but many things may be learned in three years. That +creature is a prostitute, and one whose depravity can only be compared +with that of her infamous and horrible husband. You are the dupe, my +lord pot-boiler, of those people; you will be led further by them than +you dream of! I speak plainly, for you are at the bottom of a pit." + +The Baroness and her daughter, hearing Lisbeth speak in this style, cast +adoring looks at her, such as the devout cast at a Madonna for having +saved their life. + +"That horrible woman was bent on destroying your son-in-law's home. +To what end?--I know not. My brain is not equal to seeing clearly into +these dark intrigues--perverse, ignoble, infamous! Your Madame Marneffe +does not love your son-in-law, but she will have him at her feet out of +revenge. I have just spoken to the wretched woman as she deserves. She +is a shameless courtesan; I have told her that I am leaving her house, +that I would not have my honor smirched in that muck-heap.--I owe myself +to my family before all else. + +"I knew that Hortense had left her husband, so here I am. Your +Valerie, whom you believe to be a saint, is the cause of this miserable +separation; can I remain with such a woman? Our poor little Hortense," +said she, touching the Baron's arm, with peculiar meaning, "is perhaps +the dupe of a wish of such women as these, who, to possess a toy, would +sacrifice a family. + +"I do not think Wenceslas guilty; but I think him weak, and I cannot +promise that he will not yield to her refinements of temptation.--My +mind is made up. The woman is fatal to you; she will bring you all to +utter ruin. I will not even seem to be concerned in the destruction of +my own family, after living there for three years solely to hinder it. + +"You are cheated, Baron; say very positively that you will have nothing +to say to the promotion of that dreadful Marneffe, and you will see +then! There is a fine rod in pickle for you in that case." + +Lisbeth lifted up Hortense and kissed her enthusiastically. + +"My dear Hortense, stand firm," she whispered. + +The Baroness embraced Lisbeth with the vehemence of a woman who sees +herself avenged. The whole family stood in perfect silence round the +father, who had wit enough to know what that silence implied. A storm +of fury swept across his brow and face with evident signs; the veins +swelled, his eyes were bloodshot, his flesh showed patches of color. +Adeline fell on her knees before him and seized his hands. + +"My dear, forgive, my dear!" + +"You loathe me!" cried the Baron--the cry of his conscience. + +For we all know the secret of our own wrong-doing. We almost always +ascribe to our victims the hateful feelings which must fill them with +the hope of revenge; and in spite of every effort of hypocrisy, our +tongue or our face makes confession under the rack of some unexpected +anguish, as the criminal of old confessed under the hands of the +torturer. + +"Our children," he went on, to retract the avowal, "turn at last to be +our enemies--" + +"Father!" Victorin began. + +"You dare to interrupt your father!" said the Baron in a voice of +thunder, glaring at his son. + +"Father, listen to me," Victorin went on in a clear, firm voice, the +voice of a puritanical deputy. "I know the respect I owe you too well +ever to fail in it, and you will always find me the most respectful and +submissive of sons." + +Those who are in the habit of attending the sittings of the Chamber +will recognize the tactics of parliamentary warfare in these fine-drawn +phrases, used to calm the factions while gaining time. + +"We are far from being your enemies," his son went on. "I have quarreled +with my father-in-law, Monsieur Crevel, for having rescued your notes of +hand for sixty thousand francs from Vauvinet, and that money is, beyond +doubt, in Madame Marneffe's pocket.--I am not finding fault with you, +father," said he, in reply to an impatient gesture of the Baron's; "I +simply wish to add my protest to my cousin Lisbeth's, and to point +out to you that though my devotion to you as a father is blind and +unlimited, my dear father, our pecuniary resources, unfortunately, are +very limited." + +"Money!" cried the excitable old man, dropping on to a chair, quite +crushed by this argument. "From my son!--You shall be repaid your money, +sir," said he, rising, and he went to the door. + +"Hector!" + +At this cry the Baron turned round, suddenly showing his wife a face +bathed in tears; she threw her arms round him with the strength of +despair. + +"Do not leave us thus--do not go away in anger. I have not said a +word--not I!" + +At this heart-wrung speech the children fell at their father's feet. + +"We all love you," said Hortense. + +Lisbeth, as rigid as a statue, watched the group with a superior smile +on her lips. Just then Marshal Hulot's voice was heard in the anteroom. +The family all felt the importance of secrecy, and the scene suddenly +changed. The young people rose, and every one tried to hide all traces +of emotion. + +A discussion was going on at the door between Mariette and a soldier, +who was so persistent that the cook came in. + +"Monsieur, a regimental quartermaster, who says he is just come from +Algiers, insists on seeing you." + +"Tell him to wait." + +"Monsieur," said Mariette to her master in an undertone, "he told me to +tell you privately that it has to do with your uncle there." + +The Baron started; he believed that the funds had been sent at last +which he had been asking for these two months, to pay up his bills; he +left the family-party, and hurried out to the anteroom. + +"You are Monsieur de Paron Hulot?" + +"Yes." + +"Your own self?" + +"My own self." + +The man, who had been fumbling meanwhile in the lining of his cap, drew +out a letter, of which the Baron hastily broke the seal, and read as +follows:-- + + "DEAR NEPHEW,--Far from being able to send you the hundred + thousand francs you ask of me, my present position is not tenable + unless you can take some decisive steps to save me. We are saddled + with a public prosecutor who talks goody, and rhodomontades + nonsense about the management. It is impossible to get the + black-chokered pump to hold his tongue. If the War Minister allows + civilians to feed out of his hand, I am done for. I can trust the + bearer; try to get him promoted; he has done us good service. Do + not abandon me to the crows!" + +This letter was a thunderbolt; the Baron could read in it the intestine +warfare between civil and military authorities, which to this day +hampers the Government, and he was required to invent on the spot some +palliative for the difficulty that stared him in the face. He desired +the soldier to come back next day, dismissing him with splendid promises +of promotion, and he returned to the drawing-room. "Good-day +and good-bye, brother," said he to the Marshal.--"Good-bye, +children.--Good-bye, my dear Adeline.--And what are you going to do, +Lisbeth?" he asked. + +"I?--I am going to keep house for the Marshal, for I must end my days +doing what I can for one or another of you." + +"Do not leave Valerie till I have seen you again," said Hulot in his +cousin's ear.--"Good-bye, Hortense, refractory little puss; try to be +reasonable. I have important business to be attended to at once; we will +discuss your reconciliation another time. Now, think it over, my child," +said he as he kissed her. + +And he went away, so evidently uneasy, that his wife and children felt +the gravest apprehensions. + +"Lisbeth," said the Baroness, "I must find out what is wrong with +Hector; I never saw him in such a state. Stay a day or two longer with +that woman; he tells her everything, and we can then learn what has so +suddenly upset him. Be quite easy; we will arrange your marriage to the +Marshal, for it is really necessary." + +"I shall never forget the courage you have shown this morning," said +Hortense, embracing Lisbeth. + +"You have avenged our poor mother," said Victorin. + +The Marshal looked on with curiosity at all the display of affection +lavished on Lisbeth, who went off to report the scene to Valerie. + +This sketch will enable guileless souls to understand what various +mischief Madame Marneffes may do in a family, and the means by which +they reach poor virtuous wives apparently so far out of their ken. And +then, if we only transfer, in fancy, such doings to the upper class of +society about a throne, and if we consider what kings' mistresses must +have cost them, we may estimate the debt owed by a nation to a sovereign +who sets the example of a decent and domestic life. + + + +In Paris each ministry is a little town by itself, whence women are +banished; but there is just as much detraction and scandal as though +the feminine population were admitted there. At the end of three years, +Monsieur Marneffe's position was perfectly clear and open to the day, +and in every room one and another asked, "Is Marneffe to be, or not to +be, Coquet's successor?" Exactly as the question might have been put +to the Chamber, "Will the estimates pass or not pass?" The smallest +initiative on the part of the board of Management was commented on; +everything in Baron Hulot's department was carefully noted. The astute +State Councillor had enlisted on his side the victim of Marneffe's +promotion, a hard-working clerk, telling him that if he could fill +Marneffe's place, he would certainly succeed to it; he had told him +that the man was dying. So this clerk was scheming for Marneffe's +advancement. + +When Hulot went through his anteroom, full of visitors, he saw +Marneffe's colorless face in a corner, and sent for him before any one +else. + +"What do you want of me, my dear fellow?" said the Baron, disguising his +anxiety. + +"Monsieur le Directeur, I am the laughing-stock of the office, for it +has become known that the chief of the clerks has left this morning for +a holiday, on the ground of his health. He is to be away a month. Now, +we all know what waiting for a month means. You deliver me over to the +mockery of my enemies, and it is bad enough to be drummed upon one side; +drumming on both at once, monsieur, is apt to burst the drum." + +"My dear Marneffe, it takes long patience to gain an end. You cannot be +made head-clerk in less than two months, if ever. Just when I must, as +far as possible, secure my own position, is not the time to be applying +for your promotion, which would raise a scandal." + +"If you are broke, I shall never get it," said Marneffe coolly. "And if +you get me the place, it will make no difference in the end." + +"Then I am to sacrifice myself for you?" said the Baron. + +"If you do not, I shall be much mistaken in you." + +"You are too exclusively Marneffe, Monsieur Marneffe," said Hulot, +rising and showing the clerk the door. + +"I have the honor to wish you good-morning, Monsieur le Baron," said +Marneffe humbly. + +"What an infamous rascal!" thought the Baron. "This is uncommonly like a +summons to pay within twenty-four hours on pain of distraint." + +Two hours later, just when the Baron had been instructing Claude Vignon, +whom he was sending to the Ministry of Justice to obtain information +as to the judicial authorities under whose jurisdiction Johann Fischer +might fall, Reine opened the door of his private room and gave him a +note, saying she would wait for the answer. + +"Valerie is mad!" said the Baron to himself. "To send Reine! It is +enough to compromise us all, and it certainly compromises that dreadful +Marneffe's chances of promotion!" + +But he dismissed the minister's private secretary, and read as +follows:-- + + "Oh, my dear friend, what a scene I have had to endure! Though you + have made me happy for three years, I have paid dearly for it! He + came in from the office in a rage that made me quake. I knew he + was ugly; I have seen him a monster! His four real teeth + chattered, and he threatened me with his odious presence without + respite if I should continue to receive you. My poor, dear old + boy, our door is closed against you henceforth. You see my tears; + they are dropping on the paper and soaking it; can you read what I + write, dear Hector? Oh, to think of never seeing you, of giving + you up when I bear in me some of your life, as I flatter myself I + have your heart--it is enough to kill me. Think of our little + Hector! + + "Do not forsake me, but do not disgrace yourself for Marneffe's + sake; do not yield to his threats. + + "I love you as I have never loved! I remember all the sacrifices + you have made for your Valerie; she is not, and never will be, + ungrateful; you are, and will ever be, my only husband. Think no + more of the twelve hundred francs a year I asked you to settle on + the dear little Hector who is to come some months hence; I will + not cost you anything more. And besides, my money will always be + yours. + + "Oh, if you only loved me as I love you, my Hector, you would + retire on your pension; we should both take leave of our family, + our worries, our surroundings, so full of hatred, and we should go + to live with Lisbeth in some pretty country place--in Brittany, or + wherever you like. There we should see nobody, and we should be + happy away from the world. Your pension and the little property I + can call my own would be enough for us. You say you are jealous; + well, you would then have your Valerie entirely devoted to her + Hector, and you would never have to talk in a loud voice, as you + did the other day. I shall have but one child--ours--you may be + sure, my dearly loved old veteran. + + "You cannot conceive of my fury, for you cannot know how he + treated me, and the foul words he vomited on your Valerie. Such + words would disgrace my paper; a woman such as I am--Montcornet's + daughter--ought never to have heard one of them in her life. I + only wish you had been there, that I might have punished him with + the sight of the mad passion I felt for you. My father would have + killed the wretch; I can only do as women do--love you devotedly! + Indeed, my love, in the state of exasperation in which I am, I + cannot possibly give up seeing you. I must positively see you, in + secret, every day! That is what we are, we women. Your resentment + is mine. If you love me, I implore you, do not let him be + promoted; leave him to die a second-class clerk. + + "At this moment I have lost my head; I still seem to hear him + abusing me. Betty, who had meant to leave me, has pity on me, and + will stay for a few days. + + "My dear kind love, I do not know yet what is to be done. I see + nothing for it but flight. I always delight in the country + --Brittany, Languedoc, what you will, so long as I am free to love + you. Poor dear, how I pity you! Forced now to go back to your old + Adeline, to that lachrymal urn--for, as he no doubt told you, the + monster means to watch me night and day; he spoke of a detective! + Do not come here, he is capable of anything I know, since he could + make use of me for the basest purposes of speculation. I only wish + I could return you all the things I have received from your + generosity. + + "Ah! my kind Hector, I may have flirted, and have seemed to you to + be fickle, but you did not know your Valerie; she liked to tease + you, but she loves you better than any one in the world. + + "He cannot prevent your coming to see your cousin; I will arrange + with her that we have speech with each other. My dear old boy, + write me just a line, pray, to comfort me in the absence of your + dear self. (Oh, I would give one of my hands to have you by me on + our sofa!) A letter will work like a charm; write me something + full of your noble soul; I will return your note to you, for I + must be cautious; I should not know where to hide it, he pokes his + nose in everywhere. In short, comfort your Valerie, your little + wife, the mother of your child.--To think of my having to write to + you, when I used to see you every day. As I say to Lisbeth, 'I did + not know how happy I was.' A thousand kisses, dear boy. Be true to + your + +"VALERIE." + + +"And tears!" said Hulot to himself as he finished this letter, "tears +which have blotted out her name.--How is she?" said he to Reine. + +"Madame is in bed; she has dreadful spasms," replied Reine. "She had a +fit of hysterics that twisted her like a withy round a faggot. It came +on after writing. It comes of crying so much. She heard monsieur's voice +on the stairs." + +The Baron in his distress wrote the following note on office paper with +a printed heading:-- + + "Be quite easy, my angel, he will die a second-class clerk!--Your + idea is admirable; we will go and live far from Paris, where we + shall be happy with our little Hector; I will retire on my + pension, and I shall be sure to find some good appointment on a + railway. + + "Ah, my sweet friend, I feel so much the younger for your letter! + I shall begin life again and make a fortune, you will see, for our + dear little one. As I read your letter, a thousand times more + ardent than those of the _Nouvelle Heloise_, it worked a miracle! + I had not believed it possible that I could love you more. This + evening, at Lisbeth's you will see + +"YOUR HECTOR, FOR LIFE." + + +Reine carried off this reply, the first letter the Baron had written +to his "sweet friend." Such emotions to some extent counterbalanced +the disasters growling in the distance; but the Baron, at this moment +believing he could certainly avert the blows aimed at his uncle, Johann +Fischer, thought only of the deficit. + +One of the characteristics of the Bonapartist temperament is a firm +belief in the power of the sword, and confidence in the superiority +of the military over civilians. Hulot laughed to scorn the Public +Prosecutor in Algiers, where the War Office is supreme. Man is always +what he has once been. How can the officers of the Imperial Guard forget +that time was when the mayors of the largest towns in the Empire and the +Emperor's prefects, Emperors themselves on a minute scale, would come +out to meet the Imperial Guard, to pay their respects on the borders +of the Departments through which it passed, and to do it, in short, the +homage due to sovereigns? + +At half-past four the baron went straight to Madame Marneffe's; his +heart beat as high as a young man's as he went upstairs, for he was +asking himself this question, "Shall I see her? or shall I not?" + +How was he now to remember the scene of the morning when his weeping +children had knelt at his feet? Valerie's note, enshrined for ever in a +thin pocket-book over his heart, proved to him that she loved him more +than the most charming of young men. + +Having rung, the unhappy visitor heard within the shuffling slippers and +vexatious scraping cough of the detestable master. Marneffe opened the +door, but only to put himself into an attitude and point to the stairs, +exactly as Hulot had shown him the door of his private room. + +"You are too exclusively Hulot, Monsieur Hulot!" said he. + +The Baron tried to pass him, Marneffe took a pistol out of his pocket +and cocked it. + +"Monsieur le Baron," said he, "when a man is as vile as I am--for you +think me very vile, don't you?--he would be the meanest galley-slave if +he did not get the full benefit of his betrayed honor.--You are for +war; it will be hot work and no quarter. Come here no more, and do not +attempt to get past me. I have given the police notice of my position +with regard to you." + +And taking advantage of Hulot's amazement, he pushed him out and shut +the door. + +"What a low scoundrel!" said Hulot to himself, as he went upstairs to +Lisbeth. "I understand her letter now. Valerie and I will go away from +Paris. Valerie is wholly mine for the remainder of my days; she will +close my eyes." + +Lisbeth was out. Madame Olivier told the Baron that she had gone to his +wife's house, thinking that she would find him there. + +"Poor thing! I should never have expected her to be so sharp as she was +this morning," thought Hulot, recalling Lisbeth's behavior as he made +his way from the Rue Vanneau to the Rue Plumet. + +As he turned the corner of the Rue Vanneau and the Rue de Babylone, he +looked back at the Eden whence Hymen had expelled him with the sword +of the law. Valerie, at her window, was watching his departure; as he +glanced up, she waved her handkerchief, but the rascally Marneffe hit +his wife's cap and dragged her violently away from the window. A tear +rose to the great official's eye. + +"Oh! to be so well loved! To see a woman so ill used, and to be so +nearly seventy years old!" thought he. + +Lisbeth had come to give the family the good news. Adeline and Hortense +had already heard that the Baron, not choosing to compromise himself in +the eyes of the whole office by appointing Marneffe to the first class, +would be turned from the door by the Hulot-hating husband. Adeline, very +happy, had ordered a dinner that her Hector was to like better than +any of Valerie's; and Lisbeth, in her devotion, was helping Mariette to +achieve this difficult result. Cousin Betty was the idol of the hour. +Mother and daughter kissed her hands, and had told her with touching +delight that the Marshal consented to have her as his housekeeper. + +"And from that, my dear, there is but one step to becoming his wife!" +said Adeline. + +"In fact, he did not say no when Victorin mentioned it," added the +Countess. + +The Baron was welcomed home with such charming proofs of affection, +so pathetically overflowing with love, that he was fain to conceal his +troubles. + +Marshal Hulot came to dinner. After dinner, Hector did not go out. +Victorin and his wife joined them, and they made up a rubber. + +"It is a long time, Hector," said the Marshal gravely, "since you gave +us the treat of such an evening." + +This speech from the old soldier, who spoiled his brother though he thus +implicitly blamed him, made a deep impression. It showed how wide and +deep were the wounds in a heart where all the woes he had divined had +found an echo. At eight o'clock the Baron insisted on seeing Lisbeth +home, promising to return. + +"Do you know, Lisbeth, he ill-treats her!" said he in the street. "Oh, I +never loved her so well!" + +"I never imagined that Valerie loved you so well," replied Lisbeth. "She +is frivolous and a coquette, she loves to have attentions paid her, and +to have the comedy of love-making performed for her, as she says; but +you are her only real attachment." + +"What message did she send me?" + +"Why, this," said Lisbeth. "She has, as you know, been on intimate terms +with Crevel. You must owe her no grudge, for that, in fact, is what has +raised her above utter poverty for the rest of her life; but she detests +him, and matters are nearly at an end.--Well, she has kept the key of +some rooms--" + +"Rue du Dauphin!" cried the thrice-blest Baron. "If it were for that +alone, I would overlook Crevel.--I have been there; I know." + +"Here, then, is the key," said Lisbeth. "Have another made from it in +the course of to-morrow--two if you can." + +"And then," said Hulot eagerly. + +"Well, I will dine at your house again to-morrow; you must give me back +Valerie's key, for old Crevel might ask her to return it to him, and you +can meet her there the day after; then you can decide what your facts +are to be. You will be quite safe, as there are two ways out. If by +chance Crevel, who is _Regence_ in his habits, as he is fond of saying, +should come in by the side street, you could go out through the shop, or +_vice versa_. + +"You owe all this to me, you old villain; now what will you do for me?" + +"Whatever you want." + +"Then you will not oppose my marrying your brother?" + +"You! the Marechale Hulot, the Comtesse de Frozheim?" cried Hector, +startled. + +"Well, Adeline is a Baroness!" retorted Betty in a vicious and +formidable tone. "Listen to me, you old libertine. You know how matters +stand; your family may find itself starving in the gutter--" + +"That is what I dread," said Hulot in dismay. + +"And if your brother were to die, who would maintain your wife and +daughter? The widow of a Marshal gets at least six thousand francs +pension, doesn't she? Well, then, I wish to marry to secure bread for +your wife and daughter--old dotard!" + +"I had not seen it in that light!" said the Baron. "I will talk to my +brother--for we are sure of you.--Tell my angel that my life is hers." + +And the Baron, having seen Lisbeth go into the house in the Rue Vanneau, +went back to his whist and stayed at home. The Baroness was at the +height of happiness; her husband seemed to be returning to domestic +habits; for about a fortnight he went to his office at nine every +morning, he came in to dinner at six, and spent the evening with his +family. He twice took Adeline and Hortense to the play. The mother and +daughter paid for three thanksgiving masses, and prayed to God to suffer +them to keep the husband and father He had restored to them. + +One evening Victorin Hulot, seeing his father retire for the night, said +to his mother: + +"Well, we are at any rate so far happy that my father has come back to +us. My wife and I shall never regret our capital if only this lasts--" + +"Your father is nearly seventy," said the Baroness. "He still thinks +of Madame Marneffe, that I can see; but he will forget her in time. +A passion for women is not like gambling, or speculation, or avarice; +there is an end to it." + +But Adeline, still beautiful in spite of her fifty years and her +sorrows, in this was mistaken. Profligates, men whom Nature has gifted +with the precious power of loving beyond the limits ordinarily set to +love, rarely are as old as their age. + + + +During this relapse into virtue Baron Hulot had been three times to +the Rue du Dauphin, and had certainly not been the man of seventy. His +rekindled passion made him young again, and he would have sacrificed his +honor to Valerie, his family, his all, without a regret. But Valerie, +now completely altered, never mentioned money, not even the twelve +hundred francs a year to be settled on their son; on the contrary, she +offered him money, she loved Hulot as a woman of six-and-thirty loves a +handsome law-student--a poor, poetical, ardent boy. And the hapless wife +fancied she had reconquered her dear Hector! + +The fourth meeting between this couple had been agreed upon at the +end of the third, exactly as formerly in Italian theatres the play was +announced for the next night. The hour fixed was nine in the morning. +On the next day when the happiness was due for which the amorous old man +had resigned himself to domestic rules, at about eight in the morning, +Reine came and asked to see the Baron. Hulot, fearing some catastrophe, +went out to speak with Reine, who would not come into the anteroom. The +faithful waiting-maid gave him the following note:-- + + "DEAR OLD MAN,--Do not go to the Rue du Dauphin. Our incubus is + ill, and I must nurse him; but be there this evening at nine. + Crevel is at Corbeil with Monsieur Lebas; so I am sure he will + bring no princess to his little palace. I have made arrangements + here to be free for the night and get back before Marneffe is + awake. Answer me as to all this, for perhaps your long elegy of a + wife no longer allows you your liberty as she did. I am told she + is still so handsome that you might play me false, you are such a + gay dog! Burn this note; I am suspicious of every one." + +Hulot wrote this scrap in reply: + + "MY LOVE,--As I have told you, my wife has not for five-and-twenty + years interfered with my pleasures. For you I would give up a + hundred Adelines.--I will be in the Crevel sanctum at nine this + evening awaiting my divinity. Oh that your clerk might soon die! + We should part no more. And this is the dearest wish of + +"YOUR HECTOR." + + +That evening the Baron told his wife that he had business with the +Minister at Saint-Cloud, that he would come home at about four or five +in the morning; and he went to the Rue du Dauphin. It was towards the +end of the month of June. + +Few men have in the course of their life known really the dreadful +sensation of going to their death; those who have returned from the +foot of the scaffold may be easily counted. But some have had a vivid +experience of it in dreams; they have gone through it all, to the +sensation of the knife at their throat, at the moment when waking +and daylight come to release them.--Well, the sensation to which the +Councillor of State was a victim at five in the morning in Crevel's +handsome and elegant bed, was immeasurably worse than that of feeling +himself bound to the fatal block in the presence of ten thousand +spectators looking at you with twenty thousand sparks of fire. + +Valerie was asleep in a graceful attitude. She was lovely, as a woman +is who is lovely enough to look so even in sleep. It is art invading +nature; in short, a living picture. + +In his horizontal position the Baron's eyes were but three feet above +the floor. His gaze, wandering idly, as that of a man who is just awake +and collecting his ideas, fell on a door painted with flowers by Jan, an +artist disdainful of fame. The Baron did not indeed see twenty thousand +flaming eyes, like the man condemned to death; he saw but one, of which +the shaft was really more piercing than the thousands on the Public +Square. + +Now this sensation, far rarer in the midst of enjoyment even than +that of a man condemned to death, was one for which many a splenetic +Englishman would certainly pay a high price. The Baron lay there, +horizontal still, and literally bathed in cold sweat. He tried to doubt +the fact; but this murderous eye had a voice. A sound of whispering was +heard through the door. + +"So long as it is nobody but Crevel playing a trick on me!" said the +Baron to himself, only too certain of an intruder in the temple. + +The door was opened. The Majesty of the French Law, which in all +documents follows next to the King, became visible in the person of a +worthy little police-officer supported by a tall Justice of the Peace, +both shown in by Monsieur Marneffe. The police functionary, rooted in +shoes of which the straps were tied together with flapping bows, ended +at top in a yellow skull almost bare of hair, and a face betraying him +as a wide-awake, cheerful, and cunning dog, from whom Paris life had no +secrets. His eyes, though garnished with spectacles, pierced the +glasses with a keen mocking glance. The Justice of the Peace, a retired +attorney, and an old admirer of the fair sex, envied the delinquent. + +"Pray excuse the strong measures required by our office, Monsieur +le Baron!" said the constable; "we are acting for the plaintiff. +The Justice of the Peace is here to authorize the visitation of the +premises.--I know who you are, and who the lady is who is accused." + +Valerie opened her astonished eyes, gave such a shriek as actresses use +to depict madness on the stage, writhed in convulsions on the bed, like +a witch of the Middle Ages in her sulphur-colored frock on a bed of +faggots. + +"Death, and I am ready! my dear Hector--but a police court?--Oh! never." + +With one bound she passed the three spectators and crouched under the +little writing-table, hiding her face in her hands. + +"Ruin! Death!" she cried. + +"Monsieur," said Marneffe to Hulot, "if Madame Marneffe goes mad, you +are worse than a profligate; you will be a murderer." + +What can a man do, what can he say, when he is discovered in a bed which +is not his, even on the score of hiring, with a woman who is no more his +than the bed is?--Well, this: + +"Monsieur the Justice of the Peace, Monsieur the Police Officer," said +the Baron with some dignity, "be good enough to take proper care of +that unhappy woman, whose reason seems to me to be in danger.--You can +harangue me afterwards. The doors are locked, no doubt; you need not +fear that she will get away, or I either, seeing the costume we wear." + +The two functionaries bowed to the magnate's injunctions. + +"You, come here, miserable cur!" said Hulot in a low voice to Marneffe, +taking him by the arm and drawing him closer. "It is not I, but you, who +will be the murderer! You want to be head-clerk of your room and officer +of the Legion of Honor?" + +"That in the first place, Chief!" replied Marneffe, with a bow. + +"You shall be all that, only soothe your wife and dismiss these +fellows." + +"Nay, nay!" said Marneffe knowingly. "These gentlemen must draw up their +report as eyewitnesses to the fact; without that, the chief evidence in +my case, where should I be? The higher official ranks are chokeful of +rascalities. You have done me out of my wife, and you have not promoted +me, Monsieur le Baron; I give you only two days to get out of the +scrape. Here are some letters--" + +"Some letters!" interrupted Hulot. + +"Yes; letters which prove that you are the father of the child my wife +expects to give birth to.--You understand? And you ought to settle on my +son a sum equal to what he will lose through this bastard. But I will +be reasonable; this does not distress me, I have no mania for paternity +myself. A hundred louis a year will satisfy me. By to-morrow I must be +Monsieur Coquet's successor and see my name on the list for promotion in +the Legion of Honor at the July fetes, or else--the documentary evidence +and my charge against you will be laid before the Bench. I am not so +hard to deal with after all, you see." + +"Bless me, and such a pretty woman!" said the Justice of the Peace to +the police constable. "What a loss to the world if she should go mad!" + +"She is not mad," said the constable sententiously. The police is always +the incarnation of scepticism.--"Monsieur le Baron Hulot has been caught +by a trick," he added, loud enough for Valerie to hear him. + +Valerie shot a flash from her eye which would have killed him on +the spot if looks could effect the vengeance they express. The +police-officer smiled; he had laid a snare, and the woman had fallen +into it. Marneffe desired his wife to go into the other room and clothe +herself decently, for he and the Baron had come to an agreement on all +points, and Hulot fetched his dressing-gown and came out again. + +"Gentlemen," said he to the two officials, "I need not impress on you to +be secret." + +The functionaries bowed. + +The police-officer rapped twice on the door; his clerk came in, sat down +at the "bonheur-du-jour," and wrote what the constable dictated to him +in an undertone. Valerie still wept vehemently. When she was dressed, +Hulot went into the other room and put on his clothes. Meanwhile the +report was written. + +Marneffe then wanted to take his wife home; but Hulot, believing that +he saw her for the last time, begged the favor of being allowed to speak +with her. + +"Monsieur, your wife has cost me dear enough for me to be allowed to say +good-bye to her--in the presence of you all, of course." + +Valerie went up to Hulot, and he whispered in her ear: + +"There is nothing left for us but to fly, but how can we correspond? We +have been betrayed--" + +"Through Reine," she answered. "But my dear friend, after this scandal +we can never meet again. I am disgraced. Besides, you will hear dreadful +things about me--you will believe them--" + +The Baron made a gesture of denial. + +"You will believe them, and I can thank God for that, for then perhaps +you will not regret me." + +"He will _not_ die a second-class clerk!" said Marneffe to Hulot, as +he led his wife away, saying roughly, "Come, madame; if I am foolish to +you, I do not choose to be a fool to others." + +Valerie left the house, Crevel's Eden, with a last glance at the Baron, +so cunning that he thought she adored him. The Justice of the Peace +gave Madame Marneffe his arm to the hackney coach with a flourish of +gallantry. The Baron, who was required to witness the report, remained +quite bewildered, alone with the police-officer. When the Baron had +signed, the officer looked at him keenly, over his glasses. + +"You are very sweet on the little lady, Monsieur le Baron?" + +"To my sorrow, as you see." + +"Suppose that she does not care for you?" the man went on, "that she is +deceiving you?" + +"I have long known that, monsieur--here, in this very spot, Monsieur +Crevel and I told each other----" + +"Oh! Then you knew that you were in Monsieur le Maire's private +snuggery?" + +"Perfectly." + +The constable lightly touched his hat with a respectful gesture. + +"You are very much in love," said he. "I say no more. I respect an +inveterate passion, as a doctor respects an inveterate complaint.--I saw +Monsieur de Nucingen, the banker, attacked in the same way--" + +"He is a friend of mine," said the Baron. "Many a time have I supped +with his handsome Esther. She was worth the two million francs she cost +him." + +"And more," said the officer. "That caprice of the old Baron's cost four +persons their lives. Oh! such passions as these are like the cholera!" + +"What had you to say to me?" asked the Baron, who took this indirect +warning very ill. + +"Oh! why should I deprive you of your illusions?" replied the officer. +"Men rarely have any left at your age!" + +"Rid me of them!" cried the Councillor. + +"You will curse the physician later," replied the officer, smiling. + +"I beg of you, monsieur." + +"Well, then, that woman was in collusion with her husband." + +"Oh!----" + +"Yes, sir, and so it is in two cases out of every ten. Oh! we know it +well." + +"What proof have you of such a conspiracy?" + +"In the first place, the husband!" said the other, with the calm acumen +of a surgeon practised in unbinding wounds. "Mean speculation is stamped +in every line of that villainous face. But you, no doubt, set great +store by a certain letter written by that woman with regard to the +child?" + +"So much so, that I always have it about me," replied Hulot, feeling in +his breast-pocket for the little pocketbook which he always kept there. + +"Leave your pocketbook where it is," said the man, as crushing as a +thunder-clap. "Here is the letter.--I now know all I want to know. +Madame Marneffe, of course, was aware of what that pocketbook +contained?" + +"She alone in the world." + +"So I supposed.--Now for the proof you asked for of her collusion with +her husband." + +"Let us hear!" said the Baron, still incredulous. + +"When we came in here, Monsieur le Baron, that wretched creature +Marneffe led the way, and he took up this letter, which his wife, +no doubt, had placed on this writing-table," and he pointed to the +_bonheur-du-jour_. "That evidently was the spot agreed upon by the +couple, in case she should succeed in stealing the letter while you were +asleep; for this letter, as written to you by the lady, is, combined +with those you wrote to her, decisive evidence in a police-court." + +He showed Hulot the note that Reine had delivered to him in his private +room at the office. + +"It is one of the documents in the case," said the police-agent; "return +it to me, monsieur." + +"Well, monsieur," replied Hulot with bitter expression, "that woman is +profligacy itself in fixed ratios. I am certain at this moment that she +has three lovers." + +"That is perfectly evident," said the officer. "Oh, they are not all +on the streets! When a woman follows that trade in a carriage and +a drawing-room, and her own house, it is not a case for francs and +centimes, Monsieur le Baron. Mademoiselle Esther, of whom you spoke, +and who poisoned herself, made away with millions.--If you will take +my advice, you will get out of it, monsieur. This last little game will +have cost you dear. That scoundrel of a husband has the law on his side. +And indeed, but for me, that little woman would have caught you again!" + +"Thank you, monsieur," said the Baron, trying to maintain his dignity. + +"Now we will lock up; the farce is played out, and you can send your key +to Monsieur the Mayor." + +Hulot went home in a state of dejection bordering on helplessness, and +sunk in the gloomiest thoughts. He woke his noble and saintly wife, and +poured into her heart the history of the past three years, sobbing like +a child deprived of a toy. This confession from an old man young in +feeling, this frightful and heart-rending narrative, while it filled +Adeline with pity, also gave her the greatest joy; she thanked Heaven +for this last catastrophe, for in fancy she saw the husband settled at +last in the bosom of his family. + +"Lisbeth was right," said Madame Hulot gently and without any useless +recrimination, "she told us how it would be." + +"Yes. If only I had listened to her, instead of flying into a rage, that +day when I wanted poor Hortense to go home rather than compromise the +reputation of that--Oh! my dear Adeline, we must save Wenceslas. He is +up to his chin in that mire!" + +"My poor old man, the respectable middle-classes have turned out no +better than the actresses," said Adeline, with a smile. + +The Baroness was alarmed at the change in her Hector; when she saw him +so unhappy, ailing, crushed under his weight of woes, she was all heart, +all pity, all love; she would have shed her blood to make Hulot happy. + +"Stay with us, my dear Hector. Tell me what is it that such women do to +attract you so powerfully. I too will try. Why have you not taught me +to be what you want? Am I deficient in intelligence? Men still think me +handsome enough to court my favor." + +Many a married woman, attached to her duty and to her husband, may here +pause to ask herself why strong and affectionate men, so tender-hearted +to the Madame Marneffes, do not take their wives for the object of their +fancies and passions, especially wives like the Baronne Adeline Hulot. + +This is, indeed, one of the most recondite mysteries of human nature. +Love, which is debauch of reason, the strong and austere joy of a lofty +soul, and pleasure, the vulgar counterfeit sold in the market-place, +are two aspects of the same thing. The woman who can satisfy both these +devouring appetites is as rare in her sex as a great general, a great +writer, a great artist, a great inventor in a nation. A man of superior +intellect or an idiot--a Hulot or a Crevel--equally crave for the ideal +and for enjoyment; all alike go in search of the mysterious compound, so +rare that at last it is usually found to be a work in two volumes. This +craving is a depraved impulse due to society. + +Marriage, no doubt, must be accepted as a tie; it is life, with its +duties and its stern sacrifices on both parts equally. Libertines, who +seek for hidden treasure, are as guilty as other evil-doers who are more +hardly dealt with than they. These reflections are not a mere veneer of +moralizing; they show the reason of many unexplained misfortunes. But, +indeed, this drama points its own moral--or morals, for they are of many +kinds. + +The Baron presently went to call on the Marshal Prince de Wissembourg, +whose powerful patronage was now his only chance. Having dwelt under his +protection for five-and-thirty years, he was a visitor at all hours, and +would be admitted to his rooms as soon as he was up. + +"Ah! How are you, my dear Hector?" said the great and worthy leader. +"What is the matter? You look anxious. And yet the session is ended. +One more over! I speak of that now as I used to speak of a campaign. +And indeed I believe the newspapers nowadays speak of the sessions as +parliamentary campaigns." + +"We have been in difficulties, I must confess, Marshal; but the times +are hard!" said Hulot. "It cannot be helped; the world was made so. +Every phase has its own drawbacks. The worst misfortunes in the year +1841 is that neither the King nor the ministers are free to act as +Napoleon was." + +The Marshal gave Hulot one of those eagle flashes which in its pride, +clearness, and perspicacity showed that, in spite of years, that lofty +soul was still upright and vigorous. + +"You want me to so something for you?" said he, in a hearty tone. + +"I find myself under the necessity of applying to you for the promotion +of one of my second clerks to the head of a room--as a personal favor to +myself--and his advancement to be officer of the Legion of Honor." + +"What is his name?" said the Marshal, with a look like a lightning +flash. + +"Marneffe." + +"He has a pretty wife; I saw her on the occasion of your daughter's +marriage.--If Roger--but Roger is away!--Hector, my boy, this is +concerned with your pleasures. What, you still indulge--? Well, you +are a credit to the old Guard. That is what comes of having been in +the Commissariat; you have reserves!--But have nothing to do with this +little job, my dear boy; it is too strong of the petticoat to be good +business." + +"No, Marshal; it is bad business, for the police courts have a finger in +it. Would you like to see me go there?" + +"The devil!" said the Prince uneasily. "Go on!" + +"Well, I am in the predicament of a trapped fox. You have always been so +kind to me, that you will, I am sure, condescend to help me out of the +shameful position in which I am placed." + +Hulot related his misadventures, as wittily and as lightly as he could. + +"And you, Prince, will you allow my brother to die of grief, a man you +love so well; or leave one of your staff in the War Office, a Councillor +of State, to live in disgrace. This Marneffe is a wretched creature; he +can be shelved in two or three years." + +"How you talk of two or three years, my dear fellow!" said the Marshal. + +"But, Prince, the Imperial Guard is immortal." + +"I am the last of the first batch of Marshals," said the Prince. +"Listen, Hector. You do not know the extent of my attachment to you; you +shall see. On the day when I retire from office, we will go together. +But you are not a Deputy, my friend. Many men want your place; but +for me, you would be out of it by this time. Yes, I have fought many a +pitched battle to keep you in it.--Well, I grant you your two requests; +it would be too bad to see you riding the bar at your age and in the +position you hold. But you stretch your credit a little too far. If this +appointment gives rise to discussion, we shall not be held blameless. I +can laugh at such things; but you will find it a thorn under your feet. +And the next session will see your dismissal. Your place is held out as +a bait to five or six influential men, and you have been enabled to keep +it solely by the force of my arguments. I tell you, on the day when you +retire, there will be five malcontents to one happy man; whereas, by +keeping you hanging on by a thread for two or three years, we shall +secure all six votes. There was a great laugh at the Council meeting; +the Veteran of the Old Guard, as they say, was becoming desperately +wide awake in parliamentary tactics! I am frank with you.--And you +are growing gray; you are a happy man to be able to get into such +difficulties as these! How long is it since I--Lieutenant Cottin--had a +mistress?" + +He rang the bell. + +"That police report must be destroyed," he added. + +"Monseigneur, you are as a father to me! I dared not mention my anxiety +on that point." + +"I still wish I had Roger here," cried the Prince, as Mitouflet, his +groom of the chambers, came in. "I was just going to send for him!--You +may go, Mitouflet.--Go you, my dear old fellow, go and have the +nomination made out; I will sign it. At the same time, that low schemer +will not long enjoy the fruit of his crimes. He will be sharply watched, +and drummed out of the regiment for the smallest fault.--You are saved +this time, my dear Hector; take care for the future. Do not exhaust your +friends' patience. You shall have the nomination this morning, and your +man shall get his promotion in the Legion of Honor.--How old are you +now?" + +"Within three months of seventy." + +"What a scapegrace!" said the Prince, laughing. "It is you who deserve a +promotion, but, by thunder! we are not under Louis XV.!" + +Such is the sense of comradeship that binds the glorious survivors of +the Napoleonic phalanx, that they always feel as if they were in camp +together, and bound to stand together through thick and thin. + +"One more favor such as this," Hulot reflected as he crossed the +courtyard, "and I am done for!" + +The luckless official went to Baron de Nucingen, to whom he now owed a +mere trifle, and succeeded in borrowing forty thousand francs, on his +salary pledged for two years more; the banker stipulated that in the +event of Hulot's retirement on his pension, the whole of it should +be devoted to the repayment of the sum borrowed till the capital and +interest were all cleared off. + +This new bargain, like the first, was made in the name of Vauvinet, to +whom the Baron signed notes of hand to the amount of twelve thousand +francs. + +On the following day, the fateful police report, the husband's charge, +the letters--all the papers--were destroyed. The scandalous promotion of +Monsieur Marneffe, hardly heeded in the midst of the July fetes, was not +commented on in any newspaper. + +Lisbeth, to all appearance at war with Madame Marneffe, had taken up +her abode with Marshal Hulot. Ten days after these events, the banns of +marriage were published between the old maid and the distinguished old +officer, to whom, to win his consent, Adeline had related the financial +disaster that had befallen her Hector, begging him never to mention it +to the Baron, who was, as she said, much saddened, quite depressed and +crushed. + +"Alas! he is as old as his years," she added. + +So Lisbeth had triumphed. She was achieving the object of her ambition, +she would see the success of her scheme, and her hatred gratified. She +delighted in the anticipated joy of reigning supreme over the family who +had so long looked down upon her. Yes, she would patronize her patrons, +she would be the rescuing angel who would dole out a livelihood to the +ruined family; she addressed herself as "Madame la Comtesse" and "Madame +la Marechale," courtesying in front of a glass. Adeline and Hortense +should end their days in struggling with poverty, while she, a visitor +at the Tuileries, would lord it in the fashionable world. + + + +A terrible disaster overthrew the old maid from the social heights where +she so proudly enthroned herself. + +On the very day when the banns were first published, the Baron received +a second message from Africa. Another Alsatian arrived, handed him a +letter, after assuring himself that he spoke to Baron Hulot, and after +giving the Baron the address of his lodgings, bowed himself out, leaving +the great man stricken by the opening lines of this letter:-- + + "DEAR NEPHEW,--You will receive this letter, by my calculations, + on the 7th of August. Supposing it takes you three days to send us + the help we need, and that it is a fortnight on the way here, that + brings us to the 1st of September. + + "If you can act decisively within that time, you will have saved + the honor and the life of yours sincerely, Johann Fischer. + + "This is what I am required to demand by the clerk you have made + my accomplice; for I am amenable, it would seem, to the law, at + the Assizes, or before a council of war. Of course, you understand + that Johann Fischer will never be brought to the bar of any + tribunal; he will go of his own act to appear at that of God. + + "Your clerk seems to me a bad lot, quite capable of getting you + into hot water; but he is as clever as any rogue. He says the line + for you to take is to call out louder than any one, and to send + out an inspector, a special commissioner, to discover who is + really guilty, rake up abuses, and make a fuss, in short; but if + we stir up the struggle, who will stand between us and the law? + + "If your commissioner arrives here by the 1st of September, and + you have given him your orders, sending by him two hundred + thousand francs to place in our storehouses the supplies we + profess to have secured in remote country places, we shall be + absolutely solvent and regarded as blameless. You can trust the + soldier who is the bearer of this letter with a draft in my name + on a house in Algiers. He is a trustworthy fellow, a relation of + mine, incapable of trying to find out what he is the bearer of. I + have taken measures to guarantee the fellow's safe return. If you + can do nothing, I am ready and willing to die for the man to whom + we owe our Adeline's happiness!" + +The anguish and raptures of passion and the catastrophe which had +checked his career of profligacy had prevented Baron Hulot's ever +thinking of poor Johann Fischer, though his first letter had given +warning of the danger now become so pressing. The Baron went out of the +dining-room in such agitation that he literally dropped on to a sofa in +the drawing-room. He was stunned, sunk in the dull numbness of a heavy +fall. He stared at a flower on the carpet, quite unconscious that he +still held in his hand Johann's fatal letter. + +Adeline, in her room, heard her husband throw himself on the sofa, like +a lifeless mass; the noise was so peculiar that she fancied he had an +apoplectic attack. She looked through the door at the mirror, in such +dread as stops the breath and hinders motion, and she saw her Hector in +the attitude of a man crushed. The Baroness stole in on tiptoe; Hector +heard nothing; she went close up to him, saw the letter, took it, read +it, trembling in every limb. She went through one of those violent +nervous shocks that leave their traces for ever on the sufferer. Within +a few days she became subject to a constant trembling, for after the +first instant the need for action gave her such strength as can only be +drawn from the very wellspring of the vital powers. + +"Hector, come into my room," said she, in a voice that was no more than +a breath. "Do not let your daughter see you in this state! Come, my +dear, come!" + +"Two hundred thousand francs? Where can I find them? I can get Claude +Vignon sent out there as commissioner. He is a clever, intelligent +fellow.--That is a matter of a couple of days.--But two hundred thousand +francs! My son has not so much; his house is loaded with mortgages for +three hundred thousand. My brother has saved thirty thousand francs at +most. Nucingen would simply laugh at me!--Vauvinet?--he was not very +ready to lend me the ten thousand francs I wanted to make up the sum +for that villain Marneffe's boy. No, it is all up with me; I must throw +myself at the Prince's feet, confess how matters stand, hear myself told +that I am a low scoundrel, and take his broadside so as to go decently +to the bottom." + +"But, Hector, this is not merely ruin, it is disgrace," said Adeline. +"My poor uncle will kill himself. Only kill us--yourself and me; you +have a right to do that, but do not be a murderer! Come, take courage; +there must be some way out of it." + +"Not one," said Hulot. "No one in the Government could find two +hundred thousand francs, not if it were to save an Administration!--Oh, +Napoleon! where art thou?" + +"My uncle! poor man! Hector, he must not be allowed to kill himself in +disgrace." + +"There is one more chance," said he, "but a very remote one.--Yes, +Crevel is at daggers drawn with his daughter.--He has plenty of money, +he alone could--" + +"Listen, Hector it will be better for your wife to perish than to leave +our uncle to perish--and your brother--the honor of the family!" +cried the Baroness, struck by a flash of light. "Yes, I can save you +all.--Good God! what a degrading thought! How could it have occurred to +me?" + +She clasped her hands, dropped on her knees, and put up a prayer. On +rising, she saw such a crazy expression of joy on her husband's face, +that the diabolical suggestion returned, and then Adeline sank into a +sort of idiotic melancholy. + +"Go, my dear, at once to the War Office," said she, rousing herself from +this torpor; "try to send out a commission; it must be done. Get +round the Marshal. And on your return, at five o'clock, you will +find--perhaps--yes! you shall find two hundred thousand francs. Your +family, your honor as a man, as a State official, a Councillor of State, +your honesty--your son--all shall be saved;--but your Adeline will be +lost, and you will see her no more. Hector, my dear," said she, kneeling +before him, clasping and kissing his hand, "give me your blessing! Say +farewell." + +It was so heart-rending that Hulot put his arms round his wife, raised +her and kissed her, saying: + +"I do not understand." + +"If you did," said she, "I should die of shame, or I should not have the +strength to carry out this last sacrifice." + +"Breakfast is served," said Mariette. + +Hortense came in to wish her parents good-morning. They had to go to +breakfast and assume a false face. + +"Begin without me; I will join you," said the Baroness. + +She sat down to her desk and wrote as follows: + + "MY DEAR MONSIEUR CREVEL,--I have to ask a service of you; I shall + expect you this morning, and I count on your gallantry, which is + well known to me, to save me from having too long to wait for you. + --Your faithful servant, + + "ADELINE HULOT." + + +"Louise," said she to her daughter's maid, who waited on her, "take +this note down to the porter and desire him to carry it at once to this +address and wait for an answer." + +The Baron, who was reading the news, held out a Republican paper to his +wife, pointing to an article, and saying: + +"Is there time?" + +This was the paragraph, one of the terrible "notes" with which the +papers spice their political bread and butter:-- + + "A correspondent in Algiers writes that such abuses have been + discovered in the commissariate transactions of the province of + Oran, that the Law is making inquiries. The peculation is + self-evident, and the guilty persons are known. If severe measures + are not taken, we shall continue to lose more men through the + extortion that limits their rations than by Arab steel or the + fierce heat of the climate. We await further information before + enlarging on this deplorable business. We need no longer wonder at + the terror caused by the establishment of the Press in Africa, as + was contemplated by the Charter of 1830." + +"I will dress and go to the Minister," said the Baron, as they rose from +table. "Time is precious; a man's life hangs on every minute." + +"Oh, mamma, there is no hope for me!" cried Hortense. And unable to +check her tears, she handed to her mother a number of the _Revue des +Beaux Arts_. + +Madame Hulot's eye fell on a print of the group of "Delilah" by +Count Steinbock, under which were the words, "The property of Madame +Marneffe." + +The very first lines of the article, signed V., showed the talent and +friendliness of Claude Vignon. + +"Poor child!" said the Baroness. + +Alarmed by her mother's tone of indifference, Hortense looked up, saw +the expression of a sorrow before which her own paled, and rose to kiss +her mother, saying: + +"What is the matter, mamma? What is happening? Can we be more wretched +than we are already?" + +"My child, it seems to me that in what I am going through to-day my past +dreadful sorrows are as nothing. When shall I have ceased to suffer?" + +"In heaven, mother," said Hortense solemnly. + +"Come, my angel, help me to dress.--No, no; I will not have you help me +in this! Send me Louise." + +Adeline, in her room, went to study herself in the glass. She looked at +herself closely and sadly, wondering to herself: + +"Am I still handsome? Can I still be desirable? Am I not wrinkled?" + +She lifted up her fine golden hair, uncovering her temples; they were +as fresh as a girl's. She went further; she uncovered her shoulders, +and was satisfied; nay, she had a little feeling of pride. The beauty +of really handsome shoulders is one of the last charms a woman loses, +especially if she has lived chastely. + +Adeline chose her dress carefully, but the pious and blameless woman is +decent to the end, in spite of her little coquettish graces. Of what use +were brand-new gray silk stockings and high heeled satin shoes when +she was absolutely ignorant of the art of displaying a pretty foot at +a critical moment, by obtruding it an inch or two beyond a half-lifted +skirt, opening horizons to desire? She put on, indeed, her prettiest +flowered muslin dress, with a low body and short sleeves; but horrified +at so much bareness, she covered her fine arms with clear gauze +sleeves and hid her shoulders under an embroidered cape. Her curls, +_a l'Anglaise_, struck her as too fly-away; she subdued their airy +lightness by putting on a very pretty cap; but, with or without the cap, +would she have known how to twist the golden ringlets so as to show off +her taper fingers to admiration? + +As to rouge--the consciousness of guilt, the preparations for a +deliberate fall, threw this saintly woman into a state of high fever, +which, for the time, revived the brilliant coloring of youth. Her eyes +were bright, her cheeks glowed. Instead of assuming a seductive air, she +saw in herself a look of barefaced audacity which shocked her. + +Lisbeth, at Adeline's request, had told her all the circumstances +of Wenceslas' infidelity; and the Baroness had learned to her utter +amazement, that in one evening in one moment, Madame Marneffe had made +herself the mistress of the bewitched artist. + +"How do these women do it?" the Baroness had asked Lisbeth. + +There is no curiosity so great as that of virtuous women on such +subjects; they would like to know the arts of vice and remain +immaculate. + +"Why, they are seductive; it is their business," said Cousin Betty. +"Valerie that evening, my dear, was, I declare, enough to bring an angel +to perdition." + +"But tell me how she set to work." + +"There is no principle, only practice in that walk of life," said +Lisbeth ironically. + +The Baroness, recalling this conversation, would have liked to consult +Cousin Betty; but there was no time for that. Poor Adeline, incapable of +imagining a patch, of pinning a rosebud in the very middle of her bosom, +of devising the tricks of the toilet intended to resuscitate the ardors +of exhausted nature, was merely well dressed. A woman is not a courtesan +for the wishing! + +"Woman is soup for man," as Moliere says by the mouth of the judicious +Gros-Rene. This comparison suggests a sort of culinary art in love. Then +the virtuous wife would be a Homeric meal, flesh laid on hot cinders. +The courtesan, on the contrary, is a dish by Careme, with its +condiments, spices, and elegant arrangement. The Baroness could not--did +not know how to serve up her fair bosom in a lordly dish of lace, +after the manner of Madame Marneffe. She knew nothing of the secrets of +certain attitudes. This high-souled woman might have turned round and +round a hundred times, and she would have betrayed nothing to the keen +glance of a profligate. + +To be a good woman and a prude to all the world, and a courtesan to her +husband, is the gift of a woman of genius, and they are few. This is the +secret of long fidelity, inexplicable to the women who are not blessed +with the double and splendid faculty. Imagine Madame Marneffe virtuous, +and you have the Marchesa di Pescara. But such lofty and illustrious +women, beautiful as Diane de Poitiers, but virtuous, may be easily +counted. + +So the scene with which this serious and terrible drama of Paris manners +opened was about to be repeated, with this singular difference--that the +calamities prophesied then by the captain of the municipal Militia +had reversed the parts. Madame Hulot was awaiting Crevel with the same +intentions as had brought him to her, smiling down at the Paris crowd +from his _milord_, three years ago. And, strangest thing of all, the +Baroness was true to herself and to her love, while preparing to yield +to the grossest infidelity, such as the storm of passion even does not +justify in the eyes of some judges. + +"What can I do to become a Madame Marneffe?" she asked herself as she +heard the door-bell. + +She restrained her tears, fever gave brilliancy to her face, and she +meant to be quite the courtesan, poor, noble soul. + + + +"What the devil can that worthy Baronne Hulot want of me?" Crevel +wondered as he mounted the stairs. "She is going to discuss my quarrel +with Celestine and Victorin, no doubt; but I will not give way!" + +As he went into the drawing-room, shown in by Louise, he said to himself +as he noted the bareness of the place (Crevel's word): + +"Poor woman! She lives here like some fine picture stowed in a loft by a +man who knows nothing of painting." + +Crevel, seeing Comte Popinot, the Minister of Commerce, buy pictures and +statues, wanted also to figure as a Maecenas of Paris, whose love of Art +consists in making good investments. + +Adeline smiled graciously at Crevel, pointing to a chair facing her. + +"Here I am, fair lady, at your command," said Crevel. + +Monsieur the Mayor, a political personage, now wore black broadcloth. +His face, at the top of this solemn suit, shone like a full moon rising +above a mass of dark clouds. His shirt, buttoned with three large pearls +worth five hundred francs apiece, gave a great idea of his thoracic +capacity, and he was apt to say, "In me you see the coming athlete of +the tribune!" His enormous vulgar hands were encased in yellow +gloves even in the morning; his patent leather boots spoke of the +chocolate-colored coupe with one horse in which he drove. + +In the course of three years ambition had altered Crevel's pretensions. +Like all great artists, he had come to his second manner. In the great +world, when he went to the Prince de Wissembourg's, to the Prefecture, +to Comte Popinot's, and the like, he held his hat in his hand in an airy +manner taught him by Valerie, and he inserted the thumb of the other +hand in the armhole of his waistcoat with a knowing air, and a simpering +face and expression. This new grace of attitude was due to the satirical +inventiveness of Valerie, who, under pretence of rejuvenating her mayor, +had given him an added touch of the ridiculous. + +"I begged you to come, my dear kind Monsieur Crevel," said the Baroness +in a husky voice, "on a matter of the greatest importance--" + +"I can guess what it is, madame," said Crevel, with a knowing air, +"but what you would ask is impossible.--Oh, I am not a brutal father, a +man--to use Napoleon's words--set hard and fast on sheer avarice. Listen +to me, fair lady. If my children were ruining themselves for their own +benefit, I would help them out of the scrape; but as for backing your +husband, madame? It is like trying to fill the vat of the Danaides! +Their house is mortgaged for three hundred thousand francs for an +incorrigible father! Why, they have nothing left, poor wretches! And +they have no fun for their money. All they have to live upon is what +Victorin may make in Court. He must wag his tongue more, must monsieur +your son! And he was to have been a Minister, that learned youth! Our +hope and pride. A pretty pilot, who runs aground like a land-lubber; for +if he had borrowed to enable him to get on, if he had run into debt for +feasting Deputies, winning votes, and increasing his influence, I should +be the first to say, 'Here is my purse--dip your hand in, my friend!' +But when it comes of paying for papa's folly--folly I warned you +of!--Ah! his father has deprived him of every chance of power.--It is I +who shall be Minister!" + +"Alas, my dear Crevel, it has nothing to do with the children, poor +devoted souls!--If your heart is closed to Victorin and Celestine, I +shall love them so much that perhaps I may soften the bitterness of +their souls caused by your anger. You are punishing your children for a +good action!" + +"Yes, for a good action badly done! That is half a crime," said Crevel, +much pleased with his epigram. + +"Doing good, my dear Crevel, does not mean sparing money out of a purse +that is bursting with it; it means enduring privations to be generous, +suffering for liberality! It is being prepared for ingratitude! Heaven +does not see the charity that costs us nothing--" + +"Saints, madame, may if they please go to the workhouse; they know that +it is for them the door of heaven. For my part, I am worldly-minded; I +fear God, but yet more I fear the hell of poverty. To be destitute is +the last depth of misfortune in society as now constituted. I am a man +of my time; I respect money." + +"And you are right," said Adeline, "from the worldly point of view." + +She was a thousand miles from her point, and she felt herself on a +gridiron, like Saint Laurence, as she thought of her uncle, for she +could see him blowing his brains out. + +She looked down; then she raised her eyes to gaze at Crevel with angelic +sweetness--not with the inviting suggestiveness which was part of +Valerie's wit. Three years ago she could have bewitched Crevel by that +beautiful look. + +"I have known the time," said she, "when you were more generous--you +used to talk of three hundred thousand francs like a grand gentleman--" + +Crevel looked at Madame Hulot; he beheld her like a lily in the last of +its bloom, vague sensations rose within him, but he felt such respect +for this saintly creature that he spurned all suspicions and buried them +in the most profligate corner of his heart. + +"I, madame, am still the same; but a retired merchant, if he is a grand +gentleman, plays, and must play, the part with method and economy; he +carries his ideas of order into everything. He opens an account for +his little amusements, and devotes certain profits to that head of +expenditure; but as to touching his capital! it would be folly. My +children will have their fortune intact, mine and my wife's; but I do +not suppose that they wish their father to be dull, a monk and a mummy! +My life is a very jolly one; I float gaily down the stream. I fulfil all +the duties imposed on me by law, by my affections, and by family ties, +just as I always used to be punctual in paying my bills when they fell +due. If only my children conduct themselves in their domestic life as +I do, I shall be satisfied; and for the present, so long as my +follies--for I have committed follies--are no loss to any one but the +gulls--excuse me, you do not perhaps understand the slang word--they +will have nothing to blame me for, and will find a tidy little sum still +left when I die. Your children cannot say as much of their father, who +is ruining his son and my daughter by his pranks--" + +The Baroness was getting further from her object as he went on. + +"You are very unkind about my husband, my dear Crevel--and yet, if you +had found his wife obliging, you would have been his best friend----" + +She shot a burning glance at Crevel; but, like Dubois, who gave the +Regent three kicks, she affected too much, and the rakish perfumer's +thoughts jumped at such profligate suggestions, that he said to himself, +"Does she want to turn the tables on Hulot?--Does she think me more +attractive as a Mayor than as a National Guardsman? Women are strange +creatures!" + +And he assumed the position of his second manner, looking at the +Baroness with his _Regency_ leer. + +"I could almost fancy," she went on, "that you want to visit on him your +resentment against the virtue that resisted you--in a woman whom you +loved well enough--to--to buy her," she added in a low voice. + +"In a divine woman," Crevel replied, with a meaning smile at the +Baroness, who looked down while tears rose to her eyes. "For you +have swallowed not a few bitter pills!--in these three years--hey, my +beauty?" + +"Do not talk of my troubles, dear Crevel; they are too much for the +endurance of a mere human being. Ah! if you still love me, you may +drag me out of the pit in which I lie. Yes, I am in hell torment! The +regicides who were racked and nipped and torn into quarters by four +horses were on roses compared with me, for their bodies only were +dismembered, and my heart is torn in quarters----" + +Crevel's thumb moved from his armhole, he placed his hand on the +work-table, he abandoned his attitude, he smiled! The smile was so +vacuous that it misled the Baroness; she took it for an expression of +kindness. + +"You see a woman, not indeed in despair, but with her honor at the +point of death, and prepared for everything, my dear friend, to hinder a +crime." + +Fearing that Hortense might come in, she bolted the door; then with +equal impetuosity she fell at Crevel's feet, took his hand and kissed +it. + +"Be my deliverer!" she cried. + +She thought there was some generous fibre in this mercantile soul, and +full of sudden hope that she might get the two hundred thousand francs +without degrading herself: + +"Buy a soul--you were once ready to buy virtue!" she went on, with a +frenzied gaze. "Trust to my honesty as a woman, to my honor, of which +you know the worth! Be my friend! Save a whole family from ruin, shame, +despair; keep it from falling into a bog where the quicksands are +mingled with blood! Oh! ask for no explanations," she exclaimed, at a +movement on Crevel's part, who was about to speak. "Above all, do not +say to me, 'I told you so!' like a friend who is glad at a misfortune. +Come now, yield to her whom you used to love, to the woman whose +humiliation at your feet is perhaps the crowning moment of her glory; +ask nothing of her, expect what you will from her gratitude!--No, no. +Give me nothing, but lend--lend to me whom you used to call Adeline----" + +At this point her tears flowed so fast, Adeline was sobbing so +passionately, that Crevel's gloves were wet. The words, "I need two +hundred thousand francs," were scarcely articulate in the torrent of +weeping, as stones, however large, are invisible in Alpine cataracts +swollen by the melting of the snows. + +This is the inexperience of virtue. Vice asks for nothing, as we have +seen in Madame Marneffe; it gets everything offered to it. Women of that +stamp are never exacting till they have made themselves indispensable, +or when a man has to be worked as a quarry is worked where the lime is +rather scarce--going to ruin, as the quarry-men say. + +On hearing these words, "Two hundred thousand francs," Crevel understood +all. He cheerfully raised the Baroness, saying insolently: + +"Come, come, bear up, mother," which Adeline, in her distraction, failed +to hear. The scene was changing its character. Crevel was becoming +"master of the situation," to use his own words. The vastness of the +sum startled Crevel so greatly that his emotion at seeing this handsome +woman in tears at his feet was forgotten. Besides, however angelical +and saintly a woman may be, when she is crying bitterly her beauty +disappears. A Madame Marneffe, as has been seen, whimpers now and then, +a tear trickles down her cheek; but as to melting into tears and making +her eyes and nose red!--never would she commit such a blunder. + +"Come, child, compose yourself.--Deuce take it!" Crevel went on, taking +Madame Hulot's hands in his own and patting them. "Why do you apply to +me for two hundred thousand francs? What do you want with them? Whom are +they for?" + +"Do not," said she, "insist on any explanations. Give me the money!--You +will save three lives and the honor of our children." + +"And do you suppose, my good mother, that in all Paris you will find a +man who at a word from a half-crazy woman will go off _hic et nunc_, +and bring out of some drawer, Heaven knows where, two hundred thousand +francs that have been lying simmering there till she is pleased to scoop +them up? Is that all you know of life and of business, my beauty? Your +folks are in a bad way; you may send them the last sacraments; for no +one in Paris but her Divine Highness Madame la Banque, or the great +Nucingen, or some miserable miser who is in love with gold as we other +folks are with a woman, could produce such a miracle! The civil list, +civil as it may be, would beg you to call again tomorrow. Every one +invests his money, and turns it over to the best of his powers. + +"You are quite mistaken, my angel, if you suppose that King +Louis-Philippe rules us; he himself knows better than that. He knows as +well as we do that supreme above the Charter reigns the holy, venerated, +substantial, delightful, obliging, beautiful, noble, ever-youthful, +and all-powerful five-franc piece! But money, my beauty, insists on +interest, and is always engaged in seeking it! 'God of the Jews, thou +art supreme!' says Racine. The perennial parable of the golden calf, you +see!--In the days of Moses there was stock-jobbing in the desert! + +"We have reverted to Biblical traditions; the Golden Calf was the first +State ledger," he went on. "You, my Adeline, have not gone beyond the +Rue Plumet. The Egyptians had lent enormous sums to the Hebrews, and +what they ran after was not God's people, but their capital." + +He looked at the Baroness with an expression which said, "How clever I +am!" + +"You know nothing of the devotion of every city man to his sacred +hoard!" he went on, after a pause. "Excuse me. Listen to me. Get this +well into your head.--You want two hundred thousand francs? No one can +produce the sum without selling some security. Now consider! To have two +hundred thousand francs in hard cash it would be needful to sell about +seven hundred thousand francs' worth of stock at three per cent. Well; +and then you would only get the money on the third day. That is the +quickest way. To persuade a man to part with a fortune--for two hundred +thousand francs is the whole fortune of many a man--he ought at least to +know where it is all going to, and for what purpose--" + +"It is going, my dear kind Crevel, to save the lives of two men, one of +whom will die of grief and the other will kill himself! And to save me +too from going mad! Am I not a little mad already?" + +"Not so mad!" said he, taking Madame Hulot round the knees; "old Crevel +has his price, since you thought of applying to him, my angel." + +"They submit to have a man's arms round their knees, it would seem!" +thought the saintly woman, covering her face with her hands. + +"Once you offered me a fortune!" said she, turning red. + +"Ay, mother! but that was three years ago!" replied Crevel. "Well, you +are handsomer now than ever I saw you!" he went on, taking the Baroness' +arm and pressing it to his heart. "You have a good memory, my dear, by +Jove!--And now you see how wrong you were to be so prudish, for those +three hundred thousand francs that you refused so magnanimously are in +another woman's pocket. I loved you then, I love you still; but just +look back these three years. + +"When I said to you, 'You shall be mine,' what object had I in view? I +meant to be revenged on that rascal Hulot. But your husband, my beauty, +found himself a mistress--a jewel of a woman, a pearl, a cunning hussy +then aged three-and-twenty, for she is six-and-twenty now. It struck +me as more amusing, more complete, more Louis XV., more Marechal de +Richelieu, more first-class altogether, to filch away that charmer, who, +in point of fact, never cared for Hulot, and who for these three years +has been madly in love with your humble servant." + +As he spoke, Crevel, from whose hands the Baroness had released her +own, had resumed his favorite attitude; both thumbs were stuck into +his armholes, and he was patting his ribs with his fingers, like two +flapping wings, fancying that he was thus making himself very attractive +and charming. It was as much as to say, "And this is the man you would +have nothing to say to!" + +"There you are my dear; I had my revenge, and your husband knows it. I +proved to him clearly that he was basketed--just where he was before, as +we say. Madame Marneffe is my mistress, and when her precious Marneffe +kicks the bucket, she will be my wife." + +Madame Hulot stared at Crevel with a fixed and almost dazed look. + +"Hector knew it?" she said. + +"And went back to her," replied Crevel. "And I allowed it, because +Valerie wished to be the wife of a head-clerk; but she promised me +that she would manage things so that our Baron should be so effectually +bowled over that he can never interfere any more. And my little +duchess--for that woman is a born duchess, on my soul!--kept her word. +She restores you your Hector, madame, virtuous in perpetuity, as she +says--she is so witty! He has had a good lesson, I can tell you! The +Baron has had some hard knocks; he will help no more actresses or fine +ladies; he is radically cured; cleaned out like a beer-glass. + +"If you had listened to Crevel in the first instance, instead of +scorning him and turning him out of the house, you might have had four +hundred thousand francs, for my revenge has cost me all of that.--But I +shall get my change back, I hope, when Marneffe dies--I have invested +in a wife, you see; that is the secret of my extravagance. I have solved +the problem of playing the lord on easy terms." + +"Would you give your daughter such a mother-in-law? cried Madame Hulot. + +"You do not know Valerie, madame," replied Crevel gravely, striking the +attitude of his first manner. "She is a woman with good blood in her +veins, a lady, and a woman who enjoys the highest consideration. Why, +only yesterday the vicar of the parish was dining with her. She is +pious, and we have presented a splendid monstrance to the church. + +"Oh! she is clever, she is witty, she is delightful, well informed--she +has everything in her favor. For my part, my dear Adeline, I owe +everything to that charming woman; she has opened my mind, polished my +speech, as you may have noticed; she corrects my impetuosity, and gives +me words and ideas. I never say anything now that I ought not. I have +greatly improved; you must have noticed it. And then she has encouraged +my ambition. I shall be a Deputy; and I shall make no blunders, for +I shall consult my Egeria. Every great politician, from Numa to our +present Prime Minister, has had his Sibyl of the fountain. A score of +deputies visit Valerie; she is acquiring considerable influence; and +now that she is about to be established in a charming house, with a +carriage, she will be one of the occult rulers of Paris. + +"A fine locomotive! That is what such a woman is. Oh, I have blessed you +many a time for your stern virtue." + +"It is enough to make one doubt the goodness of God!" cried Adeline, +whose indignation had dried her tears. "But, no! Divine justice must be +hanging over her head." + +"You know nothing of the world, my beauty," said the great politician, +deeply offended. "The world, my Adeline, loves success! Say, now, has +it come to seek out your sublime virtue, priced at two hundred thousand +francs?" + +The words made Madame Hulot shudder; the nervous trembling attacked her +once more. She saw that the ex-perfumer was taking a mean revenge on her +as he had on Hulot; she felt sick with disgust, and a spasm rose to her +throat, hindering speech. + +"Money!" she said at last. "Always money!" + +"You touched me deeply," said Crevel, reminded by these words of the +woman's humiliation, "when I beheld you there, weeping at my feet!--You +perhaps will not believe me, but if I had my pocket-book about me, it +would have been yours.--Come, do you really want such a sum?" + +As she heard this question, big with two hundred thousand francs, +Adeline forgot the odious insults heaped on her by this cheap-jack +fine gentleman, before the tempting picture of success described by +Machiavelli-Crevel, who only wanted to find out her secrets and laugh +over them with Valerie. + +"Oh! I will do anything, everything," cried the unhappy woman. +"Monsieur, I will sell myself--I will be a Valerie, if I must." + +"You will find that difficult," replied Crevel. "Valerie is a +masterpiece in her way. My good mother, twenty-five years of virtue +are always repellent, like a badly treated disease. And your virtue has +grown very mouldy, my dear child. But you shall see how much I love you. +I will manage to get you your two hundred thousand francs." + +Adeline, incapable of uttering a word, seized his hand and laid it on +her heart; a tear of joy trembled in her eyes. + +"Oh! don't be in a hurry; there will be some hard pulling. I am a jolly +good fellow, a good soul with no prejudices, and I will put things +plainly to you. You want to do as Valerie does--very good. But that is +not all; you must have a gull, a stockholder, a Hulot.--Well, I know +a retired tradesman--in fact, a hosier. He is heavy, dull, has not an +idea, I am licking him into shape, but I don't know when he will do +me credit. My man is a deputy, stupid and conceited; the tyranny of +a turbaned wife, in the depths of the country, has preserved him in a +state of utter virginity as to the luxury and pleasures of Paris life. +But Beauvisage--his name is Beauvisage--is a millionaire, and, like me, +my dear, three years ago, he will give a hundred thousand crowns to be +the lover of a real lady.--Yes, you see," he went on, misunderstanding a +gesture on Adeline's part, "he is jealous of me, you understand; jealous +of my happiness with Madame Marneffe, and he is a fellow quite capable +of selling an estate to purchase a--" + +"Enough, Monsieur Crevel!" said Madame Hulot, no longer controlling her +disgust, and showing all her shame in her face. "I am punished beyond +my deserts. My conscience, so sternly repressed by the iron hand of +necessity, tells me, at this final insult, that such sacrifices are +impossible.--My pride is gone; I do not say now, as I did the first +time, 'Go!' after receiving this mortal thrust. I have lost the right to +do so. I have flung myself before you like a prostitute. + +"Yes," she went on, in reply to a negative on Crevel's part, "I have +fouled my life, till now so pure, by a degrading thought; and I am +inexcusable!--I know it!--I deserve every insult you can offer me! God's +will be done! If, indeed, He desires the death of two creatures worthy +to appear before Him, they must die! I shall mourn them, and pray for +them! If it is His will that my family should be humbled to the dust, +we must bow to His avenging sword, nay, and kiss it, since we are +Christians.--I know how to expiate this disgrace, which will be the +torment of all my remaining days. + +"I who speak to you, monsieur, am not Madame Hulot, but a wretched, +humble sinner, a Christian whose heart henceforth will know but one +feeling, and that is repentance, all my time given up to prayer and +charity. With such a sin on my soul, I am the last of women, the first +only of penitents.--You have been the means of bringing me to a right +mind; I can hear the Voice of God speaking within me, and I can thank +you!" + +She was shaking with the nervous trembling which from that hour never +left her. Her low, sweet tones were quite unlike the fevered accents of +the woman who was ready for dishonor to save her family. The blood faded +from her cheeks, her face was colorless, and her eyes were dry. + +"And I played my part very badly, did I not?" she went on, looking at +Crevel with the sweetness that martyrs must have shown in their eyes +as they looked up at the Proconsul. "True love, the sacred love of a +devoted woman, gives other pleasures, no doubt, than those that are +bought in the open market!--But why so many words?" said she, suddenly +bethinking herself, and advancing a step further in the way to +perfection. "They sound like irony, but I am not ironical! Forgive me. +Besides, monsieur, I did not want to hurt any one but myself--" + +The dignity of virtue and its holy flame had expelled the transient +impurity of the woman who, splendid in her own peculiar beauty, looked +taller in Crevel's eyes. Adeline had, at this moment, the majesty of +the figures of Religion clinging to the Cross, as painted by the old +Venetians; but she expressed, too, the immensity of her love and the +grandeur of the Catholic Church, to which she flew like a wounded dove. + +Crevel was dazzled, astounded. + +"Madame, I am your slave, without conditions," said he, in an +inspiration of generosity. "We will look into this matter--and--whatever +you want--the impossible even--I will do. I will pledge my securities at +the Bank, and in two hours you shall have the money." + +"Good God! a miracle!" said poor Adeline, falling on her knees. + +She prayed to Heaven with such fervor as touched Crevel deeply; Madame +Hulot saw that he had tears in his eyes when, having ended her prayer, +she rose to her feet. + +"Be a friend to me, monsieur," said she. "Your heart is better than your +words and conduct. God gave you your soul; your passions and the world +have given you your ideas. Oh, I will love you truly," she exclaimed, +with an angelic tenderness in strange contrast with her attempts at +coquettish trickery. + +"But cease to tremble so," said Crevel. + +"Am I trembling?" said the Baroness, unconscious of the infirmity that +had so suddenly come upon her. + +"Yes; why, look," said Crevel, taking Adeline by the arm and showing +her that she was shaking with nervousness. "Come, madame," he added +respectfully, "compose yourself; I am going to the Bank at once." + +"And come back quickly! Remember," she added, betraying all her secrets, +"that the first point is to prevent the suicide of our poor Uncle +Fischer involved by my husband--for I trust you now, and I am +telling you everything. Oh, if we should not be on time, I know my +brother-in-law, the Marshal, and he has such a delicate soul, that he +would die of it in a few days." + +"I am off, then," said Crevel, kissing the Baroness' hand. "But what has +that unhappy Hulot done?" + +"He has swindled the Government." + +"Good Heavens! I fly, madame; I understand, I admire you!" + +Crevel bent one knee, kissed Madame Hulot's skirt, and vanished, saying, +"You will see me soon." + +Unluckily, on his way from the Rue Plumet to his own house, to fetch the +securities, Crevel went along the Rue Vanneau, and he could not resist +going in to see his little Duchess. His face still bore an agitated +expression. + +He went straight into Valerie's room, who was having her hair dressed. +She looked at Crevel in her glass, and, like every woman of that sort, +was annoyed, before she knew anything about it, to see that he was moved +by some strong feeling of which she was not the cause. + +"What is the matter, my dear?" said she. "Is that a face to bring in to +your little Duchess? I will not be your Duchess any more, monsieur, no +more than I will be your 'little duck,' you old monster." + +Crevel replied by a melancholy smile and a glance at the maid. + +"Reine, child, that will do for to-day; I can finish my hair myself. +Give me my Chinese wrapper; my gentleman seems to me out of sorts." + +Reine, whose face was pitted like a colander, and who seemed to have +been made on purpose to wait on Valerie, smiled meaningly in reply, and +brought the dressing-gown. Valerie took off her combing-wrapper; she was +in her shift, and she wriggled into the dressing-gown like a snake into +a clump of grass. + +"Madame is not at home?" + +"What a question!" said Valerie.--"Come, tell me, my big puss, have +_Rives Gauches_ gone down?" + +"No." + +"They have raised the price of the house?" + +"No." + +"You fancy that you are not the father of our little Crevel?" + +"What nonsense!" replied he, sure of his paternity. + +"On my honor, I give it up!" said Madame Marneffe. "If I am expected +to extract my friend's woes as you pull the cork out of a bottle of +Bordeaux, I let it alone.--Go away, you bore me." + +"It is nothing," said Crevel. "I must find two hundred thousand francs +in two hours." + +"Oh, you can easily get them.--I have not spent the fifty thousand +francs we got out of Hulot for that report, and I can ask Henri for +fifty thousand--" + +"Henri--it is always Henri!" exclaimed Crevel. + +"And do you suppose, you great baby of a Machiavelli, that I will cast +off Henri? Would France disarm her fleet?--Henri! why, he is a dagger in +a sheath hanging on a nail. That boy serves as a weather-glass to show +me if you love me--and you don't love me this morning." + +"I don't love you, Valerie?" cried Crevel. "I love you as much as a +million." + +"That is not nearly enough!" cried she, jumping on to Crevel's knee, and +throwing both arms round his neck as if it were a peg to hang on by. "I +want to be loved as much as ten millions, as much as all the gold in the +world, and more to that. Henri would never wait a minute before telling +me all he had on his mind. What is it, my great pet? Have it out. Make a +clean breast of it to your own little duck!" + +And she swept her hair over Crevel's face, while she jestingly pulled +his nose. + +"Can a man with a nose like that," she went on, "have any secrets from +his _Vava--lele--ririe_?" + +And at the _Vava_ she tweaked his nose to the right; at _lele_ it went +to the left; at _ririe_ she nipped it straight again. + +"Well, I have just seen--" Crevel stopped and looked at Madame Marneffe. + +"Valerie, my treasure, promise me on your honor--ours, you know?--not to +repeat a single word of what I tell you." + +"Of course, Mayor, we know all about that. One hand up--so--and one +foot--so!" And she put herself in an attitude which, to use Rabelais' +phrase, stripped Crevel bare from his brain to his heels, so quaint and +delicious was the nudity revealed through the light film of lawn. + +"I have just seen virtue in despair." + +"Can despair possess virtue?" said she, nodding gravely and crossing her +arms like Napoleon. + +"It is poor Madame Hulot. She wants two hundred thousand francs, or else +Marshal Hulot and old Johann Fischer will blow their brains out; and as +you, my little Duchess, are partly at the bottom of the mischief, I am +going to patch matters up. She is a saintly creature, I know her well; +she will repay you every penny." + +At the name of Hulot, at the words two hundred thousand francs, a gleam +from Valerie's eyes flashed from between her long eyelids like the flame +of a cannon through the smoke. + +"What did the old thing do to move you to compassion? Did she show +you--what?--her--her religion?" + +"Do not make game of her, sweetheart; she is a very saintly, a very +noble and pious woman, worthy of all respect." + +"Am I not worthy of respect then, heh?" answered Valerie, with a +threatening gaze at Crevel. + +"I never said so," replied he, understanding that the praise of virtue +might not be gratifying to Madame Marneffe. + +"I am pious too," Valerie went on, taking her seat in an armchair; "but +I do not make a trade of my religion. I go to church in secret." + +She sat in silence, and paid no further heed to Crevel. He, extremely +ill at ease, came to stand in front of the chair into which Valerie +had thrown herself, and saw her lost in the reflections he had been so +foolish as to suggest. + +"Valerie, my little Angel!" + +Utter silence. A highly problematical tear was furtively dashed away. + +"One word, my little duck?" + +"Monsieur!" + +"What are you thinking of, my darling?" + +"Oh, Monsieur Crevel, I was thinking of the day of my first communion! +How pretty I was! How pure, how saintly!--immaculate!--Oh! if any one +had come to my mother and said, 'Your daughter will be a hussy, and +unfaithful to her husband; one day a police-officer will find her in +a disreputable house; she will sell herself to a Crevel to cheat a +Hulot--two horrible old men--' Poof! horrible--she would have died +before the end of the sentence, she was so fond of me, poor dear!--" + +"Nay, be calm." + +"You cannot think how well a woman must love a man before she can +silence the remorse that gnaws at the heart of an adulterous wife. I +am quite sorry that Reine is not here; she would have told you that she +found me this morning praying with tears in my eyes. I, Monsieur Crevel, +for my part, do not make a mockery of religion. Have you ever heard me +say a word I ought not on such a subject?" + +Crevel shook his head in negation. + +"I will never allow it to be mentioned in my presence. I can make fun +of anything under the sun: Kings, politics, finance, everything that is +sacred in the eyes of the world--judges, matrimony, and love--old men +and maidens. But the Church and God!--There I draw the line.--I know +I am wicked; I am sacrificing my future life to you. And you have no +conception of the immensity of my love." + +Crevel clasped his hands. + +"No, unless you could see into my heart, and fathom the depth of my +conviction so as to know the extent of my sacrifice! I feel in me the +making of a Magdalen.--And see how respectfully I treat the priests; +think of the gifts I make to the Church! My mother brought me up in the +Catholic Faith, and I know what is meant by God! It is to sinners like +us that His voice is most awful." + +Valerie wiped away two tears that trickled down her cheeks. Crevel was +in dismay. Madame Marneffe stood up in her excitement. + +"Be calm, my darling--you alarm me!" + +Madame Marneffe fell on her knees. + +"Dear Heaven! I am not bad all through!" she cried, clasping her hands. +"Vouchsafe to rescue Thy wandering lamb, strike her, crush her, snatch +her from foul and adulterous hands, and how gladly she will nestle on +Thy shoulder! How willingly she will return to the fold!" + +She got up and looked at Crevel; her colorless eyes frightened him. + +"Yes, Crevel, and, do you know? I, too, am frightened sometimes. The +justice of God is exerted in this nether world as well as in the next. +What mercy can I expect at God's hands? His vengeance overtakes the +guilty in many ways; it assumes every aspect of disaster. That is what +my mother told me on her death-bed, speaking of her own old age.--But +if I should lose you," she added, hugging Crevel with a sort of savage +frenzy--"oh! I should die!" + +Madame Marneffe released Crevel, knelt down again at the armchair, +folded her hands--and in what a bewitching attitude!--and with +incredible fervor poured out the following prayer:-- + +"And thou, Saint Valerie, my patron saint, why dost thou so rarely visit +the pillow of her who was intrusted to thy care? Oh, come this evening, +as thou didst this morning, to inspire me with holy thoughts, and I will +quit the path of sin; like the Magdalen, I will give up deluding joys +and the false glitter of the world, even the man I love so well--" + +"My precious duck!" + +"No more of the 'precious duck,' monsieur!" said she, turning round +like a virtuous wife, her eyes full of tears, but dignified, cold, and +indifferent. + +"Leave me," she went on, pushing him from her. "What is my duty? To +belong wholly to my husband.--He is a dying man, and what am I doing? +Deceiving him on the edge of the grave. He believes your child to be +his. I will tell him the truth, and begin by securing his pardon before +I ask for God's.--We must part. Good-bye, Monsieur Crevel," and she +stood up to offer him an icy cold hand. "Good-bye, my friend; we shall +meet no more till we meet in a better world.--You have to thank me for +some enjoyment, criminal indeed; now I want--oh yes, I shall have your +esteem." + +Crevel was weeping bitter tears. + +"You great pumpkin!" she exclaimed, with an infernal peal of laughter. +"That is how your pious women go about it to drag from you a plum of two +hundred thousand francs. And you, who talk of the Marechal de Richelieu, +the prototype of Lovelace, you could be taken in by such a stale trick +as that! I could get hundreds of thousands of francs out of you any day, +if I chose, you old ninny!--Keep your money! If you have more than +you know what to do with, it is mine. If you give two sous to that +'respectable' woman, who is pious forsooth, because she is fifty-six +years of age, we shall never meet again, and you may take her for your +mistress! You could come back to me next day bruised all over from +her bony caresses and sodden with her tears, and sick of her little +barmaid's caps and her whimpering, which must turn her favors into +showers--" + +"In point of fact," said Crevel, "two hundred thousand francs is a round +sum of money." + +"They have fine appetites, have the goody sort! By the poker! they +sell their sermons dearer than we sell the rarest and realest thing on +earth--pleasure.--And they can spin a yarn! There, I know them. I have +seen plenty in my mother's house. They think everything is allowable +for the Church and for--Really, my dear love, you ought to be ashamed +of yourself--for you are not so open-handed! You have not given me two +hundred thousand francs all told!" + +"Oh yes," said Crevel, "your little house will cost as much as that." + +"Then you have four hundred thousand francs?" said she thoughtfully. + +"No." + +"Then, sir, you meant to lend that old horror the two hundred thousand +francs due for my hotel? What a crime, what high treason!" + +"Only listen to me." + +"If you were giving the money to some idiotic philanthropic scheme, +you would be regarded as a coming man," she went on, with increasing +eagerness, "and I should be the first to advise it; for you are too +simple to write a big political book that might make you famous; as for +style, you have not enough to butter a pamphlet; but you might do as +other men do who are in your predicament, and who get a halo of glory +about their name by putting it at the top of some social, or moral, +or general, or national enterprise. Benevolence is out of date, quite +vulgar. Providing for old offenders, and making them more comfortable +than the poor devils who are honest, is played out. What I should like +to see is some invention of your own with an endowment of two hundred +thousand francs--something difficult and really useful. Then you would +be talked about as a man of mark, a Montyon, and I should be very proud +of you! + +"But as to throwing two hundred thousand francs into a holy-water shell, +or lending them to a bigot--cast off by her husband, and who knows why? +there is always some reason: does any one cast me off, I ask you?--is +a piece of idiocy which in our days could only come into the head of a +retired perfumer. It reeks of the counter. You would not dare look at +yourself in the glass two days after. + +"Go and pay the money in where it will be safe--run, fly; I will not +admit you again without the receipt in your hand. Go, as fast and soon +as you can!" + +She pushed Crevel out of the room by the shoulders, seeing avarice +blossoming in his face once more. When she heard the outer door shut, +she exclaimed: + +"Then Lisbeth is revenged over and over again! What a pity that she is +at her old Marshal's now! We would have had a good laugh! So that old +woman wants to take the bread out of my mouth. I will startle her a +little!" + + + +Marshal Hulot, being obliged to live in a style suited to the highest +military rank, had taken a handsome house in the Rue du Mont-Parnasse, +where there are three or four princely residences. Though he rented the +whole house, he inhabited only the ground floor. When Lisbeth went to +keep house for him, she at once wished to let the first floor, which, as +she said, would pay the whole rent, so that the Count would live almost +rent-free; but the old soldier would not hear of it. + +For some months past the Marshal had had many sad thoughts. He had +guessed how miserably poor his sister-in-law was, and suspected her +griefs without understanding their cause. The old man, so cheerful in +his deafness, became taciturn; he could not help thinking that his house +would one day be a refuge for the Baroness and her daughter; and it was +for them that he kept the first floor. The smallness of his fortune +was so well known at headquarters, that the War Minister, the Prince +de Wissembourg, begged his old comrade to accept a sum of money for his +household expenses. This sum the Marshal spent in furnishing the ground +floor, which was in every way suitable; for, as he said, he would not +accept the Marshal's baton to walk the streets with. + +The house had belonged to a senator under the Empire, and the ground +floor drawing-rooms had been very magnificently fitted with carved wood, +white-and-gold, still in very good preservation. The Marshal had found +some good old furniture in the same style; in the coach-house he had +a carriage with two batons in saltire on the panels; and when he was +expected to appear in full fig, at the Minister's, at the Tuileries, for +some ceremony or high festival, he hired horses for the job. + +His servant for more than thirty years was an old soldier of sixty, +whose sister was the cook, so he had saved ten thousand francs, adding +it by degrees to a little hoard he intended for Hortense. Every day the +old man walked along the boulevard, from the Rue du Mont-Parnasse to the +Rue Plumet; and every pensioner as he passed stood at attention, without +fail, to salute him: then the Marshal rewarded the veteran with a smile. + +"Who is the man you always stand at attention to salute?" said a young +workman one day to an old captain and pensioner. + +"I will tell you, boy," replied the officer. + +The "boy" stood resigned, as a man does to listen to an old gossip. + +"In 1809," said the captain, "we were covering the flank of the main +army, marching on Vienna under the Emperor's command. We came to a +bridge defended by three batteries of cannon, one above another, on a +sort of cliff; three redoubts like three shelves, and commanding the +bridge. We were under Marshal Massena. That man whom you see there was +Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and I was one of them. Our columns held +one bank of the river, the batteries were on the other. Three times they +tried for the bridge, and three times they were driven back. 'Go and +find Hulot!' said the Marshal; 'nobody but he and his men can bolt that +morsel.' So we came. The General, who was just retiring from the bridge, +stopped Hulot under fire, to tell him how to do it, and he was in the +way. 'I don't want advice, but room to pass,' said our General coolly, +marching across at the head of his men. And then, rattle, thirty guns +raking us at once." + +"By Heaven!" cried the workman, "that accounts for some of these +crutches!" + +"And if you, like me, my boy, had heard those words so quietly spoken, +you would bow before that man down to the ground! It is not so famous as +Arcole, but perhaps it was finer. We followed Hulot at the double, right +up to those batteries. All honor to those we left there!" and the old +man lifted his hat. "The Austrians were amazed at the dash of it.--The +Emperor made the man you saw a Count; he honored us all by honoring our +leader; and the King of to-day was very right to make him a Marshal." + +"Hurrah for the Marshal!" cried the workman. + +"Oh, you may shout--shout away! The Marshal is as deaf as a post from +the roar of cannon." + +This anecdote may give some idea of the respect with which the +_Invalides_ regarded Marshal Hulot, whose Republican proclivities +secured him the popular sympathy of the whole quarter of the town. + +Sorrow taking hold on a spirit so calm and strict and noble, was a +heart-breaking spectacle. The Baroness could only tell lies, with +a woman's ingenuity, to conceal the whole dreadful truth from her +brother-in-law. + +In the course of this miserable morning, the Marshal, who, like all old +men, slept but little, had extracted from Lisbeth full particulars as +to his brother's situation, promising to marry her as the reward of her +revelations. Any one can imagine with what glee the old maid allowed +the secrets to be dragged from her which she had been dying to tell +ever since she had come into the house; for by this means she made her +marriage more certain. + +"Your brother is incorrigible!" Lisbeth shouted into the Marshal's best +ear. + +Her strong, clear tones enabled her to talk to him, but she wore out her +lungs, so anxious was she to prove to her future husband that to her he +would never be deaf. + +"He has had three mistresses," said the old man, "and his wife was an +Adeline! Poor Adeline!" + +"If you will take my advice," shrieked Lisbeth, "you will use your +influence with the Prince de Wissembourg to secure her some suitable +appointment. She will need it, for the Baron's pay is pledged for three +years." + +"I will go to the War Office," said he, "and see the Prince, to find +out what he thinks of my brother, and ask for his interest to help my +sister. Think of some place that is fit for her." + +"The charitable ladies of Paris, in concert with the Archbishop, have +formed various beneficent associations; they employ superintendents, +very decently paid, whose business it is to seek out cases of real want. +Such an occupation would exactly suit dear Adeline; it would be work +after her own heart." + +"Send to order the horses," said the Marshal. "I will go and dress. I +will drive to Neuilly if necessary." + +"How fond he is of her! She will always cross my path wherever I turn!" +said Lisbeth to herself. + +Lisbeth was already supreme in the house, but not with the Marshal's +cognizance. She had struck terror into the three servants--for she had +allowed herself a housemaid, and she exerted her old-maidish energy in +taking stock of everything, examining everything, and arranging in +every respect for the comfort of her dear Marshal. Lisbeth, quite as +Republican as he could be, pleased him by her democratic opinions, and +she flattered him with amazing dexterity; for the last fortnight the old +man, whose house was better kept, and who was cared for as a child by +its mother, had begun to regard Lisbeth as a part of what he had dreamed +of. + +"My dear Marshal," she shouted, following him out on to the steps, "pull +up the windows, do not sit in a draught, to oblige me!" + +The Marshal, who had never been so cosseted in his life, went off +smiling at Lisbeth, though his heart was aching. + +At the same hour Baron Hulot was quitting the War Office to call on his +chief, Marshal the Prince de Wissembourg, who had sent for him. Though +there was nothing extraordinary in one of the Generals on the Board +being sent for, Hulot's conscience was so uneasy that he fancied he saw +a cold and sinister expression in Mitouflet's face. + +"Mitouflet, how is the Prince?" he asked, locking the door of his +private room and following the messenger who led the way. + +"He must have a crow to pluck with you, Monsieur le Baron," replied the +man, "for his face is set at stormy." + +Hulot turned pale, and said no more; he crossed the anteroom and +reception rooms, and, with a violently beating heart, found himself at +the door of the Prince's private study. + +The chief, at this time seventy years old, with perfectly white hair, +and the tanned complexion of a soldier of that age, commanded attention +by a brow so vast that imagination saw in it a field of battle. Under +this dome, crowned with snow, sparkled a pair of eyes, of the Napoleon +blue, usually sad-looking and full of bitter thoughts and regrets, their +fire overshadowed by the penthouse of the strongly projecting brow. This +man, Bernadotte's rival, had hoped to find his seat on a throne. But +those eyes could flash formidable lightnings when they expressed strong +feelings. + +Then, his voice, always somewhat hollow, rang with strident tones. When +he was angry, the Prince was a soldier once more; he spoke the language +of Lieutenant Cottin; he spared nothing--nobody. Hulot d'Ervy found the +old lion, his hair shaggy like a mane, standing by the fireplace, his +brows knit, his back against the mantel-shelf, and his eyes apparently +fixed on vacancy. + +"Here! At your orders, Prince!" said Hulot, affecting a graceful ease of +manner. + +The Marshal looked hard at the Baron, without saying a word, during the +time it took him to come from the door to within a few steps of where +the chief stood. This leaden stare was like the eye of God; Hulot could +not meet it; he looked down in confusion. + +"He knows everything!" said he to himself. + +"Does your conscience tell you nothing?" asked the Marshal, in his deep, +hollow tones. + +"It tells me, sir, that I have been wrong, no doubt, in ordering +_razzias_ in Algeria without referring the matter to you. At my age, +and with my tastes, after forty-five years of service, I have +no fortune.--You know the principles of the four hundred elect +representatives of France. Those gentlemen are envious of every +distinction; they have pared down even the Ministers' pay--that says +everything! Ask them for money for an old servant!--What can you expect +of men who pay a whole class so badly as they pay the Government legal +officials?--who give thirty sous a day to the laborers on the works at +Toulon, when it is a physical impossibility to live there and keep a +family on less than forty sous?--who never think of the atrocity of +giving salaries of six hundred francs, up to a thousand or twelve +hundred perhaps, to clerks living in Paris; and who want to secure our +places for themselves as soon as the pay rises to forty thousand?--who, +finally, refuse to restore to the Crown a piece of Crown property +confiscated from the Crown in 1830--property acquired, too, by Louis +XVI. out of his privy purse!--If you had no private fortune, Prince, +you would be left high and dry, like my brother, with your pay and not +another sou, and no thought of your having saved the army, and me with +it, in the boggy plains of Poland." + +"You have robbed the State! You have made yourself liable to be brought +before the bench at Assizes," said the Marshal, "like that clerk of the +Treasury! And you take this, monsieur, with such levity." + +"But there is a great difference, monseigneur!" cried the baron. "Have I +dipped my hands into a cash box intrusted to my care?" + +"When a man of your rank commits such an infamous crime," said +the Marshal, "he is doubly guilty if he does it clumsily. You have +compromised the honor of our official administration, which hitherto has +been the purest in Europe!--And all for two hundred thousand francs and +a hussy!" said the Marshal, in a terrible voice. "You are a Councillor +of State--and a private soldier who sells anything belonging to his +regiment is punished with death! Here is a story told to me one day by +Colonel Pourin of the Second Lancers. At Saverne, one of his men fell in +love with a little Alsatian girl who had a fancy for a shawl. The jade +teased this poor devil of a lancer so effectually, that though he +could show twenty years' service, and was about to be promoted to be +quartermaster--the pride of the regiment--to buy this shawl he sold some +of his company's kit.--Do you know what this lancer did, Baron d'Ervy? +He swallowed some window-glass after pounding it down, and died in +eleven hours, of an illness, in hospital.--Try, if you please, to die of +apoplexy, that we may not see you dishonored." + +Hulot looked with haggard eyes at the old warrior; and the Prince, +reading the look which betrayed the coward, felt a flush rise to his +cheeks; his eyes flamed. + +"Will you, sir, abandon me?" Hulot stammered. + +Marshal Hulot, hearing that only his brother was with the Minister, +ventured at this juncture to come in, and, like all deaf people, went +straight up to the Prince. + +"Oh," cried the hero of Poland, "I know what you are here for, my old +friend! But we can do nothing." + +"Do nothing!" echoed Marshal Hulot, who had heard only the last word. + +"Nothing; you have come to intercede for your brother. But do you know +what your brother is?" + +"My brother?" asked the deaf man. + +"Yes, he is a damned infernal blackguard, and unworthy of you." + +The Marshal in his rage shot from his eyes those fulminating fires +which, like Napoleon's, broke a man's will and judgment. + +"You lie, Cottin!" said Marshal Hulot, turning white. "Throw down your +baton as I throw mine! I am ready." + +The Prince went up to his old comrade, looked him in the face, and +shouted in his ear as he grasped his hand: + +"Are you a man?" + +"You will see that I am." + +"Well, then, pull yourself together! You must face the worst misfortune +that can befall you." + +The Prince turned round, took some papers from the table, and placed +them in the Marshal's hands, saying, "Read that." + +The Comte de Forzheim read the following letter, which lay uppermost:-- + + "To his Excellency the President of the Council. + +"_Private and Confidential_. + +"ALGIERS. + + "MY DEAR PRINCE,--We have a very ugly business on our hands, as + you will see by the accompanying documents. + + "The story, briefly told, is this: Baron Hulot d'Ervy sent out to + the province of Oran an uncle of his as a broker in grain and + forage, and gave him an accomplice in the person of a storekeeper. + This storekeeper, to curry favor, has made a confession, and + finally made his escape. The Public Prosecutor took the matter up + very thoroughly, seeing, as he supposed, that only two inferior + agents were implicated; but Johann Fischer, uncle to your Chief of + the Commissariat Department, finding that he was to be brought up + at the Assizes, stabbed himself in prison with a nail. + + "That would have been the end of the matter if this worthy and + honest man, deceived, it would seem, by his agent and by his + nephew, had not thought proper to write to Baron Hulot. This + letter, seized as a document, so greatly surprised the Public + Prosecutor, that he came to see me. Now, the arrest and public + trial of a Councillor of State would be such a terrible thing--of + a man high in office too, who has a good record for loyal service + --for after the Beresina, it was he who saved us all by + reorganizing the administration--that I desired to have all the + papers sent to me. + + "Is the matter to take its course? Now that the principal agent is + dead, will it not be better to smother up the affair and sentence + the storekeeper in default? + + "The Public Prosecutor has consented to my forwarding the + documents for your perusal; the Baron Hulot d'Ervy, being resident + in Paris, the proceedings will lie with your Supreme Court. We + have hit on this rather shabby way of ridding ourselves of the + difficulty for the moment. + + "Only, my dear Marshal, decide quickly. This miserable business is + too much talked about already, and it will do as much harm to us + as to you all if the name of the principal culprit--known at + present only to the Public Prosecutor, the examining judge, and + myself--should happen to leak out." + +At this point the letter fell from Marshal Hulot's hands; he looked at +his brother; he saw that there was no need to examine the evidence. But +he looked for Johann Fischer's letter, and after reading it at a glance, +held it out to Hector:-- + +"FROM THE PRISON AT ORAN. + + "DEAR NEPHEW,--When you read this letter, I shall have ceased to + live. + + "Be quite easy, no proof can be found to incriminate you. When I + am dead and your Jesuit of a Chardin fled, the trial must + collapse. The face of our Adeline, made so happy by you, makes + death easy to me. Now you need not send the two hundred thousand + francs. Good-bye. + + "This letter will be delivered by a prisoner for a short term whom + I can trust, I believe. + +"JOHANN FISCHER." + + +"I beg your pardon," said Marshal Hulot to the Prince de Wissembourg +with pathetic pride. + +"Come, come, say _tu_, not the formal _vous_," replied the Minister, +clasping his old friend's hand. "The poor lancer killed no one but +himself," he added, with a thunderous look at Hulot d'Ervy. + +"How much have you had?" said the Comte de Forzheim to his brother. + +"Two hundred thousand francs." + +"My dear friend," said the Count, addressing the Minister, "you shall +have the two hundred thousand francs within forty-eight hours. It shall +never be said that a man bearing the name of Hulot has wronged the +public treasury of a single sou." + +"What nonsense!" said the Prince. "I know where the money is, and I can +get it back.--Send in your resignation and ask for your pension!" he +went on, sending a double sheet of foolscap flying across to where the +Councillor of State had sat down by the table, for his legs gave way +under him. "To bring you to trial would disgrace us all. I have already +obtained from the superior Board their sanction to this line of +action. Since you can accept life with dishonor--in my opinion the last +degradation--you will get the pension you have earned. Only take care to +be forgotten." + +The Minister rang. + +"Is Marneffe, the head-clerk, out there?" + +"Yes, monseigneur." + +"Show him in!" + +"You," said the Minister as Marneffe came in, "you and your wife have +wittingly and intentionally ruined the Baron d'Ervy whom you see." + +"Monsieur le Ministre, I beg your pardon. We are very poor. I have +nothing to live on but my pay, and I have two children, and the one that +is coming will have been brought into the family by Monsieur le Baron." + +"What a villain he looks!" said the Prince, pointing to Marneffe and +addressing Marshal Hulot.--"No more of Sganarelle speeches," he went +on; "you will disgorge two hundred thousand francs, or be packed off to +Algiers." + +"But, Monsieur le Ministre, you do not know my wife. She has spent it +all. Monsieur le Baron asked six persons to dinner every evening.--Fifty +thousand francs a year are spent in my house." + +"Leave the room!" said the Minister, in the formidable tones that +had given the word to charge in battle. "You will have notice of your +transfer within two hours. Go!" + +"I prefer to send in my resignation," said Marneffe insolently. "For it +is too much to be what I am already, and thrashed into the bargain. That +would not satisfy me at all." + +And he left the room. + +"What an impudent scoundrel!" said the Prince. + +Marshal Hulot, who had stood up throughout this scene, as pale as a +corpse, studying his brother out of the corner of his eye, went up to +the Prince, and took his hand, repeating: + +"In forty-eight hours the pecuniary mischief shall be repaired; but +honor!--Good-bye, Marshal. It is the last shot that kills. Yes, I shall +die of it!" he said in his ear. + +"What the devil brought you here this morning?" said the Prince, much +moved. + +"I came to see what can be done for his wife," replied the Count, +pointing to his brother. "She is wanting bread--especially now!" + +"He has his pension." + +"It is pledged!" + +"The Devil must possess such a man," said the Prince, with a shrug. +"What philtre do those baggages give you to rob you of your wits?" +he went on to Hulot d'Ervy. "How could you--you, who know the precise +details with which in French offices everything is written down at full +length, consuming reams of paper to certify to the receipt or outlay +of a few centimes--you, who have so often complained that a hundred +signatures are needed for a mere trifle, to discharge a soldier, to buy +a curry-comb--how could you hope to conceal a theft for any length of +time? To say nothing of the newspapers, and the envious, and the people +who would like to steal!--those women must rob you of your common-sense! +Do they cover your eyes with walnut-shells? or are you yourself made of +different stuff from us?--You ought to have left the office as soon as +you found that you were no longer a man, but a temperament. If you have +complicated your crime with such gross folly, you will end--I will not +say where----" + +"Promise me, Cottin, that you will do what you can for her," said the +Marshal, who heard nothing, and was still thinking of his sister-in-law. + +"Depend on me!" said the Minister. + +"Thank you, and good-bye then!--Come, monsieur," he said to his brother. + +The Prince looked with apparent calmness at the two brothers, so +different in their demeanor, conduct, and character--the brave man +and the coward, the ascetic and the profligate, the honest man and the +peculator--and he said to himself: + +"That mean creature will not have courage to die! And my poor Hulot, +such an honest fellow! has death in his knapsack, I know!" + +He sat down again in his big chair and went on reading the despatches +from Africa with a look characteristic at once of the coolness of a +leader and of the pity roused by the sight of a battle-field! For in +reality no one is so humane as a soldier, stern as he may seem in the +icy determination acquired by the habit of fighting, and so absolutely +essential in the battle-field. + +Next morning some of the newspapers contained, under various headings, +the following paragraphs:-- + + "Monsieur le Baron Hulot d'Ervy has applied for his retiring + pension. The unsatisfactory state of the Algerian exchequer, which + has come out in consequence of the death and disappearance of two + employes, has had some share in this distinguished official's + decision. On hearing of the delinquencies of the agents whom he + had unfortunately trusted, Monsieur le Baron Hulot had a paralytic + stroke in the War Minister's private room. + + "Monsieur Hulot d'Ervy, brother to the Marshal Comte de Forzheim, + has been forty-five years in the service. His determination has + been vainly opposed, and is greatly regretted by all who know + Monsieur Hulot, whose private virtues are as conspicuous as his + administrative capacity. No one can have forgotten the devoted + conduct of the Commissary General of the Imperial Guard at Warsaw, + or the marvelous promptitude with which he organized supplies for + the various sections of the army so suddenly required by Napoleon + in 1815. + + "One more of the heroes of the Empire is retiring from the stage. + Monsieur le Baron Hulot has never ceased, since 1830, to be one of + the guiding lights of the State Council and of the War Office." + + "ALGIERS.--The case known as the forage supply case, to which some + of our contemporaries have given absurd prominence, has been + closed by the death of the chief culprit. Johann Wisch has + committed suicide in his cell; his accomplice, who had absconded, + will be sentenced in default. + + "Wisch, formerly an army contractor, was an honest man and highly + respected, who could not survive the idea of having been the dupe + of Chardin, the storekeeper who has disappeared." + +And in the _Paris News_ the following paragraph appeared: + + "Monsieur le Marechal the Minister of War, to prevent the + recurrence of such scandals for the future, has arranged for a + regular Commissariat office in Africa. A head-clerk in the War + Office, Monsieur Marneffe, is spoken of as likely to be appointed + to the post of director." + + + + "The office vacated by Baron Hulot is the object of much ambition. + The appointment is promised, it is said, to Monsieur le Comte + Martial de la Roche-Hugon, Deputy, brother-in-law to Monsieur le + Comte de Rastignac. Monsieur Massol, Master of Appeals, will fill + his seat on the Council of State, and Monsieur Claude Vignon + becomes Master of Appeals." + +Of all kinds of false gossip, the most dangerous for the Opposition +newspapers is the official bogus paragraph. However keen journalists +may be, they are sometimes the voluntary or involuntary dupes of the +cleverness of those who have risen from the ranks of the Press, like +Claude Vignon, to the higher realms of power. The newspaper can only be +circumvented by the journalist. It may be said, as a parody on a line by +Voltaire: + +"The Paris news is never what the foolish folk believe." + +Marshal Hulot drove home with his brother, who took the front seat, +respectfully leaving the whole of the back of the carriage to his +senior. The two men spoke not a word. Hector was helpless. The Marshal +was lost in thought, like a man who is collecting all his strength, and +bracing himself to bear a crushing weight. On arriving at his own house, +still without speaking, but by an imperious gesture, he beckoned his +brother into his study. The Count had received from the Emperor Napoleon +a splendid pair of pistols from the Versailles factory; he took the +box, with its inscription. "_Given by the Emperor Napoleon to General +Hulot_," out of his desk, and placing it on the top, he showed it to his +brother, saying, "There is your remedy." + +Lisbeth, peeping through the chink of the door, flew down to the +carriage and ordered the coachman to go as fast as he could gallop +to the Rue Plumet. Within about twenty minutes she had brought back +Adeline, whom she had told of the Marshal's threat to his brother. + +The Marshal, without looking at Hector, rang the bell for his factotum, +the old soldier who had served him for thirty years. + +"Beau-Pied," said he, "fetch my notary, and Count Steinbock, and my +niece Hortense, and the stockbroker to the Treasury. It is now half-past +ten; they must all be here by twelve. Take hackney cabs--and go faster +than _that_!" he added, a republican allusion which in past days had +been often on his lips. And he put on the scowl that had brought his +soldiers to attention when he was beating the broom on the heaths of +Brittany in 1799. (See _Les Chouans_.) + +"You shall be obeyed, Marechal," said Beau-Pied, with a military salute. + +Still paying no heed to his brother, the old man came back into his +study, took a key out of his desk, and opened a little malachite box +mounted in steel, the gift of the Emperor Alexander. + +By Napoleon's orders he had gone to restore to the Russian Emperor the +private property seized at the battle of Dresden, in exchange for which +Napoleon hoped to get back Vandamme. The Czar rewarded General Hulot +very handsomely, giving him this casket, and saying that he hoped one +day to show the same courtesy to the Emperor of the French; but he kept +Vandamme. The Imperial arms of Russia were displayed in gold on the lid +of the box, which was inlaid with gold. + +The Marshal counted the bank-notes it contained; he had a hundred and +fifty-two thousand francs. He saw this with satisfaction. At the same +moment Madame Hulot came into the room in a state to touch the heart +of the sternest judge. She flew into Hector's arms, looking alternately +with a crazy eye at the Marshal and at the case of pistols. + +"What have you to say against your brother? What has my husband done to +you?" said she, in such a voice that the Marshal heard her. + +"He has disgraced us all!" replied the Republican veteran, who spoke +with a vehemence that reopened one of his old wounds. "He has robbed +the Government! He has cast odium on my name, he makes me wish I were +dead--he has killed me!--I have only strength enough left to make +restitution! + +"I have been abased before the Conde of the Republic, the man I esteem +above all others, and to whom I unjustifiably gave the lie--the Prince +of Wissembourg!--Is that nothing? That is the score his country has +against him!" + +He wiped away a tear. + +"Now, as to his family," he went on. "He is robbing you of the bread I +had saved for you, the fruit of thirty years' economy, of the privations +of an old soldier! Here is what was intended for you," and he held up +the bank-notes. "He has killed his Uncle Fischer, a noble and worthy son +of Alsace who could not--as he can--endure the thought of a stain on his +peasant's honor. + +"To crown all, God, in His adorable clemency, had allowed him to choose +an angel among women; he has had the unspeakable happiness of having +an Adeline for his wife! And he has deceived her, he has soaked her in +sorrows, he has neglected her for prostitutes, for street-hussies, for +ballet-girls, actresses--Cadine, Josepha, Marneffe!--And that is the +brother I treated as a son and made my pride! + +"Go, wretched man; if you can accept the life of degradation you have +made for yourself, leave my house! I have not the heart to curse a +brother I have loved so well--I am as foolish about him as you are, +Adeline--but never let me see him again. I forbid his attending my +funeral or following me to the grave. Let him show the decency of a +criminal if he can feel no remorse." + +The Marshal, as pale as death, fell back on the settee, exhausted by +his solemn speech. And, for the first time in his life perhaps, tears +gathered in his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. + +"My poor uncle!" cried Lisbeth, putting a handkerchief to her eyes. + +"Brother!" said Adeline, kneeling down by the Marshal, "live for my +sake. Help me in the task of reconciling Hector to the world and making +him redeem the past." + +"He!" cried the Marshal. "If he lives, he is not at the end of his +crimes. A man who has misprized an Adeline, who has smothered in his +own soul the feelings of a true Republican which I tried to instill into +him, the love of his country, of his family, and of the poor--that man +is a monster, a swine!--Take him away if you still care for him, for a +voice within me cries to me to load my pistols and blow his brains out. +By killing him I should save you all, and I should save him too from +himself." + +The old man started to his feet with such a terrifying gesture that poor +Adeline exclaimed: + +"Hector--come!" + +She seized her husband's arm, dragged him away, and out of the house; +but the Baron was so broken down, that she was obliged to call a coach +to take him to the Rue Plumet, where he went to bed. The man remained +there for several days in a sort of half-dissolution, refusing all +nourishment without a word. By floods of tears, Adeline persuaded him to +swallow a little broth; she nursed him, sitting by his bed, and feeling +only, of all the emotions that once had filled her heart, the deepest +pity for him. + +At half-past twelve, Lisbeth showed into her dear Marshal's room--for +she would not leave him, so much was she alarmed at the evident change +in him--Count Steinbock and the notary. + +"Monsieur le Comte," said the Marshal, "I would beg you to be so good as +to put your signature to a document authorizing my niece, your wife, +to sell a bond for certain funds of which she at present holds only the +reversion.--You, Mademoiselle Fischer, will agree to this sale, thus +losing your life interest in the securities." + +"Yes, dear Count," said Lisbeth without hesitation. + +"Good, my dear," said the old soldier. "I hope I may live to reward you. +But I did not doubt you; you are a true Republican, a daughter of the +people." He took the old maid's hand and kissed it. + +"Monsieur Hannequin," he went on, speaking to the notary, "draw up the +necessary document in the form of a power of attorney, and let me have +it within two hours, so that I may sell the stock on the Bourse to-day. +My niece, the Countess, holds the security; she will be here to sign the +power of attorney when you bring it, and so will mademoiselle. Monsieur +le Comte will be good enough to go with you and sign it at your office." + +The artist, at a nod from Lisbeth, bowed respectfully to the Marshal and +went away. + +Next morning, at ten o'clock, the Comte de Forzheim sent in to announce +himself to the Prince, and was at once admitted. + +"Well, my dear Hulot," said the Prince, holding out the newspapers to +his old friend, "we have saved appearances, you see.--Read." + +Marshal Hulot laid the papers on his comrade's table, and held out to +him the two hundred thousand francs. + +"Here is the money of which my brother robbed the State," said he. + +"What madness!" cried the Minister. "It is impossible," he said into +the speaking-trumpet handed to him by the Marshal, "to manage this +restitution. We should be obliged to declare your brother's dishonest +dealings, and we have done everything to hide them." + +"Do what you like with the money; but the family shall not owe one sou +of its fortune to a robbery on the funds of the State," said the Count. + +"I will take the King's commands in the matter. We will discuss it no +further," replied the Prince, perceiving that it would be impossible to +conquer the old man's sublime obstinacy on the point. + +"Good-bye, Cottin," said the old soldier, taking the Prince's hand. "I +feel as if my soul were frozen--" + +Then, after going a step towards the door, he turned round, looked at +the Prince, and seeing that he was deeply moved, he opened his arms to +clasp him in them; the two old soldiers embraced each other. + +"I feel as if I were taking leave of the whole of the old army in you," +said the Count. + +"Good-bye, my good old comrade!" said the Minister. + +"Yes, it is good-bye; for I am going where all our brave men are for +whom we have mourned--" + +Just then Claude Vignon was shown in. The two relics of the Napoleonic +phalanx bowed gravely to each other, effacing every trace of emotion. + +"You have, I hope, been satisfied by the papers," said the Master of +Appeals-elect. "I contrived to let the Opposition papers believe that +they were letting out our secrets." + +"Unfortunately, it is all in vain," replied the Minister, watching Hulot +as he left the room. "I have just gone through a leave-taking that has +been a great grief to me. For, indeed, Marshal Hulot has not three days +to live; I saw that plainly enough yesterday. That man, one of those +honest souls that are above proof, a soldier respected by the bullets +in spite of his valor, received his death-blow--there, in that +armchair--and dealt by my hand, in a letter!--Ring and order my +carriage. I must go to Neuilly," said he, putting the two hundred +thousand francs into his official portfolio. + + + +Notwithstanding Lisbeth's nursing, Marshal Hulot three days later was +a dead man. Such men are the glory of the party they support. To +Republicans, the Marshal was the ideal of patriotism; and they all +attended his funeral, which was followed by an immense crowd. The army, +the State officials, the Court, and the populace all came to do homage +to this lofty virtue, this spotless honesty, this immaculate glory. Such +a last tribute of the people is not a thing to be had for the asking. + +This funeral was distinguished by one of those tributes of delicate +feeling, of good taste, and sincere respect which from time to time +remind us of the virtues and dignity of the old French nobility. +Following the Marshal's bier came the old Marquis de Montauran, the +brother of him who, in the great rising of the Chouans in 1799, had been +the foe, the luckless foe, of Hulot. That Marquis, killed by the balls +of the "Blues," had confided the interests of his young brother to the +Republican soldier. (See _Les Chouans_.) Hulot had so faithfully acted +on the noble Royalist's verbal will, that he succeeded in saving the +young man's estates, though he himself was at the time an emigre. And so +the homage of the old French nobility was not wanting to the leader who, +nine years since, had conquered MADAME. + +This death, happening just four days before the banns were cried for +the last time, came upon Lisbeth like the thunderbolt that burns the +garnered harvest with the barn. The peasant of Lorraine, as often +happens, had succeeded too well. The Marshal had died of the blows dealt +to the family by herself and Madame Marneffe. + +The old maid's vindictiveness, which success seemed to have somewhat +mollified, was aggravated by this disappointment of her hopes. Lisbeth +went, crying with rage, to Madame Marneffe; for she was homeless, the +Marshal having agreed that his lease was at any time to terminate +with his life. Crevel, to console Valerie's friend, took charge of her +savings, added to them considerably, and invested the capital in five +per cents, giving her the life interest, and putting the securities +into Celestine's name. Thanks to this stroke of business, Lisbeth had an +income of about two thousand francs. + +When the Marshal's property was examined and valued, a note was found, +addressed to his sister-in-law, to his niece Hortense, and to his nephew +Victorin, desiring that they would pay among them an annuity of twelve +hundred francs to Mademoiselle Lisbeth Fischer, who was to have been his +wife. + +Adeline, seeing her husband between life and death, succeeded for some +days in hiding from him the fact of his brother's death; but Lisbeth +came, in mourning, and the terrible truth was told him eleven days after +the funeral. + +The crushing blow revived the sick man's energies. He got up, found his +family collected in the drawing-room, all in black, and suddenly silent +as he came in. In a fortnight, Hulot, as lean as a spectre, looked to +his family the mere shadow of himself. + +"I must decide on something," said he in a husky voice, as he seated +himself in an easy-chair, and looked round at the party, of whom Crevel +and Steinbock were absent. + +"We cannot stay here, the rent is too high," Hortense was saying just as +her father came in. + +"As to a home," said Victorin, breaking the painful silence, "I can +offer my mother----" + +As he heard these words, which excluded him, the Baron raised his head, +which was sunk on his breast as though he were studying the pattern of +the carpet, though he did not even see it, and he gave the young lawyer +an appealing look. The rights of a father are so indefeasibly sacred, +even when he is a villain and devoid of honor, that Victorin paused. + +"To your mother," the Baron repeated. "You are right, my son." + +"The rooms over ours in our wing," said Celestine, finishing her +husband's sentence. + +"I am in your way, my dears?" said the Baron, with the mildness of a man +who has judged himself. "But do not be uneasy as to the future; you will +have no further cause for complaint of your father; you will not see him +till the time when you need no longer blush for him." + +He went up to Hortense and kissed her brow. He opened his arms to his +son, who rushed into his embrace, guessing his father's purpose. The +Baron signed to Lisbeth, who came to him, and he kissed her forehead. +Then he went to his room, whither Adeline followed him in an agony of +dread. + +"My brother was quite right, Adeline," he said, holding her hand. "I +am unworthy of my home life. I dared not bless my children, who have +behaved so nobly, but in my heart; tell them that I could only venture +to kiss them; for the blessing of a bad man, a father who has been an +assassin and the scourge of his family instead of its protector and its +glory, might bring evil on them; but assure them that I shall bless them +every day.--As to you, God alone, for He is Almighty, can ever reward +you according to your merits!--I can only ask your forgiveness!" and he +knelt at her feet, taking her hands and wetting them with his tears. + +"Hector, Hector! Your sins have been great, but Divine Mercy is +infinite, and you may repair all by staying with me.--Rise up in +Christian charity, my dear--I am your wife, and not your judge. I am +your possession; do what you will with me; take me wherever you go, I +feel strong enough comfort you, to make life endurable to you, by the +strength of my love, my care, and respect.--Our children are settled +in life; they need me no more. Let me try to be an amusement to you, +an occupation. Let me share the pain of your banishment and of your +poverty, and help to mitigate it. I could always be of some use, if it +were only to save the expense of a servant." + +"Can you forgive, my dearly-beloved Adeline?" + +"Yes, only get up, my dear!" + +"Well, with that forgiveness I can live," said he, rising to his feet. +"I came back into this room that my children should not see their +father's humiliation. Oh! the sight constantly before their eyes of a +father so guilty as I am is a terrible thing; it must undermine parental +influence and break every family tie. So I cannot remain among you, +and I must go to spare you the odious spectacle of a father bereft of +dignity. Do not oppose my departure Adeline. It would only be to load +with your own hand the pistol to blow my brains out. Above all, do not +seek me in my hiding-place; you would deprive me of the only strong +motive remaining in me, that of remorse." + +Hector's decisiveness silenced his dejected wife. Adeline, lofty in the +midst of all this ruin, had derived her courage from her perfect union +with her husband; for she had dreamed of having him for her own, of the +beautiful task of comforting him, of leading him back to family life, +and reconciling him to himself. + +"But, Hector, would you leave me to die of despair, anxiety, and +alarms!" said she, seeing herself bereft of the mainspring of her +strength. + +"I will come back to you, dear angel--sent from Heaven expressly for me, +I believe. I will come back, if not rich, at least with enough to live +in ease.--Listen, my sweet Adeline, I cannot stay here for many reasons. +In the first place, my pension of six thousand francs is pledged for +four years, so I have nothing. That is not all. I shall be committed to +prison within a few days in consequence of the bills held by Vauvinet. +So I must keep out of the way until my son, to whom I will give full +instructions, shall have bought in the bills. My disappearance will +facilitate that. As soon as my pension is my own, and Vauvinet is paid +off, I will return to you.--You would be sure to let out the secret of +my hiding-place. Be calm; do not cry, Adeline--it is only for a month--" + +"Where will you go? What will you do? What will become of you? Who +will take care of you now that you are no longer young? Let me go with +you--we will go abroad--" said she. + +"Well, well, we will see," he replied. + +The Baron rang and ordered Mariette to collect all his things and pack +them quickly and secretly. Then, after embracing his wife with a warmth +of affection to which she was unaccustomed, he begged her to leave him +alone for a few minutes while he wrote his instructions for Victorin, +promising that he would not leave the house till dark, or without her. + +As soon as the Baroness was in the drawing-room, the cunning old man +stole out through the dressing-closet to the anteroom, and went away, +giving Mariette a slip of paper, on which was written, "Address my +trunks to go by railway to Corbeil--to Monsieur Hector, cloak-room, +Corbeil." + +The Baron jumped into a hackney coach, and was rushing across Paris by +the time Mariette came to give the Baroness this note, and say that her +master had gone out. Adeline flew back into her room, trembling more +violently than ever; her children followed on hearing her give a +piercing cry. They found her in a dead faint; and they put her to bed, +for she was seized by a nervous fever which held her for a month between +life and death. + +"Where is he?" was the only thing she would say. + +Victorin sought for him in vain. + +And this is why. The Baron had driven to the Place du Palais Royal. +There this man, who had recovered all his wits to work out a scheme +which he had premeditated during the days he had spent crushed with +pain and grief, crossed the Palais Royal on foot, and took a handsome +carriage from a livery-stable in the Rue Joquelet. In obedience to his +orders, the coachman went to the Rue de la Ville l'Eveque, and into the +courtyard of Josepha's mansion, the gates opening at once at the call +of the driver of such a splendid vehicle. Josepha came out, prompted +by curiosity, for her man-servant had told her that a helpless old +gentleman, unable to get out of his carriage, begged her to come to him +for a moment. + +"Josepha!--it is I----" + +The singer recognized her Hulot only by his voice. + +"What? you, poor old man?--On my honor, you look like a twenty-franc +piece that the Jews have sweated and the money-changers refuse." + +"Alas, yes," replied Hulot; "I am snatched from the jaws of death! But +you are as lovely as ever. Will you be kind?" + +"That depends," said she; "everything is relative." + +"Listen," said Hulot; "can you put me up for a few days in a servant's +room under the roof? I have nothing--not a farthing, not a hope; no +food, no pension, no wife, no children, no roof over my head; without +honor, without courage, without a friend; and worse than all that, +liable to imprisonment for not meeting a bill." + +"Poor old fellow! you are without most things.--Are you also _sans +culotte_?" + +"You laugh at me! I am done for," cried the Baron. "And I counted on you +as Gourville did on Ninon." + +"And it was a 'real lady,' I am told who brought you to this," said +Josepha. "Those precious sluts know how to pluck a goose even better +than we do!--Why, you are like a corpse that the crows have done with--I +can see daylight through!" + +"Time is short, Josepha!" + +"Come in, old boy, I am alone, as it happens, and my people don't know +you. Send away your trap. Is it paid for?" + +"Yes," said the Baron, getting out with the help of Josepha's arm. + +"You may call yourself my father if you like," said the singer, moved to +pity. + +She made Hulot sit down in the splendid drawing-room where he had last +seen her. + +"And is it the fact, old man," she went on, "that you have killed your +brother and your uncle, ruined your family, mortgaged your children's +house over and over again, and robbed the Government till in Africa, all +for your princess?" + +Hulot sadly bent his head. + +"Well, I admire that!" cried Josepha, starting up in her enthusiasm. +"It is a general flare-up! It is Sardanapalus! Splendid, thoroughly +complete! I may be a hussy, but I have a soul! I tell you, I like a +spendthrift, like you, crazy over a woman, a thousand times better than +those torpid, heartless bankers, who are supposed to be so good, and who +ruin no end of families with their rails--gold for them, and iron for +their gulls! You have only ruined those who belong to you, you have sold +no one but yourself; and then you have excuses, physical and moral." + +She struck a tragic attitude, and spouted: + + "'Tis Venus whose grasp never parts from her prey. + +And there you are!" and she pirouetted on her toe. + +Vice, Hulot found, could forgive him; vice smiled on him from the midst +of unbridled luxury. Here, as before a jury, the magnitude of a crime +was an extenuating circumstance. "And is your lady pretty at any rate?" +asked Josepha, trying as a preliminary act of charity, to divert Hulot's +thoughts, for his depression grieved her. + +"On my word, almost as pretty as you are," said the Baron artfully. + +"And monstrously droll? So I have been told. What does she do, I say? Is +she better fun than I am?" + +"I don't want to talk about her," said Hulot. + +"And I hear she has come round my Crevel, and little Steinbock, and a +gorgeous Brazilian?" + +"Very likely." + +"And that she has got a house as good as this, that Crevel has given +her. The baggage! She is my provost-marshal, and finishes off those I +have spoiled. I tell you why I am so curious to know what she is +like, old boy; I just caught sight of her in the Bois, in an open +carriage--but a long way off. She is a most accomplished harpy, Carabine +says. She is trying to eat up Crevel, but he only lets her nibble. +Crevel is a knowing hand, good-natured but hard-headed, who will always +say Yes, and then go his own way. He is vain and passionate; but his +cash is cold. You can never get anything out of such fellows beyond +a thousand to three thousand francs a month; they jib at any serious +outlay, as a donkey does at a running stream. + +"Not like you, old boy. You are a man of passions; you would sell your +country for a woman. And, look here, I am ready to do anything for you! +You are my father; you started me in life; it is a sacred duty. What do +you want? Do you want a hundred thousand francs? I will wear myself to +a rag to gain them. As to giving you bed and board--that is nothing. A +place will be laid for you here every day; you can have a good room on +the second floor, and a hundred crowns a month for pocket-money." + +The Baron, deeply touched by such a welcome, had a last qualm of honor. + +"No, my dear child, no; I did not come here for you to keep me," said +he. + +"At your age it is something to be proud of," said she. + +"This is what I wish, my child. Your Duc d'Herouville has immense +estates in Normandy, and I want to be his steward, under the name of +Thoul. I have the capacity, and I am honest. A man may borrow of the +Government, and yet not steal from a cash-box----" + +"H'm, h'm," said Josepha. "Once drunk, drinks again." + +"In short, I only want to live out of sight for three years--" + +"Well, it is soon done," said Josepha. "This evening, after dinner, I +have only to speak. The Duke would marry me if I wished it, but I have +his fortune, and I want something better--his esteem. He is a Duke of +the first water. He is high-minded, as noble and great as Louis XIV. and +Napoleon rolled into one, though he is a dwarf. Besides, I have done for +him what la Schontz did for Rochefide; by taking my advice he has made +two millions. + +"Now, listen to me, old popgun. I know you; you are always after the +women, and you would be dancing attendance on the Normandy girls, who +are splendid creatures, and getting your ribs cracked by their lovers +and fathers, and the Duke would have to get you out of the scrape. Why, +can't I see by the way you look at me that the _young_ man is not dead +in you--as Fenelon put it.--No, this stewardship is not the thing for +you. A man cannot be off with his Paris and with us, old boy, for the +saying! You would die of weariness at Herouville." + +"What is to become of me?" said the Baron, "for I will only stay here +till I see my way." + +"Well, shall I find a pigeon-hole for you? Listen, you old pirate. Women +are what you want. They are consolation in all circumstances. Attend +now.--At the end of the Alley, Rue Saint-Maur-du-Temple, there is a poor +family I know of where there is a jewel of a little girl, prettier than +I was at sixteen.--Ah! there is a twinkle in your eye already!--The +child works sixteen hours a day at embroidering costly pieces for the +silk merchants, and earns sixteen sous a day--one sou an hour!--and +feeds like the Irish, on potatoes fried in rats' dripping, with bread +five times a week--and drinks canal water out of the town pipes, because +the Seine water costs too much; and she cannot set up on her own account +for lack of six or seven thousand francs. Your wife and children bore +you to death, don't they?--Besides, one cannot submit to be nobody where +one has been a little Almighty. A father who has neither money nor honor +can only be stuffed and kept in a glass case." + +The Baron could not help smiling at these abominable jests. + +"Well, now, Bijou is to come to-morrow morning to bring me an +embroidered wrapper, a gem! It has taken six months to make; no one +else will have any stuff like it! Bijou is very fond of me; I give her +tidbits and my old gowns. And I send orders for bread and meat and wood +to the family, who would break the shin-bones of the first comer if I +bid them.--I try to do a little good. Ah! I know what I endured from +hunger myself!--Bijou has confided to me all her little sorrows. There +is the making of a super at the Ambigu-Comique in that child. Her dream +is to wear fine dresses like mine; above all, to ride in a carriage. +I shall say to her, 'Look here, little one, would you like to have +a friend of--' How old are you?" she asked, interrupting herself. +"Seventy-two?" + +"I have given up counting." + +"'Would you like an old gentleman of seventy-two?' I shall say. 'Very +clean and neat, and who does not take snuff, who is as sound as a +bell, and as good as a young man? He will marry you (in the Thirteenth +Arrondissement) and be very kind to you; he will place seven thousand +francs in your account, and furnish you a room all in mahogany, and if +you are good, he will sometimes take you to the play. He will give you +a hundred francs a month for pocket-money, and fifty francs for +housekeeping.'--I know Bijou; she is myself at fourteen. I jumped for +joy when that horrible Crevel made me his atrocious offers. Well, and +you, old man, will be disposed of for three years. She is a good child, +well behaved; for three or four years she will have her illusions--not +for longer." + +Hulot did not hesitate; he had made up his mind to refuse; but to +seem grateful to the kind-hearted singer, who was benevolent after her +lights, he affected to hesitate between vice and virtue. + +"Why, you are as cold as a paving-stone in winter!" she exclaimed in +amazement. "Come, now. You will make a whole family happy--a grandfather +who runs all the errands, a mother who is being worn out with work, +and two sisters--one of them very plain--who make thirty-two sous a day +while putting their eyes out. It will make up for the misery you have +caused at home, and you will expiate your sin while you are having as +much fun as a minx at Mabille." + +Hulot, to put an end to this temptation, moved his fingers as if he were +counting out money. + +"Oh! be quite easy as to ways and means," replied Josepha. "My Duke will +lend you ten thousand francs; seven thousand to start an embroidery +shop in Bijou's name, and three thousand for furnishing; and every three +months you will find a cheque here for six hundred and fifty francs. +When you get your pension paid you, you can repay the seventeen thousand +francs. Meanwhile you will be as happy as a cow in clover, and hidden in +a hole where the police will never find you. You must wear a loose serge +coat, and you will look like a comfortable householder. Call yourself +Thoul, if that is your fancy. I will tell Bijou that you are an uncle +of mine come from Germany, having failed in business, and you will be +cosseted like a divinity.--There now, Daddy!--And who knows! you may +have no regrets. In case you should be bored, keep one Sunday rig-out, +and you can come and ask me for a dinner and spend the evening here." + +"I!--and I meant to settle down and behave myself!--Look here, borrow +twenty thousand francs for me, and I will set out to make my fortune in +America, like my friend d'Aiglemont when Nucingen cleaned him out." + +"You!" cried Josepha. "Nay, leave morals to work-a-day folks, to raw +recruits, to the _worrrthy_ citizens who have nothing to boast of +but their virtue. You! You were born to be something better than a +nincompoop; you are as a man what I am as a woman--a spendthrift of +genius." + +"We will sleep on it and discuss it all to-morrow morning." + +"You will dine with the Duke. My d'Herouville will receive you as +civilly as if you were the saviour of the State; and to-morrow you can +decide. Come, be jolly, old boy! Life is a garment; when it is dirty, we +must brush it; when it is ragged, it must be patched; but we keep it on +as long as we can." + +This philosophy of life, and her high spirits, postponed Hulot's keenest +pangs. + +At noon next day, after a capital breakfast, Hulot saw the arrival of +one of those living masterpieces which Paris alone of all the cities in +the world can produce, by means of the constant concubinage of luxury +and poverty, of vice and decent honesty, of suppressed desire and +renewed temptation, which makes the French capital the daughter of +Ninevah, of Babylon, and of Imperial Rome. + +Mademoiselle Olympe Bijou, a child of sixteen, had the exquisite face +which Raphael drew for his Virgins; eyes of pathetic innocence, weary +with overwork--black eyes, with long lashes, their moisture parched with +the heat of laborious nights, and darkened with fatigue; a complexion +like porcelain, almost too delicate; a mouth like a partly opened +pomegranate; a heaving bosom, a full figure, pretty hands, the whitest +teeth, and a mass of black hair; and the whole meagrely set off by a +cotton frock at seventy-five centimes the metre, leather shoes without +heels, and the cheapest gloves. The girl, all unconscious of her charms, +had put on her best frock to wait on the fine lady. + +The Baron, gripped again by the clutch of profligacy, felt all his +life concentrated in his eyes. He forgot everything on beholding this +delightful creature. He was like a sportsman in sight of the game; if an +emperor were present, he must take aim! + +"And warranted sound," said Josepha in his ear. "An honest child, and +wanting bread. This is Paris--I have been there!" + +"It is a bargain," replied the old man, getting up and rubbing his +hands. + +When Olympe Bijou was gone, Josepha looked mischievously at the Baron. + +"If you want things to keep straight, Daddy," said she, "be as firm +as the Public Prosecutor on the bench. Keep a tight hand on her, be a +Bartholo! Ware Auguste, Hippolyte, Nestor, Victor--_or_, that is gold, +in every form. When once the child is fed and dressed, if she gets the +upper hand, she will drive you like a serf.--I will see to settling +you comfortably. The Duke does the handsome; he will lend--that is, +give--you ten thousand francs; and he deposits eight thousand with his +notary, who will pay you six hundred francs every quarter, for I cannot +trust you.--Now, am I nice?" + +"Adorable." + +Ten days after deserting his family, when they were gathered round +Adeline, who seemed to be dying, as she said again and again, in a weak +voice, "Where is he?" Hector, under the name of Thoul, was established +in the Rue Saint-Maur, at the head of a business as embroiderer, under +the name of Thoul and Bijou. + + + +Victorin Hulot, under the overwhelming disasters of his family, had +received the finishing touch which makes or mars the man. He was +perfection. In the great storms of life we act like the captain of a +ship who, under the stress of a hurricane, lightens the ship of its +heaviest cargo. The young lawyer lost his self-conscious pride, his +too evident assertiveness, his arrogance as an orator and his political +pretensions. He was as a man what his wife was as a woman. He made +up his mind to make the best of his Celestine--who certainly did not +realize his dreams--and was wise enough to estimate life at its true +value by contenting himself in all things with the second best. He +vowed to fulfil his duties, so much had he been shocked by his father's +example. + +These feelings were confirmed as he stood by his mother's bed on the day +when she was out of danger. Nor did this happiness come single. Claude +Vignon, who called every day from the Prince de Wissembourg to inquire +as to Madame Hulot's progress, desired the re-elected deputy to go with +him to see the Minister. + +"His Excellency," said he, "wants to talk over your family affairs with +you." + +The Prince had long known Victorin Hulot, and received him with a +friendliness that promised well. + +"My dear fellow," said the old soldier, "I promised your uncle, in this +room, that I would take care of your mother. That saintly woman, I +am told, is getting well again; now is the time to pour oil into your +wounds. I have for you here two hundred thousand francs; I will give +them to you----" + +The lawyer's gesture was worthy of his uncle the Marshal. + +"Be quite easy," said the Prince, smiling; "it is money in trust. My +days are numbered; I shall not always be here; so take this sum, and +fill my place towards your family. You may use this money to pay off +the mortgage on your house. These two hundred thousand francs are the +property of your mother and your sister. If I gave the money to Madame +Hulot, I fear that, in her devotion to her husband, she would be tempted +to waste it. And the intention of those who restore it to you is, that +it should produce bread for Madame Hulot and her daughter, the Countess +Steinbock. You are a steady man, the worthy son of your noble mother, +the true nephew of my friend the Marshal; you are appreciated here, you +see--and elsewhere. So be the guardian angel of your family, and take +this as a legacy from your uncle and me." + +"Monseigneur," said Hulot, taking the Minister's hand and pressing it, +"such men as you know that thanks in words mean nothing; gratitude must +be proven." + +"Prove yours--" said the old man. + +"In what way?" + +"By accepting what I have to offer you," said the Minister. "We propose +to appoint you to be attorney to the War Office, which just now is +involved in litigations in consequence of the plan for fortifying Paris; +consulting clerk also to the Prefecture of Police; and a member of +the Board of the Civil List. These three appointments will secure you +salaries amounting to eighteen thousand francs, and will leave you +politically free. You can vote in the Chamber in obedience to your +opinions and your conscience. Act in perfect freedom on that score. It +would be a bad thing for us if there were no national opposition! + +"Also, a few lines from your uncle, written a day or two before he +breathed his last, suggested what I could do for your mother, whom +he loved very truly.--Mesdames Popinot, de Rastignac, de Navarreins, +d'Espard, de Grandlieu, de Carigliano, de Lenoncourt, and de la Batie +have made a place for your mother as a Lady Superintendent of their +charities. These ladies, presidents of various branches of benevolent +work, cannot do everything themselves; they need a lady of character +who can act for them by going to see the objects of their beneficence, +ascertaining that charity is not imposed upon, and whether the help +given really reaches those who applied for it, finding out that the poor +who are ashamed to beg, and so forth. Your mother will fulfil an +angelic function; she will be thrown in with none but priests and these +charitable ladies; she will be paid six thousand francs and the cost of +her hackney coaches. + +"You see, young man, that a pure and nobly virtuous man can still assist +his family, even from the grave. Such a name as your uncle's is, and +ought to be, a buckler against misfortune in a well-organized scheme of +society. Follow in his path; you have started in it, I know; continue in +it." + +"Such delicate kindness cannot surprise me in my mother's friend," said +Victorin. "I will try to come up to all your hopes." + +"Go at once, and take comfort to your family.--By the way," added the +Prince, as he shook hands with Victorin, "your father has disappeared?" + +"Alas! yes." + +"So much the better. That unhappy man has shown his wit, in which, +indeed, he is not lacking." + +"There are bills of his to be met." + +"Well, you shall have six months' pay of your three appointments in +advance. This pre-payment will help you, perhaps, to get the notes out +of the hands of the money-lender. And I will see Nucingen, and perhaps +may succeed in releasing your father's pension, pledged to him, without +its costing you or our office a sou. The peer has not killed the banker +in Nucingen; he is insatiable; he wants some concession.--I know not +what----" + +So on his return to the Rue Plumet, Victorin could carry out his plan of +lodging his mother and sister under his roof. + +The young lawyer, already famous, had, for his sole fortune, one of the +handsomest houses in Paris, purchased in 1834 in preparation for his +marriage, situated on the boulevard between the Rue de la Paix and +the Rue Louis-le-Grand. A speculator had built two houses between +the boulevard and the street; and between these, with the gardens +and courtyards to the front and back, there remained still standing a +splendid wing, the remains of the magnificent mansion of the Verneuils. +The younger Hulot had purchased this fine property, on the strength of +Mademoiselle Crevel's marriage-portion, for one million francs, when it +was put up to auction, paying five hundred thousand down. He lived on +the ground floor, expecting to pay the remainder out of letting the +rest; but though it is safe to speculate in house-property in Paris, +such investments are capricious or hang fire, depending on unforeseen +circumstances. + +As the Parisian lounger may have observed, the boulevard between the Rue +de la Paix and the Rue Louis-le-Grand prospered but slowly; it took +so long to furbish and beautify itself, that trade did not set up its +display there till 1840--the gold of the money-changers, the fairy-work +of fashion, and the luxurious splendor of shop-fronts. + +In spite of two hundred thousand francs given by Crevel to his daughter +at the time when his vanity was flattered by this marriage, before the +Baron had robbed him of Josepha; in spite of the two hundred thousand +francs paid off by Victorin in the course of seven years, the property +was still burdened with a debt of five hundred thousand francs, in +consequence of Victorin's devotion to his father. Happily, a rise in +rents and the advantages of the situation had at this time improved the +value of the houses. The speculation was justifying itself after eight +years' patience, during which the lawyer had strained every nerve to pay +the interest and some trifling amounts of the capital borrowed. + +The tradespeople were ready to offer good rents for the shops, on +condition of being granted leases for eighteen years. The dwelling +apartments rose in value by the shifting of the centre in Paris +life--henceforth transferred to the region between the Bourse and the +Madeleine, now the seat of the political power and financial authority +in Paris. The money paid to him by the Minister, added to a year's rent +in advance and the premiums paid by his tenants, would finally reduce +the outstanding debt to two hundred thousand francs. The two houses, if +entirely let, would bring in a hundred thousand francs a year. Within +two years more, during which the Hulots could live on his salaries, +added to by the Marshal's investments, Victorin would be in a splendid +position. + +This was manna from heaven. Victorin could give up the first floor of +his own house to his mother, and the second to Hortense, excepting two +rooms reserved for Lisbeth. With Cousin Betty as the housekeeper, this +compound household could bear all these charges, and yet keep up a +good appearance, as beseemed a pleader of note. The great stars of the +law-courts were rapidly disappearing; and Victorin Hulot, gifted with +a shrewd tongue and strict honesty, was listened to by the Bench and +Councillors; he studied his cases thoroughly, and advanced nothing that +he could not prove. He would not hold every brief that offered; in fact, +he was a credit to the bar. + +The Baroness' home in the Rue Plumet had become so odious to her, that +she allowed herself to be taken to the Rue Louis-le-Grand. Thus, by her +son's care, Adeline occupied a fine apartment; she was spared all the +daily worries of life; for Lisbeth consented to begin again, working +wonders of domestic economy, such as she had achieved for Madame +Marneffe, seeing here a way of exerting her silent vengeance on those +three noble lives, the object, each, of her hatred, which was kept +growing by the overthrow of all her hopes. + +Once a month she went to see Valerie, sent, indeed, by Hortense, who +wanted news of Wenceslas, and by Celestine, who was seriously uneasy +at the acknowledged and well-known connection between her father and a +woman to whom her mother-in-law and sister-in-law owed their ruin and +their sorrows. As may be supposed, Lisbeth took advantage of this to see +Valerie as often as possible. + + + +Thus, about twenty months passed by, during which the Baroness recovered +her health, though her palsied trembling never left her. She made +herself familiar with her duties, which afforded her a noble distraction +from her sorrow and constant food for the divine goodness of her heart. +She also regarded it as an opportunity for finding her husband in the +course of one of those expeditions which took her into every part of +Paris. + +During this time, Vauvinet had been paid, and the pension of six +thousand francs was almost redeemed. Victorin could maintain his mother +as well as Hortense out of the ten thousand francs interest on the money +left by Marshal Hulot in trust for them. Adeline's salary amounted to +six thousand francs a year; and this, added to the Baron's pension when +it was freed, would presently secure an income of twelve thousand francs +a year to the mother and daughter. + +Thus, the poor woman would have been almost happy but for her perpetual +anxieties as to the Baron's fate; for she longed to have him with her to +share the improved fortunes that smiled on the family; and but for +the constant sight of her forsaken daughter; and but for the terrible +thrusts constantly and _unconsciously_ dealt her by Lisbeth, whose +diabolical character had free course. + +A scene which took place at the beginning of the month of March 1843 +will show the results of Lisbeth's latent and persistent hatred, still +seconded, as she always was, by Madame Marneffe. + +Two great events had occurred in the Marneffe household. In the first +place, Valerie had given birth to a still-born child, whose little +coffin had cost her two thousand francs a year. And then, as to Marneffe +himself, eleven months since, this is the report given by Lisbeth to +the Hulot family one day on her return from a visit of discovery at the +hotel Marneffe. + +"This morning," said she, "that dreadful Valerie sent for Doctor +Bianchon to ask whether the medical men who had condemned her husband +yesterday had made no mistake. Bianchon pronounced that to-night at the +latest that horrible creature will depart to the torments that await +him. Old Crevel and Madame Marneffe saw the doctor out; and your father, +my dear Celestine, gave him five gold pieces for his good news. + +"When he came back into the drawing-room, Crevel cut capers like a +dancer; he embraced that woman, exclaiming, 'Then, at last, you will +be Madame Crevel!'--And to me, when she had gone back to her husband's +bedside, for he was at his last gasp, your noble father said to me, +'With Valerie as my wife, I can become a peer of France! I shall buy an +estate I have my eye on--Presles, which Madame de Serizy wants to +sell. I shall be Crevel de Presles, member of the Common Council of +Seine-et-Oise, and Deputy. I shall have a son! I shall be everything +I have ever wished to be.'--'Heh!' said I, 'and what about your +daughter?'--'Bah!' says he, 'she is only a woman! And she is quite too +much of a Hulot. Valerie has a horror of them all.--My son-in-law has +never chosen to come to this house; why has he given himself such airs +as a Mentor, a Spartan, a Puritan, a philanthropist? Besides, I have +squared accounts with my daughter; she has had all her mother's fortune, +and two hundred thousand francs to that. So I am free to act as I +please.--I shall judge of my son-in-law and Celestine by their conduct +on my marriage; as they behave, so shall I. If they are nice to their +stepmother, I will receive them. I am a man, after all!'--In short, all +this rhodomontade! And an attitude like Napoleon on the column." + +The ten months' widowhood insisted on by the law had now elapsed some +few days since. The estate of Presles was purchased. Victorin and +Celestine had that very morning sent Lisbeth to make inquiries as to the +marriage of the fascinating widow to the Mayor of Paris, now a member of +the Common Council of the Department of Seine-et-Oise. + +Celestine and Hortense, in whom the ties of affection had been +drawn closer since they had lived under the same roof, were almost +inseparable. The Baroness, carried away by a sense of honesty which led +her to exaggerate the duties of her place, devoted herself to the work +of charity of which she was the agent; she was out almost every day +from eleven till five. The sisters-in-law, united in their cares for +the children whom they kept together, sat at home and worked. They had +arrived at the intimacy which thinks aloud, and were a touching picture +of two sisters, one cheerful and the other sad. The less happy of the +two, handsome, lively, high-spirited, and clever, seemed by her manner +to defy her painful situation; while the melancholy Celestine, sweet and +calm, and as equable as reason itself, might have been supposed to have +some secret grief. It was this contradiction, perhaps, that added to +their warm friendship. Each supplied the other with what she lacked. + +Seated in a little summer-house in the garden, which the speculator's +trowel had spared by some fancy of the builder's, who believed that he +was preserving these hundred feet square of earth for his own pleasure, +they were admiring the first green shoots of the lilac-trees, a +spring festival which can only be fully appreciated in Paris when the +inhabitants have lived for six months oblivious of what vegetation +means, among the cliffs of stone where the ocean of humanity tosses to +and fro. + +"Celestine," said Hortense to her sister-in-law, who had complained that +in such fine weather her husband should be kept at the Chamber, "I think +you do not fully appreciate your happiness. Victorin is a perfect angel, +and you sometimes torment him." + +"My dear, men like to be tormented! Certain ways of teasing are a +proof of affection. If your poor mother had only been--I will not say +exacting, but always prepared to be exacting, you would not have had so +much to grieve over." + +"Lisbeth is not come back. I shall have to sing the song +of _Malbrouck_," said Hortense. "I do long for some news of +Wenceslas!--What does he live on? He has not done a thing these two +years." + +"Victorin saw him, he told me, with that horrible woman not long ago; +and he fancied that she maintains him in idleness.--If you only would, +dear soul, you might bring your husband back to you yet." + +Hortense shook her head. + +"Believe me," Celestine went on, "the position will ere long be +intolerable. In the first instance, rage, despair, indignation, gave you +strength. The awful disasters that have come upon us since--two deaths, +ruin, and the disappearance of Baron Hulot--have occupied your mind and +heart; but now you live in peace and silence, you will find it hard to +bear the void in your life; and as you cannot, and will never leave the +path of virtue, you will have to be reconciled to Wenceslas. Victorin, +who loves you so much, is of that opinion. There is something stronger +than one's feelings even, and that is Nature!" + +"But such a mean creature!" cried the proud Hortense. "He cares for +that woman because she feeds him.--And has she paid his debts, do you +suppose?--Good Heaven! I think of that man's position day and night! He +is the father of my child, and he is degrading himself." + +"But look at your mother, my dear," said Celestine. + +Celestine was one of those women who, when you have given them reasons +enough to convince a Breton peasant, still go back for the hundredth +time to their original argument. The character of her face, somewhat +flat, dull, and common, her light-brown hair in stiff, neat bands, her +very complexion spoke of a sensible woman, devoid of charm, but also +devoid of weakness. + +"The Baroness would willingly go to join her husband in his disgrace, +to comfort him and hide him in her heart from every eye," Celestine went +on. "Why, she has a room made ready upstairs for Monsieur Hulot, as if +she expected to find him and bring him home from one day to the next." + +"Oh yes, my mother is sublime!" replied Hortense. "She has been so every +minute of every day for six-and-twenty years; but I am not like her, it +is not my nature.--How can I help it? I am angry with myself sometimes; +but you do not know, Celestine, what it would be to make terms with +infamy." + +"There is my father!" said Celestine placidly. "He has certainly started +on the road that ruined yours. He is ten years younger than the Baron, +to be sure, and was only a tradesman; but how can it end? This Madame +Marneffe has made a slave of my father; he is her dog; she is mistress +of his fortune and his opinions, and nothing can open his eyes. I +tremble when I remember that their banns of marriage are already +published!--My husband means to make a last attempt; he thinks it a duty +to try to avenge society and the family, and bring that woman to account +for all her crimes. Alas! my dear Hortense, such lofty souls as Victorin +and hearts like ours come too late to a comprehension of the world and +its ways!--This is a secret, dear, and I have told you because you are +interested in it, but never by a word or a look betray it to Lisbeth, or +your mother, or anybody, for--" + +"Here is Lisbeth!" said Hortense. "Well, cousin, and how is the Inferno +of the Rue Barbet going on?" + +"Badly for you, my children.--Your husband, my dear Hortense, is more +crazy about that woman than ever, and she, I must own, is madly in love +with him.--Your father, dear Celestine, is gloriously blind. That, to +be sure, is nothing; I have had occasion to see it once a fortnight; +really, I am lucky never to have had anything to do with men, they are +besotted creatures.--Five days hence you, dear child, and Victorin will +have lost your father's fortune." + +"Then the banns are cried?" said Celestine. + +"Yes," said Lisbeth, "and I have just been arguing your case. I pointed +out to that monster, who is going the way of the other, that if he +would only get you out of the difficulties you are in by paying off the +mortgage on the house, you would show your gratitude and receive your +stepmother--" + +Hortense started in horror. + +"Victorin will see about that," said Celestine coldly. + +"But do you know what Monsieur le Maire's answer was?" said Lisbeth. "'I +mean to leave them where they are. Horses can only be broken in by lack +of food, sleep, and sugar.'--Why, Baron Hulot was not so bad as Monsieur +Crevel. + +"So, my poor dears, you may say good-bye to the money. And such a fine +fortune! Your father paid three million francs for the Presles estate, +and he has thirty thousand francs a year in stocks! Oh!--he has no +secrets from me. He talks of buying the Hotel de Navarreins, in the +Rue du Bac. Madame Marneffe herself has forty thousand francs a +year.--Ah!--here is our guardian angel, here comes your mother!" she +exclaimed, hearing the rumble of wheels. + +And presently the Baroness came down the garden steps and joined the +party. At fifty-five, though crushed by so many troubles, and constantly +trembling as if shivering with ague, Adeline, whose face was indeed +pale and wrinkled, still had a fine figure, a noble outline, and natural +dignity. Those who saw her said, "She must have been beautiful!" Worn +with the grief of not knowing her husband's fate, of being unable +to share with him this oasis in the heart of Paris, this peace and +seclusion and the better fortune that was dawning on the family, her +beauty was the beauty of a ruin. As each gleam of hope died out, each +day of search proved vain, Adeline sank into fits of deep melancholy +that drove her children to despair. + +The Baroness had gone out that morning with fresh hopes, and was +anxiously expected. An official, who was under obligations to Hulot, to +whom he owed his position and advancement, declared that he had seen +the Baron in a box at the Ambigu-Comique theatre with a woman of +extraordinary beauty. So Adeline had gone to call on the Baron Verneuil. +This important personage, while asserting that he had positively seen +his old patron, and that his behaviour to the woman indicated an illicit +establishment, told Madame Hulot that to avoid meeting him the Baron had +left long before the end of the play. + +"He looked like a man at home with the damsel, but his dress betrayed +some lack of means," said he in conclusion. + +"Well?" said the three women as the Baroness came towards them. + +"Well, Monsieur Hulot is in Paris; and to me," said Adeline, "it is a +gleam of happiness only to know that he is within reach of us." + +"But he does not seem to have mended his ways," Lisbeth remarked when +Adeline had finished her report of her visit to Baron Verneuil. "He has +taken up some little work-girl. But where can he get the money from? +I could bet that he begs of his former mistresses--Mademoiselle Jenny +Cadine or Josepha." + +The Baroness trembled more severely than ever; every nerve quivered; she +wiped away the tears that rose to her eyes and looked mournfully up to +heaven. + +"I cannot think that a Grand Commander of the Legion of Honor will have +fallen so low," said she. + +"For his pleasure what would he not do?" said Lisbeth. "He robbed the +State, he will rob private persons, commit murder--who knows?" + +"Oh, Lisbeth!" cried the Baroness, "keep such thoughts to yourself." + +At this moment Louise came up to the family group, now increased by the +arrival of the two Hulot children and little Wenceslas to see if their +grandmother's pockets did not contain some sweetmeats. + +"What is it, Louise?" asked one and another. + +"A man who wants to see Mademoiselle Fischer." + +"Who is the man?" asked Lisbeth. + +"He is in rags, mademoiselle, and covered with flue like a +mattress-picker; his nose is red, and he smells of brandy.--He is one of +those men who work half of the week at most." + +This uninviting picture had the effect of making Lisbeth hurry into the +courtyard of the house in the Rue Louis-le-Grand, where she found a man +smoking a pipe colored in a style that showed him an artist in tobacco. + +"Why have you come here, Pere Chardin?" she asked. "It is understood +that you go, on the first Saturday in every month, to the gate of the +Hotel Marneffe, Rue Barbet-de-Jouy. I have just come back after waiting +there for five hours, and you did not come." + +"I did go there, good and charitable lady!" replied the mattress-picker. +"But there was a game at pool going on at the Cafe des Savants, Rue du +Cerf-Volant, and every man has his fancy. Now, mine is billiards. If it +wasn't for billiards, I might be eating off silver plate. For, I tell +you this," and he fumbled for a scrap of paper in his ragged trousers +pocket, "it is billiards that leads on to a dram and plum-brandy.--It +is ruinous, like all fine things, in the things it leads to. I know +your orders, but the old 'un is in such a quandary that I came on to +forbidden grounds.--If the hair was all hair, we might sleep sound on +it; but it is mixed. God is not for all, as the saying goes. He has +His favorites--well, He has the right. Now, here is the writing of your +estimable relative and my very good friend--his political opinion." + +Chardin attempted to trace some zigzag lines in the air with the +forefinger of his right hand. + +Lisbeth, not listening to him, read these few words: + + "DEAR COUSIN,--Be my Providence; give me three hundred francs this + day. + +"HECTOR." + + +"What does he want so much money for?" + +"The lan'lord!" said Chardin, still trying to sketch arabesques. "And +then my son, you see, has come back from Algiers through Spain and +Bayonee, and, and--he has _found_ nothing--against his rule, for a sharp +cove is my son, saving your presence. How can he help it, he is in want +of food; but he will repay all we lend him, for he is going to get up a +company. He has ideas, he has, that will carry him--" + +"To the police court," Lisbeth put in. "He murdered my uncle; I shall +not forget that." + +"He--why, he could not bleed a chicken, honorable lady." + +"Here are the three hundred francs," said Lisbeth, taking fifteen gold +pieces out of her purse. "Now, go, and never come here again." + +She saw the father of the Oran storekeeper off the premises, and pointed +out the drunken old creature to the porter. + +"At any time when that man comes here, if by chance he should come +again, do not let him in. If he should ask whether Monsieur Hulot junior +or Madame la Baronne Hulot lives here, tell him you know of no such +persons." + +"Very good, mademoiselle." + +"Your place depends on it if you make any mistake, even without +intending it," said Lisbeth, in the woman's ear.--"Cousin," she went on +to Victorin, who just now came in, "a great misfortune is hanging over +your head." + +"What is that?" said Victorin. + +"Within a few days Madame Marneffe will be your wife's stepmother." + +"That remains to be seen," replied Victorin. + +For six months past Lisbeth had very regularly paid a little allowance +to Baron Hulot, her former protector, whom she now protected; she knew +the secret of his dwelling-place, and relished Adeline's tears, saying +to her, as we have seen, when she saw her cheerful and hopeful, "You may +expect to find my poor cousin's name in the papers some day under the +heading 'Police Report.'" + +But in this, as on a former occasion, she let her vengeance carry her +too far. She had aroused the prudent suspicions of Victorin. He had +resolved to be rid of this Damocles' sword so constantly flourished +over them by Lisbeth, and of the female demon to whom his mother and the +family owed so many woes. The Prince de Wissembourg, knowing all +about Madame Marneffe's conduct, approved of the young lawyer's secret +project; he had promised him, as a President of the Council can promise, +the secret assistance of the police, to enlighten Crevel and rescue +a fine fortune from the clutches of the diabolical courtesan, whom he +could not forgive either for causing the death of Marshal Hulot or for +the Baron's utter ruin. + + + +The words spoken by Lisbeth, "He begs of his former mistresses," haunted +the Baroness all night. Like sick men given over by the physicians, +who have recourse to quacks, like men who have fallen into the lowest +Dantesque circle of despair, or drowning creatures who mistake a +floating stick for a hawser, she ended by believing in the baseness of +which the mere idea had horrified her; and it occurred to her that she +might apply for help to one of those terrible women. + +Next morning, without consulting her children or saying a word to +anybody, she went to see Mademoiselle Josepha Mirah, prima donna of the +Royal Academy of Music, to find or to lose the hope that had gleamed +before her like a will-o'-the-wisp. At midday, the great singer's +waiting-maid brought her in the card of the Baronne Hulot, saying that +this person was waiting at the door, having asked whether Mademoiselle +could receive her. + +"Are the rooms done?" + +"Yes, mademoiselle." + +"And the flowers fresh?" + +"Yes, mademoiselle." + +"Just tell Jean to look round and see that everything is as it should be +before showing the lady in, and treat her with the greatest respect. Go, +and come back to dress me--I must look my very best." + +She went to study herself in the long glass. + +"Now, to put our best foot foremost!" said she to herself. "Vice under +arms to meet virtue!--Poor woman, what can she want of me? I cannot bear +to see. + + "The noble victim of outrageous fortune!" + +And she sang through the famous aria as the maid came in again. + +"Madame," said the girl, "the lady has a nervous trembling--" + +"Offer her some orange-water, some rum, some broth--" + +"I did, mademoiselle; but she declines everything, and says it is an +infirmity, a nervous complaint--" + +"Where is she?" + +"In the big drawing-room." + +"Well, make haste, child. Give me my smartest slippers, the +dressing-gown embroidered by Bijou, and no end of lace frills. Do my +hair in a way to astonish a woman.--This woman plays a part against +mine; and tell the lady--for she is a real, great lady, my girl, nay, +more, she is what you will never be, a woman whose prayers can rescue +souls from your purgatory--tell her I was in bed, as I was playing last +night, and that I am just getting up." + +The Baroness, shown into Josepha's handsome drawing-room, did not note +how long she was kept waiting there, though it was a long half hour. +This room, entirely redecorated even since Josepha had had the house, +was hung with silk in purple and gold color. The luxury which fine +gentlemen were wont to lavish on their _petites maisons_, the scenes of +their profligacy, of which the remains still bear witness to the follies +from which they were so aptly named, was displayed to perfection, thanks +to modern inventiveness, in the four rooms opening into each other, +where the warm temperature was maintained by a system of hot-air pipes +with invisible openings. + +The Baroness, quite bewildered, examined each work of art with the +greatest amazement. Here she found fortunes accounted for that melt in +the crucible under which pleasure and vanity feed the devouring flames. +This woman, who for twenty-six years had lived among the dead relics of +imperial magnificence, whose eyes were accustomed to carpets patterned +with faded flowers, rubbed gilding, silks as forlorn as her heart, half +understood the powerful fascinations of vice as she studied its results. +It was impossible not to wish to possess these beautiful things, these +admirable works of art, the creation of the unknown talent which abounds +in Paris in our day and produces treasures for all Europe. Each thing +had the novel charm of unique perfection. The models being destroyed, +every vase, every figure, every piece of sculpture was the original. +This is the crowning grace of modern luxury. To own the thing which +is not vulgarized by the two thousand wealthy citizens whose notion of +luxury is the lavish display of the splendors that shops can supply, is +the stamp of true luxury--the luxury of the fine gentlemen of the day, +the shooting stars of the Paris firmament. + +As she examined the flower-stands, filled with the choicest exotic +plants, mounted in chased brass and inlaid in the style of Boulle, the +Baroness was scared by the idea of the wealth in this apartment. And +this impression naturally shed a glamour over the person round whom all +this profusion was heaped. Adeline imagined that Josepha Mirah--whose +portrait by Joseph Bridau was the glory of the adjoining boudoir--must +be a singer of genius, a Malibran, and she expected to see a real star. +She was sorry she had come. But she had been prompted by a strong and +so natural a feeling, by such purely disinterested devotion, that she +collected all her courage for the interview. Besides, she was about to +satisfy her urgent curiosity, to see for herself what was the charm +of this kind of women, that they could extract so much gold from the +miserly ore of Paris mud. + +The Baroness looked at herself to see if she were not a blot on all this +splendor; but she was well dressed in her velvet gown, with a little +cape trimmed with beautiful lace, and her velvet bonnet of the same +shade was becoming. Seeing herself still as imposing as any queen, +always a queen even in her fall, she reflected that the dignity of +sorrow was a match for the dignity of talent. + +At last, after much opening and shutting of doors, she saw Josepha. The +singer bore a strong resemblance to Allori's _Judith_, which dwells in +the memory of all who have ever seen it in the Pitti palace, near the +door of one of the great rooms. She had the same haughty mien, the same +fine features, black hair simply knotted, and a yellow wrapper with +little embroidered flowers, exactly like the brocade worn by the +immortal homicide conceived of by Bronzino's nephew. + +"Madame la Baronne, I am quite overwhelmed by the honor you do me in +coming here," said the singer, resolved to play her part as a great lady +with a grace. + +She pushed forward an easy-chair for the Baroness and seated herself on +a stool. She discerned the faded beauty of the woman before her, and was +filled with pity as she saw her shaken by the nervous palsy that, on +the least excitement, became convulsive. She could read at a glance the +saintly life described to her of old by Hulot and Crevel; and she not +only ceased to think of a contest with her, she humiliated herself +before a superiority she appreciated. The great artist could admire what +the courtesan laughed to scorn. + +"Mademoiselle, despair brought me here. It reduces us to any means--" + +A look in Josepha's face made the Baroness feel that she had wounded +the woman from whom she hoped for so much, and she looked at her. Her +beseeching eyes extinguished the flash in Josepha's; the singer smiled. +It was a wordless dialogue of pathetic eloquence. + +"It is now two years and a half since Monsieur Hulot left his family, +and I do not know where to find him, though I know that he lives in +Paris," said the Baroness with emotion. "A dream suggested to me the +idea--an absurd one perhaps--that you may have interested yourself in +Monsieur Hulot. If you could enable me to see him--oh! mademoiselle, I +would pray Heaven for you every day as long as I live in this world--" + +Two large tears in the singer's eyes told what her reply would be. + +"Madame," said she, "I have done you an injury without knowing you; but, +now that I have the happiness of seeing in you the most perfect virtue +on earth, believe me I am sensible of the extent of my fault; I repent +sincerely, and believe me, I will do all in my power to remedy it!" + +She took Madame Hulot's hand and before the lady could do anything to +hinder her, she kissed it respectfully, even humbling herself to bend +one knee. Then she rose, as proud as when she stood on the stage in the +part of _Mathilde_, and rang the bell. + +"Go on horseback," said she to the man-servant, "and kill the horse if +you must, to find little Bijou, Rue Saint-Maur-du-Temple, and bring her +here. Put her into a coach and pay the coachman to come at a gallop. Do +not lose a moment--or you lose your place. + +"Madame," she went on, coming back to the Baroness, and speaking to +her in respectful tones, "you must forgive me. As soon as the Duc +d'Herouville became my protector, I dismissed the Baron, having heard +that he was ruining his family for me. What more could I do? In an +actress' career a protector is indispensable from the first day of her +appearance on the boards. Our salaries do not pay half our expenses; we +must have a temporary husband. I did not value Monsieur Hulot, who took +me away from a rich man, a conceited idiot. Old Crevel would undoubtedly +have married me--" + +"So he told me," said the Baroness, interrupting her. + +"Well, then, you see, madame, I might at this day have been an honest +woman, with only one legitimate husband!" + +"You have many excuses, mademoiselle," said Adeline, "and God will take +them into account. But, for my part, far from reproaching you, I came, +on the contrary, to make myself your debtor in gratitude--" + +"Madame, for nearly three years I have provided for Monsieur le Baron's +necessities--" + +"You?" interrupted the Baroness, with tears in her eyes. "Oh, what can I +do for you? I can only pray--" + +"I and Monsieur le Duc d'Herouville," the singer said, "a noble soul, +a true gentleman--" and Josepha related the settling and _marriage_ of +Monsieur Thoul. + +"And so, thanks to you, mademoiselle, the Baron has wanted nothing?" + +"We have done our best to that end, madame." + +"And where is he now?" + +"About six months ago, Monsieur le Duc told me that the Baron, known to +the notary by the name of Thoul, had drawn all the eight thousand +francs that were to have been paid to him in fixed sums once a quarter," +replied Josepha. "We have heard no more of the Baron, neither I nor +Monsieur d'Herouville. Our lives are so full, we artists are so busy, +that I really have not time to run after old Thoul. As it happens, for +the last six months, Bijou, who works for me--his--what shall I say--?" + +"His mistress," said Madame Hulot. + +"His mistress," repeated Josepha, "has not been here. Mademoiselle +Olympe Bijou is perhaps divorced. Divorce is common in the thirteenth +arrondissement." + +Josepha rose, and foraging among the rare plants in her stands, made a +charming bouquet for Madame Hulot, whose expectations, it may be said, +were by no means fulfilled. Like those worthy fold, who take men of +genius to be a sort of monsters, eating, drinking, walking, and speaking +unlike other people, the Baroness had hoped to see Josepha the opera +singer, the witch, the amorous and amusing courtesan; she saw a calm and +well-mannered woman, with the dignity of talent, the simplicity of an +actress who knows herself to be at night a queen, and also, better than +all, a woman of the town whose eyes, attitude, and demeanor paid full +and ungrudging homage to the virtuous wife, the _Mater dolorosa_ of +the sacred hymn, and who was crowning her sorrows with flowers, as the +Madonna is crowned in Italy. + +"Madame," said the man-servant, reappearing at the end of half an hour, +"Madame Bijou is on her way, but you are not to expect little Olympe. +Your needle-woman, madame, is settled in life; she is married--" + +"More or less?" said Josepha. + +"No, madame, really married. She is at the head of a very fine business; +she has married the owner of a large and fashionable shop, on which they +have spent millions of francs, on the Boulevard des Italiens; and she +has left the embroidery business to her sister and mother. She is Madame +Grenouville. The fat tradesman--" + +"A Crevel?" + +"Yes, madame," said the man. "Well, he has settled thirty thousand +francs a year on Mademoiselle Bijou by the marriage articles. And her +elder sister, they say, is going to be married to a rich butcher." + +"Your business looks rather hopeless, I am afraid," said Josepha to the +Baroness. "Monsieur le Baron is no longer where I lodged him." + +Ten minutes later Madame Bijou was announced. Josepha very prudently +placed the Baroness in the boudoir, and drew the curtain over the door. + +"You would scare her," said she to Madame Hulot. "She would let nothing +out if she suspected that you were interested in the information. Leave +me to catechise her. Hide there, and you will hear everything. It is a +scene that is played quite as often in real life as on the stage--" + +"Well, Mother Bijou," she said to an old woman dressed in tartan stuff, +and who looked like a porter's wife in her Sunday best, "so you are all +very happy? Your daughter is in luck." + +"Oh, happy? As for that!--My daughter gives us a hundred francs a +month, while she rides in a carriage and eats off silver plate--she is a +millionary, is my daughter! Olympe might have lifted me above labor. To +have to work at my age? Is that being good to me?" + +"She ought not to be ungrateful, for she owes her beauty to you," +replied Josepha; "but why did she not come to see me? It was I who +placed her in ease by settling her with my uncle." + +"Yes, madame, with old Monsieur Thoul, but he is very old and broken--" + +"But what have you done with him? Is he with you? She was very foolish +to leave him; he is worth millions now." + +"Heaven above us!" cried the mother. "What did I tell her when she +behaved so badly to him, and he as mild as milk, poor old fellow? Oh! +didn't she just give it him hot?--Olympe was perverted, madame?" + +"But how?" + +"She got to know a _claqueur_, madame, saving your presence, a man paid +to clap, you know, the grand nephew of an old mattress-picker of the +Faubourg Saint-Marceau. This good-for-naught, as all your good-looking +fellows are, paid to make a piece go, is the cock of the walk out on +the Boulevard du Temple, where he works up the new plays, and takes care +that the actresses get a reception, as he calls it. First, he has a good +breakfast in the morning; then, before the play, he dines, to be 'up +to the mark,' as he says; in short, he is a born lover of billiards and +drams. 'But that is not following a trade,' as I said to Olympe." + +"It is a trade men follow, unfortunately," said Josepha. + +"Well, the rascal turned Olympe's head, and he, madame, did not keep +good company--when I tell you he was very near being nabbed by the +police in a tavern where thieves meet. 'Wever, Monsieur Braulard, the +leader of the claque, got him out of that. He wears gold earrings, and +he lives by doing nothing, hanging on to women, who are fools about +these good-looking scamps. He spent all the money Monsieur Thoul used to +give the child. + +"Then the business was going to grief; what embroidery brought in went +out across the billiard table. 'Wever, the young fellow had a pretty +sister, madame, who, like her brother, lived by hook and by crook, and +no better than she should be neither, over in the students' quarter." + +"One of the sluts at the Chaumiere," said Josepha. + +"So, madame," said the old woman. "So Idamore, his name is Idamore, +leastways that is what he calls himself, for his real name is +Chardin--Idamore fancied that your uncle had a deal more money than he +owned to, and he managed to send his sister Elodie--and that was a stage +name he gave her--to send her to be a workwoman at our place, without +my daughter's knowing who she was; and, gracious goodness! but that girl +turned the whole place topsy-turvy; she got all those poor girls into +mischief--impossible to whitewash them, saving your presence---- + +"And she was so sharp, she won over poor old Thoul, and took him away, +and we don't know where, and left us in a pretty fix, with a lot of +bills coming in. To this day as ever is we have not been able to settle +up; but my daughter, who knows all about such things, keeps an eye on +them as they fall due.--Then, when Idamore saw he had got hold of the +old man, through his sister, you understand, he threw over my daughter, +and now he has got hold of a little actress at the _Funambules_.--And +that was how my daughter came to get married, as you will see--" + +"But you must know where the mattress-picker lives?" said Josepha. + +"What! old Chardin? As if he lived anywhere at all!--He is drunk by six +in the morning; he makes a mattress once a month; he hangs about the +wineshops all day; he plays at pools--" + +"He plays at pools?" said Josepha. + +"You do not understand, madame, pools of billiards, I mean, and he wins +three or four a day, and then he drinks." + +"Water out of the pools, I suppose?" said Josepha. "But if Idamore +haunts the Boulevard, by inquiring through my friend Vraulard, we could +find him." + +"I don't know, madame; all this was six months ago. Idamore was one of +the sort who are bound to find their way into the police courts, and +from that to Melun--and the--who knows--?" + +"To the prison yard!" said Josepha. + +"Well, madame, you know everything," said the old woman, smiling. "Well, +if my girl had never known that scamp, she would now be--Still, she was +in luck, all the same, you will say, for Monsieur Grenouville fell so +much in love with her that he married her--" + +"And what brought that about?" + +"Olympe was desperate, madame. When she found herself left in the lurch +for that little actress--and she took a rod out of pickle for her, I can +tell you; my word, but she gave her a dressing!--and when she had lost +poor old Thoul, who worshiped her, she would have nothing more to say to +the men. 'Wever, Monsieur Grenouville, who had been dealing largely +with us--to the tune of two hundred embroidered China-crape shawls every +quarter--he wanted to console her; but whether or no, she would not +listen to anything without the mayor and the priest. 'I mean to be +respectable,' said she, 'or perish!' and she stuck to it. Monsieur +Grenouville consented to marry her, on condition of her giving us all +up, and we agreed--" + +"For a handsome consideration?" said Josepha, with her usual +perspicacity. + +"Yes, madame, ten thousand francs, and an allowance to my father, who is +past work." + +"I begged your daughter to make old Thoul happy, and she has thrown +me over. That is not fair. I will take no interest in any one for the +future! That is what comes of trying to do good! Benevolence certainly +does not answer as a speculation!--Olympe ought, at least, to have given +me notice of this jobbing. Now, if you find the old man Thoul within a +fortnight, I will give you a thousand francs." + +"It will be a hard task, my good lady; still, there are a good many +five-franc pieces in a thousand francs, and I will try to earn your +money." + +"Good-morning, then, Madame Bijou." + +On going into the boudoir, the singer found that Madame Hulot had +fainted; but in spite of having lost consciousness, her nervous +trembling kept her still perpetually shaking, as the pieces of a snake +that has been cut up still wriggle and move. Strong salts, cold water, +and all the ordinary remedies were applied to recall the Baroness to her +senses, or rather, to the apprehension of her sorrows. + +"Ah! mademoiselle, how far has he fallen!" cried she, recognizing +Josepha, and finding that she was alone with her. + +"Take heart, madame," replied the actress, who had seated herself on +a cushion at Adeline's feet, and was kissing her hands. "We shall find +him; and if he is in the mire, well, he must wash himself. Believe me, +with people of good breeding it is a matter of clothes.--Allow me to +make up for you the harm I have done you, for I see how much you are +attached to your husband, in spite of his misconduct--or you should not +have come here.--Well, you see, the poor man is so fond of women. If you +had had a little of our dash, you would have kept him from running about +the world; for you would have been what we can never be--all the women +man wants. + +"The State ought to subsidize a school of manners for honest women! +But governments are so prudish! Still, they are guided by men, whom we +privately guide. My word, I pity nations! + +"But the matter in question is how you can be helped, and not to laugh +at the world.--Well, madame, be easy, go home again, and do not worry. I +will bring your Hector back to you as he was as a man of thirty." + +"Ah, mademoiselle, let us go to see that Madame Grenouville," said the +Baroness. "She surely knows something! Perhaps I may see the Baron this +very day, and be able to snatch him at once from poverty and disgrace." + +"Madame, I will show you the deep gratitude I feel towards you by not +displaying the stage-singer Josepha, the Duc d'Herouville's mistress, +in the company of the noblest, saintliest image of virtue. I respect +you too much to be seen by your side. This is not acted humility; it is +sincere homage. You make me sorry, madame, that I cannot tread in your +footsteps, in spite of the thorns that tear your feet and hands.--But it +cannot be helped! I am one with art, as you are one with virtue." + +"Poor child!" said the Baroness, moved amid her own sorrows by a strange +sense of compassionate sympathy; "I will pray to God for you; for you +are the victim of society, which must have theatres. When you are old, +repent--you will be heard if God vouchsafes to hear the prayers of a--" + +"Of a martyr, madame," Josepha put in, and she respectfully kissed the +Baroness' skirt. + +But Adeline took the actress' hand, and drawing her towards her, kissed +her on the forehead. Coloring with pleasure Josepha saw the Baroness +into the hackney coach with the humblest politeness. + +"It must be some visiting Lady of Charity," said the man-servant to the +maid, "for she does not do so much for any one, not even for her dear +friend Madame Jenny Cadine." + +"Wait a few days," said she, "and you will see him, madame, or I +renounce the God of my fathers--and that from a Jewess, you know, is a +promise of success." + + + +At the very time when Madame Hulot was calling on Josepha, Victorin, +in his study, was receiving an old woman of about seventy-five, who, to +gain admission to the lawyer, had used the terrible name of the head of +the detective force. The man in waiting announced: + +"Madame de Saint-Esteve." + +"I have assumed one of my business names," said she, taking a seat. + +Victorin felt a sort of internal chill at the sight of this dreadful old +woman. Though handsomely dressed, she was terrible to look upon, for her +flat, colorless, strongly-marked face, furrowed with wrinkles, expressed +a sort of cold malignity. Marat, as a woman of that age, might have been +like this creature, a living embodiment of the Reign of Terror. + +This sinister old woman's small, pale eyes twinkled with a tiger's +bloodthirsty greed. Her broad, flat nose, with nostrils expanded into +oval cavities, breathed the fires of hell, and resembled the beak of +some evil bird of prey. The spirit of intrigue lurked behind her low, +cruel brow. Long hairs had grown from her wrinkled chin, betraying the +masculine character of her schemes. Any one seeing that woman's +face would have said that artists had failed in their conceptions of +Mephistopheles. + +"My dear sir," she began, with a patronizing air, "I have long since +given up active business of any kind. What I have come to you to do, I +have undertaken, for the sake of my dear nephew, whom I love more than +I could love a son of my own.--Now, the Head of the Police--to whom +the President of the Council said a few words in his ear as regards +yourself, in talking to Monsieur Chapuzot--thinks as the police ought +not to appear in a matter of this description, you understand. They gave +my nephew a free hand, but my nephew will have nothing to say to it, +except as before the Council; he will not be seen in it." + +"Then your nephew is--" + +"You have hit it, and I am rather proud of him," said she, interrupting +the lawyer, "for he is my pupil, and he soon could teach his +teacher.--We have considered this case, and have come to our own +conclusions. Will you hand over thirty thousand francs to have the whole +thing taken off your hands? I will make a clean sweep of all, and you +need not pay till the job is done." + +"Do you know the persons concerned?" + +"No, my dear sir; I look for information from you. What we are told is, +that a certain old idiot has fallen into the clutches of a widow. This +widow, of nine-and-twenty, has played her cards so well, that she has +forty thousand francs a year, of which she has robbed two fathers of +families. She is now about to swallow down eighty thousand francs a year +by marrying an old boy of sixty-one. She will thus ruin a respectable +family, and hand over this vast fortune to the child of some lover by +getting rid at once of the old husband.--That is the case as stated." + +"Quite correct," said Victorin. "My father-in-law, Monsieur Crevel--" + +"Formerly a perfumer, a mayor--yes, I live in his district under the +name of Ma'ame Nourrisson," said the woman. + +"The other person is Madame Marneffe." + +"I do not know," said Madame de Saint-Esteve. "But within three days I +will be in a position to count her shifts." + +"Can you hinder the marriage?" asked Victorin. + +"How far have they got?" + +"To the second time of asking." + +"We must carry off the woman.--To-day is Sunday--there are but +three days, for they will be married on Wednesday, no doubt; it is +impossible.--But she may be killed--" + +Victorin Hulot started with an honest man's horror at hearing these five +words uttered in cold blood. + +"Murder?" said he. "And how could you do it?" + +"For forty years, now, monsieur, we have played the part of fate," +replied she, with terrible pride, "and do just what we will in Paris. +More than one family--even in the Faubourg Saint-Germain--has told me +all its secrets, I can tell you. I have made and spoiled many a match, +I have destroyed many a will and saved many a man's honor. I have in +there," and she tapped her forehead, "a store of secrets which are worth +thirty-six thousand francs a year to me; and you--you will be one of my +lambs, hoh! Could such a woman as I am be what I am if she revealed her +ways and means? I act. + +"Whatever I may do, sir, will be the result of an accident; you need +feel no remorse. You will be like a man cured by a clairvoyant; by the +end of a month, it seems all the work of Nature." + +Victorin broke out in a cold sweat. The sight of an executioner would +have shocked him less than this prolix and pretentious Sister of the +Hulks. As he looked at her purple-red gown, she seemed to him dyed in +blood. + +"Madame, I do not accept the help of your experience and skill if +success is to cost anybody's life, or the least criminal act is to come +of it." + +"You are a great baby, monsieur," replied the woman; "you wish to remain +blameless in your own eyes, while you want your enemy to be overthrown." + +Victorin shook his head in denial. + +"Yes," she went on, "you want this Madame Marneffe to drop the prey she +has between her teeth. But how do you expect to make a tiger drop his +piece of beef? Can you do it by patting his back and saying, 'Poor +Puss'? You are illogical. You want a battle fought, but you object to +blows.--Well, I grant you the innocence you are so careful over. I have +always found that there was material for hypocrisy in honesty! One day, +three months hence, a poor priest will come to beg of you forty thousand +francs for a pious work--a convent to be rebuilt in the Levant--in +the desert.--If you are satisfied with your lot, give the good man the +money. You will pay more than that into the treasury. It will be a mere +trifle in comparison with what you will get, I can tell you." + +She rose, standing on the broad feet that seemed to overflow her satin +shoes; she smiled, bowed, and vanished. + +"The Devil has a sister," said Victorin, rising. + +He saw the hideous stranger to the door, a creature called up from the +dens of the police, as on the stage a monster comes up from the third +cellar at the touch of a fairy's wand in a ballet-extravaganza. + +After finishing what he had to do at the Courts, Victorin went to call +on Monsieur Chapuzot, the head of one of the most important branches of +the Central Police, to make some inquiries about the stranger. Finding +Monsieur Chapuzot alone in his office, Victorin thanked him for his +help. + +"You sent me an old woman who might stand for the incarnation of the +criminal side of Paris." + +Monsieur Chapuzot laid his spectacles on his papers and looked at the +lawyer with astonishment. + +"I should not have taken the liberty of sending anybody to see you +without giving you notice beforehand, or a line of introduction," said +he. + +"Then it was Monsieur le Prefet--?" + +"I think not," said Chapuzot. "The last time that the Prince de +Wissembourg dined with the Minister of the Interior, he spoke to +the Prefet of the position in which you find yourself--a deplorable +position--and asked him if you could be helped in any friendly way. The +Prefet, who was interested by the regrets his Excellency expressed as to +this family affair, did me the honor to consult me about it. + +"Ever since the present Prefet has held the reins of this department--so +useful and so vilified--he has made it a rule that family matters are +never to be interfered in. He is right in principle and in morality; but +in practice he is wrong. In the forty-five years that I have served +in the police, it did, from 1799 till 1815, great services in family +concerns. Since 1820 a constitutional government and the press have +completely altered the conditions of existence. So my advice, indeed, +was not to intervene in such a case, and the Prefet did me the honor to +agree with my remarks. The Head of the detective branch has orders, in +my presence, to take no steps; so if you have had any one sent to you +by him, he will be reprimanded. It might cost him his place. 'The Police +will do this or that,' is easily said; the Police, the Police! But, my +dear sir, the Marshal and the Ministerial Council do not know what the +Police is. The Police alone knows the Police; but as for ours, only +Fouche, Monsieur Lenoir, and Monsieur de Sartines have had any notion of +it.--Everything is changed now; we are reduced and disarmed! I have seen +many private disasters develop, which I could have checked with five +grains of despotic power.--We shall be regretted by the very men who +have crippled us when they, like you, stand face to face with some moral +monstrosities, which ought to be swept away as we sweep away mud! In +public affairs the Police is expected to foresee everything, or when the +safety of the public is involved--but the family?--It is sacred! I would +do my utmost to discover and hinder a plot against the King's life, I +would see through the walls of a house; but as to laying a finger on a +household, or peeping into private interests--never, so long as I sit in +this office. I should be afraid." + +"Of what?" + +"Of the Press, Monsieur le Depute, of the left centre." + +"What, then, can I do?" said Hulot, after a pause. + +"Well, you are the Family," said the official. "That settles it; you can +do what you please. But as to helping you, as to using the Police as an +instrument of private feelings, and interests, how is it possible? There +lies, you see, the secret of the persecution, necessary, but pronounced +illegal, by the Bench, which was brought to bear against the predecessor +of our present chief detective. Bibi-Lupin undertook investigations +for the benefit of private persons. This might have led to great +social dangers. With the means at his command, the man would have been +formidable, an underlying fate--" + +"But in my place?" said Hulot. + +"Why, you ask my advice? You who sell it!" replied Monsieur Chapuzot. +"Come, come, my dear sir, you are making fun of me." + +Hulot bowed to the functionary, and went away without seeing that +gentleman's almost imperceptible shrug as he rose to open the door. + +"And he wants to be a statesman!" said Chapuzot to himself as he +returned to his reports. + +Victorin went home, still full of perplexities which he could confide to +no one. + +At dinner the Baroness joyfully announced to her children that within a +month their father might be sharing their comforts, and end his days in +peace among his family. + +"Oh, I would gladly give my three thousand six hundred francs a year to +see the Baron here!" cried Lisbeth. "But, my dear Adeline, do not dream +beforehand of such happiness, I entreat you!" + +"Lisbeth is right," said Celestine. "My dear mother, wait till the end." + +The Baroness, all feeling and all hope, related her visit to Josepha, +expressed her sense of the misery of such women in the midst of good +fortune, and mentioned Chardin the mattress-picker, the father of the +Oran storekeeper, thus showing that her hopes were not groundless. + + + +By seven next morning Lisbeth had driven in a hackney coach to the Quai +de la Tournelle, and stopped the vehicle at the corner of the Rue de +Poissy. + +"Go to the Rue des Bernardins," said she to the driver, "No. 7, a house +with an entry and no porter. Go up to the fourth floor, ring at the +door to the left, on which you will see 'Mademoiselle Chardin--Lace and +shawls mended.' She will answer the door. Ask for the Chevalier. She +will say he is out. Say in reply, 'Yes, I know, but find him, for his +_bonne_ is out on the quay in a coach, and wants to see him.'" + +Twenty minutes later, an old man, who looked about eighty, with +perfectly white hair, and a nose reddened by the cold, and a pale, +wrinkled face like an old woman's, came shuffling slowly along in list +slippers, a shiny alpaca overcoat hanging on his stooping shoulders, no +ribbon at his buttonhole, the sleeves of an under-vest showing below +his coat-cuffs, and his shirt-front unpleasantly dingy. He approached +timidly, looked at the coach, recognized Lisbeth, and came to the +window. + +"Why, my dear cousin, what a state you are in!" + +"Elodie keeps everything for herself," said Baron Hulot. "Those Chardins +are a blackguard crew." + +"Will you come home to us?" + +"Oh, no, no!" cried the old man. "I would rather go to America." + +"Adeline is on the scent." + +"Oh, if only some one would pay my debts!" said the Baron, with a +suspicious look, "for Samanon is after me." + +"We have not paid up the arrears yet; your son still owes a hundred +thousand francs." + +"Poor boy!" + +"And your pension will not be free before seven or eight months.--If you +will wait a minute, I have two thousand francs here." + +The Baron held out his hand with fearful avidity. + +"Give it me, Lisbeth, and may God reward you! Give it me; I know where +to go." + +"But you will tell me, old wretch?" + +"Yes, yes. Then I can wait eight months, for I have discovered a little +angel, a good child, an innocent thing not old enough to be depraved." + +"Do not forget the police-court," said Lisbeth, who flattered herself +that she would some day see Hulot there. + +"No.--It is in the Rue de Charonne," said the Baron, "a part of the town +where no fuss is made about anything. No one will ever find me there. +I am called Pere Thorec, Lisbeth, and I shall be taken for a retired +cabinet-maker; the girl is fond of me, and I will not allow my back to +be shorn any more." + +"No, that has been done," said Lisbeth, looking at his coat. "Supposing +I take you there." + +Baron Hulot got into the coach, deserting Mademoiselle Elodie without +taking leave of her, as he might have tossed aside a novel he had +finished. + +In half an hour, during which Baron Hulot talked to Lisbeth of nothing +but little Atala Judici--for he had fallen by degrees to those base +passions that ruin old men--she set him down with two thousand francs in +his pocket, in the Rue de Charonne, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, at the door +of a doubtful and sinister-looking house. + +"Good-day, cousin; so now you are to be called Thorec, I suppose? Send +none but commissionaires if you need me, and always take them from +different parts." + +"Trust me! Oh, I am really very lucky!" said the Baron, his face beaming +with the prospect of new and future happiness. + +"No one can find him there," said Lisbeth; and she paid the coach at the +Boulevard Beaumarchais, and returned to the Rue Louis-le-Grand in the +omnibus. + +On the following day Crevel was announced at the hour when all the +family were together in the drawing-room, just after breakfast. +Celestine flew to throw her arms round her father's neck, and behaved +as if she had seen him only the day before, though in fact he had not +called there for more than two years. + +"Good-morning, father," said Victorin, offering his hand. + +"Good-morning, children," said the pompous Crevel. "Madame la Baronne, I +throw myself at your feet! Good Heavens, how the children grow! they are +pushing us off the perch--'Grand-pa,' they say, 'we want our turn in the +sunshine.'--Madame la Comtesse, you are as lovely as ever," he went +on, addressing Hortense.--"Ah, ha! and here is the best of good money: +Cousin Betty, the Wise Virgin." + +"Why, you are really very comfortable here," said he, after scattering +these greetings with a cackle of loud laughter that hardly moved the +rubicund muscles of his broad face. + +He looked at his daughter with some contempt. + +"My dear Celestine, I will make you a present of all my furniture out +of the Rue des Saussayes; it will just do here. Your drawing-room wants +furnishing up.--Ha! there is that little rogue Wenceslas. Well, and +are we very good children, I wonder? You must have pretty manners, you +know." + +"To make up for those who have none," said Lisbeth. + +"That sarcasm, my dear Lisbeth, has lost its sting. I am going, my dear +children, to put an end to the false position in which I have so long +been placed; I have come, like a good father, to announce my approaching +marriage without any circumlocution." + +"You have a perfect right to marry," said Victorin. "And for my part, +I give you back the promise you made me when you gave me the hand of my +dear Celestine--" + +"What promise?" said Crevel. + +"Not to marry," replied the lawyer. "You will do me the justice to allow +that I did not ask you to pledge yourself, that you gave your word quite +voluntarily and in spite of my desire, for I pointed out to you at the +time that you were unwise to bind yourself." + +"Yes, I do remember, my dear fellow," said Crevel, ashamed of himself. +"But, on my honor, if you will but live with Madame Crevel, my children, +you will find no reason to repent.--Your good feeling touches +me, Victorin, and you will find that generosity to me is not +unrewarded.--Come, by the Poker! welcome your stepmother and come to the +wedding." + +"But you have not told us the lady's name, papa," said Celestine. + +"Why, it is an open secret," replied Crevel. "Do not let us play at +guess who can! Lisbeth must have told you." + +"My dear Monsieur Crevel," replied Lisbeth, "there are certain names we +never utter here--" + +"Well, then, it is Madame Marneffe." + +"Monsieur Crevel," said the lawyer very sternly, "neither my wife nor I +can be present at that marriage; not out of interest, for I spoke in +all sincerity just now. Yes, I am most happy to think that you may find +happiness in this union; but I act on considerations of honor and good +feeling which you must understand, and which I cannot speak of here, as +they reopen wounds still ready to bleed----" + +The Baroness telegraphed a signal to Hortense, who tucked her little one +under her arm, saying, "Come Wenceslas, and have your bath!--Good-bye, +Monsieur Crevel." + +The Baroness also bowed to Crevel without a word; and Crevel could +not help smiling at the child's astonishment when threatened with this +impromptu tubbing. + +"You, monsieur," said Victorin, when he found himself alone with +Lisbeth, his wife, and his father-in-law, "are about to marry a woman +loaded with the spoils of my father; it was she who, in cold blood, +brought him down to such depths; a woman who is the son-in-law's +mistress after ruining the father-in-law; who is the cause of constant +grief to my sister!--And you fancy that I shall seem to sanction your +madness by my presence? I deeply pity you, dear Monsieur Crevel; you +have no family feeling; you do not understand the unity of the honor +which binds the members of it together. There is no arguing with +passion--as I have too much reason to know. The slaves of their passions +are as deaf as they are blind. Your daughter Celestine has too strong a +sense of her duty to proffer a word of reproach." + +"That would, indeed, be a pretty thing!" cried Crevel, trying to cut +short this harangue. + +"Celestine would not be my wife if she made the slightest remonstrance," +the lawyer went on. "But I, at least, may try to stop you before you +step over the precipice, especially after giving you ample proof of my +disinterestedness. It is not your fortune, it is you that I care about. +Nay, to make it quite plain to you, I may add, if it were only to set +your mind at ease with regard to your marriage contract, that I am now +in a position which leaves me with nothing to wish for--" + +"Thanks to me!" exclaimed Crevel, whose face was purple. + +"Thanks to Celestine's fortune," replied Victorin. "And if you regret +having given to your daughter as a present from yourself, a sum which is +not half what her mother left her, I can only say that we are prepared +to give it back." + +"And do you not know, my respected son-in-law," said Crevel, striking +an attitude, "that under the shelter of my name Madame Marneffe is not +called upon to answer for her conduct excepting as my wife--as Madame +Crevel?" + +"That is, no doubt, quite the correct thing," said the lawyer; "very +generous so far as the affections are concerned and the vagaries of +passion; but I know of no name, nor law, nor title that can shelter +the theft of three hundred thousand francs so meanly wrung from my +father!--I tell you plainly, my dear father-in-law, your future wife +is unworthy of you, she is false to you, and is madly in love with my +brother-in-law, Steinbock, whose debts she had paid." + +"It is I who paid them!" + +"Very good," said Hulot; "I am glad for Count Steinbock's sake; he may +some day repay the money. But he is loved, much loved, and often--" + +"Loved!" cried Crevel, whose face showed his utter bewilderment. "It is +cowardly, and dirty, and mean, and cheap, to calumniate a woman!--When a +man says such things, monsieur, he must bring proof." + +"I will bring proof." + +"I shall expect it." + +"By the day after to-morrow, my dear Monsieur Crevel, I shall be able +to tell you the day, the hour, the very minute when I can expose the +horrible depravity of your future wife." + +"Very well; I shall be delighted," said Crevel, who had recovered +himself. + +"Good-bye, my children, for the present; good-bye, Lisbeth." + +"See him out, Lisbeth," said Celestine in an undertone. + +"And is this the way you take yourself off?" cried Lisbeth to Crevel. + +"Ah, ha!" said Crevel, "my son-in-law is too clever by half; he is +getting on. The Courts and the Chamber, judicial trickery and political +dodges, are making a man of him with a vengeance!--So he knows I am to +be married on Wednesday, and on a Sunday my gentleman proposes to fix +the hour, within three days, when he can prove that my wife is unworthy +of me. That is a good story!--Well, I am going back to sign the +contract. Come with me, Lisbeth--yes, come. They will never know. I +meant to have left Celestine forty thousand francs a year; but Hulot has +just behaved in a way to alienate my affection for ever." + +"Give me ten minutes, Pere Crevel; wait for me in your carriage at the +gate. I will make some excuse for going out." + +"Very well--all right." + +"My dears," said Lisbeth, who found all the family reassembled in the +drawing-room, "I am going with Crevel: the marriage contract is to be +signed this afternoon, and I shall hear what he has settled. It will +probably be my last visit to that woman. Your father is furious; he will +disinherit you--" + +"His vanity will prevent that," said the son-in-law. "He was bent on +owning the estate of Presles, and he will keep it; I know him. Even if +he were to have children, Celestine would still have half of what he +might leave; the law forbids his giving away all his fortune.--Still, +these questions are nothing to me; I am only thinking of our honor.--Go +then, cousin," and he pressed Lisbeth's hand, "and listen carefully to +the contract." + + + +Twenty minutes after, Lisbeth and Crevel reached the house in the Rue +Barbet, where Madame Marneffe was awaiting, in mild impatience, the +result of a step taken by her commands. Valerie had in the end fallen +a prey to the absorbing love which, once in her life, masters a woman's +heart. Wenceslas was its object, and, a failure as an artist, he became +in Madame Marneffe's hands a lover so perfect that he was to her what +she had been to Baron Hulot. + +Valerie was holding a slipper in one hand, and Steinbock clasped the +other, while her head rested on his shoulder. The rambling conversation +in which they had been engaged ever since Crevel went out may be +ticketed, like certain lengthy literary efforts of our day, "_All rights +reserved_," for it cannot be reproduced. This masterpiece of personal +poetry naturally brought a regret to the artist's lips, and he said, not +without some bitterness: + +"What a pity it is that I married; for if I had but waited, as Lisbeth +told me, I might now have married you." + +"Who but a Pole would wish to make a wife of a devoted mistress?" cried +Valerie. "To change love into duty, and pleasure into a bore." + +"I know you to be so fickle," replied Steinbock. "Did I not hear you +talking to Lisbeth of that Brazilian, Baron Montes?" + +"Do you want to rid me of him?" + +"It would be the only way to hinder his seeing you," said the +ex-sculptor. + +"Let me tell you, my darling--for I tell you everything," said +Valerie--"I was saving him up for a husband.--The promises I have made +to that man!--Oh, long before I knew you," said she, in reply to a +movement from Wenceslas. "And those promises, of which he avails himself +to plague me, oblige me to get married almost secretly; for if he should +hear that I am marrying Crevel, he is the sort of man that--that would +kill me." + +"Oh, as to that!" said Steinbock, with a scornful expression, which +conveyed that such a danger was small indeed for a woman beloved by a +Pole. + +And in the matter of valor there is no brag or bravado in a Pole, so +thoroughly and seriously brave are they all. + +"And that idiot Crevel," she went on, "who wants to make a great display +and indulge his taste for inexpensive magnificence in honor of the +wedding, places me in difficulties from which I see no escape." + +Could Valerie confess to this man, whom she adored, that since the +discomfiture of Baron Hulot, this Baron Henri Montes had inherited the +privilege of calling on her at all hours of the day or night; and that, +notwithstanding her cleverness, she was still puzzled to find a cause of +quarrel in which the Brazilian might seem to be solely in the wrong? She +knew the Baron's almost savage temper--not unlike Lisbeth's--too well +not to quake as she thought of this Othello of Rio de Janeiro. + +As the carriage drove up, Steinbock released Valerie, for his arm +was round her waist, and took up a newspaper, in which he was found +absorbed. Valerie was stitching with elaborate care at the slippers she +was working for Crevel. + +"How they slander her!" whispered Lisbeth to Crevel, pointing to this +picture as they opened the door. "Look at her hair--not in the +least tumbled. To hear Victorin, you might have expected to find two +turtle-doves in a nest." + +"My dear Lisbeth," cried Crevel, in his favorite position, "you see that +to turn Lucretia into Aspasia, you have only to inspire a passion!" + +"And have I not always told you," said Lisbeth, "that women like a burly +profligate like you?" + +"And she would be most ungrateful, too," said Crevel; "for as to the +money I have spent here, Grindot and I alone can tell!" + +And he waved a hand at the staircase. + +In decorating this house, which Crevel regarded as his own, Grindot had +tried to compete with Cleretti, in whose hands the Duc d'Herouville had +placed Josepha's villa. But Crevel, incapable of understanding art, had, +like all sordid souls, wanted to spend a certain sum fixed beforehand. +Grindot, fettered by a contract, had found it impossible to embody his +architectural dream. + +The difference between Josepha's house and that in the Rue Barbet was +just that between the individual stamp on things and commonness. The +objects you admired at Crevel's were to be bought in any shop. These two +types of luxury are divided by the river Million. A mirror, if unique, +is worth six thousand francs; a mirror designed by a manufacturer who +turns them out by the dozen costs five hundred. A genuine lustre by +Boulle will sell at a public auction for three thousand francs; the +same thing reproduced by casting may be made for a thousand or twelve +hundred; one is archaeologically what a picture by Raphael is in +painting, the other is a copy. At what would you value a copy of a +Raphael? Thus Crevel's mansion was a splendid example of the luxury of +idiots, while Josepha's was a perfect model of an artist's home. + +"War is declared," said Crevel, going up to Madame Marneffe. + +She rang the bell. + +"Go and find Monsieur Berthier," said she to the man-servant, "and +do not return without him. If you had succeeded," said she, embracing +Crevel, "we would have postponed our happiness, my dear Daddy, and have +given a really splendid entertainment; but when a whole family is set +against a match, my dear, decency requires that the wedding shall be a +quiet one, especially when the lady is a widow." + +"On the contrary, I intend to make a display of magnificence _a la_ +Louis XIV.," said Crevel, who of late had held the eighteenth century +rather cheap. "I have ordered new carriages; there is one for monsieur +and one for madame, two neat coupes; and a chaise, a handsome traveling +carriage with a splendid hammercloth, on springs that tremble like +Madame Hulot." + +"Oh, ho! _You intend?_--Then you have ceased to be my lamb?--No, no, +my friend, you will do what _I_ intend. We will sign the contract +quietly--just ourselves--this afternoon. Then, on Wednesday, we will +be regularly married, really married, in mufti, as my poor mother would +have said. We will walk to church, plainly dressed, and have only a low +mass. Our witnesses are Stidmann, Steinbock, Vignon, and Massol, all +wide-awake men, who will be at the mairie by chance, and who will so far +sacrifice themselves as to attend mass. + +"Your colleague will perform the civil marriage, for once in a way, +as early as half-past nine. Mass is at ten; we shall be at home to +breakfast by half-past eleven. + +"I have promised our guests that we will sit at table till the evening. +There will be Bixiou, your old official chum du Tillet, Lousteau, +Vernisset, Leon de Lora, Vernou, all the wittiest men in Paris, who will +not know that we are married. We will play them a little trick, we will +get just a little tipsy, and Lisbeth must join us. I want her to +study matrimony; Bixiou shall make love to her, and--and enlighten her +darkness." + +For two hours Madame Marneffe went on talking nonsense, and Crevel made +this judicious reflection: + +"How can so light-hearted a creature be utterly depraved? +Feather-brained, yes! but wicked? Nonsense!" + +"Well, and what did the young people say about me?" said Valerie to +Crevel at a moment when he sat down by her on the sofa. "All sorts of +horrors?" + +"They will have it that you have a criminal passion for Wenceslas--you, +who are virtue itself." + +"I love him!--I should think so, my little Wenceslas!" cried Valerie, +calling the artist to her, taking his face in her hands, and kissing his +forehead. "A poor boy with no fortune, and no one to depend on! Cast off +by a carrotty giraffe! What do you expect, Crevel? Wenceslas is my poet, +and I love him as if he were my own child, and make no secret of it. +Bah! your virtuous women see evil everywhere and in everything. Bless +me, could they not sit by a man without doing wrong? I am a spoilt child +who has had all it ever wanted, and bonbons no longer excite me.--Poor +things! I am sorry for them! + +"And who slandered me so?" + +"Victorin," said Crevel. + +"Then why did you not stop his mouth, the odious legal macaw! with the +story of the two hundred thousand francs and his mamma?" + +"Oh, the Baroness had fled," said Lisbeth. + +"They had better take care, Lisbeth," said Madame Marneffe, with a +frown. "Either they will receive me and do it handsomely, and come to +their stepmother's house--all the party!--or I will see them in lower +depths than the Baron has reached, and you may tell them I said so!--At +last I shall turn nasty. On my honor, I believe that evil is the scythe +with which to cut down the good." + +At three o'clock Monsieur Berthier, Cardot's successor, read the +marriage-contract, after a short conference with Crevel, for some of +the articles were made conditional on the action taken by Monsieur and +Madame Victorin Hulot. + +Crevel settled on his wife a fortune consisting, in the first place, of +forty thousand francs in dividends on specified securities; secondly, of +the house and all its contents; and thirdly, of three million francs not +invested. He also assigned to his wife every benefit allowed by law; +he left all the property free of duty; and in the event of their dying +without issue, each devised to the survivor the whole of their property +and real estate. + +By this arrangement the fortune left to Celestine and her husband was +reduced to two millions of francs in capital. If Crevel and his second +wife should have children, Celestine's share was limited to five hundred +thousand francs, as the life-interest in the rest was to accrue to +Valerie. This would be about the ninth part of his whole real and +personal estate. + + + +Lisbeth returned to dine in the Rue Louis-le-Grand, despair written on +her face. She explained and bewailed the terms of the marriage-contract, +but found Celestine and her husband insensible to the disastrous news. + +"You have provoked your father, my children. Madame Marneffe swears that +you shall receive Monsieur Crevel's wife and go to her house," said she. + +"Never!" said Victorin. + +"Never!" said Celestine. + +"Never!" said Hortense. + +Lisbeth was possessed by the wish to crush the haughty attitude assumed +by all the Hulots. + +"She seems to have arms that she can turn against you," she replied. +"I do not know all about it, but I shall find out. She spoke vaguely +of some history of two hundred thousand francs in which Adeline is +implicated." + +The Baroness fell gently backward on the sofa she was sitting on in a +fit of hysterical sobbing. + +"Go there, go, my children!" she cried. "Receive the woman! Monsieur +Crevel is an infamous wretch. He deserves the worst punishment +imaginable.--Do as the woman desires you! She is a monster--she knows +all!" + +After gasping out these words with tears and sobs, Madame Hulot +collected her strength to go to her room, leaning on her daughter and +Celestine. + +"What is the meaning of all this?" cried Lisbeth, left alone with +Victorin. + +The lawyer stood rigid, in very natural dismay, and did not hear her. + +"What is the matter, my dear Victorin?" + +"I am horrified!" said he, and his face scowled darkly. "Woe to anybody +who hurts my mother! I have no scruples then. I would crush that woman +like a viper if I could!--What, does she attack my mother's life, my +mother's honor?" + +"She said, but do not repeat it, my dear Victorin--she said you should +all fall lower even than your father. And she scolded Crevel roundly +for not having shut your mouths with this secret that seems to be such a +terror to Adeline." + +A doctor was sent for, for the Baroness was evidently worse. He gave +her a draught containing a large dose of opium, and Adeline, having +swallowed it, fell into a deep sleep; but the whole family were greatly +alarmed. + +Early next morning Victorin went out, and on his way to the Courts +called at the Prefecture of the Police, where he begged Vautrin, the +head of the detective department, to send him Madame de Saint-Esteve. + +"We are forbidden, monsieur, to meddle in your affairs; but Madame de +Saint-Esteve is in business, and will attend to your orders," replied +this famous police officer. + +On his return home, the unhappy lawyer was told that his mother's reason +was in danger. Doctor Bianchon, Doctor Larabit, and Professor Angard +had met in consultation, and were prepared to apply heroic remedies to +hinder the rush of blood to the head. At the moment when Victorin was +listening to Doctor Bianchon, who was giving him, at some length, his +reasons for hoping that the crisis might be got over, the man-servant +announced that a client, Madame de Saint-Esteve, was waiting to see him. +Victorin left Bianchon in the middle of a sentence and flew downstairs +like a madman. + +"Is there any hereditary lunacy in the family?" said Bianchon, +addressing Larabit. + +The doctors departed, leaving a hospital attendant, instructed by them, +to watch Madame Hulot. + +"A whole life of virtue!----" was the only sentence the sufferer had +spoken since the attack. + +Lisbeth never left Adeline's bedside; she sat up all night, and was much +admired by the two younger women. + +"Well, my dear Madame de Saint-Esteve," said Victorin, showing the +dreadful old woman into his study and carefully shutting the doors, "how +are we getting on?" + +"Ah, ha! my dear friend," said she, looking at Victorin with cold irony. +"So you have thought things over?" + +"Have you done anything?" + +"Will you pay fifty thousand francs?" + +"Yes," replied Victorin, "for we must get on. Do you know that by one +single phrase that woman has endangered my mother's life and reason? So, +I say, get on." + +"We have got on!" replied the old woman. + +"Well?" cried Victorin, with a gulp. + +"Well, you do not cry off the expenses?" + +"On the contrary." + +"They run up to twenty-three thousand francs already." + +Victorin looked helplessly at the woman. + +"Well, could we hoodwink you, you, one of the shining lights of the +law?" said she. "For that sum we have secured a maid's conscience and a +picture by Raphael.--It is not dear." + +Hulot, still bewildered, sat with wide open eyes. + +"Well, then," his visitor went on, "we have purchased the honesty of +Mademoiselle Reine Tousard, a damsel from whom Madame Marneffe has no +secrets--" + +"I understand!" + +"But if you shy, say so." + +"I will play blindfold," he replied. "My mother has told me that that +couple deserve the worst torments--" + +"The rack is out of date," said the old woman. + +"You answer for the result?" + +"Leave it all to me," said the woman; "your vengeance is simmering." + +She looked at the clock; it was six. + +"Your avenger is dressing; the fires are lighted at the _Rocher de +Cancale_; the horses are pawing the ground; my irons are getting +hot.--Oh, I know your Madame Marneffe by heart!--Everything is ready. +And there are some boluses in the rat-trap; I will tell you to-morrow +morning if the mouse is poisoned. I believe she will be; good evening, +my son." + +"Good-bye, madame." + +"Do you know English?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, my son, thou shalt be King. That is to say, you shall come into +your inheritance," said the dreadful old witch, foreseen by Shakespeare, +and who seemed to know her Shakespeare. + +She left Hulot amazed at the door of his study. + +"The consultation is for to-morrow!" said she, with the gracious air of +a regular client. + +She saw two persons coming, and wished to pass in their eyes a pinchbeck +countess. + +"What impudence!" thought Hulot, bowing to his pretended client. + + + +Baron Montes de Montejanos was a _lion_, but a lion not accounted +for. Fashionable Paris, Paris of the turf and of the town, admired +the ineffable waistcoats of this foreign gentleman, his spotless +patent-leather boots, his incomparable sticks, his much-coveted horses, +and the negro servants who rode the horses and who were entirely slaves +and most consumedly thrashed. + +His fortune was well known; he had a credit account up to seven hundred +thousand francs in the great banking house of du Tillet; but he was +always seen alone. When he went to "first nights," he was in a stall. He +frequented no drawing-rooms. He had never given his arm to a girl on the +streets. His name would not be coupled with that of any pretty woman +of the world. To pass his time he played whist at the Jockey-Club. The +world was reduced to calumny, or, which it thought funnier, to laughing +at his peculiarities; he went by the name of Combabus. + +Bixiou, Leon de Lora, Lousteau, Florine, Mademoiselle Heloise Brisetout, +and Nathan, supping one evening with the notorious Carabine, with a +large party of _lions_ and _lionesses_, had invented this name with an +excessively burlesque explanation. Massol, as being on the Council of +State, and Claude Vignon, erewhile Professor of Greek, had related to +the ignorant damsels the famous anecdote, preserved in Rollin's _Ancient +History_, concerning Combabus, that voluntary Abelard who was placed in +charge of the wife of a King of Assyria, Persia, Bactria, Mesopotamia, +and other geographical divisions peculiar to old Professor du Bocage, +who continued the work of d'Anville, the creator of the East of +antiquity. This nickname, which gave Carabine's guests laughter for a +quarter of an hour, gave rise to a series of over-free jests, to which +the Academy could not award the Montyon prize; but among which the name +was taken up, to rest thenceforth on the curly mane of the handsome +Baron, called by Josepha the splendid Brazilian--as one might say a +splendid _Catoxantha_. + +Carabine, the loveliest of her tribe, whose delicate beauty and amusing +wit had snatched the sceptre of the Thirteenth Arrondissement from +the hands of Mademoiselle Turquet, better known by the name of +Malaga--Mademoiselle Seraphine Sinet (this was her real name) was to du +Tillet the banker what Josepha Mirah was to the Duc d'Herouville. + +Now, on the morning of the very day when Madame de Saint-Esteve had +prophesied success to Victorin, Carabine had said to du Tillet at about +seven o'clock: + +"If you want to be very nice, you will give me a dinner at the _Rocher +de Cancale_ and bring Combabus. We want to know, once for all, whether +he has a mistress.--I bet that he has, and I should like to win." + +"He is still at the Hotel des Princes; I will call," replied du Tillet. +"We will have some fun. Ask all the youngsters--the youngster Bixiou, +the youngster Lora, in short, all the clan." + +At half-past seven that evening, in the handsomest room of the +restaurant where all Europe has dined, a splendid silver service was +spread, made on purpose for entertainments where vanity pays the bill +in bank-notes. A flood of light fell in ripples on the chased rims; +waiters, whom a provincial might have taken for diplomatists but for +their age, stood solemnly, as knowing themselves to be overpaid. + +Five guests had arrived, and were waiting for nine more. These were +first and foremost Bixiou, still flourishing in 1843, the salt of every +intellectual dish, always supplied with fresh wit--a phenomenon as rare +in Paris as virtue is; Leon de Lora, the greatest living painter of +landscape and the sea who has this great advantage over all his rivals, +that he has never fallen below his first successes. The courtesans could +never dispense with these two kings of ready wit. No supper, no dinner, +was possible without them. + +Seraphine Sinet, _dite_ Carabine, as the mistress _en titre_ of the +Amphitryon, was one of the first to arrive; and the brilliant lighting +showed off her shoulders, unrivaled in Paris, her throat, as round as if +turned in a lathe, without a crease, her saucy face, and dress of satin +brocade in two shades of blue, trimmed with Honiton lace enough to have +fed a whole village for a month. + +Pretty Jenny Cadine, not acting that evening, came in a dress of +incredible splendor; her portrait is too well known to need any +description. A party is always a Longchamps of evening dress for these +ladies, each anxious to win the prize for her millionaire by thus +announcing to her rivals: + +"This is the price I am worth!" + +A third woman, evidently at the initial stage of her career, gazed, +almost shamefaced, at the luxury of her two established and wealthy +companions. Simply dressed in white cashmere trimmed with blue, her head +had been dressed with real flowers by a coiffeur of the old-fashioned +school, whose awkward hands had unconsciously given the charm of +ineptitude to her fair hair. Still unaccustomed to any finery, she +showed the timidity--to use a hackneyed phrase--inseparable from a first +appearance. She had come from Valognes to find in Paris some use for +her distracting youthfulness, her innocence that might have stirred the +senses of a dying man, and her beauty, worthy to hold its own with any +that Normandy has ever supplied to the theatres of the capital. The +lines of that unblemished face were the ideal of angelic purity. Her +milk-white skin reflected the light like a mirror. The delicate pink +in her cheeks might have been laid on with a brush. She was called +Cydalise, and, as will be seen, she was an important pawn in the game +played by Ma'ame Nourrisson to defeat Madame Marneffe. + +"Your arm is not a match for your name, my child," said Jenny Cadine, to +whom Carabine had introduced this masterpiece of sixteen, having brought +her with her. + +And, in fact, Cydalise displayed to public admiration a fine pair of +arms, smooth and satiny, but red with healthy young blood. + +"What do you want for her?" said Jenny Cadine, in an undertone to +Carabine. + +"A fortune." + +"What are you going to do with her?" + +"Well--Madame Combabus!" + +"And what are you to get for such a job?" + +"Guess." + +"A service of plate?" + +"I have three." + +"Diamonds?" + +"I am selling them." + +"A green monkey?" + +"No. A picture by Raphael." + +"What maggot is that in your brain?" + +"Josepha makes me sick with her pictures," said Carabine. "I want some +better than hers." + +Du Tillet came with the Brazilian, the hero of the feast; the Duc +d'Herouville followed with Josepha. The singer wore a plain velvet gown, +but she had on a necklace worth a hundred and twenty thousand francs, +pearls hardly distinguishable from her skin like white camellia petals. +She had stuck one scarlet camellia in her black hair--a patch--the +effect was dazzling, and she had amused herself by putting eleven rows +of pearls on each arm. As she shook hands with Jenny Cadine, the actress +said, "Lend me your mittens!" + +Josepha unclasped them one by one and handed them to her friend on a +plate. + +"There's style!" said Carabine. "Quite the Duchess! You have robbed the +ocean to dress the nymph, Monsieur le Duc," she added turning to the +little Duc d'Herouville. + +The actress took two of the bracelets; she clasped the other twenty on +the singer's beautiful arms, which she kissed. + +Lousteau, the literary cadger, la Palferine and Malaga, Massol, +Vauvinet, and Theodore Gaillard, a proprietor of one of the most +important political newspapers, completed the party. The Duc +d'Herouville, polite to everybody, as a fine gentleman knows how to be, +greeted the Comte de la Palferine with the particular nod which, while +it does not imply either esteem or intimacy, conveys to all the world, +"We are of the same race, the same blood--equals!"--And this greeting, +the shibboleth of the aristocracy, was invented to be the despair of the +upper citizen class. + +Carabine placed Combabus on her left, and the Duc d'Herouville on her +right. Cydalise was next to the Brazilian, and beyond her was Bixiou. +Malaga sat by the Duke. + +Oysters appeared at seven o'clock; at eight they were drinking iced +punch. Every one is familiar with the bill of fare of such a banquet. By +nine o'clock they were talking as people talk after forty-two bottles of +various wines, drunk by fourteen persons. Dessert was on the table, the +odious dessert of the month of April. Of all the party, the only one +affected by the heady atmosphere was Cydalise, who was humming a tune. +None of the party, with the exception of the poor country girl, had lost +their reason; the drinkers and the women were the experienced _elite_ of +the society that sups. Their wits were bright, their eyes glistened, +but with no loss of intelligence, though the talk drifted into satire, +anecdote, and gossip. Conversation, hitherto confined to the inevitable +circle of racing, horses, hammerings on the Bourse, the different +occupations of the _lions_ themselves, and the scandals of the town, +showed a tendency to break up into intimate _tete-a-tete_, the dialogues +of two hearts. + +And at this stage, at a signal from Carabine to Leon de Lora, Bixiou, la +Palferine, and du Tillet, love came under discussion. + +"A doctor in good society never talks of medicine, true nobles never +speak of their ancestors, men of genius do not discuss their works," +said Josepha; "why should we talk business? If I got the opera put off +in order to dine here, it was assuredly not to work.--So let us change +the subject, dear children." + +"But we are speaking of real love, my beauty," said Malaga, "of the +love that makes a man fling all to the dogs--father, mother, wife, +children--and retire to Clichy." + +"Talk away, then, 'don't know yer,'" said the singer. + +The slang words, borrowed from the Street Arab, and spoken by these +women, may be a poem on their lips, helped by the expression of the eyes +and face. + +"What, do not I love you, Josepha?" said the Duke in a low voice. + +"You, perhaps, may love me truly," said she in his ear, and she smiled. +"But I do not love you in the way they describe, with such love as makes +the world dark in the absence of the man beloved. You are delightful +to me, useful--but not indispensable; and if you were to throw me over +to-morrow, I could have three dukes for one." + +"Is true love to be found in Paris?" asked Leon de Lora. "Men have not +even time to make a fortune; how can they give themselves over to true +love, which swamps a man as water melts sugar? A man must be enormously +rich to indulge in it, for love annihilates him--for instance, like +our Brazilian friend over there. As I said long ago, 'Extremes +defeat--themselves.' A true lover is like an eunuch; women have ceased +to exist for him. He is mystical; he is like the true Christian, an +anchorite of the desert!--See our noble Brazilian." + +Every one at table looked at Henri Montes de Montejanos, who was shy at +finding every eye centred on him. + +"He has been feeding there for an hour without discovering, any more +than an ox at pasture, that he is sitting next to--I will not say, in +such company, the loveliest--but the freshest woman in all Paris." + +"Everything is fresh here, even the fish; it is what the house is famous +for," said Carabine. + +Baron Montes looked good-naturedly at the painter, and said: + +"Very good! I drink to your very good health," and bowing to Leon de +Lora, he lifted his glass of port wine and drank it with much dignity. + +"Are you then truly in love?" asked Malaga of her neighbor, thus +interpreting his toast. + +The Brazilian refilled his glass, bowed to Carabine, and drank again. + +"To the lady's health then!" said the courtesan, in such a droll tone +that Lora, du Tillet, and Bixiou burst out laughing. + +The Brazilian sat like a bronze statue. This impassibility provoked +Carabine. She knew perfectly well that Montes was devoted to Madame +Marneffe, but she had not expected this dogged fidelity, this obstinate +silence of conviction. + +A woman is as often gauged by the attitude of her lover as a man +is judged from the tone of his mistress. The Baron was proud of his +attachment to Valerie, and of hers to him; his smile had, to these +experienced connoisseurs, a touch of irony; he was really grand to look +upon; wine had not flushed him; and his eyes, with their peculiar lustre +as of tarnished gold, kept the secrets of his soul. Even Carabine said +to herself: + +"What a woman she must be! How she has sealed up that heart!" + +"He is a rock!" said Bixiou in an undertone, imagining that the whole +thing was a practical joke, and never suspecting the importance to +Carabine of reducing this fortress. + +While this conversation, apparently so frivolous, was going on at +Carabine's right, the discussion of love was continued on her left +between the Duc d'Herouville, Lousteau, Josepha, Jenny Cadine, and +Massol. They were wondering whether such rare phenomena were the result +of passion, obstinacy, or affection. Josepha, bored to death by it all, +tried to change the subject. + +"You are talking of what you know nothing about. Is there a man among +you who ever loved a woman--a woman beneath him--enough to squander his +fortune and his children's, to sacrifice his future and blight his past, +to risk going to the hulks for robbing the Government, to kill an uncle +and a brother, to let his eye be so effectually blinded that he did +not even perceive that it was done to hinder his seeing the abyss into +which, as a crowning jest, he was being driven? Du Tillet has a cash-box +under his left breast; Leon de Lora has his wit; Bixiou would laugh +at himself for a fool if he loved any one but himself; Massol has a +minister's portfolio in the place of a heart; Lousteau can have nothing +but viscera, since he could endure to be thrown over by Madame de +Baudraye; Monsieur le Duc is too rich to prove his love by his ruin; +Vauvinet is not in it--I do not regard a bill-broker as one of the human +race; and you have never loved, nor I, nor Jenny Cadine, nor Malaga. For +my part, I never but once even saw the phenomenon I have described. It +was," and she turned to Jenny Cadine, "that poor Baron Hulot, whom I am +going to advertise for like a lost dog, for I want to find him." + +"Oh, ho!" said Carabine to herself, and looking keenly at Josepha, "then +Madame Nourrisson has two pictures by Raphael, since Josepha is playing +my hand!" + +"Poor fellow," said Vauvinet, "he was a great man! Magnificent! And what +a figure, what a style, the air of Francis I.! What a volcano! and how +full of ingenious ways of getting money! He must be looking for it now, +wherever he is, and I make no doubt he extracts it even from the walls +built of bones that you may see in the suburbs of Paris near the city +gates--" + +"And all that," said Bixiou, "for that little Madame Marneffe! There is +a precious hussy for you!" + +"She is just going to marry my friend Crevel," said du Tillet. + +"And she is madly in love with my friend Steinbock," Leon de Lora put +in. + +These three phrases were like so many pistol-shots fired point-blank at +Montes. He turned white, and the shock was so painful that he rose with +difficulty. + +"You are a set of blackguards!" cried he. "You have no right to speak +the name of an honest woman in the same breath with those fallen +creatures--above all, not to make it a mark for your slander!" + +He was interrupted by unanimous bravos and applause. Bixiou, Leon de +Lora, Vauvinet, du Tillet, and Massol set the example, and there was a +chorus. + +"Hurrah for the Emperor!" said Bixiou. + +"Crown him! crown him!" cried Vauvinet. + +"Three groans for such a good dog! Hurrah for Brazil!" cried Lousteau. + +"So, my copper-colored Baron, it is our Valerie that you love; and you +are not disgusted?" said Leon de Lora. + +"His remark is not parliamentary, but it is grand!" observed Massol. + +"But, my most delightful customer," said du Tillet, "you were +recommended to me; I am your banker; your innocence reflects on my +credit." + +"Yes, tell me, you are a reasonable creature----" said the Brazilian to +the banker. + +"Thanks on behalf of the company," said Bixiou with a bow. + +"Tell me the real facts," Montes went on, heedless of Bixiou's +interjection. + +"Well, then," replied du Tillet, "I have the honor to tell you that I am +asked to the Crevel wedding." + +"Ah, ha! Combabus holds a brief for Madame Marneffe!" said Josepha, +rising solemnly. + +She went round to Montes with a tragic look, patted him kindly on the +head, looked at him for a moment with comical admiration, and nodded +sagely. + +"Hulot was the first instance of love through fire and water," said she; +"this is the second. But it ought not to count, as it comes from the +Tropics." + +Montes had dropped into his chair again, when Josepha gently touched his +forehead, and looked at du Tillet as he said: + +"If I am the victim of a Paris jest, if you only wanted to get at my +secret----" and he sent a flashing look round the table, embracing all +the guests in a flaming glance that blazed with the sun of Brazil,--"I +beg of you as a favor to tell me so," he went on, in a tone of almost +childlike entreaty; "but do not vilify the woman I love." + +"Nay, indeed," said Carabine in a low voice; "but if, on the contrary, +you are shamefully betrayed, cheated, tricked by Valerie, if I should +give you the proof in an hour, in my own house, what then?" + +"I cannot tell you before all these Iagos," said the Brazilian. + +Carabine understood him to say _magots_ (baboons). + +"Well, well, say no more!" she replied, smiling. "Do not make yourself +a laughing-stock for all the wittiest men in Paris; come to my house, we +will talk it over." + +Montes was crushed. "Proofs," he stammered, "consider--" + +"Only too many," replied Carabine; "and if the mere suspicion hits you +so hard, I fear for your reason." + +"Is this creature obstinate, I ask you? He is worse than the late +lamented King of Holland!--I say, Lousteau, Bixiou, Massol, all the crew +of you, are you not invited to breakfast with Madame Marneffe the day +after to-morrow?" said Leon de Lora. + +"_Ya_," said du Tillet; "I have the honor of assuring you, Baron, that +if you had by any chance thought of marrying Madame Marneffe, you are +thrown out like a bill in Parliament, beaten by a blackball called +Crevel. My friend, my old comrade Crevel, has eighty thousand francs a +year; and you, I suppose, did not show such a good hand, for if you had, +you, I imagine, would have been preferred." + +Montes listened with a half-absent, half-smiling expression, which +struck them all with terror. + +At this moment the head-waiter came to whisper to Carabine that a lady, +a relation of hers, was in the drawing-room and wished to speak to her. + +Carabine rose and went out to find Madame Nourrisson, decently veiled +with black lace. + +"Well, child, am I to go to your house? Has he taken the hook?" + +"Yes, mother; and the pistol is so fully loaded, that my only fear is +that it will burst," said Carabine. + +About an hour later, Montes, Cydalise, and Carabine, returning from the +_Rocher de Cancale_, entered Carabine's little sitting-room in the Rue +Saint-Georges. Madame Nourrisson was sitting in an armchair by the fire. + +"Here is my worthy old aunt," said Carabine. + +"Yes, child, I came in person to fetch my little allowance. You would +have forgotten me, though you are kind-hearted, and I have some bills +to pay to-morrow. Buying and selling clothes, I am always short of cash. +Who is this at your heels? The gentleman looks very much put out about +something." + +The dreadful Madame Nourrisson, at this moment so completely disguised +as to look like a respectable old body, rose to embrace Carabine, one of +the hundred and odd courtesans she had launched on their horrible career +of vice. + +"He is an Othello who is not to be taken in, whom I have the honor of +introducing to you--Monsieur le Baron Montes de Montejanos." + +"Oh! I have heard him talked about, and know his name.--You are +nicknamed Combabus, because you love but one woman, and in Paris, that +is the same as loving no one at all. And is it by chance the object of +your affections who is fretting you? Madame Marneffe, Crevel's woman? I +tell you what, my dear sir, you may bless your stars instead of cursing +them. She is a good-for-nothing baggage, is that little woman. I know +her tricks!" + +"Get along," said Carabine, into whose hand Madame Nourrisson had +slipped a note while embracing her, "you do not know your Brazilians. +They are wrong-headed creatures that insist on being impaled through +the heart. The more jealous they are, the more jealous they want to +be. Monsieur talks of dealing death all round, but he will kill nobody +because he is in love.--However, I have brought him here to give him +the proofs of his discomfiture, which I have got from that little +Steinbock." + +Montes was drunk; he listened as if the women were talking about +somebody else. + +Carabine went to take off her velvet wrap, and read a facsimile of a +note, as follows:-- + + "DEAR PUSS.--He dines with Popinot this evening, and will come + to fetch me from the Opera at eleven. I shall go out at about + half-past five and count on finding you at our paradise. Order + dinner to be sent in from the _Maison d'or_. Dress, so as to be + able to take me to the Opera. We shall have four hours to ourselves. + Return this note to me; not that your Valerie doubts you--I would + give you my life, my fortune, and my honor, but I am afraid of the + tricks of chance." + +"Here, Baron, this is the note sent to Count Steinbock this morning; +read the address. The original document is burnt." + +Montes turned the note over and over, recognized the writing, and was +struck by a rational idea, which is sufficient evidence of the disorder +of his brain. + +"And, pray," said he, looking at Carabine, "what object have you in +torturing my heart, for you must have paid very dear for the +privilege of having the note in your possession long enough to get it +lithographed?" + +"Foolish man!" said Carabine, at a nod from Madame Nourrisson, "don't +you see that poor child Cydalise--a girl of sixteen, who has been pining +for you these three months, till she has lost her appetite for food or +drink, and who is heart-broken because you have never even glanced at +her?" + +Cydalise put her handkerchief to her eyes with an appearance of +emotion--"She is furious," Carabine went on, "though she looks as if +butter would not melt in her mouth, furious to see the man she adores +duped by a villainous hussy; she would kill Valerie--" + +"Oh, as for that," said the Brazilian, "that is my business!" + +"What, killing?" said old Nourrisson. "No, my son, we don't do that here +nowadays." + +"Oh!" said Montes, "I am not a native of this country. I live in a +parish where I can laugh at your laws; and if you give me proof--" + +"Well, that note. Is that nothing?" + +"No," said the Brazilian. "I do not believe in the writing. I must see +for myself." + +"See!" cried Carabine, taking the hint at once from a gesture of her +supposed aunt. "You shall see, my dear Tiger, all you wish to see--on +one condition." + +"And that is?" + +"Look at Cydalise." + +At a wink from Madame Nourrisson, Cydalise cast a tender look at the +Baron. + +"Will you be good to her? Will you make her a home?" asked Carabine. "A +girl of such beauty is well worth a house and a carriage! It would be a +monstrous shame to leave her to walk the streets. And besides--she is in +debt.--How much do you owe?" asked Carabine, nipping Cydalise's arm. + +"She is worth all she can get," said the old woman. "The point is that +she can find a buyer." + +"Listen!" cried Montes, fully aware at last of this masterpiece of +womankind "you will show me Valerie--" + +"And Count Steinbock.--Certainly!" said Madame Nourrisson. + +For the past ten minutes the old woman had been watching the Brazilian; +she saw that he was an instrument tuned up to the murderous pitch she +needed; and, above all, so effectually blinded, that he would never heed +who had led him on to it, and she spoke:-- + +"Cydalise, my Brazilian jewel, is my niece, so her concerns are partly +mine. All this catastrophe will be the work of a few minutes, for a +friend of mine lets the furnished room to Count Steinbock where Valerie +is at this moment taking coffee--a queer sort of coffee, but she calls +it her coffee. So let us understand each other, Brazil!--I like Brazil, +it is a hot country.--What is to become of my niece?" + +"You old ostrich," said Montes, the plumes in the woman's bonnet +catching his eye, "you interrupted me.--If you show me--if I see Valerie +and that artist together--" + +"As you would wish to be--" said Carabine; "that is understood." + +"Then I will take this girl and carry her away--" + +"Where?" asked Carabine. + +"To Brazil," replied the Baron. "I will make her my wife. My uncle left +me ten leagues square of entailed estate; that is how I still have +that house and home. I have a hundred negroes--nothing but negroes and +negresses and negro brats, all bought by my uncle--" + +"Nephew to a nigger-driver," said Carabine, with a grimace. "That needs +some consideration.--Cydalise, child, are you fond of the blacks?" + +"Pooh! Carabine, no nonsense," said the old woman. "The deuce is in it! +Monsieur and I are doing business." + +"If I take up another Frenchwoman, I mean to have her to myself," the +Brazilian went on. "I warn you, mademoiselle, I am king there, and not a +constitutional king. I am Czar; my subjects are mine by purchase, and +no one can escape from my kingdom, which is a hundred leagues from any +human settlement, hemmed in by savages on the interior, and divided from +the sea by a wilderness as wide as France." + +"I should prefer a garret here." + +"So thought I," said Montes, "since I sold all my land and possessions +at Rio to come back to Madame Marneffe." + +"A man does not make such a voyage for nothing," remarked Madame +Nourrisson. "You have a right to look for love for your own sake, +particularly being so good-looking.--Oh, he is very handsome!" said she +to Carabine. + +"Very handsome, handsomer than the _Postillon de Longjumeau_," replied +the courtesan. + +Cydalise took the Brazilian's hand, but he released it as politely as he +could. + +"I came back for Madame Marneffe," the man went on where he had left +off, "but you do not know why I was three years thinking about it." + +"No, savage!" said Carabine. + +"Well, she had so repeatedly told me that she longed to live with me +alone in a desert--" + +"Oh, ho! he is not a savage after all," cried Carabine, with a shout of +laughter. "He is of the highly-civilized tribe of Flats!" + +"She had told me this so often," Montes went on, regardless of the +courtesan's mockery, "that I had a lovely house fitted up in the heart +of that vast estate. I came back to France to fetch Valerie, and the +first evening I saw her--" + +"Saw her is very proper!" said Carabine. "I will remember it." + +"She told me to wait till that wretched Marneffe was dead; and I agreed, +and forgave her for having admitted the attentions of Hulot. Whether the +devil had her in hand I don't know, but from that instant that woman +has humored my every whim, complied with all my demands--never for one +moment has she given me cause to suspect her!--" + +"That is supremely clever!" said Carabine to Madame Nourrisson, who +nodded in sign of assent. + +"My faith in that woman," said Montes, and he shed a tear, "was a match +for my love. Just now, I was ready to fight everybody at table--" + +"So I saw," said Carabine. + +"And if I am cheated, if she is going to be married, if she is at this +moment in Steinbock's arms, she deserves a thousand deaths! I will kill +her as I would smash a fly--" + +"And how about the gendarmes, my son?" said Madame Nourrisson, with a +smile that made your flesh creep. + +"And the police agents, and the judges, and the assizes, and all the +set-out?" added Carabine. + +"You are bragging, my dear fellow," said the old woman, who wanted to +know all the Brazilian's schemes of vengeance. + +"I will kill her," he calmly repeated. "You called me a savage.--Do you +imagine that I am fool enough to go, like a Frenchman, and buy poison +at the chemist's shop?--During the time while we were driving her, I +thought out my means of revenge, if you should prove to be right as +concerns Valerie. One of my negroes has the most deadly of animal +poisons, and incurable anywhere but in Brazil. I will administer it +to Cydalise, who will give it to me; then by the time when death is a +certainty to Crevel and his wife, I shall be beyond the Azores with your +cousin, who will be cured, and I will marry her. We have our own little +tricks, we savages!--Cydalise," said he, looking at the country girl, +"is the animal I need.--How much does she owe?" + +"A hundred thousand francs," said Cydalise. + +"She says little--but to the purpose," said Carabine, in a low tone to +Madame Nourrisson. + +"I am going mad!" cried the Brazilian, in a husky voice, dropping on to +a sofa. "I shall die of this! But I must see, for it is impossible!--A +lithographed note! What is to assure me that it is not a forgery?--Baron +Hulot was in love with Valerie?" said he, recalling Josepha's harangue. +"Nay; the proof that he did not love is that she is still alive--I will +not leave her living for anybody else, if she is not wholly mine." + +Montes was terrible to behold. He bellowed, he stormed; he broke +everything he touched; rosewood was as brittle as glass. + +"How he destroys things!" said Carabine, looking at the old woman. "My +good boy," said she, giving the Brazilian a little slap, "Roland the +Furious is very fine in a poem; but in a drawing-room he is prosaic and +expensive." + +"My son," said old Nourrisson, rising to stand in front of the +crestfallen Baron, "I am of your way of thinking. When you love in that +way, and are joined 'till death does you part,' life must answer for +love. The one who first goes, carries everything away; it is a general +wreck. You command my esteem, my admiration, my consent, especially for +your inoculation, which will make me a Friend of the Negro.--But you +love her! You will hark back?" + +"I?--If she is so infamous, I--" + +"Well, come now, you are talking too much, it strikes me. A man who +means to be avenged, and who says he has the ways and means of a savage, +doesn't do that.--If you want to see your 'object' in her paradise, you +must take Cydalise and walk straight in with her on your arm, as if the +servant had made a mistake. But no scandal! If you mean to be revenged, +you must eat the leek, seem to be in despair, and allow her to bully +you.--Do you see?" said Madame Nourrisson, finding the Brazilian quite +amazed by so subtle a scheme. + +"All right, old ostrich," he replied. "Come along: I understand." + +"Good-bye, little one!" said the old woman to Carabine. + +She signed to Cydalise to go on with Montes, and remained a minute with +Carabine. + +"Now, child, I have but one fear, and that is that he will strangle +her! I should be in a very tight place; we must do everything gently. +I believe you have won your picture by Raphael; but they tell me it is +only a Mignard. Never mind, it is much prettier; all the Raphaels are +gone black, I am told, whereas this one is as bright as a Girodet." + +"All I want is to crow over Josepha; and it is all the same to me +whether I have a Mignard or a Raphael!--That thief had on such pearls +this evening!--you would sell your soul for them." + +Cydalise, Montes, and Madame Nourrisson got into a hackney coach that +was waiting at the door. Madame Nourrisson whispered to the driver the +address of a house in the same block as the Italian Opera House, +which they could have reached in five or six minutes from the Rue +Saint-Georges; but Madame Nourrisson desired the man to drive along the +Rue le Peletier, and to go very slowly, so as to be able to examine the +carriages in waiting. + +"Brazilian," said the old woman, "look out for your angel's carriage and +servants." + +The Baron pointed out Valerie's carriage as they passed it. + +"She has told them to come for her at ten o'clock, and she is gone in a +cab to the house where she visits Count Steinbock. She has dined there, +and will come to the Opera in half an hour.--It is well contrived!" said +Madame Nourrisson. "Thus you see how she has kept you so long in the +dark." + +The Brazilian made no reply. He had become the tiger, and had recovered +the imperturbable cool ferocity that had been so striking at dinner. He +was as calm as a bankrupt the day after he has stopped payment. + +At the door of the house stood a hackney coach with two horses, of the +kind known as a _Compagnie Generale_, from the Company that runs them. + +"Stay here in the box," said the old woman to Montes. "This is not an +open house like a tavern. I will send for you." + +The paradise of Madame Marneffe and Wenceslas was not at all like that +of Crevel--who, finding it useless now, had just sold his to the Comte +Maxime de Trailles. This paradise, the paradise of all comers, consisted +of a room on the fourth floor opening to the landing, in a house close +to the Italian Opera. On each floor of this house there was a room which +had originally served as the kitchen to the apartments on that floor. +But the house having become a sort of inn, let out for clandestine love +affairs at an exorbitant price, the owner, the real Madame Nourrisson, +an old-clothes buyer in the Rue Nueve Saint-Marc, had wisely appreciated +the great value of these kitchens, and had turned them into a sort of +dining-rooms. Each of these rooms, built between thick party-walls and +with windows to the street, was entirely shut in by very thick double +doors on the landing. Thus the most important secrets could be discussed +over a dinner, with no risk of being overheard. For greater security, +the windows had shutters inside and out. These rooms, in consequence of +this peculiarity, were let for twelve hundred francs a month. The +whole house, full of such paradises and mysteries was rented by Madame +Nourrisson the First for twenty-eight thousand francs of clear profit, +after paying her housekeeper, Madame Nourrisson the Second, for she did +not manage it herself. + +The paradise let to Count Steinbock had been hung with chintz; the +cold, hard floor, of common tiles reddened with encaustic, was not +felt through a soft thick carpet. The furniture consisted of two pretty +chairs and a bed in an alcove, just now half hidden by a table loaded +with the remains of an elegant dinner, while two bottles with long +necks and an empty champagne-bottle in ice strewed the field of bacchus +cultivated by Venus. + +There were also--the property, no doubt, of Valerie--a low easy-chair +and a man's smoking-chair, and a pretty toilet chest of drawers in +rosewood, the mirror handsomely framed _a la_ Pompadour. A lamp hanging +from the ceiling gave a subdued light, increased by wax candles on the +table and on the chimney-shelf. + +This sketch will suffice to give an idea, _urbi et orbi_, of clandestine +passion in the squalid style stamped on it in Paris in 1840. How far, +alas! from the adulterous love, symbolized by Vulcan's nets, three +thousand years ago. + +When Montes and Cydalise came upstairs, Valerie, standing before the +fire, where a log was blazing, was allowing Wenceslas to lace her stays. + +This is a moment when a woman who is neither too fat nor too thin, but +like Valerie, elegant and slender, displays divine beauty. The rosy +skin, mostly soft, invites the sleepiest eye. The lines of her figure, +so little hidden, are so charmingly outlined by the white pleats of +the shift and the support of the stays, that she is irresistible--like +everything that must be parted from. + +With a happy face smiling at the glass, a foot impatiently marking +time, a hand put up to restore order among the tumbled curls, and eyes +expressive of gratitude; with the glow of satisfaction which, like a +sunset, warms the least details of the countenance--everything makes +such a moment a mine of memories. + +Any man who dares look back on the early errors of his life may, +perhaps, recall some such reminiscences, and understand, though not +excuse, the follies of Hulot and Crevel. Women are so well aware of +their power at such a moment, that they find in it what may be called +the aftermath of the meeting. + +"Come, come; after two years' practice, you do not yet know how to lace +a woman's stays! You are too much a Pole!--There, it is ten o'clock, my +Wenceslas!" said Valerie, laughing at him. + +At this very moment, a mischievous waiting-woman, by inserting a knife, +pushed up the hook of the double doors that formed the whole security +of Adam and Eve. She hastily pulled the door open--for the servants +of these dens have little time to waste--and discovered one of the +bewitching _tableaux de genre_ which Gavarni has so often shown at the +Salon. + +"In here, madame," said the girl; and Cydalise went in, followed by +Montes. + +"But there is some one here.--Excuse me, madame," said the country girl, +in alarm. + +"What?--Why! it is Valerie!" cried Montes, violently slamming the door. + +Madame Marneffe, too genuinely agitated to dissemble her feelings, +dropped on to the chair by the fireplace. Two tears rose to her eyes, +and at once dried away. She looked at Montes, saw the girl, and burst +into a cackle of forced laughter. The dignity of the insulted woman +redeemed the scantiness of her attire; she walked close up to the +Brazilian, and looked at him so defiantly that her eyes glittered like +knives. + +"So that," said she, standing face to face with the Baron, and pointing +to Cydalise--"that is the other side of your fidelity? You, who have +made me promises that might convert a disbeliever in love! You, for +whom I have done so much--have even committed crimes!--You are right, +monsieur, I am not to compare with a child of her age and of such +beauty! + +"I know what you are going to say," she went on, looking at Wenceslas, +whose undress was proof too clear to be denied. "This is my concern. If +I could love you after such gross treachery--for you have spied upon me, +you have paid for every step up these stairs, paid the mistress of the +house, and the servant, perhaps even Reine--a noble deed!--If I had any +remnant of affection for such a mean wretch, I could give him reasons +that would renew his passion!--But I leave you, monsieur, to your +doubts, which will become remorse.--Wenceslas, my gown!" + +She took her dress and put it on, looked at herself in the glass, and +finished dressing without heeding the Baron, as calmly as if she had +been alone in the room. + +"Wenceslas, are you ready?--Go first." + +She had been watching Montes in the glass and out of the corner of +her eye, and fancied she could see in his pallor an indication of the +weakness which delivers a strong man over to a woman's fascinations; she +now took his hand, going so close to him that he could not help inhaling +the terrible perfumes which men love, and by which they intoxicate +themselves; then, feeling his pulses beat high, she looked at him +reproachfully. + +"You have my full permission to go and tell your history to Monsieur +Crevel; he will never believe you. I have a perfect right to marry him, +and he becomes my husband the day after to-morrow.--I shall make him +very happy.--Good-bye; try to forget me." + +"Oh! Valerie," cried Henri Montes, clasping her in his arms, "that is +impossible!--Come to Brazil!" + +Valerie looked in his face, and saw him her slave. + +"Well, if you still love me, Henri, two years hence I will be your wife; +but your expression at this moment strikes me as very suspicious." + +"I swear to you that they made me drink, that false friends threw this +girl on my hands, and that the whole thing is the outcome of chance!" +said Montes. + +"Then I am to forgive you?" she asked, with a smile. + +"But you will marry, all the same?" asked the Baron, in an agony of +jealousy. + +"Eighty thousand francs a year!" said she, with almost comical +enthusiasm. "And Crevel loves me so much that he will die of it!" + +"Ah! I understand," said Montes. + +"Well, then, in a few days we will come to an understanding," said she. + +And she departed triumphant. + +"I have no scruples," thought the Baron, standing transfixed for a few +minutes. "What! That woman believes she can make use of his passion to +be quit of that dolt, as she counted on Marneffe's decease!--I shall be +the instrument of divine wrath." + +Two days later those of du Tillet's guests who had demolished Madame +Marneffe tooth and nail, were seated round her table an hour after she +has shed her skin and changed her name for the illustrious name of +a Paris mayor. This verbal treason is one of the commonest forms of +Parisian levity. + +Valerie had had the satisfaction of seeing the Brazilian in the church; +for Crevel, now so entirely the husband, had invited him out of bravado. +And the Baron's presence at the breakfast astonished no one. All these +men of wit and of the world were familiar with the meanness of passion, +the compromises of pleasure. + +Steinbock's deep melancholy--for he was beginning to despise the woman +whom he had adored as an angel--was considered to be in excellent taste. +The Pole thus seemed to convey that all was at an end between Valerie +and himself. Lisbeth came to embrace her dear Madame Crevel, and +to excuse herself for not staying to the breakfast on the score of +Adeline's sad state of health. + +"Be quite easy," said she to Valerie, "they will call on you, and +you will call on them. Simply hearing the words _two hundred thousand +francs_ has brought the Baroness to death's door. Oh, you have them all +hard and fast by that tale!--But you must tell it to me." + +Within a month of her marriage, Valerie was at her tenth quarrel with +Steinbock; he insisted on explanations as to Henri Montes, reminding her +of the words spoken in their paradise; and, not content with speaking +to her in terms of scorn, he watched her so closely that she never had a +moment of liberty, so much was she fettered by his jealousy on one side +and Crevel's devotion on the other. + +Bereft now of Lisbeth, whose advice had always been so valuable she flew +into such a rage as to reproach Wenceslas for the money she had lent +him. This so effectually roused Steinbock's pride, that he came no more +to the Crevels' house. So Valerie had gained her point, which was to be +rid of him for a time, and enjoy some freedom. She waited till Crevel +should make a little journey into the country to see Comte Popinot, with +a view to arranging for her introduction to the Countess, and was then +able to make an appointment to meet the Baron, whom she wanted to have +at her command for a whole day to give him those "reasons" which were to +make him love her more than ever. + +On the morning of that day, Reine, who estimated the magnitude of her +crime by that of the bribe she received, tried to warn her mistress, in +whom she naturally took more interest than in strangers. Still, as she +had been threatened with madness, and ending her days in the Salpetriere +in case of indiscretion, she was cautious. + +"Madame, you are so well off now," said she. "Why take on again with +that Brazilian?--I do not trust him at all." + +"You are very right, Reine, and I mean to be rid of him." + +"Oh, madame, I am glad to hear it; he frightens me, does that big Moor! +I believe him to be capable of anything." + +"Silly child! you have more reason to be afraid for him when he is with +me." + +At this moment Lisbeth came in. + +"My dear little pet Nanny, what an age since we met!" cried Valerie. +"I am so unhappy! Crevel bores me to death; and Wenceslas is gone--we +quarreled." + +"I know," said Lisbeth, "and that is what brings me here. Victorin +met him at about five in the afternoon going into an eating-house at +five-and-twenty sous, and he brought him home, hungry, by working on his +feelings, to the Rue Louis-le-Grand.--Hortense, seeing Wenceslas lean +and ill and badly dressed, held out her hand. This is how you throw me +over--" + +"Monsieur Henri, madame," the man-servant announced in a low voice to +Valerie. + +"Leave me now, Lisbeth; I will explain it all to-morrow." But, as will +be seen, Valerie was ere long not in a state to explain anything to +anybody. + + + +Towards the end of May, Baron Hulot's pension was released by Victorin's +regular payment to Baron Nucingen. As everybody knows, pensions are +paid half-yearly, and only on the presentation of a certificate that the +recipient is alive: and as Hulot's residence was unknown, the arrears +unpaid on Vauvinet's demand remained to his credit in the Treasury. +Vauvinet now signed his renunciation of any further claims, and it was +still indispensable to find the pensioner before the arrears could be +drawn. + +Thanks to Bianchon's care, the Baroness had recovered her health; and +to this Josepha's good heart had contributed by a letter, of which the +orthography betrayed the collaboration of the Duc d'Herouville. This +was what the singer wrote to the Baroness, after twenty days of anxious +search:-- + + "MADAME LA BARONNE,--Monsieur Hulot was living, two months since, + in the Rue des Bernardins, with Elodie Chardin, a lace-mender, for + whom he had left Mademoiselle Bijou; but he went away without a + word, leaving everything behind him, and no one knows where he + went. I am not without hope, however, and I have put a man on this + track who believes he has already seen him in the Boulevard + Bourdon. + + "The poor Jewess means to keep the promise she made to the + Christian. Will the angel pray for the devil? That must sometimes + happen in heaven.--I remain, with the deepest respect, always your + humble servant, + + "JOSEPHA MIRAH." + +The lawyer, Maitre Hulot d'Ervy, hearing no more of the dreadful Madame +Nourrisson, seeing his father-in-law married, having brought back his +brother-in-law to the family fold, suffering from no importunity on +the part of his new stepmother, and seeing his mother's health improve +daily, gave himself up to his political and judicial duties, swept along +by the tide of Paris life, in which the hours count for days. + +One night, towards the end of the session, having occasion to write up +a report to the Chamber of Deputies, he was obliged to sit at work till +late at night. He had gone into his study at nine o'clock, and, while +waiting till the man-servant should bring in the candles with green +shades, his thoughts turned to his father. He was blaming himself for +leaving the inquiry so much to the singer, and had resolved to see +Monsieur Chapuzot himself on the morrow, when he saw in the twilight, +outside the window, a handsome old head, bald and yellow, with a fringe +of white hair. + +"Would you please to give orders, sir, that a poor hermit is to be +admitted, just come from the Desert, and who is instructed to beg for +contributions towards rebuilding a holy house." + +This apparition, which suddenly reminded the lawyer of a prophecy +uttered by the terrible Nourrisson, gave him a shock. + +"Let in that old man," said he to the servant. + +"He will poison the place, sir," replied the man. "He has on a brown +gown which he has never changed since he left Syria, and he has no +shirt--" + +"Show him in," repeated the master. + +The old man came in. Victorin's keen eye examined this so-called pilgrim +hermit, and he saw a fine specimen of the Neapolitan friars, whose +frocks are akin to the rags of the _lazzaroni_, whose sandals are +tatters of leather, as the friars are tatters of humanity. The get-up +was so perfect that the lawyer, though still on his guard, was vexed +with himself for having believed it to be one of Madame Nourrisson's +tricks. + +"How much to you want of me?" + +"Whatever you feel that you ought to give me." + +Victorin took a five-franc piece from a little pile on his table, and +handed it to the stranger. + +"That is not much on account of fifty thousand francs," said the pilgrim +of the desert. + +This speech removed all Victorin's doubts. + +"And has Heaven kept its word?" he said, with a frown. + +"The question is an offence, my son," said the hermit. "If you do not +choose to pay till after the funeral, you are in your rights. I will +return in a week's time." + +"The funeral!" cried the lawyer, starting up. + +"The world moves on," said the old man, as he withdrew, "and the dead +move quickly in Paris!" + +When Hulot, who stood looking down, was about to reply, the stalwart old +man had vanished. + +"I don't understand one word of all this," said Victorin to himself. +"But at the end of the week I will ask him again about my father, if we +have not yet found him. Where does Madame Nourrisson--yes, that was her +name--pick up such actors?" + +On the following day, Doctor Bianchon allowed the Baroness to go down +into the garden, after examining Lisbeth, who had been obliged to +keep to her room for a month by a slight bronchial attack. The learned +doctor, who dared not pronounce a definite opinion on Lisbeth's case +till he had seen some decisive symptoms, went into the garden with +Adeline to observe the effect of the fresh air on her nervous trembling +after two months of seclusion. He was interested and allured by the hope +of curing this nervous complaint. On seeing the great physician sitting +with them and sparing them a few minutes, the Baroness and her family +conversed with him on general subjects. + +"You life is a very full and a very sad one," said Madame Hulot. "I +know what it is to spend one's days in seeing poverty and physical +suffering." + +"I know, madame," replied the doctor, "all the scenes of which charity +compels you to be a spectator; but you will get used to it in time, as +we all do. It is the law of existence. The confessor, the magistrate, +the lawyer would find life unendurable if the spirit of the State did +not assert itself above the feelings of the individual. Could we live at +all but for that? Is not the soldier in time of war brought face to face +with spectacles even more dreadful than those we see? And every soldier +that has been under fire is kind-hearted. We medical men have the +pleasure now and again of a successful cure, as you have that of saving +a family from the horrors of hunger, depravity, or misery, and of +restoring it to social respectability. But what comfort can the +magistrate find, the police agent, or the attorney, who spend their +lives in investigating the basest schemes of self-interest, the social +monster whose only regret is when it fails, but on whom repentance never +dawns? + +"One-half of society spends its life in watching the other half. A very +old friend of mine is an attorney, now retired, who told me that for +fifteen years past notaries and lawyers have distrusted their clients +quite as much as their adversaries. Your son is a pleader; has he never +found himself compromised by the client for whom he held a brief?" + +"Very often," said Victorin, with a smile. + +"And what is the cause of this deep-seated evil?" asked the Baroness. + +"The decay of religion," said Bianchon, "and the pre-eminence of +finance, which is simply solidified selfishness. Money used not to +be everything; there were some kinds of superiority that ranked above +it--nobility, genius, service done to the State. But nowadays the law +takes wealth as the universal standard, and regards it as the measure +of public capacity. Certain magistrates are ineligible to the Chamber; +Jean-Jacques Rousseau would be ineligible! The perpetual subdivision of +estate compels every man to take care of himself from the age of twenty. + +"Well, then, between the necessity for making a fortune and the +depravity of speculation there is no check or hindrance; for the +religious sense is wholly lacking in France, in spite of the laudable +endeavors of those who are working for a Catholic revival. And this is +the opinion of every man who, like me, studies society at the core." + +"And you have few pleasures?" said Hortense. + +"The true physician, madame, is in love with his science," replied the +doctor. "He is sustained by that passion as much as by the sense of his +usefulness to society. + +"At this very time you see in me a sort of scientific rapture, and many +superficial judges would regard me as a man devoid of feeling. I have +to announce a discovery to-morrow to the College of Medicine, for I am +studying a disease that had disappeared--a mortal disease for which no +cure is known in temperate climates, though it is curable in the West +Indies--a malady known here in the Middle Ages. A noble fight is that +of the physician against such a disease. For the last ten days I have +thought of nothing but these cases--for there are two, a husband and +wife.--Are they not connections of yours? For you, madame, are surely +Monsieur Crevel's daughter?" said he, addressing Celestine. + +"What, is my father your patient?" asked Celestine. "Living in the Rue +Barbet-de-Jouy?" + +"Precisely so," said Bianchon. + +"And the disease is inevitably fatal?" said Victorin in dismay. + +"I will go to see him," said Celestine, rising. + +"I positively forbid it, madame," Bianchon quietly said. "The disease is +contagious." + +"But you go there, monsieur," replied the young woman. "Do you think +that a daughter's duty is less binding than a doctor's?" + +"Madame, a physician knows how to protect himself against infection, and +the rashness of your devotion proves to me that you would probably be +less prudent than I." + +Celestine, however, got up and went to her room, where she dressed to go +out. + +"Monsieur," said Victorin to Bianchon, "have you any hope of saving +Monsieur and Madame Crevel?" + +"I hope, but I do not believe that I may," said Bianchon. "The case is +to me quite inexplicable. The disease is peculiar to negroes and the +American tribes, whose skin is differently constituted to that of the +white races. Now I can trace no connection with the copper-colored +tribes, with negroes or half-castes, in Monsieur or Madame Crevel. + +"And though it is a very interesting disease to us, it is a terrible +thing for the sufferers. The poor woman, who is said to have been very +pretty, is punished for her sins, for she is now squalidly hideous if +she is still anything at all. She is losing her hair and teeth, her skin +is like a leper's, she is a horror to herself; her hands are horrible, +covered with greenish pustules, her nails are loose, and the flesh is +eaten away by the poisoned humors." + +"And the cause of such a disease?" asked the lawyer. + +"Oh!" said the doctor, "the cause lies in a form of rapid +blood-poisoning; it degenerates with terrific rapidity. I hope to act on +the blood; I am having it analyzed; and I am now going home to ascertain +the result of the labors of my friend Professor Duval, the famous +chemist, with a view to trying one of those desperate measures by which +we sometimes attempt to defeat death." + +"The hand of God is there!" said Adeline, in a voice husky with emotion. +"Though that woman has brought sorrows on me which have led me in +moments of madness to invoke the vengeance of Heaven, I hope--God knows +I hope--you may succeed, doctor." + +Victorin felt dizzy. He looked at his mother, his sister, and the +physician by turns, quaking lest they should read his thoughts. He felt +himself a murderer. + +Hortense, for her part, thought God was just. + +Celestine came back to beg her husband to accompany her. + +"If you insist on going, madame, and you too, monsieur, keep at least +a foot between you and the bed of the sufferer, that is the chief +precaution. Neither you nor your wife must dream of kissing the dying +man. And, indeed, you ought to go with your wife, Monsieur Hulot, to +hinder her from disobeying my injunctions." + +Adeline and Hortense, when they were left alone, went to sit with +Lisbeth. Hortense had such a virulent hatred of Valerie that she could +not contain the expression of it. + +"Cousin Lisbeth," she exclaimed, "my mother and I are avenged! that +venomous snake is herself bitten--she is rotting in her bed!" + +"Hortense, at this moment you are not a Christian. You ought to pray to +God to vouchsafe repentance to this wretched woman." + +"What are you talking about?" said Betty, rising from her couch. "Are +you speaking of Valerie?" + +"Yes," replied Adeline; "she is past hope--dying of some horrible +disease of which the mere description makes one shudder----" + +Lisbeth's teeth chattered, a cold sweat broke out all over her; the +violence of the shock showed how passionate her attachment to Valerie +had been. + +"I must go there," said she. + +"But the doctor forbids your going out." + +"I do not care--I must go!--Poor Crevel! what a state he must be in; for +he loves that woman." + +"He is dying too," replied Countess Steinbock. "Ah! all our enemies are +in the devil's clutches--" + +"In God's hands, my child--" + +Lisbeth dressed in the famous yellow Indian shawl and her black velvet +bonnet, and put on her boots; in spite of her relations' remonstrances, +she set out as if driven by some irresistible power. + +She arrived in the Rue Barbet a few minutes after Monsieur and Madame +Hulot, and found seven physicians there, brought by Bianchon to study +this unique case; he had just joined them. The physicians, assembled in +the drawing-room, were discussing the disease; now one and now another +went into Valerie's room or Crevel's to take a note, and returned with +an opinion based on this rapid study. + +These princes of science were divided in their opinions. One, who +stood alone in his views, considered it a case of poisoning, of private +revenge, and denied its identity with the disease known in the Middle +Ages. Three others regarded it as a specific deterioration of the blood +and the humors. The rest, agreeing with Bianchon, maintained that the +blood was poisoned by some hitherto unknown morbid infection. Bianchon +produced Professor Duval's analysis of the blood. The remedies to be +applied, though absolutely empirical and without hope, depended on the +verdict in this medical dilemma. + +Lisbeth stood as if petrified three yards away from the bed where +Valerie lay dying, as she saw a priest from Saint-Thomas d'Aquin +standing by her friend's pillow, and a sister of charity in attendance. +Religion could find a soul to save in a mass of rottenness which, of the +five senses of man, had now only that of sight. The sister of charity +who alone had been found to nurse Valerie stood apart. Thus the Catholic +religion, that divine institution, always actuated by the spirit of +self-sacrifice, under its twofold aspect of the Spirit and the Flesh, +was tending this horrible and atrocious creature, soothing her death-bed +by its infinite benevolence and inexhaustible stores of mercy. + +The servants, in horror, refused to go into the room of either their +master or mistress; they thought only of themselves, and judged their +betters as righteously stricken. The smell was so foul that in spite of +open windows and strong perfumes, no one could remain long in Valerie's +room. Religion alone kept guard there. + +How could a woman so clever as Valerie fail to ask herself to what end +these two representatives of the Church remained with her? The dying +woman had listened to the words of the priest. Repentance had risen on +her darkened soul as the devouring malady had consumed her beauty. The +fragile Valerie had been less able to resist the inroads of the disease +than Crevel; she would be the first to succumb, and, indeed, had been +the first attacked. + +"If I had not been ill myself, I would have come to nurse you," said +Lisbeth at last, after a glance at her friend's sunken eyes. "I have +kept my room this fortnight or three weeks; but when I heard of your +state from the doctor, I came at once." + +"Poor Lisbeth, you at least love me still, I see!" said Valerie. +"Listen. I have only a day or two left to think, for I cannot say to +live. You see, there is nothing left of me--I am a heap of mud! They +will not let me see myself in a glass.--Well, it is no more than I +deserve. Oh, if I might only win mercy, I would gladly undo all the +mischief I have done." + +"Oh!" said Lisbeth, "if you can talk like that, you are indeed a dead +woman." + +"Do not hinder this woman's repentance, leave her in her Christian +mind," said the priest. + +"There is nothing left!" said Lisbeth in consternation. "I cannot +recognize her eyes or her mouth! Not a feature of her is there! And her +wit has deserted her! Oh, it is awful!" + +"You don't know," said Valerie, "what death is; what it is to be obliged +to think of the morrow of your last day on earth, and of what is to +be found in the grave.--Worms for the body--and for the soul, +what?--Lisbeth, I know there is another life! And I am given over to +terrors which prevent my feeling the pangs of my decomposing body.--I, +who could laugh at a saint, and say to Crevel that the vengeance of God +took every form of disaster.--Well, I was a true prophet.--Do not trifle +with sacred things, Lisbeth; if you love me, repent as I do." + +"I!" said Lisbeth. "I see vengeance wherever I turn in nature; insects +even die to satisfy the craving for revenge when they are attacked. And +do not these gentlemen tell us"--and she looked at the priest--"that God +is revenged, and that His vengeance lasts through all eternity?" + +The priest looked mildly at Lisbeth and said: + +"You, madame, are an atheist!" + +"But look what I have come to," said Valerie. + +"And where did you get this gangrene?" asked the old maid, unmoved from +her peasant incredulity. + +"I had a letter from Henri which leaves me in no doubt as to my fate. +He has murdered me. And--just when I meant to live honestly--to die an +object of disgust! + +"Lisbeth, give up all notions of revenge. Be kind to that family to whom +I have left by my will everything I can dispose of. Go, child, though +you are the only creature who, at this hour, does not avoid me with +horror--go, I beseech you, and leave me.--I have only time to make my +peace with God!" + +"She is wandering in her wits," said Lisbeth to herself, as she left the +room. + +The strongest affection known, that of a woman for a woman, had not such +heroic constancy as the Church. Lisbeth, stifled by the miasma, went +away. She found the physicians still in consultation. But Bianchon's +opinion carried the day, and the only question now was how to try the +remedies. + +"At any rate, we shall have a splendid _post-mortem_," said one of +his opponents, "and there will be two cases to enable us to make +comparisons." + +Lisbeth went in again with Bianchon, who went up to the sick woman +without seeming aware of the malodorous atmosphere. + +"Madame," said he, "we intend to try a powerful remedy which may save +you--" + +"And if you save my life," said she, "shall I be as good-looking as +ever?" + +"Possibly," said the judicious physician. + +"I know your _possibly_," said Valerie. "I shall look like a woman who +has fallen into the fire! No, leave me to the Church. I can please no +one now but God. I will try to be reconciled to Him, and that will be my +last flirtation; yes, I must try to come round God!" + +"That is my poor Valerie's last jest; that is all herself!" said Lisbeth +in tears. + +Lisbeth thought it her duty to go into Crevel's room, where she found +Victorin and his wife sitting about a yard away from the stricken man's +bed. + +"Lisbeth," said he, "they will not tell me what state my wife is in; you +have just seen her--how is she?" + +"She is better; she says she is saved," replied Lisbeth, allowing +herself this play on the word to soothe Crevel's mind. + +"That is well," said the Mayor. "I feared lest I had been the cause of +her illness. A man is not a traveler in perfumery for nothing; I had +blamed myself.--If I should lose her, what would become of me? On my +honor, my children, I worship that woman." + +He sat up in bed and tried to assume his favorite position. + +"Oh, Papa!" cried Celestine, "if only you could be well again, I would +make friends with my stepmother--I make a vow!" + +"Poor little Celestine!" said Crevel, "come and kiss me." + +Victorin held back his wife, who was rushing forward. + +"You do not know, perhaps," said the lawyer gently, "that your disease +is contagious, monsieur." + +"To be sure," replied Crevel. "And the doctors are quite proud of having +rediscovered in me some long lost plague of the Middle Ages, which the +Faculty has had cried like lost property--it is very funny!" + +"Papa," said Celestine, "be brave, and you will get the better of this +disease." + +"Be quite easy, my children; Death thinks twice of it before carrying +off a Mayor of Paris," said he, with monstrous composure. "And if, after +all, my district is so unfortunate as to lose a man it has twice honored +with its suffrages--you see, what a flow of words I have!--Well, I shall +know how to pack up and go. I have been a commercial traveler; I am +experienced in such matters. Ah! my children, I am a man of strong +mind." + +"Papa, promise me to admit the Church--" + +"Never," replied Crevel. "What is to be said? I drank the milk of +Revolution; I have not Baron Holbach's wit, but I have his strength of +mind. I am more _Regence_ than ever, more Musketeer, Abbe Dubois, and +Marechal de Richelieu! By the Holy Poker!--My wife, who is wandering +in her head, has just sent me a man in a gown--to me! the admirer of +Beranger, the friend of Lisette, the son of Voltaire and Rousseau.--The +doctor, to feel my pulse, as it were, and see if sickness had subdued +me--'You saw Monsieur l'Abbe?' said he.--Well, I imitated the great +Montesquieu. Yes, I looked at the doctor--see, like this," and he turned +to show three-quarters face, like his portrait, and extended his hand +authoritatively--"and I said: + + "The slave was here, + He showed his order, but he nothing gained. + +"_His order_ is a pretty jest, showing that even in death Monsieur le +President de Montesquieu preserved his elegant wit, for they had sent +him a Jesuit. I admire that passage--I cannot say of his life, but +of his death--the passage--another joke!--The passage from life to +death--the Passage Montesquieu!" + +Victorin gazed sadly at his father-in-law, wondering whether folly and +vanity were not forces on a par with true greatness of soul. The causes +that act on the springs of the soul seem to be quite independent of the +results. Can it be that the fortitude which upholds a great criminal is +the same as that which a Champcenetz so proudly walks to the scaffold? + +By the end of the week Madame Crevel was buried, after dreadful +sufferings; and Crevel followed her within two days. Thus the +marriage-contract was annulled. Crevel was heir to Valerie. + +On the very day after the funeral, the friar called again on the lawyer, +who received him in perfect silence. The monk held out his hand without +a word, and without a word Victorin Hulot gave him eighty thousand-franc +notes, taken from a sum of money found in Crevel's desk. + +Young Madame Hulot inherited the estate of Presles and thirty thousand +francs a year. + +Madame Crevel had bequeathed a sum of three hundred thousand francs +to Baron Hulot. Her scrofulous boy Stanislas was to inherit, at his +majority, the Hotel Crevel and eighty thousand francs a year. + + + +Among the many noble associations founded in Paris by Catholic charity, +there is one, originated by Madame de la Chanterie, for promoting civil +and religious marriages between persons who have formed a voluntary +but illicit union. Legislators, who draw large revenues from the +registration fees, and the Bourgeois dynasty, which benefits by the +notary's profits, affect to overlook the fact that three-fourths of the +poorer class cannot afford fifteen francs for the marriage-contract. The +pleaders, a sufficiently vilified body, gratuitously defend the cases +of the indigent, while the notaries have not as yet agreed to charge +nothing for the marriage-contract of the poor. As to the revenue +collectors, the whole machinery of Government would have to be +dislocated to induce the authorities to relax their demands. The +registrar's office is deaf and dumb. + +Then the Church, too, receives a duty on marriages. In France the Church +depends largely on such revenues; even in the House of God it traffics +in chairs and kneeling stools in a way that offends foreigners; +though it cannot have forgotten the anger of the Saviour who drove +the money-changers out of the Temple. If the Church is so loath to +relinquish its dues, it must be supposed that these dues, known as +Vestry dues, are one of its sources of maintenance, and then the fault +of the Church is the fault of the State. + +The co-operation of these conditions, at a time when charity is too +greatly concerned with the negroes and the petty offenders discharged +from prison to trouble itself about honest folks in difficulties, +results in the existence of a number of decent couples who have never +been legally married for lack of thirty francs, the lowest figure for +which the Notary, the Registrar, the Mayor and the Church will unite +two citizens of Paris. Madame de la Chanterie's fund, founded to restore +poor households to their religious and legal status, hunts up such +couples, and with all the more success because it helps them in their +poverty before attacking their unlawful union. + +As soon as Madame Hulot had recovered, she returned to her occupations. +And then it was that the admirable Madame de la Chanterie came to beg +that Adeline would add the legalization of these voluntary unions to the +other good works of which she was the instrument. + +One of the Baroness' first efforts in this cause was made in the +ominous-looking district, formerly known as la Petite Pologne--Little +Poland--bounded by the Rue du Rocher, Rue de la Pepiniere, and Rue +de Miromenil. There exists there a sort of offshoot of the Faubourg +Saint-Marceau. To give an idea of this part of the town, it is enough +to say that the landlords of some of the houses tenanted by working men +without work, by dangerous characters, and by the very poor employed in +unhealthy toil, dare not demand their rents, and can find no bailiffs +bold enough to evict insolvent lodgers. At the present time speculating +builders, who are fast changing the aspect of this corner of Paris, and +covering the waste ground lying between the Rue d'Amsterdam and the Rue +Faubourg-du-Roule, will no doubt alter the character of the inhabitants; +for the trowel is a more civilizing agent than is generally supposed. By +erecting substantial and handsome houses, with porters at the doors, +by bordering the streets with footwalks and shops, speculation, while +raising the rents, disperses the squalid class, families bereft of +furniture, and lodgers that cannot pay. And so these districts are +cleared of such objectionable residents, and the dens vanish into which +the police never venture but under the sanction of the law. + +In June 1844, the purlieus of the Place de Laborde were still far from +inviting. The genteel pedestrian, who by chance should turn out of the +Rue de la Pepiniere into one of those dreadful side-streets, would have +been dismayed to see how vile a bohemia dwelt cheek by jowl with the +aristocracy. In such places as these, haunted by ignorant poverty and +misery driven to bay, flourish the last public letter-writers who are +to be found in Paris. Wherever you see the two words "Ecrivain Public" +written in a fine copy hand on a sheet of letter-paper stuck to the +window pane of some low entresol or mud-splashed ground-floor room, you +may safely conclude that the neighborhood is the lurking place of many +unlettered folks, and of much vice and crime, the outcome of misery; for +ignorance is the mother of all sorts of crime. A crime is, in the first +instance, a defect of reasoning powers. + +While the Baroness had been ill, this quarter, to which she was a minor +Providence, had seen the advent of a public writer who settled in the +Passage du Soleil--Sun Alley--a spot of which the name is one of the +antitheses dear to the Parisian, for the passage is especially dark. +This writer, supposed to be a German, was named Vyder, and he lived on +matrimonial terms with a young creature of whom he was so jealous that +he never allowed her to go anywhere excepting to some honest stove and +flue-fitters, in the Rue Saint-Lazare, Italians, as such fitters always +are, but long since established in Paris. These people had been saved +from a bankruptcy, which would have reduced them to misery, by the +Baroness, acting in behalf of Madame de la Chanterie. In a few months +comfort had taken the place of poverty, and Religion had found a home in +hearts which once had cursed Heaven with the energy peculiar to Italian +stove-fitters. So one of Madame Hulot's first visits was to this family. + +She was pleased at the scene that presented itself to her eyes at +the back of the house where these worthy folks lived in the Rue +Saint-Lazare, not far from the Rue du Rocher. High above the stores +and workshops, now well filled, where toiled a swarm of apprentices and +workmen--all Italians from the valley of Domo d'Ossola--the master's +family occupied a set of rooms, which hard work had blessed with +abundance. The Baroness was hailed like the Virgin Mary in person. + +After a quarter of an hour's questioning, Adeline, having to wait for +the father to inquire how his business was prospering, pursued her +saintly calling as a spy by asking whether they knew of any families +needing help. + +"Ah, dear lady, you who could save the damned from hell!" said the +Italian wife, "there is a girl quite near here to be saved from +perdition." + +"A girl well known to you?" asked the Baroness. + +"She is the granddaughter of a master my husband formerly worked for, +who came to France in 1798, after the Revolution, by name Judici. Old +Judici, in Napoleon's time, was one of the principal stove-fitters in +Paris; he died in 1819, leaving his son a fine fortune. But the younger +Judici wasted all his money on bad women; till, at last, he married one +who was sharper than the rest, and she had this poor little girl, who is +just turned fifteen." + +"And what is wrong with her?" asked Adeline, struck by the resemblance +between this Judici and her husband. + +"Well, madame, this child, named Atala, ran away from her father, and +came to live close by here with an old German of eighty at least, named +Vyder, who does odd jobs for people who cannot read and write. Now, +if this old sinner, who bought the child of her mother, they say for +fifteen hundred francs, would but marry her, as he certainly has not +long to live, and as he is said to have some few thousand of francs a +year--well, the poor thing, who is a sweet little angel, would be out of +mischief, and above want, which must be the ruin of her." + +"Thank you very much for the information. I may do some good, but I must +act with caution.--Who is the old man?" + +"Oh! madame, he is a good old fellow; he makes the child very happy, and +he has some sense too, for he left the part of town where the Judicis +live, as I believe, to snatch the child from her mother's clutches. The +mother was jealous of her, and I dare say she thought she could make +money out of her beauty and make a _mademoiselle_ of the girl. + +"Atala remembered us, and advised her gentleman to settle near us; and +as the good man sees how decent we are, he allows her to come here. But +get them married, madame, and you will do an action worthy of you. Once +married, the child will be independent and free from her mother, who +keeps an eye on her, and who, if she could make money by her, would like +to see her on the stage, or successful in the wicked life she meant her +to lead." + +"Why doesn't the old man marry her?" + +"There was no necessity for it, you see," said the Italian. "And though +old Vyder is not a bad old fellow, I fancy he is sharp enough to wish +to remain the master, while if he once got married--why, the poor man is +afraid of the stone that hangs round every old man's neck." + +"Could you send for the girl to come here?" said Madame Hulot. "I should +see her quietly, and find out what could be done--" + +The stove-fitter's wife signed to her eldest girl, who ran off. Ten +minutes later she returned, leading by the hand a child of fifteen and +a half, a beauty of the Italian type. Mademoiselle Judici inherited from +her father that ivory skin which, rather yellow by day, is by artificial +light of lily-whiteness; eyes of Oriental beauty, form, and brilliancy, +close curling lashes like black feathers, hair of ebony hue, and that +native dignity of the Lombard race which makes the foreigner, as he +walks through Milan on a Sunday, fancy that every porter's daughter is a +princess. + +Atala, told by the stove-fitter's daughter that she was to meet the +great lady of whom she had heard so much, had hastily dressed in a +black silk gown, a smart little cape, and neat boots. A cap with a +cherry-colored bow added to the brilliant effect of her coloring. The +child stood in an attitude of artless curiosity, studying the Baroness +out of the corner of her eye, for her palsied trembling puzzled her +greatly. + +Adeline sighed deeply as she saw this jewel of womanhood in the mire of +prostitution, and determined to rescue her to virtue. + +"What is your name, my dear?" + +"Atala, madame." + +"And can you read and write?" + +"No, madame; but that does not matter, as monsieur can." + +"Did your parents ever take you to church? Have you been to your first +Communion? Do you know your Catechism?" + +"Madame, papa wanted to make me do something of the kind you speak of, +but mamma would not have it--" + +"Your mother?" exclaimed the Baroness. "Is she bad to you, then?" + +"She was always beating me. I don't know why, but I was always being +quarreled over by my father and mother--" + +"Did you ever hear of God?" cried the Baroness. + +The girl looked up wide-eyed. + +"Oh, yes, papa and mamma often said 'Good God,' and 'In God's name,' and +'God's thunder,'" said she, with perfect simplicity. + +"Then you never saw a church? Did you never think of going into one?" + +"A church?--Notre-Dame, the Pantheon?--I have seen them from a distance, +when papa took me into town; but that was not very often. There are no +churches like those in the Faubourg." + +"Which Faubourg did you live in?" + +"In the Faubourg." + +"Yes, but which?" + +"In the Rue de Charonne, madame." + +The inhabitants of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine never call that notorious +district other than _the_ Faubourg. To them it is the one and only +Faubourg; and manufacturers generally understand the words as meaning +the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. + +"Did no one ever tell you what was right or wrong?" + +"Mamma used to beat me when I did not do what pleased her." + +"But did you not know that it was very wicked to run away from your +father and mother to go to live with an old man?" + +Atala Judici gazed at the Baroness with a haughty stare, but made no +reply. + +"She is a perfect little savage," murmured Adeline. + +"There are a great many like her in the Faubourg, madame," said the +stove-fitter's wife. + +"But she knows nothing--not even what is wrong. Good Heavens!--Why do +you not answer me?" said Madame Hulot, putting out her hand to take +Atala's. + +Atala indignantly withdrew a step. + +"You are an old fool!" said she. "Why, my father and mother had had +nothing to eat for a week. My mother wanted me to do much worse than +that, I think, for my father thrashed her and called her a thief! +However, Monsieur Vyder paid all their debts, and gave them some +money--oh, a bagful! And he brought me away, and poor papa was crying. +But we had to part!--Was it wicked?" she asked. + +"And are you very fond of Monsieur Vyder?" + +"Fond of him?" said she. "I should think so! He tells me beautiful +stories, madame, every evening; and he has given me nice gowns, and +linen, and a shawl. Why, I am figged out like a princess, and I never +wear sabots now. And then, I have not known what it is to be hungry +these two months past. And I don't live on potatoes now. He brings me +bonbons and burnt almonds, and chocolate almonds.--Aren't they good?--I +do anything he pleases for a bag of chocolate.--Then my old Daddy is +very kind; he takes such care of me, and is so nice; I know now what my +mother ought to have been.--He is going to get an old woman to help +me, for he doesn't like me to dirty my hands with cooking. For the past +month, too, he has been making a little money, and he gives me three +francs every evening that I put into a money-box. Only he will never +let me out except to come here--and he calls me his little kitten! Mamma +never called me anything but bad names--and thief, and vermin!" + +"Well, then, my child, why should not Daddy Vyder be your husband?" + +"But he is, madame," said the girl, looking at Adeline with calm pride, +without a blush, her brow smooth, her eyes steady. "He told me that I +was his little wife; but it is a horrid bore to be a man's wife--if it +were not for the burnt almonds!" + +"Good Heaven!" said the Baroness to herself, "what monster can have had +the heart to betray such perfect, such holy innocence? To restore this +child to the ways of virtue would surely atone for many sins.--I knew +what I was doing." thought she, remembering the scene with Crevel. "But +she--she knows nothing." + +"Do you know Monsieur Samanon?" asked Atala, with an insinuating look. + +"No, my child; but why do you ask?" + +"Really and truly?" said the artless girl. + +"You have nothing to fear from this lady," said the Italian woman. "She +is an angel." + +"It is because my good old boy is afraid of being caught by Samanon. He +is hiding, and I wish he could be free--" + +"Why?" + +"On! then he would take me to Bobino, perhaps to the Ambigu." + +"What a delightful creature!" said the Baroness, kissing the girl. + +"Are you rich?" asked Atala, who was fingering the Baroness' lace +ruffles. + +"Yes, and No," replied Madame Hulot. "I am rich for dear little girls +like you when they are willing to be taught their duties as Christians +by a priest, and to walk in the right way." + +"What way is that?" said Atala; "I walk on my two feet." + +"The way of virtue." + +Atala looked at the Baroness with a crafty smile. + +"Look at madame," said the Baroness, pointing to the stove-fitter's +wife, "she has been quite happy because she was received into the bosom +of the Church. You married like the beasts that perish." + +"I?" said Atala. "Why, if you will give me as much as Daddy Vyder gives +me, I shall be quite happy unmarried again. It is a grind.--Do you know +what it is to--?" + +"But when once you are united to a man as you are," the Baroness put in, +"virtue requires you to remain faithful to him." + +"Till he dies," said Atala, with a knowing flash. "I shall not have to +wait long. If you only knew how Daddy Vyder coughs and blows.--Poof, +poof," and she imitated the old man. + +"Virtue and morality require that the Church, representing God, and the +Mayor, representing the law, should consecrate your marriage," Madame +Hulot went on. "Look at madame; she is legally married--" + +"Will it make it more amusing?" asked the girl. + +"You will be happier," said the Baroness, "for no one could then blame +you. You would satisfy God! Ask her if she was married without the +sacrament of marriage!" + +Atala looked at the Italian. + +"How is she any better than I am?" she asked. "I am prettier than she +is." + +"Yes, but I am an honest woman," said the wife, "and you may be called +by a bad name." + +"How can you expect God to protect you if you trample every law, human +and divine, under foot?" said the Baroness. "Don't you know that God has +Paradise in store for those who obey the injunctions of His Church?" + +"What is there in Paradise? Are there playhouses?" + +"Paradise!" said Adeline, "is every joy you can conceive of. It is full +of angels with white wings. You see God in all His glory, you share His +power, you are happy for every minute of eternity!" + +Atala listened to the lady as she might have listened to music; but +Adeline, seeing that she was incapable of understanding her, thought she +had better take another line of action and speak to the old man. + +"Go home, then, my child, and I will go to see Monsieur Vyder. Is he a +Frenchman?" + +"He is an Alsatian, madame. But he will be quite rich soon. If you +would pay what he owes to that vile Samanon, he would give you back +your money, for in a few months he will be getting six thousand francs +a year, he says, and we are to go to live in the country a long way off, +in the Vosges." + +At the word _Vosges_ the Baroness sat lost in reverie. It called up +the vision of her native village. She was roused from her melancholy +meditation by the entrance of the stove-fitter, who came to assure her +of his prosperity. + +"In a year's time, madame, I can repay the money you lent us, for it +is God's money, the money of the poor and wretched. If ever I make a +fortune, come to me for what you want, and I will render through you the +help to others which you first brought us." + +"Just now," said Madame Hulot, "I do not need your money, but I ask your +assistance in a good work. I have just seen that little Judici, who is +living with an old man, and I mean to see them regularly and legally +married." + +"Ah! old Vyder; he is a very worthy old fellow, with plenty of good +sense. The poor old man has already made friends in the neighborhood, +though he has been here but two months. He keeps my accounts for me. He +is, I believe, a brave Colonel who served the Emperor well. And how he +adores Napoleon!--He has some orders, but he never wears them. He is +waiting till he is straight again, for he is in debt, poor old boy! In +fact, I believe he is hiding, threatened by the law--" + +"Tell him that I will pay his debts if he will marry the child." + +"Oh, that will soon be settled.--Suppose you were to see him, madame; it +is not two steps away, in the Passage du Soleil." + +So the lady and the stove-fitter went out. + +"This way, madame," said the man, turning down the Rue de la Pepiniere. + +The alley runs, in fact, from the bottom of this street through to the +Rue du Rocher. Halfway down this passage, recently opened through, where +the shops let at a very low rent, the Baroness saw on a window, screened +up to a height with a green, gauze curtain, which excluded the prying +eyes of the passer-by, the words: + + +"ECRIVAIN PUBLIC"; and on the door the announcement: + + BUSINESS TRANSACTED. + + _Petitions Drawn Up, Accounts Audited, Etc._ + + _With Secrecy and Dispatch._ + + +The shop was like one of those little offices where travelers by omnibus +wait the vehicles to take them on to their destination. A private +staircase led up, no doubt, to the living-rooms on the entresol which +were let with the shop. Madame Hulot saw a dirty writing-table of some +light wood, some letter-boxes, and a wretched second-hand chair. A +cap with a peak and a greasy green shade for the eyes suggested either +precautions for disguise, or weak eyes, which was not unlikely in an old +man. + +"He is upstairs," said the stove-fitter. "I will go up and tell him to +come down." + +Adeline lowered her veil and took a seat. A heavy step made the narrow +stairs creak, and Adeline could not restrain a piercing cry when she +saw her husband, Baron Hulot, in a gray knitted jersey, old gray flannel +trousers, and slippers. + +"What is your business, madame?" said Hulot, with a flourish. + +She rose, seized Hulot by the arm, and said in a voice hoarse with +emotion: + +"At last--I have found you!" + +"Adeline!" exclaimed the Baron in bewilderment, and he locked the shop +door. "Joseph, go out the back way," he added to the stove-fitter. + +"My dear!" she said, forgetting everything in her excessive joy, "you +can come home to us all; we are rich. Your son draws a hundred and sixty +thousand francs a year! Your pension is released; there are fifteen +thousand francs of arrears you can get on showing that you are alive. +Valerie is dead, and left you three hundred thousand francs. + +"Your name is quite forgotten by this time; you may reappear in the +world, and you will find a fortune awaiting you at your son's house. +Come; our happiness will be complete. For nearly three years I have +been seeking you, and I felt so sure of finding you that a room is ready +waiting for you. Oh! come away from this, come away from the dreadful +state I see you in!" + +"I am very willing," said the bewildered Baron, "but can I take the +girl?" + +"Hector, give her up! Do that much for your Adeline, who has never +before asked you to make the smallest sacrifice. I promise you I will +give the child a marriage portion; I will see that she marries well, and +has some education. Let it be said of one of the women who have given +you happiness that she too is happy; and do not relapse into vice, into +the mire." + +"So it was you," said the Baron, with a smile, "who wanted to see me +married?--Wait a few minutes," he added; "I will go upstairs and dress; +I have some decent clothes in a trunk." + +Adeline, left alone, and looking round the squalid shop, melted into +tears. + +"He has been living here, and we rolling in wealth!" said she to +herself. "Poor man, he has indeed been punished--he who was elegance +itself." + +The stove-fitter returned to make his bow to his benefactress, and she +desired him to fetch a coach. When he came back, she begged him to give +little Atala Judici a home, and to take her away at once. + +"And tell her that if she will place herself under the guidance of +Monsieur the Cure of the Madeleine, on the day when she attends her +first Communion I will give her thirty thousand francs and find her a +good husband, some worthy young man." + +"My eldest son, then madame! He is two-and-twenty, and he worships the +child." + +The Baron now came down; there were tears in his eyes. + +"You are forcing me to desert the only creature who had ever begun to +love me at all as you do!" said he in a whisper to his wife. "She is +crying bitterly, and I cannot abandon her so--" + +"Be quite easy, Hector. She will find a home with honest people, and I +will answer for her conduct." + +"Well, then, I can go with you," said the Baron, escorting his wife to +the cab. + +Hector, the Baron d'Ervy once more, had put on a blue coat and trousers, +a white waistcoat, a black stock, and gloves. When the Baroness had +taken her seat in the vehicle, Atala slipped in like an eel. + +"Oh, madame," she said, "let me go with you. I will be so good, so +obedient; I will do whatever you wish; but do not part me from my Daddy +Vyder, my kind Daddy who gives me such nice things. I shall be beaten--" + +"Come, come, Atala," said the Baron, "this lady is my wife--we must +part--" + +"She! As old as that! and shaking like a leaf!" said the child. "Look at +her head!" and she laughingly mimicked the Baroness' palsy. + +The stove-fitter, who had run after the girl, came to the carriage door. + +"Take her away!" said Adeline. The man put his arms round Atala and +fairly carried her off. + +"Thanks for such a sacrifice, my dearest," said Adeline, taking the +Baron's hand and clutching it with delirious joy. "How much you are +altered! you must have suffered so much! What a surprise for Hortense +and for your son!" + +Adeline talked as lovers talk who meet after a long absence, of a +hundred things at once. + +In ten minutes the Baron and his wife reached the Rue Louis-le-Grand, +and there Adeline found this note awaiting her:-- + + "MADAME LA BARONNE,-- + + "Monsieur le Baron Hulot d'Ervy lived for one month in the Rue de + Charonne under the name of Thorec, an anagram of Hector. He is now + in the Passage du Soleil by the name of Vyder. He says he is an + Alsatian, and does writing, and he lives with a girl named Atala + Judici. Be very cautious, madame, for search is on foot; the Baron + is wanted, on what score I know not. + + "The actress has kept her word, and remains, as ever, + + "Madame la Baronne, your humble servant, + + "J. M." + + +The Baron's return was hailed with such joy as reconciled him to +domestic life. He forgot little Atala Judici, for excesses of profligacy +had reduced him to the volatility of feeling that is characteristic of +childhood. But the happiness of the family was dashed by the change that +had come over him. He had been still hale when he had gone away from +his home; he had come back almost a hundred, broken, bent, and his +expression even debased. + +A splendid dinner, improvised by Celestine, reminded the old man of the +singer's banquets; he was dazzled by the splendor of his home. + +"A feast in honor of the return of the prodigal father?" said he in a +murmur to Adeline. + +"Hush!" said she, "all is forgotten." + +"And Lisbeth?" he asked, not seeing the old maid. + +"I am sorry to say that she is in bed," replied Hortense. "She can never +get up, and we shall have the grief of losing her ere long. She hopes to +see you after dinner." + +At daybreak next morning Victorin Hulot was informed by the porter's +wife that soldiers of the municipal guard were posted all round the +premises; the police demanded Baron Hulot. The bailiff, who had followed +the woman, laid a summons in due form before the lawyer, and asked +him whether he meant to pay his father's debts. The claim was for ten +thousand francs at the suit of an usurer named Samanon, who had probably +lent the Baron two or three thousand at most. Victorin desired the +bailiff to dismiss his men, and paid. + +"But is it the last?" he anxiously wondered. + +Lisbeth, miserable already at seeing the family so prosperous, could not +survive this happy event. She grew so rapidly worse that Bianchon gave +her but a week to live, conquered at last in the long struggle in which +she had scored so many victories. + +She kept the secret of her hatred even through a painful death from +pulmonary consumption. And, indeed, she had the supreme satisfaction +of seeing Adeline, Hortense, Hulot, Victorin, Steinbock, Celestine, and +their children standing in tears round her bed and mourning for her as +the angel of the family. + +Baron Hulot, enjoying a course of solid food such as he had not known +for nearly three years, recovered flesh and strength, and was almost +himself again. This improvement was such a joy to Adeline that her +nervous trembling perceptibly diminished. + +"She will be happy after all," said Lisbeth to herself on the day before +she died, as she saw the veneration with which the Baron regarded his +wife, of whose sufferings he had heard from Hortense and Victorin. + +And vindictiveness hastened Cousin Betty's end. The family followed her, +weeping, to the grave. + +The Baron and Baroness, having reached the age which looks for perfect +rest, gave up the handsome rooms on the first floor to the Count +and Countess Steinbock, and took those above. The Baron by his son's +exertions found an official position in the management of a railroad, +in 1845, with a salary of six thousand francs, which, added to the six +thousand of his pension and the money left to him by Madame Crevel, +secured him an income of twenty-four thousand francs. Hortense having +enjoyed her independent income during the three years of separation from +Wenceslas, Victorin now invested the two hundred thousand francs he +had in trust, in his sister's name and he allowed her twelve thousand +francs. + +Wenceslas, as the husband of a rich woman, was not unfaithful, but he +was an idler; he could not make up his mind to begin any work, however +trifling. Once more he became the artist _in partibus_; he was popular +in society, and consulted by amateurs; in short, he became a critic, +like all the feeble folk who fall below their promise. + +Thus each household, though living as one family, had its own fortune. +The Baroness, taught by bitter experience, left the management of +matters to her son, and the Baron was thus reduced to his salary, in +hope that the smallness of his income would prevent his relapsing into +mischief. And by some singular good fortune, on which neither the mother +nor the son had reckoned, Hulot seemed to have foresworn the fair sex. +His subdued behaviour, ascribed to the course of nature, so completely +reassured the family, that they enjoyed to the full his recovered +amiability and delightful qualities. He was unfailingly attentive to his +wife and children, escorted them to the play, reappeared in society, and +did the honors to his son's house with exquisite grace. In short, this +reclaimed prodigal was the joy of his family. + +He was a most agreeable old man, a ruin, but full of wit, having +retained no more of his vice than made it an added social grace. + +Of course, everybody was quite satisfied and easy. The young people and +the Baroness lauded the model father to the skies, forgetting the death +of the two uncles. Life cannot go on without much forgetting! + +Madame Victorin, who managed this enormous household with great skill, +due, no doubt, to Lisbeth's training, had found it necessary to have a +man-cook. This again necessitated a kitchen-maid. Kitchen-maids are in +these days ambitious creatures, eager to detect the _chef's_ secrets, +and to become cooks as soon as they have learnt to stir a sauce. +Consequently, the kitchen-maid is liable to frequent change. + +At the beginning of 1845 Celestine engaged as kitchen-maid a sturdy +Normandy peasant come from Isigny--short-waisted, with strong red arms, +a common face, as dull as an "occasional piece" at the play, and hardly +to be persuaded out of wearing the classical linen cap peculiar to the +women of Lower Normandy. This girl, as buxom as a wet-nurse, looked +as if she would burst the blue cotton check in which she clothed her +person. Her florid face might have been hewn out of stone, so hard were +its tawny outlines. + +Of course no attention was paid to the advent in the house of this girl, +whose name was Agathe--an ordinary, wide-awake specimen, such as is +daily imported from the provinces. Agathe had no attractions for the +cook, her tongue was too rough, for she had served in a suburban inn, +waiting on carters; and instead of making a conquest of her chief and +winning from him the secrets of the high art of the kitchen, she was +the object of his great contempt. The _chef's_ attentions were, in fact, +devoted to Louise, the Countess Steinbock's maid. The country girl, +thinking herself ill-used, complained bitterly that she was always sent +out of the way on some pretext when the _chef_ was finishing a dish or +putting the crowning touch to a sauce. + +"I am out of luck," said she, "and I shall go to another place." + +And yet she stayed though she had twice given notice to quit. + +One night, Adeline, roused by some unusual noise, did not see Hector in +the bed he occupied near hers; for they slept side by side in two beds, +as beseemed an old couple. She lay awake an hour, but he did not return. +Seized with a panic, fancying some tragic end had overtaken him--an +apoplectic attack, perhaps--she went upstairs to the floor occupied by +the servants, and then was attracted to the room where Agathe slept, +partly by seeing a light below the door, and partly by the murmur +of voices. She stood still in dismay on recognizing the voice of her +husband, who, a victim to Agathe's charms, to vanquish this strapping +wench's not disinterested resistance, went to the length of saying: + +"My wife has not long to live, and if you like you may be a Baroness." + +Adeline gave a cry, dropped her candlestick, and fled. + +Three days later the Baroness, who had received the last sacraments, was +dying, surrounded by her weeping family. + +Just before she died, she took her husband's hand and pressed it, +murmuring in his ear: + +"My dear, I had nothing left to give up to you but my life. In a minute +or two you will be free, and can make another Baronne Hulot." + +And, rare sight, tears oozed from her dead eyes. + +This desperateness of vice had vanquished the patience of the angel, +who, on the brink of eternity, gave utterance to the only reproach she +had ever spoken in her life. + +The Baron left Paris three days after his wife's funeral. Eleven months +after Victorin heard indirectly of his father's marriage to Mademoiselle +Agathe Piquetard, solemnized at Isigny, on the 1st February 1846. + +"Parents may hinder their children's marriage, but children cannot +interfere with the insane acts of their parents in their second +childhood," said Maitre Hulot to Maitre Popinot, the second son of the +Minister of Commerce, who was discussing this marriage. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Beauvisage, Phileas + The Member for Arcis + + Berthier (Parisian notary) + Cousin Pons + + Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist's Mass + Cesar Birotteau + The Commission in Lunacy + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + The Country Parson + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + + Bixiou, Jean-Jacques + The Purse + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Government Clerks + Modeste Mignon + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + The Muse of the Department + The Member for Arcis + Beatrix + A Man of Business + Gaudissart II. + The Unconscious Humorists + Cousin Pons + + Braulard + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Cousin Pons + + Bridau, Joseph + The Purse + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Start in Life + Modeste Mignon + Another Study of Woman + Pierre Grassou + Letters of Two Brides + The Member for Arcis + + Brisetout, Heloise + Cousin Pons + The Middle Classes + + Cadine, Jenny + Beatrix + The Unconscious Humorists + The Member for Arcis + + Chanor + Cousin Pons + + Chocardelle, Mademoiselle + Beatrix + A Prince of Bohemia + A Man of Business + The Member for Arcis + + Colleville, Flavie Minoret, Madame + The Government Clerks + The Middle Classes + + Collin, Jacqueline + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Unconscious Humorists + + Crevel, Celestin + Cesar Birotteau + Cousin Pons + + Esgrignon, Victurnien, Comte (then Marquis d') + Jealousies of a Country Town + Letters of Two Brides + A Man of Business + The Secrets of a Princess + + Falcon, Jean + The Chouans + The Muse of the Department + + Graff, Wolfgang + Cousin Pons + + Grassou, Pierre + Pierre Grassou + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Grindot + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Start in Life + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Beatrix + The Middle Classes + + Hannequin, Leopold + Albert Savarus + Beatrix + Cousin Pons + + Herouville, Duc d' + The Hated Son + Jealousies of a Country Town + Modeste Mignon + + Hulot (Marshal) + The Chouans + The Muse of the Department + + Hulot, Victorin + The Member for Arcis + + La Bastie la Briere, Madame Ernest de + Modeste Mignon + The Member for Arcis + + La Baudraye, Madame Polydore Milaud de + The Muse of the Department + A Prince of Bohemia + + La Chanterie, Baronne Henri le Chantre de + The Seamy Side of History + + Laginski, Comte Adam Mitgislas + Another Study of Woman + The Imaginary Mistress + + La Palferine, Comte de + A Prince of Bohemia + A Man of Business + Beatrix + The Imaginary Mistress + + La Roche-Hugon, Martial de + Domestic Peace + The Peasantry + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + The Middle Classes + + Lebas, Joseph + At the Sign of the Cat and Racket + Cesar Birotteau + + Lebas, Madame Joseph (Virginie) + At the Sign of the Cat and Racket + Cesar Birotteau + + Lebas + The Muse of the Department + + Lefebvre, Robert + The Gondreville Mystery + + Lenoncourt-Givry, Duc de + Letters of Two Brides + The Member for Arcis + + Lora, Leon de + The Unconscious Humorists + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + Pierre Grassou + Honorine + Beatrix + + Lousteau, Etienne + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + A Daughter of Eve + Beatrix + The Muse of the Department + A Prince of Bohemia + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + The Unconscious Humorists + + Massol + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Magic Skin + A Daughter of Eve + The Unconscious Humorists + + Montauran, Marquis de (younger brother of Alphonse de) + The Chouans + The Seamy Side of History + + Montcornet, Marechal, Comte de + Domestic Peace + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Peasantry + A Man of Business + + Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor's Establishment + Colonel Chabert + The Muse of the Department + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Peasantry + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + + Nourrisson, Madame + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Unconscious Humorists + + Nucingen, Baron Frederic de + The Firm of Nucingen + Father Goriot + Pierrette + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Another Study of Woman + The Secrets of a Princess + A Man of Business + The Muse of the Department + The Unconscious Humorists + + Paz, Thaddee + The Imaginary Mistress + + Popinot, Anselme + Cesar Birotteau + Gaudissart the Great + Cousin Pons + + Popinot, Madame Anselme + Cesar Birotteau + A Prince of Bohemia + Cousin Pons + + Popinot, Vicomte + Cousin Pons + + Rastignac, Eugene de + Father Goriot + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Ball at Sceaux + The Commission in Lunacy + A Study of Woman + Another Study of Woman + The Magic Skin + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + The Gondreville Mystery + The Firm of Nucingen + The Member for Arcis + The Unconscious Humorists + + Rivet, Achille + Cousin Pons + + Rochefide, Marquis Arthur de + Beatrix + + Ronceret, Madame Fabien du + Beatrix + The Muse of the Department + The Unconscious Humorists + + Samanon + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + The Government Clerks + A Man of Business + + Sinet, Seraphine + The Unconscious Humorists + + Steinbock, Count Wenceslas + The Imaginary Mistress + + Stidmann + Modeste Mignon + Beatrix + The Member for Arcis + Cousin Pons + The Unconscious Humorists + + Tillet, Ferdinand du + Cesar Birotteau + The Firm of Nucingen + The Middle Classes + A Bachelor's Establishment + Pierrette + Melmoth Reconciled + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + The Unconscious Humorists + + Trailles, Comte Maxime de + Cesar Birotteau + Father Goriot + Gobseck + Ursule Mirouet + A Man of Business + The Member for Arcis + The Secrets of a Princess + The Member for Arcis + Beatrix + The Unconscious Humorists + + Turquet, Marguerite + The Imaginary Mistress + The Muse of the Department + A Man of Business + + Vauvinet + The Unconscious Humorists + + Vernisset, Victor de + The Seamy Side of History + Beatrix + + Vernou, Felicien + A Bachelor's Establishment + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + A Daughter of Eve + + Vignon, Claude + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Daughter of Eve + Honorine + Beatrix + The Unconscious Humorists + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cousin Betty, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUSIN BETTY *** + +***** This file should be named 1749.txt or 1749.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/4/1749/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and 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