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diff --git a/1812-h/1812-h.htm b/1812-h/1812-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34adbe1 --- /dev/null +++ b/1812-h/1812-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2242 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A Prince of Bohemia, by Honore de Balzac + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Prince of Bohemia, 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: A Prince of Bohemia + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Clara Bell and Others + +Release Date: March 2, 2010 [EBook #1812] +Last Updated: November 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRINCE OF BOHEMIA *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + A PRINCE OF BOHEMIA + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Honore De Balzac + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Clara Bell and others + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + DEDICATION + + To Henri Heine. + + I inscribe this to you, my dear Heine, to you that represent in + Paris the ideas and poetry of Germany, in Germany the lively and + witty criticism of France; for you better than any other will know + whatsoever this Study may contain of criticism and of jest, of + love and truth. + + DE BALZAC. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> A PRINCE OF BOHEMIA </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> ADDENDUM </a> + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + A PRINCE OF BOHEMIA + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + “My dear friend,” said Mme. de la Baudraye, drawing a pile of manuscript + from beneath her sofa cushion, “will you pardon me in our present straits + for making a short story of something which you told me a few weeks ago?” + </p> + <p> + “Anything is fair in these times. Have you not seen writers serving up + their own hearts to the public, or very often their mistress’ hearts when + invention fails? We are coming to this, dear; we shall go in quest of + adventures, not so much for the pleasure of them as for the sake of having + the story to tell afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + “After all, you and the Marquise de Rochefide have paid the rent, and I do + not think, from the way things are going here, that I ever pay yours.” + </p> + <p> + “Who knows? Perhaps the same good luck that befell Mme. de Rochefide may + come to you.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you call it good luck to go back to one’s husband?” + </p> + <p> + “No; only great luck. Come, I am listening.” + </p> + <p> + And Mme. de la Baudraye read as follows: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Scene—a splendid salon in the Rue de Chartres-du-Roule. One + of the most famous writers of the day discovered sitting on a + settee beside a very illustrious Marquise, with whom he is on + such terms of intimacy, as a man has a right to claim when a + woman singles him out and keeps him at her side as a complacent + <i>souffre-douleur</i> rather than a makeshift.” + </pre> + <p> + “Well,” says she, “have you found those letters of which you spoke + yesterday? You said that you could not tell me all about <i>him</i> + without them?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I have them.” + </p> + <p> + “It is your turn to speak; I am listening like a child when his mother + begins the tale of <i>Le Grand Serpentin Vert</i>.” + </p> + <p> + “I count the young man in question in that group of our acquaintances + which we are wont to style our friends. He comes of a good family; he is a + man of infinite parts and ill-luck, full of excellent dispositions and + most charming conversation; young as he is, he is seen much, and while + awaiting better things, he dwells in Bohemia. Bohemianism, which by rights + should be called the doctrine of the Boulevard des Italiens, finds its + recruits among young men between twenty and thirty, all of them men of + genius in their way, little known, it is true, as yet, but sure of + recognition one day, and when that day comes, of great distinction. They + are distinguished as it is at carnival time, when their exuberant wit, + repressed for the rest of the year, finds a vent in more or less ingenious + buffoonery. + </p> + <p> + “What times we live in! What an irrational central power which allows such + tremendous energies to run to waste! There are diplomatists in Bohemia + quite capable of overturning Russia’s designs, if they but felt the power + of France at their backs. There are writers, administrators, soldiers, and + artists in Bohemia; every faculty, every kind of brain is represented + there. Bohemia is a microcosm. If the Czar would buy Bohemia for a score + of millions and set its population down in Odessa—always supposing + that they consented to leave the asphalt of the boulevards—Odessa + would be Paris with the year. In Bohemia, you find the flower doomed to + wither and come to nothing; the flower of the wonderful young manhood of + France, so sought after by Napoleon and Louis XIV., so neglected for the + last thirty years by the modern Gerontocracy that is blighting everything + else—that splendid young manhood of whom a witness so little + prejudiced as Professor Tissot wrote, ‘On all sides the Emperor employed a + younger generation in every way worthy of him; in his councils, in the + general administration, in negotiations bristling with difficulties or + full of danger, in the government of conquered countries; and in all + places Youth responded to his demands upon it. Young men were for Napoleon + the <i>missi hominici</i> of Charlemagne.’ + </p> + <p> + “The word Bohemia tells you everything. Bohemia has nothing and lives upon + what it has. Hope is its religion; faith (in oneself) its creed; and + charity is supposed to be its budget. All these young men are greater than + their misfortune; they are under the feet of Fortune, yet more than equal + to Fate. Always ready to mount and ride an <i>if</i>, witty as a <i>feuilleton</i>, + blithe as only those can be that are deep in debt and drink deep to match, + and finally—for here I come to my point—hot lovers and what + lovers! Picture to yourself Lovelace, and Henri Quatre, and the Regent, + and Werther, and Saint-Preux, and Rene, and the Marechal de Richelieu—think + of all these in a single man, and you will have some idea of their way of + love. What lovers! Eclectic of all things in love, they will serve up a + passion to a woman’s order; their hearts are like a bill of fare in a + restaurant. Perhaps they have never read Stendhal’s <i>De l’Amour</i>, but + unconsciously they put it in practice. They have by heart their chapters—Love-Taste, + Love-Passion, Love-Caprice, Love-Crystalized, and more than all, + Love-Transient. All is good in their eyes. They invented the burlesque + axiom, ‘In the sight of man, all women are equal.’ The actual text is more + vigorously worded, but as in my opinion the spirit is false, I do not + stand nice upon the letter. + </p> + <p> + “My friend, madame, is named Gabriel Jean Anne Victor Benjamin George + Ferdinand Charles Edward Rusticoli, Comte de la Palferine. The Rusticolis + came to France with Catherine de Medici, having been ousted about that + time from their infinitesimal Tuscan sovereignty. They are distantly + related to the house of Este, and connected by marriage to the Guises. On + the day of Saint-Bartholomew they slew a goodly number of Protestants, and + Charles IX. bestowed the hand of the heiress of the Comte de la Palferine + upon the Rusticoli of that time. The Comte, however, being a part of the + confiscated lands of the Duke of Savoy, was repurchased by Henri IV. when + that great king so far blundered as to restore the fief; and in exchange, + the Rusticoli—who had borne arms long before the Medici bore them + to-wit, <i>argent</i> a cross flory <i>azure</i> (the cross + flower-de-luced by letters patent granted by Charles IX.), and a count’s + coronet, with two peasants for supporters with the motto IN HOC SIGNO + VINCIMUS—the Rusticoli, I repeat, retained their title, and received + a couple of offices under the crown with the government of a province. + </p> + <p> + “From the time of the Valois till the reign of Richelieu, as it may be + called, the Rusticoli played a most illustrious part; under Louis XIV. + their glory waned somewhat, under Louis XV. it went out altogether. My + friend’s grandfather wasted all that was left to the once brilliant house + with Mlle. Laguerre, whom he first discovered, and brought into fashion + before Bouret’s time. Charles Edward’s own father was an officer without + any fortune in 1789. The Revolution came to his assistance; he had the + sense to drop his title, and became plain Rusticoli. Among other deeds, M. + Rusticoli married a wife during the war in Italy, a Capponi, a goddaughter + of the Countess of Albany (hence La Palferine’s final names). Rusticoli + was one of the best colonels in the army. The Emperor made him a commander + of the Legion of Honor and a count. His spine was slightly curved, and his + son was wont to say of him laughingly that he was <i>un comte refait + (contrefait)</i>. + </p> + <p> + “General Count Rusticoli, for he became a brigadier-general at Ratisbon + and a general of the division on the field of Wagram, died at Vienna + almost immediately after his promotion, or his name and ability would + sooner or later have brought him the marshal’s baton. Under the + Restoration he would certainly have repaired the fortunes of a great and + noble family so brilliant even as far back as 1100, centuries before they + took the French title—for the Rusticoli had given a pope to the + church and twice revolutionized the kingdom of Naples—so illustrious + again under the Valois; so dexterous in the days of the Fronde, that + obstinate Frondeurs though they were, they still existed through the reign + of Louis XIV. Mazarin favored them; there was the Tuscan strain in them + still, and he recognized it. + </p> + <p> + “Today, when Charles Edward de la Palferine’s name is mentioned, not three + persons in a hundred know the history of his house. But the Bourbons have + actually left a Foix-Grailly to live by his easel. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, if you but knew how brilliantly Charles Edward accepts his obscure + position! how he scoffs at the bourgeois of 1830! What Attic salt in his + wit! He would be the king of Bohemia, if Bohemia would endure a king. His + <i>verve</i> is inexhaustible. To him we owe a map of the country and the + names of the seven castles which Nodier could not discover.” + </p> + <p> + “The one thing wanting in one of the cleverest skits of our time,” said + the Marquise. + </p> + <p> + “You can form your own opinion of La Palferine from a few characteristic + touches,” continued Nathan. “He once came upon a friend of his, a + fellow-Bohemian, involved in a dispute on the boulevard with a bourgeois + who chose to consider himself affronted. To the modern powers that be, + Bohemia is insolent in the extreme. There was talk of calling one another + out. + </p> + <p> + “‘One moment,’ interposed La Palferine, as much Lauzun for the occasion as + Lauzun himself could have been. ‘One moment. Monsieur was born, I + suppose?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘What, sir?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, are you born? What is your name?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Godin.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Godin, eh!’ exclaimed La Palferine’s friend. + </p> + <p> + “‘One moment, my dear fellow,’ interrupted La Palferine. ‘There are the + Trigaudins. Are you one of them?’ + </p> + <p> + “Astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “‘No? Then you are one of the new dukes of Gaeta, I suppose, of imperial + creation? No? Oh, well, how can you expect my friend to cross swords with + you when he will be secretary of an embassy and ambassador <i>some day</i>, + and you will owe him respect? <i>Godin!</i> the thing is non-existent! You + are a nonentity, Godin. My friend cannot be expected to beat the air! When + one is somebody, one cannot fight with a nobody! Come, my dear fellow—good-day.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘My respects to madame,’ added the friend. + </p> + <p> + “Another day La Palferine was walking with a friend who flung his cigar + end in the face of a passer-by. The recipient had the bad taste to resent + this. + </p> + <p> + “‘You have stood your antagonist’s fire,’ said the young Count, ‘the + witnesses declare that honor is satisfied.’ + </p> + <p> + “La Palferine owed his tailor a thousand francs, and the man instead of + going himself sent his assistant to ask for the money. The assistant found + the unfortunate debtor up six pairs of stairs at the back of a yard at the + further end of the Faubourg du Roule. The room was unfurnished save for a + bed (such a bed!), a table, and such a table! La Palferine heard the + preposterous demand—‘A demand which I should qualify as illegal,’ he + said when he told us the story, ‘made, as it was, at seven o’clock in the + morning.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Go,’ he answered, with the gesture and attitude of a Mirabeau, ‘tell + your master in what condition you find me.’ + </p> + <p> + “The assistant apologized and withdrew. La Palferine, seeing the young man + on the landing, rose in the attire celebrated in verse in <i>Britannicus</i> + to add, ‘Remark the stairs! Pay particular attention to the stairs; do not + forget to tell him about the stairs!’ + </p> + <p> + “In every position into which chance has thrown La Palferine, he has never + failed to rise to the occasion. All that he does is witty and never in bad + taste; always and in everything he displays the genius of Rivarol, the + polished subtlety of the old French noble. It was he who told that + delicious anecdote of a friend of Laffitte the banker. A national fund had + been started to give back to Laffitte the mansion in which the Revolution + of 1830 was brewed, and this friend appeared at the offices of the fund + with, ‘Here are five francs, give me a hundred sous change!’—A + caricature was made of it.—It was once La Palferine’s misfortune, in + judicial style, to make a young girl a mother. The girl, not a very simple + innocent, confessed all to her mother, a respectable matron, who hurried + forthwith to La Palferine and asked what he meant to do. + </p> + <p> + “‘Why, madame,’ said he, ‘I am neither a surgeon nor a midwife.’ + </p> + <p> + “She collapsed, but three or four years later she returned to the charge, + still persisting in her inquiry, ‘What did La Palferine mean to do?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Well, madame,’ returned he, ‘when the child is seven years old, an age + at which a boy ought to pass out of women’s hands’—an indication of + entire agreement on the mother’s part—‘if the child is really mine’—another + gesture of assent—‘if there is a striking likeness, if he bids fair + to be a gentleman, if I can recognize in him my turn of mind, and more + particularly the Rusticoli air; then, oh—ah!’—a new movement + from the matron—‘on my word and honor, I will make him a cornet of—sugar-plums!’ + </p> + <p> + “All this, if you will permit me to make use of the phraseology employed + by M. Sainte-Beuve for his biographies of obscurities—all this, I + repeat, is the playful and sprightly yet already somewhat decadent side of + a strong race. It smacks rather of the Parc-aux-Cerfs than of the Hotel de + Rambouillet. It is a race of the strong rather than of the sweet; I + incline to lay a little debauchery to its charge, and more than I should + wish in brilliant and generous natures; it is gallantry after the fashion + of the Marechal de Richelieu, high spirits and frolic carried rather too + far; perhaps we may see in it the <i>outrances</i> of another age, the + Eighteenth Century pushed to extremes; it harks back to the Musketeers; it + is an exploit stolen from Champcenetz; nay, such light-hearted inconstancy + takes us back to the festooned and ornate period of the old court of the + Valois. In an age as moral as the present, we are bound to regard audacity + of this kind sternly; still, at the same time that ‘cornet of sugar-plums’ + may serve to warn young girls of the perils of lingering where fancies, + more charming than chastened, come thickly from the first; on the rosy + flowery unguarded slopes, where trespasses ripen into errors full of + equivocal effervescence, into too palpitating issues. The anecdote puts La + Palferine’s genius before you in all its vivacity and completeness. He + realizes Pascal’s <i>entre-deux</i>, he comprehends the whole scale + between tenderness and pitilessness, and, like Epaminondas, he is equally + great in extremes. And not merely so, his epigram stamps the epoch; the <i>accoucheur</i> + is a modern innovation. All the refinements of modern civilization are + summed up in the phrase. It is monumental.” + </p> + <p> + “Look here, my dear Nathan, what farrago of nonsense is this?” asked the + Marquise in bewilderment. + </p> + <p> + “Madame la Marquise,” returned Nathan, “you do not know the value of these + ‘precious’ phrases; I am talking Sainte-Beuve, the new kind of French.—I + resume. Walking one day arm in arm with a friend along the boulevard, he + was accosted by a ferocious creditor, who inquired: + </p> + <p> + “‘Are you thinking of me, sir?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Not the least in the world,’ answered the Count. + </p> + <p> + “Remark the difficulty of the position. Talleyrand, in similar + circumstances, had already replied, ‘You are very inquisitive, my dear + fellow!’ To imitate the inimitable great man was out of the question.—La + Palferine, generous as Buckingham, could not bear to be caught + empty-handed. One day when he had nothing to give a little Savoyard + chimney-sweeper, he dipped a hand into a barrel of grapes in a grocer’s + doorway and filled the child’s cap from it. The little one ate away at his + grapes; the grocer began by laughing, and ended by holding out his hand. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, fie! monsieur,’ said La Palferine, ‘your left hand ought not to know + what my right hand doth.’ + </p> + <p> + “With his adventurous courage, he never refuses any odds, but there is wit + in his bravado. In the Passage de l’Opera he chanced to meet a man who had + spoken slightingly of him, elbowed him as he passed, and then turned and + jostled him a second time. + </p> + <p> + “‘You are very clumsy!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘On the contrary; I did it on purpose.’ + </p> + <p> + “The young man pulled out his card. La Palferine dropped it. ‘It has been + carried too long in the pocket. Be good enough to give me another.’ + </p> + <p> + “On the ground he received a thrust; blood was drawn; his antagonist + wished to stop. + </p> + <p> + “‘You are wounded, monsieur!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I disallow the <i>botte</i>,’ said La Palferine, as coolly as if he had + been in the fencing-saloon; then as he riposted (sending the point home + this time), he added, ‘There is the right thrust, monsieur!’ + </p> + <p> + “His antagonist kept his bed for six months. + </p> + <p> + “This, still following on M. Sainte-Beuve’s tracks, recalls the <i>raffines</i>, + the fine-edged raillery of the best days of the monarchy. In this speech + you discern an untrammeled but drifting life; a gaiety of imagination that + deserts us when our first youth is past. The prime of the blossom is over, + but there remains the dry compact seed with the germs of life in it, ready + against the coming winter. Do you not see that these things are symptoms + of something unsatisfied, of an unrest impossible to analyze, still less + to describe, yet not incomprehensible; a something ready to break out if + occasion calls into flying upleaping flame? It is the <i>accidia</i> of + the cloister; a trace of sourness, of ferment engendered by the enforced + stagnation of youthful energies, a vague, obscure melancholy.” + </p> + <p> + “That will do,” said the Marquise; “you are giving me a mental shower + bath.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the early afternoon languor. If a man has nothing to do, he will + sooner get into mischief than do nothing at all; this invariably happens + in France. Youth at present day has two sides to it; the studious or + unappreciated, and the ardent or <i>passionne</i>.” + </p> + <p> + “That will do!” repeated Mme. de Rochefide, with an authoritative gesture. + “You are setting my nerves on edge.” + </p> + <p> + “To finish my portrait of La Palferine, I hasten to make the plunge into + the gallant regions of his character, or you will not understand the + peculiar genius of an admirable representative of a certain section of + mischievous youth—youth strong enough, be it said, to laugh at the + position in which it is put by those in power; shrewd enough to do no + work, since work profiteth nothing; yet so full of life that it fastens + upon pleasure—the one thing that cannot be taken away. And meanwhile + a bourgeois, mercantile, and bigoted policy continues to cut off all the + sluices through which so much aptitude and ability would find an outlet. + Poets and men of science are not wanted. + </p> + <p> + “To give you an idea of the stupidity of the new court, I will tell you of + something which happened to La Palferine. There is a sort of relieving + officer on the civil list. This functionary one day discovered that La + Palferine was in dire distress, drew up a report, no doubt, and brought + the descendant of the Rusticolis fifty francs by way of alms. La Palferine + received the visitor with perfect courtesy, and talked of various persons + at court. + </p> + <p> + “‘Is it true,’ he asked, ‘that Mlle. d’Orleans contributes such and such a + sum to this benevolent scheme started by her nephew? If so, it is very + gracious of her.’ + </p> + <p> + “Now La Palferine had a servant, a little Savoyard, aged ten, who waited + on him without wages. La Palferine called him Father Anchises, and used to + say, ‘I have never seen such a mixture of besotted foolishness with great + intelligence; he would go through fire and water for me; he understands + everything—and yet he cannot grasp the fact that I can do nothing + for him.’ + </p> + <p> + “Anchises was despatched to a livery stable with instructions to hire a + handsome brougham with a man in livery behind it. By the time the carriage + arrived below, La Palferine had skilfully piloted the conversation to the + subject of the functions of his visitor, whom he has since called ‘the + unmitigated misery man,’ and learned the nature of his duties and his + stipend. + </p> + <p> + “‘Do they allow you a carriage to go about the town in this way?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh! no.’ + </p> + <p> + “At that La Palferine and a friend who happened to be with him went + downstairs with the poor soul, and insisted on putting him into the + carriage. It was raining in torrents. La Palferine had thought of + everything. He offered to drive the official to the next house on his + list; and when the almoner came down again, he found the carriage waiting + for him at the door. The man in livery handed him a note written in + pencil: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “‘The carriage has been engaged for three days. Count Rusticoli + de la Palferine is too happy to associate himself with Court + charities by lending wings to Royal beneficence.’ +</pre> + <p> + “La Palferine now calls the civil list the uncivil list. + </p> + <p> + “He was once passionately loved by a lady of somewhat light conduct. + Antonia lived in the Rue du Helder; she had seen and been seen to some + extent, but at the time of her acquaintance with La Palferine she had not + yet ‘an establishment.’ Antonia was not wanting in the insolence of old + days, now degenerating into rudeness among women of her class. After a + fortnight of unmixed bliss, she was compelled, in the interest of her + civil list, to return to a less exclusive system; and La Palferine, + discovering a certain lack of sincerity in her dealings with him, sent + Madame Antonia a note which made her famous. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “‘MADAME,—Your conduct causes me much surprise and no less + distress. Not content with rending my heart with your disdain, you + have been so little thoughtful as to retain a toothbrush, which my + means will not permit me to replace, my estates being mortgaged + beyond their value. + + “‘Adieu, too fair and too ungrateful friend! May we meet again in + a better world. + + “‘CHARLES EDWARD.’” + </pre> + <p> + “Assuredly (to avail ourselves yet further of Sainte-Beuve’s Babylonish + dialect), this far outpasses the raillery of Sterne’s <i>Sentimental + Journey</i>; it might be Scarron without his grossness. Nay, I do not know + but that Moliere in his lighter mood would not have said of it, as of + Cyrano de Bergerac’s best—‘This is mine.’ Richelieu himself was not + more complete when he wrote to the princess waiting for him in the Palais + Royal—‘Stay there, my queen, to charm the scullion lads.’ At the + same time, Charles Edward’s humor is less biting. I am not sure that this + kind of wit was known among the Greeks and Romans. Plato, possibly, upon a + closer inspection approaches it, but from the austere and musical side—” + </p> + <p> + “No more of that jargon,” the Marquise broke in, “in print it may be + endurable; but to have it grating upon my ears is a punishment which I do + not in the least deserve.” + </p> + <p> + “He first met Claudine on this wise,” continued Nathan. “It was one of the + unfilled days, when Youth is a burden to itself; days when youth, reduced + by the overweening presumption of Age to a condition of potential energy + and dejection, emerges therefrom (like Blondet under the Restoration), + either to get into mischief or to set about some colossal piece of + buffoonery, half excused by the very audacity of its conception. La + Palferine was sauntering, cane in hand, up and down the pavement between + the Rue de Grammont and the Rue de Richelieu, when in the distance he + descried a woman too elegantly dressed, covered, as he phrased it, with a + great deal of portable property, too expensive and too carelessly worn for + its owner to be other than a princess of the court or of the stage, it was + not easy at first to say which. But after July 1830, in his opinion, there + is no mistaking the indications—the princess can only be a princess + of the stage. + </p> + <p> + “The Count came up and walked by her side as if she had given him an + assignation. He followed her with a courteous persistence, a persistence + in good taste, giving the lady from time to time, and always at the right + moment, an authoritative glance, which compelled her to submit to his + escort. Anybody but La Palferine would have been frozen by his reception, + and disconcerted by the lady’s first efforts to rid herself of her + cavalier, by her chilly air, her curt speeches; but no gravity, with all + the will in the world, could hold out long against La Palferine’s jesting + replies. The fair stranger went into her milliner’s shop. Charles Edward + followed, took a seat, and gave his opinions and advice like a man that + meant to pay. This coolness disturbed the lady. She went out. + </p> + <p> + “On the stairs she spoke to her persecutor. + </p> + <p> + “‘Monsieur, I am about to call upon one of my husband’s relatives, an + elderly lady, Mme. de Bonfalot—’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Ah! Mme. de Bonfalot, charmed, I am sure. I am going there.’ + </p> + <p> + “The pair accordingly went. Charles Edward came in with the lady, every + one believed that she had brought him with her. He took part in the + conversation, was lavish of his polished and brilliant wit. The visit + lengthened out. That was not what he wanted. + </p> + <p> + “‘Madame,’ he said, addressing the fair stranger, ‘do not forget that your + husband is waiting for us, and only allowed us a quarter of an hour.’ + </p> + <p> + “Taken aback by such boldness (which, as you know, is never displeasing to + you women), led captive by the conqueror’s glance, by the astute yet + candid air which Charles Edward can assume when he chooses, the lady rose, + took the arm of her self-constituted escort, and went downstairs, but on + the threshold she stopped to speak to him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Monsieur, I like a joke——’ + </p> + <p> + “‘And so do I.’ + </p> + <p> + “She laughed. + </p> + <p> + “‘But this may turn to earnest,’ he added; ‘it only rests with you. I am + the Comte de la Palferine, and I am delighted that it is in my power to + lay my heart and my fortune at your feet.’ + </p> + <p> + “La Palferine was at that time twenty-two years old. (This happened in + 1834.) Luckily for him, he was fashionably dressed. I can paint his + portrait for you in a few words. He was the living image of Louis XIII., + with the same white forehead and gracious outline of the temples, the same + olive skin (that Italian olive tint which turns white where the light + falls on it), the brown hair worn rather long, the black ‘royale,’ the + grave and melancholy expression, for La Palferine’s character and exterior + were amazingly at variance. + </p> + <p> + “At the sound of the name, and the sight of its owner, something like a + quiver thrilled through Claudine. La Palferine saw the vibration, and shot + a glance at her out of the dark depths of almond-shaped eyes with purpled + lids, and those faint lines about them which tell of pleasures as costly + as painful fatigue. With those eyes upon her, she said—‘Your + address?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘What want of address!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, pshaw!’ she said, smiling. ‘A bird on the bough?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Good-bye, madame, you are such a woman as I seek, but my fortune is far + from equaling my desire——’ + </p> + <p> + “He bowed, and there and then left her. Two days later, by one of the + strange chances that can only happen in Paris, he had betaken himself to a + money-lending wardrobe dealer to sell such of his clothing as he could + spare. He was just receiving the price with an uneasy air, after long + chaffering, when the stranger lady passed and recognized him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Once for all,’ cried he to the bewildered wardrobe dealer, ‘I tell you I + am not going to take your trumpet!’ + </p> + <p> + “He pointed to a huge, much-dinted musical instrument, hanging up outside + against a background of uniforms, civil and military. Then, proudly and + impetuously, he followed the lady. + </p> + <p> + “From that great day of the trumpet these two understood one another to + admiration. Charles Edward’s ideas on the subject of love are as sound as + possible. According to him, a man cannot love twice, there is but one love + in his lifetime, but that love is a deep and shoreless sea. It may break + in upon him at any time, as the grace of God found St. Paul; and a man may + live sixty years and never know love. Perhaps, to quote Heine’s superb + phrase, it is ‘the secret malady of the heart’—a sense of the + Infinite that there is within us, together with the revelation of the + ideal Beauty in its visible form. This love, in short, comprehends both + the creature and creation. But so long as there is no question of this + great poetical conception, the loves that cannot last can only be taken + lightly, as if they were in a manner snatches of song compared with Love + the epic. + </p> + <p> + “To Charles Edward the adventure brought neither the thunderbolt signal of + love’s coming, nor yet that gradual revelation of an inward fairness which + draws two natures by degrees more and more strongly each to each. For + there are but two ways of love—love at first sight, doubtless akin + to the Highland ‘second-sight,’ and that slow fusion of two natures which + realizes Plato’s ‘man-woman.’ But if Charles Edward did not love, he was + loved to distraction. Claudine found love made complete, body and soul; in + her, in short, La Palferine awakened the one passion of her life; while + for him Claudine was only a most charming mistress. The Devil himself, a + most potent magician certainly, with all hell at his back, could never + have changed the natures of these two unequal fires. I dare affirm that + Claudine not unfrequently bored Charles Edward. + </p> + <p> + “‘Stale fish and the woman you do not love are only fit to fling out of + the window after three days,’ he used to say. + </p> + <p> + “In Bohemia there is little secrecy observed over these affairs. La + Palferine used to talk a good deal of Claudine; but, at the same time, + none of us saw her, nor so much as knew her name. For us Claudine was + almost a mythical personage. All of us acted in the same way, reconciling + the requirements of our common life with the rules of good taste. + Claudine, Hortense, the Baroness, the Bourgeoise, the Empress, the + Spaniard, the Lioness,—these were cryptic titles which permitted us + to pour out our joys, our cares, vexations, and hopes, and to communicate + our discoveries. Further, none of us went. It has been shown, in Bohemia, + that chance discovered the identity of the fair unknown; and at once, as + by tacit convention, not one of us spoke of her again. This fact may show + how far youth possesses a sense of true delicacy. How admirably certain + natures of a finer clay know the limit line where jest must end, and all + that host of things French covered by the slang word <i>blague</i>, a word + which will shortly be cast out of the language (let us hope), and yet it + is the only one which conveys an idea of the spirit of Bohemia. + </p> + <p> + “So we often used to joke about Claudine and the Count—‘<i>Toujours + Claudine?</i>’ sung to the air of <i>Toujours Gessle</i>.—‘What are + you making of Claudine?’—‘How is Claudine?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I wish you all such a mistress, for all the harm I wish you,’ La + Palferine began one day. ‘No greyhound, no basset-dog, no poodle can match + her in gentleness, submissiveness, and complete tenderness. There are + times when I reproach myself, when I take myself to task for my hard + heart. Claudine obeys with saintly sweetness. She comes to me, I tell her + to go, she goes, she does not even cry till she is out in the courtyard. I + refuse to see her for a whole week at a time. I tell her to come at such + an hour on Tuesday; and be it midnight or six o’clock in the morning, ten + o’clock, five o’clock, breakfast time, dinner time, bed time, any + particularly inconvenient hour in the day—she will come, punctual to + the minute, beautiful, beautifully dressed, and enchanting. And she is a + married woman, with all the complications and duties of a household. The + fibs that she must invent, the reasons she must find for conforming to my + whims would tax the ingenuity of some of us!... Claudine never wearies; + you can always count upon her. It is not love, I tell her, it is + infatuation. She writes to me every day; I do not read her letters; she + found that out, but still she writes. See here; there are two hundred + letters in this casket. She begs me to wipe my razors on one of her + letters every day, and I punctually do so. She thinks, and rightly, that + the sight of her handwriting will put me in mind of her.’ + </p> + <p> + “La Palferine was dressing as he told us this. I took up the letter which + he was about to put to this use, read it, and kept it, as he did not ask + to have it back. Here it is. I looked for it, and found it as I promised. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Monday (Midnight).</i> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “‘Well, my dear, are you satisfied with me? I did not even ask + for your hand, yet you might easily have given it to me, and I + longed so much to hold it to my heart, to my lips. No, I did not + ask, I am so afraid of displeasing you. Do you know one thing? + Though I am cruelly sure that anything I do is a matter of perfect + indifference to you, I am none the less extremely timid in my + conduct: the woman that belongs to you, whatever her title to call + herself yours, must not incur so much as the shadow of blame. In + so far as love comes from the angels in heaven, from whom are no + secrets hid, my love is as pure as the purest; wherever I am I + feel that I am in your presence, and I try to do you honor. + + “‘All that you said about my manner of dress impressed me very + much; I began to understand how far above others are those that + come of a noble race. There was still something of the opera girl + in my gowns, in my way of dressing my hair. In a moment I saw the + distance between me and good taste. Next time you will receive a + duchess, you shall not know me again! Ah! how good you have been + to your Claudine! How many and many a time I have thanked you for + telling me those things! What interest lay in those few words! You + have taken thought for that thing belonging to you called + Claudine? <i>This</i> imbecile would never have opened my eyes; he + thinks that everything I do is right; and besides, he is much too + humdrum, too matter-of-fact to have any feeling for the beautiful. + + “‘Tuesday is very slow of coming for my impatient mind! On + Tuesday I shall be with you for several hours. Ah! when it comes I + will try to think that the hours are months, that it will be so + always. I am living in hope of that morning now, as I shall live + upon the memory of it afterwards. Hope is memory that craves; and + recollection, memory sated. What a beautiful life within life + thought makes for us in this way! + + “‘Sometimes I dream of inventing new ways of tenderness all my + own, a secret which no other woman shall guess. A cold sweat + breaks out over me at the thought that something may happen to + prevent this morning. Oh, I would break with <i>him</i> for good, if + need was, but nothing here could possibly interfere; it would be + from your side. Perhaps you may decide to go out, perhaps to go to + see some other woman. Oh! spare me this Tuesday for pity’s sake. + If you take it from me, Charles, you do not know what <i>he</i> will + suffer; I should drive him wild. But even if you do not want me, + or you are going out, let me come, all the same, to be with you + while you dress; only to see you, I ask no more than that; only to + show you that I love you without a thought of self. + + “‘Since you gave me leave to love you, for you gave me leave, + since I am yours; since that day I loved and love you with the + whole strength of my soul; and I shall love you for ever, for once + having loved <i>you</i>, no one could, no one ought to love another. + And, you see, when those eyes that ask nothing but to see you are + upon you, you will feel that in your Claudine there is a something + divine, called into existence by you. + + “‘Alas! with you I can never play the coquette. I am like a + mother with her child; I endure anything from you; I, that was + once so imperious and proud. I have made dukes and princes fetch + and carry for me; aides-de-camp, worth more than all the court of + Charles X. put together, have done my errands, yet I am treating + you as my spoilt child. But where is the use of coquetry? It would + be pure waste. And yet, monsieur, for want of coquetry I shall + never inspire love in you. I know it; I feel it; yet I do as + before, feeling a power that I cannot withstand, thinking that + this utter self-surrender will win me the sentiment innate in all + men (so <i>he</i> tells me) for the thing that belongs to them. +</pre> + <p> + “<i>Wednesday</i>. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “‘Ah! how darkly sadness entered my heart yesterday when I found + that I must give up the joy of seeing you. One single thought held + me back from the arms of Death!—It was thy will! To stay away was + to do thy will, to obey an order from thee. Oh! Charles, I was so + pretty; I looked a lovelier woman for you than that beautiful + German princess whom you gave me for an example, whom I have + studied at the Opera. And yet—you might have thought that I had + overstepped the limits of my nature. You have left me no + confidence in myself; perhaps I am plain after all. Oh! I loathe + myself, I dream of my radiant Charles Edward, and my brain turns. + I shall go mad, I know I shall. Do not laugh, do not talk to me of + the fickleness of women. If we are inconstant, <i>you</i> are strangely + capricious. You take away the hours of love that made a poor + creature’s happiness for ten whole days; the hours on which she + drew to be charming and kind to all that came to see her! After + all, you were the source of my kindness to <i>him</i>; you do not know + what pain you give him. I wonder what I must do to keep you, or + simply to keep the right to be yours sometimes.... When I think + that you never would come here to me!... With what delicious + emotion I would wait upon you!—There are other women more favored + than I. There are women to whom you say, ‘I love you.’ To me you + have never said more than ‘You are a good girl.’ Certain speeches + of yours, though you do not know it, gnaw at my heart. Clever men + sometimes ask me what I am thinking.... I am thinking of my + self-abasement—the prostration of the poorest outcast in the + presence of the Saviour. +</pre> + <p> + “There are still three more pages, you see. La Palferine allowed me to + take the letter, with the traces of tears that still seemed hot upon it! + Here was proof of the truth of his story. Marcas, a shy man enough with + women, was in ecstacies over a second which he read in his corner before + lighting his pipe with it. + </p> + <p> + “‘Why, any woman in love will write that sort of thing!’ cried La + Palferine. ‘Love gives all women intelligence and style, which proves that + here in France style proceeds from the matter and not from the words. See + now how well this is thought out, how clear-headed sentiment is’—and + with that he reads us another letter, far superior to the artificial and + labored productions which we novelists write. + </p> + <p> + “One day poor Claudine heard that La Palferine was in a critical position; + it was a question of meeting a bill of exchange. An unlucky idea occurred + to her; she put a tolerably large sum in gold into an exquisitely + embroidered purse and went to him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Who has taught you as to be so bold as to meddle with my household + affairs?’ La Palferine cried angrily. ‘Mend my socks and work slippers for + me, if it amuses you. So!—you will play the duchess, and you turn + the story of Danae against the aristocracy.’ + </p> + <p> + “He emptied the purse into his hand as he spoke, and made as though he + would fling the money in her face. Claudine, in her terror, did not guess + that he was joking; she shrank back, stumbled over a chair, and fell with + her head against the corner of the marble chimney-piece. She thought she + should have died. When she could speak, poor woman, as she lay on the bed, + all that she said was, ‘I deserved it, Charles!’ + </p> + <p> + “For a moment La Palferine was in despair; his anguish revived Claudine. + She rejoiced in the mishap; she took advantage of her suffering to compel + La Palferine to take the money and release him from an awkward position. + Then followed a variation on La Fontaine’s fable, in which a man blesses + the thieves that brought him a sudden impulse of tenderness from his wife. + And while we are upon this subject, another saying will paint the man for + you. + </p> + <p> + “Claudine went home again, made up some kind of tale as best she could to + account for her bruised forehead, and fell dangerously ill. An abscess + formed in the head. The doctor—Bianchon, I believe—yes, it was + Bianchon—wanted to cut off her hair. The Duchesse de Berri’s hair is + not more beautiful than Claudine’s; she would not hear of it, she told + Bianchon in confidence that she could not allow it to be cut without leave + from the Comte de Palferine. Bianchon went to Charles Edward. Charles + Edward heard him with much seriousness. The doctor had explained the case + at length, and showed that it was absolutely necessary to sacrifice the + hair to insure the success of the operation. + </p> + <p> + “‘Cut off Claudine’s hair!’ cried he in peremptory tones. ‘No. I would + sooner lose her.’ + </p> + <p> + “Even now, after a lapse of four years, Bianchon still quotes that speech; + we have laughed over it for half an hour together. Claudine, informed of + the verdict, saw in it a proof of affections; she felt sure that she was + loved. In the face of her weeping family, with her husband on his knees, + she was inexorable. She kept the hair. The strength that came with the + belief that she was loved came to her aid, the operation succeeded + perfectly. There are stirrings of the inner life which throw all the + calculations of surgery into disorder and baffle the laws of medical + science. + </p> + <p> + “Claudine wrote a delicious letter to La Palferine, a letter in which the + orthography was doubtful and the punctuation all to seek, to tell him of + the happy result of the operation, and to add that Love was wiser than all + the sciences. + </p> + <p> + “‘Now,’ said La Palferine one day, ‘what am I to do to get rid of + Claudine?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Why, she is not at all troublesome; she leaves you master of your + actions,’ objected we. + </p> + <p> + “‘That is true,’ returned La Palferine, ‘but I do not choose that anything + shall slip into my life without my consent.’ + </p> + <p> + “From that day he set himself to torment Claudine. It seemed that he held + the bourgeoise, the nobody, in utter horror; nothing would satisfy him but + a woman with a title. Claudine, it was true, had made progress; she had + learned to dress as well as the best-dressed woman of the Faubourg + Saint-Germain; she had freed her bearing of the unhallowed traces; she + walked with a chastened, inimitable grace; but this was not enough. This + praise of her enabled Claudine to swallow down the rest. + </p> + <p> + “But one day La Palferine said, ‘If you wish to be the mistress of one La + Palferine, poor, penniless, and without prospects as he is, you ought at + least to represent him worthily. You should have a carriage and liveried + servants and a title. Give me all the gratifications of vanity that will + never be mine in my own person. The woman whom I honor with my regard + ought never to go on foot; if she is bespattered with mud, I suffer. That + is how I am made. If she is mine, she must be admired of all Paris. All + Paris shall envy me my good fortune. If some little whipper-snapper seeing + a brilliant countess pass in her brilliant carriage shall say to himself, + “Who can call such a divinity his?” and grow thoughtful—why, it will + double my pleasure.’ + </p> + <p> + “La Palferine owned to us that he flung this programme at Claudine’s head + simply to rid himself of her. As a result he was stupefied with + astonishment for the first and probably the only time in his life. + </p> + <p> + “‘Dear,’ she said, and there was a ring in her voice that betrayed the + great agitation which shook her whole being, ‘it is well. All this shall + be done, or I will die.’ + </p> + <p> + “She let fall a few happy tears on his hand as she kissed it. + </p> + <p> + “‘You have told me what I must do to be your mistress still,’ she added; + ‘I am glad.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘And then’ (La Palferine told us) ‘she went out with a little coquettish + gesture like a woman that has had her way. As she stood in my garrett + doorway, tall and proud, she seemed to reach the stature of an antique + sibyl.’ + </p> + <p> + “All this should sufficiently explain the manners and customs of the + Bohemia in which the young <i>condottiere</i> is one of the most brilliant + figures,” Nathan continued after a pause. “Now it so happened that I + discovered Claudine’s identity, and could understand the appalling truth + of one line which you perhaps overlooked in that letter of hers. It was on + this wise.” + </p> + <p> + The Marquise, too thoughtful now for laughter, bade Nathan “Go on,” in a + tone that told him plainly how deeply she had been impressed by these + strange things, and even more plainly how much she was interested in La + Palferine. + </p> + <p> + “In 1829, one of the most influential, steady, and clever of dramatic + writers was du Bruel. His real name is unknown to the public, on the + play-bills he is de Cursy. Under the Restoration he had a place in the + Civil Service; and being really attached to the elder branch, he sent in + his resignation bravely in 1830, and ever since has written twice as many + plays to fill the deficit in his budget made by his noble conduct. At that + time du Bruel was forty years old; you know the story of his life. Like + many of his brethren, he bore a stage dancer an affection hard to explain, + but well known in the whole world of letters. The woman, as you know, was + Tullia, one of the <i>premiers sujets</i> of the Academie Royale de + Musique. Tullia is merely a pseudonym like du Bruel’s name of de Cursy. + </p> + <p> + “For the ten years between 1817 and 1827 Tullia was in her glory on the + heights of the stage of the Opera. With more beauty than education, a + mediocre dancer with rather more sense than most of her class, she took no + part in the virtuous reforms which ruined the corps de ballet; she + continued the Guimard dynasty. She owed her ascendency, moreover, to + various well-known protectors, to the Duc de Rhetore (the Due de + Chaulieu’s eldest son), to the influence of a famous Superintendent of + Fine Arts, and sundry diplomatists and rich foreigners. During her apogee + she had a neat little house in the Rue Chauchat, and lived as Opera nymphs + used to live in the old days. Du Bruel was smitten with her about the time + when the Duke’s fancy came to an end in 1823. Being a mere subordinate in + the Civil Service, du Bruel tolerated the Superintendent of Fine Arts, + believing that he himself was really preferred. After six years this + connection was almost a marriage. Tullia has always been very careful to + say nothing of her family; we have a vague idea that she comes from + Nanterre. One of her uncles, formerly a simple bricklayer or carpenter, is + now, it is said, a very rich contractor, thanks to her influence and + generous loans. This fact leaked out through du Bruel. He happened to say + that Tullia would inherit a fine fortune sooner or later. The contractor + was a bachelor; he had a weakness for the niece to whom he is indebted. + </p> + <p> + “‘He is not clever enough to be ungrateful,’ said she. + </p> + <p> + “In 1829 Tullia retired from the stage of her own accord. At the age of + thirty she saw that she was growing somewhat stouter, and she had tried + pantomime without success. Her whole art consisted in the trick of raising + her skirts, after Noblet’s manner, in a pirouette which inflated them + balloon-fashion and exhibited the smallest possible quantity of clothing + to the pit. The aged Vestris had told her at the very beginning that this + <i>temps</i>, well executed by a fine woman, is worth all the art + imaginable. It is the chest-note C of dancing. For which reason, he said, + the very greatest dancers—Camargo, Guimard, and Taglioni, all of + them thin, brown, and plain—could only redeem their physical defects + by their genius. Tullia, still in the height of her glory, retired before + younger and cleverer dancers; she did wisely. She was an aristocrat; she + had scarcely stooped below the noblesse in her <i>liaisons</i>; she + declined to dip her ankles in the troubled waters of July. Insolent and + beautiful as she was, Claudine possessed handsome souvenirs, but very + little ready money; still, her jewels were magnificent, and she had as + fine furniture as any one in Paris. + </p> + <p> + “On quitting the stage when she, forgotten to-day, was yet in the height + of her fame, one thought possessed her—she meant du Bruel to marry + her; and at the time of this story, you must understand that the marriage + had taken place, but was kept a secret. How do women of her class contrive + to make a man marry them after seven or eight years of intimacy? What + springs do they touch? What machinery do they set in motion? But, however + comical such domestic dramas may be, we are not now concerned with them. + Du Bruel was secretly married; the thing was done. + </p> + <p> + “Cursy before his marriage was supposed to be a jolly companion; now and + again he stayed out all night, and to some extent led the life of a + Bohemian; he would unbend at a supper-party. He went out to all appearance + to a rehearsal at the Opera-Comique, and found himself in some + unaccountable way at Dieppe, or Baden, or Saint-Germain; he gave dinners, + led the Titanic thriftless life of artists, journalists, and writers; + levied his tribute on all the greenrooms of Paris; and, in short, was one + of us. Finot, Lousteau, du Tillet, Desroches, Bixiou, Blondet, Couture, + and des Lupeaulx tolerated him in spite of his pedantic manner and + ponderous official attitude. But once married, Tullia made a slave of du + Bruel. There was no help for it. He was in love with Tullia, poor devil. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tullia’ (so he said) ‘had left the stage to be his alone, to be a good + and charming wife.’ And somehow Tullia managed to induce the most + Puritanical members of du Bruel’s family to accept her. From the very + first, before any one suspected her motives, she assiduously visited old + Mme. de Bonfalot, who bored her horribly; she made handsome presents to + mean old Mme. de Chisse, du Bruel’s great-aunt; she spent a summer with + the latter lady, and never missed a single mass. She even went to + confession, received absolution, and took the sacrament; but this, you + must remember, was in the country, and under the aunt’s eyes. + </p> + <p> + “‘I shall have real aunts now, do you understand?’ she said to us when she + came back in the winter. + </p> + <p> + “She was so delighted with her respectability, so glad to renounce her + independence, that she found means to compass her end. She flattered the + old people. She went on foot every day to sit for a couple of hours with + Mme. du Bruel the elder while that lady was ill—a Maintenon’s + stratagem which amazed du Bruel. And he admired his wife without + criticism; he was so fast in the toils already that he did not feel his + bonds. + </p> + <p> + “Claudine succeeded in making him understand that only under the elastic + system of a bourgeois government, only at the bourgeois court of the + Citizen-King, could a Tullia, now metamorphosed into a Mme. du Bruel, be + accepted in the society which her good sense prevented her from attempting + to enter. Mme. de Bonfalot, Mme. de Chisse, and Mme. du Bruel received + her; she was satisfied. She took up the position of a well-conducted, + simple, and virtuous woman, and never acted out of character. In three + years’ time she was introduced to the friends of these ladies. + </p> + <p> + “‘And still I cannot persuade myself that young Mme. du Bruel used to + display her ankles, and the rest, to all Paris, with the light of a + hundred gas-jets pouring upon her,’ Mme. Anselme Popinot remarked naively. + </p> + <p> + “From this point of view, July 1830 inaugurated an era not unlike the time + of the Empire, when a waiting woman was received at Court in the person of + Mme. Garat, a chief-justice’s ‘lady.’ Tullia had completely broken, as you + may guess, with all her old associates; of her former acquaintances, she + only recognized those who could not compromise her. At the time of her + marriage she had taken a very charming little hotel between a court and a + garden, lavishing money on it with wild extravagance and putting the best + part of her furniture and du Bruel’s into it. Everything that she thought + common or ordinary was sold. To find anything comparable to her sparkling + splendor, you could only look back to the days when Sophie Arnould, a + Guimard, or a Duthe, in all her glory, squandered the fortunes of princes. + </p> + <p> + “How far did this sumptuous existence affect du Bruel? It is a delicate + question to ask, and a still more delicate one to answer. A single + incident will suffice to give you an idea of Tullia’s crotchets. Her + bed-spread of Brussels lace was worth ten thousand francs. A famous + actress had another like it. As soon as Claudine heard this, she allowed + her cat, a splendid Angora, to sleep on the bed. That trait gives you the + woman. Du Bruel dared not say a word; he was ordered to spread abroad that + challenge in luxury, so that it might reach the other. Tullia was very + fond of this gift from the Duc de Rhetore; but one day, five years after + her marriage, she played with her cat to such purpose that the coverlet—furbelows, + flounces, and all—was torn to shreds, and replaced by a sensible + quilt, a quilt that was a quilt, and not a symptom of the peculiar form of + insanity which drives these women to make up by an insensate luxury for + the childish days when they lived on raw apples, to quote the expression + of a journalist. The day when the bed-spread was torn to tatters marked a + new epoch in her married life. + </p> + <p> + “Cursy was remarkable for his ferocious industry. Nobody suspects the + source to which Paris owes the patch-and-powder eighteenth century + vaudevilles that flooded the stage. Those thousand-and-one vaudevilles, + which raised such an outcry among the <i>feuilletonistes</i>, were written + at Mme. du Bruel’s express desire. She insisted that her husband should + purchase the hotel on which she had spent so much, where she had housed + five hundred thousand francs’ worth of furniture. Wherefore Tullia never + enters into explanations; she understands the sovereign woman’s reason to + admiration. + </p> + <p> + “‘People made a good deal of fun of Cursy,’ said she; ‘but, as a matter of + fact, he found this house in the eighteenth century rouge-box, powder, + puffs, and spangles. He would never have thought of it but for me,’ she + added, burying herself in the cushions in her fireside corner. + </p> + <p> + “She delivered herself thus on her return from a first night. Du Bruel’s + piece had succeeded, and she foresaw an avalanche of criticisms. Tullia + had her At Homes. Every Monday she gave a tea-party; her society was as + select as might be, and she neglected nothing that could make her house + pleasant. There was a bouillotte in one room, conversation in another, and + sometimes a concert (always short) in the large drawing-room. None but the + most eminent artists performed in the house. Tullia had so much good + sense, that she attained to the most exquisite tact, and herein, in all + probability, lay the secret of her ascendency over du Bruel; at any rate, + he loved her with the love which use and wont at length makes + indispensable to life. Every day adds another thread to the strong, + irresistible, intangible web, which enmeshes the most delicate fancies, + takes captive every most transient mood, and binding them together, holds + a man captive hand and foot, heart and head. + </p> + <p> + “Tullia knew Cursy well; she knew every weak point in his armor, knew also + how to heal his wounds. + </p> + <p> + “A passion of this kind is inscrutable for any observer, even for a man + who prides himself, as I do, on a certain expertness. It is everywhere + unfathomable; the dark depths in it are darker than in any other mystery; + the colors confused even in the highest lights. + </p> + <p> + “Cursy was an old playwright, jaded by the life of the theatrical world. + He liked comfort; he liked a luxurious, affluent, easy existence; he + enjoyed being a king in his own house; he liked to be host to a party of + men of letters in a hotel resplendent with royal luxury, with carefully + chosen works of art shining in the setting. Tullia allowed du Bruel to + enthrone himself amid the tribe; there were plenty of journalists whom it + was easy enough to catch and ensnare; and, thanks to her evening parties + and a well-timed loan here and there, Cursy was not attacked too seriously—his + plays succeeded. For these reasons he would not have separated from Tullia + for an empire. If she had been unfaithful, he would probably have passed + it over, on condition that none of his accustomed joys should be + retrenched; yet, strange to say, Tullia caused him no twinges on this + account. No fancy was laid to her charge; if there had been any, she + certainly had been very careful of appearances. + </p> + <p> + “‘My dear fellow,’ du Bruel would say, laying down the law to us on the + boulevard, ‘there is nothing like one of these women who have sown their + wild oats and got over their passions. Such women as Claudine have lived + their bachelor life; they have been over head and ears in pleasure, and + make the most adorable wives that could be wished; they have nothing to + learn, they are formed, they are not in the least prudish; they are well + broken in, and indulgent. So I strongly recommend everybody to take the + “remains of a racer.” I am the most fortunate man on earth.’ + </p> + <p> + “Du Bruel said this to me himself with Bixiou there to hear it. + </p> + <p> + “‘My dear fellow,’ said the caricaturist, ‘perhaps he is right to be in + the wrong.’ + </p> + <p> + “About a week afterwards, du Bruel asked us to dine with him one Tuesday. + That morning I went to see him on a piece of theatrical business, a case + submitted to us for arbitration by the commission of dramatic authors. We + were obliged to go out again; but before we started he went to Claudine’s + room, knocked, as he always does, and asked for leave to enter. + </p> + <p> + “‘We live in grand style,’ said he, smiling; ‘we are free. Each is + independent.’ + </p> + <p> + “We were admitted. Du Bruel spoke to Claudine. ‘I have asked a few people + to dinner to-day—” + </p> + <p> + “‘Just like you!’ cried she. ‘You ask people without speaking to me; I + count for nothing here.—Now’ (taking me as arbitrator by a glance) + ‘I ask you yourself. When a man has been so foolish as to live with a + woman of my sort; for, after all, I was an opera dancer—yes, I ought + always to remember that, if other people are to forget it—well, + under those circumstances, a clever man seeking to raise his wife in + public opinion would do his best to impose her upon the world as a + remarkable woman, to justify the step he had taken by acknowledging that + in some ways she was something more than ordinary women. The best way of + compelling respect from others is to pay respect to her at home, and to + leave her absolute mistress of the house. Well, and yet it is enough to + awaken one’s vanity to see how frightened he is of seeming to listen to + me. I must be in the right ten times over if he concedes a single point.’ + </p> + <p> + “(Emphatic negative gestures from du Bruel at every other word.) + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, yes, yes,’ she continued quickly, in answer to this mute dissent. ‘I + know all about it, du Bruel, my dear, I that have been like a queen in my + house all my life till I married you. My wishes were guessed, fulfilled, + and more than fulfilled. After all, I am thirty-five, and at + five-and-thirty a woman cannot expect to be loved. Ah, if I were a girl of + sixteen, if I had not lost something that is dearly bought at the Opera, + what attention you would pay me, M. du Bruel! I feel the most supreme + contempt for men who boast that they can love and grow careless and + neglectful in little things as time grows on. You are short and + insignificant, you see, du Bruel; you love to torment a woman; it is your + only way of showing your strength. A Napoleon is ready to be swayed by the + woman he loves; he loses nothing by it; but as for such as you, you + believe that you are nothing apparently, you do not wish to be ruled.—Five-and-thirty, + my dear boy,’ she continued, turning to me, ‘that is the clue to the + riddle.—“No,” does he say again?—You know quite well that I am + thirty-seven. I am very sorry, but just ask your friends to dine at the <i>Rocher + de Cancale</i>. I <i>could</i> have them here, but I will not; they shall + not come. And then perhaps my poor little monologue may engrave that + salutary maxim, “Each is master at home,” upon your memory. That is our + character,’ she added, laughing, with a return of the opera girl’s + giddiness and caprice. + </p> + <p> + “‘Well, well, my dear little puss; there, there, never mind. We can manage + to get on together,’ said du Bruel, and he kissed her hands, and we came + away. But he was very wroth. + </p> + <p> + “The whole way from the Rue de la Victoire to the boulevard a perfect + torrent of venomous words poured from his mouth like a waterfall in flood; + but as the shocking language which he used on occasion was quite unfit to + print, the report is necessarily inadequate. + </p> + <p> + “‘My dear fellow, I will leave that vile, shameless opera dancer, a + worn-out jade that has been set spinning like a top to every operatic air; + a foul hussy, an organ-grinder’s monkey! Oh, my dear boy, you have taken + up with an actress; may the notion of marrying your mistress never get a + hold on you. It is a torment omitted from the hell of Dante, you see. Look + here! I will beat her; I will give her a thrashing; I will give it to her! + Poison of my life, she sent me off like a running footman.’ + </p> + <p> + “By this time we had reached the boulevard, and he had worked himself up + to such a pitch of fury that the words stuck in his throat. + </p> + <p> + “‘I will kick the stuffing out of her!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘And why?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘My dear fellow, you will never know the thousand-and-one fancies that + slut takes into her head. When I want to stay at home, she, forsooth, must + go out; when I want to go out, she wants me to stop at home; and she + spouts out arguments and accusations and reasoning and talks and talks + till she drives you crazy. Right means any whim that they happen to take + into their heads, and wrong means our notion. Overwhelm them with + something that cuts their arguments to pieces—they hold their + tongues and look at you as if you were a dead dog. My happiness indeed! I + lead the life of a yard-dog; I am a perfect slave. The little happiness + that I have with her costs me dear. Confound it all. I will leave her + everything and take myself off to a garret. Yes, a garret and liberty. I + have not dared to have my own way once in these five years.’ + </p> + <p> + “But instead of going to his guests, Cursy strode up and down the + boulevard between the Rue de Richelieu and the Rue du Mont Blanc, + indulging in the most fearful imprecations, his unbounded language was + most comical to hear. His paroxysm of fury in the street contrasted oddly + with his peaceable demeanor in the house. Exercise assisted him to work + off his nervous agitation and inward tempest. About two o’clock, on a + sudden frantic impulse, he exclaimed: + </p> + <p> + “‘These damned females never know what they want. I will wager my head now + that if I go home and tell her that I have sent to ask my friends to dine + with me at the <i>Rocher de Cancale</i>, she will not be satisfied though + she made the arrangement herself.—But she will have gone off + somewhere or other. I wonder whether there is something at the bottom of + all this, an assignation with some goat? No. In the bottom of her heart + she loves me!’” + </p> + <p> + The Marquise could not help smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, madame,” said Nathan, looking keenly at her, “only women and prophets + know how to turn faith to account.—Du Bruel would have me go home + with him,” he continued, “and we went slowly back. It was three o’clock. + Before he appeared, he heard a stir in the kitchen, saw preparations going + forward, and glanced at me as he asked the cook the reason of this. + </p> + <p> + “‘Madame ordered dinner,’ said the woman. ‘Madame dressed and ordered a + cab, and then she changed her mind and ordered it again for the theatre + this evening.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Good,’ exclaimed du Bruel, ‘what did I tell you?’ + </p> + <p> + “We entered the house stealthily. No one was there. We went from room to + room until we reached a little boudoir, and came upon Tullia in tears. She + dried her eyes without affectation, and spoke to du Bruel. + </p> + <p> + “‘Send a note to the <i>Rocher de Cancale</i>,’ she said, ‘and ask your + guests to dine here.’ + </p> + <p> + “She was dressed as only women of the theatre can dress, in a simply-made + gown of some dainty material, neither too costly nor too common, graceful + and harmonious in outline and coloring; there was nothing conspicuous + about her, nothing exaggerated—a word now dropping out of use, to be + replaced by the word ‘artistic,’ used by fools as current coin. In short, + Tullia looked like a gentlewoman. At thirty-seven she had reached the + prime of a Frenchwoman’s beauty. At this moment the celebrated oval of her + face was divinely pale; she had laid her hat aside; I could see a faint + down like the bloom of fruit softening the silken contours of a cheek + itself so delicate. There was a pathetic charm about her face with its + double cluster of fair hair; her brilliant gray eyes were veiled by a mist + of tears; her nose, delicately carved as a Roman cameo, with its quivering + nostrils; her little mouth, like a child’s even now; her long queenly + throat, with the veins standing out upon it; her chin, flushed for the + moment by some secret despair; the pink tips of her ears, the hands that + trembled under her gloves, everything about her told of violent feeling. + The feverish twitching of her eyebrows betrayed her pain. She looked + sublime. + </p> + <p> + “Her first words had crushed du Bruel. She looked at us both, with that + penetrating, impenetrable cat-like glance which only actresses and great + ladies can use. Then she held out her hand to her husband. + </p> + <p> + “‘Poor dear, you had scarcely gone before I blamed myself a thousand times + over. It seemed to me that I had been horribly ungrateful. I told myself + that I had been unkind.—Was I very unkind?’ she asked, turning to + me.—‘Why not receive your friends? Is it not your house? Do you want + to know the reason of it all? Well, I was afraid that I was not loved; and + indeed I was half-way between repentance and the shame of going back. I + read the newspapers, and saw that there was a first night at the Varietes, + and I thought you had meant to give the dinner to a collaborator. Left to + myself, I gave way, I dressed to hurry out after you—poor pet.’ + </p> + <p> + “Du Bruel looked at me triumphantly, not a vestige of a recollection of + his orations <i>contra Tullia</i> in his mind. + </p> + <p> + “‘Well, dearest, I have not spoken to any one of them,’ he said. + </p> + <p> + “‘How well we understand each other!’ quoth she. + </p> + <p> + “Even as she uttered those bewildering sweet words, I caught sight of + something in her belt, the corner of a little note thrust sidewise into + it; but I did not need that indication to tell me that Tullia’s fantastic + conduct was referable to occult causes. Woman, in my opinion, is the most + logical of created beings, the child alone excepted. In both we behold a + sublime phenomenon, the unvarying triumph of one dominant, all-excluding + thought. The child’s thought changes every moment; but while it possesses + him, he acts upon it with such ardor that others give way before him, + fascinated by the ingenuity, the persistence of a strong desire. Woman is + less changeable, but to call her capricious is a stupid insult. Whenever + she acts, she is always swayed by one dominant passion; and wonderful it + is to see how she makes that passion the very centre of her world. + </p> + <p> + “Tullia was irresistible; she twisted du Bruel round her fingers, the sky + grew blue again, the evening was glorious. And ingenious writer of plays + as he is, he never so much as saw that his wife had buried a trouble out + of sight. + </p> + <p> + “‘Such is life, my dear fellow,’ he said to me, ‘ups and downs and + contrasts.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Especially life off the stage,’ I put in. + </p> + <p> + “‘That is just what I mean,’ he continued. ‘Why, but for these violent + emotions, one would be bored to death! Ah! that woman has the gift of + rousing me.’ + </p> + <p> + “We went to the Varietes after dinner; but before we left the house I + slipped into du Bruel’s room, and on a shelf among a pile of waste papers + found the copy of the <i>Petites-Affiches</i>, in which, agreeably to the + reformed law, notice of the purchase of the house was inserted. The words + stared me in the face—‘At the request of Jean Francois du Bruel and + Claudine Chaffaroux, his wife——’ <i>Here</i> was the + explanation of the whole matter. I offered my arm to Claudine, and allowed + the guests to descend the stairs in front of us. When we were alone—‘If + I were La Palferine,’ I said, ‘I would not break an appointment.’ + </p> + <p> + “Gravely she laid her finger on her lips. She leant on my arm as we went + downstairs, and looked at me with almost something like happiness in her + eyes because I knew La Palferine. Can you see the first idea that occurred + to her? She thought of making a spy of me, but I turned her off with the + light jesting talk of Bohemia. + </p> + <p> + “A month later, after a first performance of one of du Bruel’s plays, we + met in the vestibule of the theatre. It was raining; I went to call a cab. + We had been delayed for a few minutes, so that there were no cabs in + sight. Claudine scolded du Bruel soundly; and as we rolled through the + streets (for she set me down at Florine’s), she continued the quarrel with + a series of most mortifying remarks. + </p> + <p> + “‘What is this about?’ I inquired. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, my dear fellow, she blames me for allowing you to run out for a cab, + and thereupon proceeds to wish for a carriage.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘As a dancer,’ said she, ‘I have never been accustomed to use my feet + except on the boards. If you have any spirit, you will turn out four more + plays or so in a year; you will make up your mind that succeed they must, + when you think of the end in view, and that your wife will not walk in the + mud. It is a shame that I should have to ask for it. You ought to have + guessed my continual discomfort during the five years since I married + you.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I am quite willing,’ returned du Bruel. ‘But we shall ruin ourselves.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘If you run into debt,’ she said, ‘my uncle’s money will clear it off + some day.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You are quite capable of leaving me the debts and taking the property.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh! is that the way you take it?’ retorted she. ‘I have nothing more to + say to you; such a speech stops my mouth.’ + </p> + <p> + “Whereupon du Bruel poured out his soul in excuses and protestations of + love. Not a word did she say. He took her hands, she allowed him to take + them; they were like ice, like a dead woman’s hands. Tullia, you can + understand, was playing to admiration the part of corpse that women can + play to show you that they refuse their consent to anything and + everything; that for you they are suppressing soul, spirit, and life, and + regard themselves as beasts of burden. Nothing so provokes a man with a + heart as this strategy. Women can only use it with those who worship them. + </p> + <p> + “She turned to me. ‘Do you suppose,’ she said scornfully, ‘that a Count + would have uttered such an insult even if the thought had entered his + mind? For my misfortune I have lived with dukes, ambassadors, and great + lords, and I know their ways. How intolerable it makes bourgeois life! + After all, a playwright is not a Rastignac nor a Rhetore——’ + </p> + <p> + “Du Bruel looked ghastly at this. Two days afterwards we met in the <i>foyer</i> + at the Opera, and took a few turns together. The conversation fell on + Tullia. + </p> + <p> + “‘Do not take my ravings on the boulevard too seriously,’ said he; ‘I have + a violent temper.’ + </p> + <p> + “For two winters I was a tolerably frequent visitor at du Bruel’s house, + and I followed Claudine’s tactics closely. She had a splendid carriage. Du + Bruel entered public life; she made him abjure his Royalist opinions. He + rallied himself; he took his place again in the administration; the + National Guard was discreetly canvassed, du Bruel was elected major, and + behaved so valorously in a street riot, that he was decorated with the + rosette of an officer of the Legion of Honor. He was appointed Master of + Requests and head of a department. Uncle Chaffaroux died and left his + niece forty thousand francs per annum, three-fourths of his fortune. Du + Bruel became a deputy; but beforehand, to save the necessity of + re-election, he secured his nomination to the Council of State. He + reprinted divers archaeological treatises, a couple of political + pamphlets, and a statistical work, by way of pretext for his appointment + to one of the obliging academies of the Institut. At this moment he is a + Commander of the Legion, and (after fishing in the troubled waters of + political intrigue) has quite recently been made a peer of France and a + count. As yet our friend does not venture to bear his honors; his wife + merely puts ‘La Comtesse du Bruel’ on her cards. The sometime playwright + has the Order of Leopold, the Order of Isabella, the cross of + Saint-Vladimir, second class, the Order of Civil Merit of Bavaria, the + Papal Order of the Golden Spur,—all the lesser orders, in short, + besides the Grand Cross. + </p> + <p> + “Three months ago Claudine drove to La Palferine’s door in her splendid + carriage with its armorial bearings. Du Bruel’s grandfather was a farmer + of taxes ennobled towards the end of Louis Quatorze’s reign. Cherin + composed his coat-of-arms for him, so the Count’s coronet looks not amiss + above a scutcheon innocent of Imperial absurdities. In this way, in the + short space of three years, Claudine had carried out the programme laid + down for her by the charming, light-hearted La Palferine. + </p> + <p> + “One day, just above a month ago, she climbed the miserable staircase to + her lover’s lodging; climbed in her glory, dressed like a real countess of + the Faubourg Saint-Germain, to our friend’s garret. La Palferine, seeing + her, said, ‘You have made a peeress of yourself I know. But it is too + late, Claudine; every one is talking just now about the Southern Cross, I + should like it see it!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I will get it for you.’ + </p> + <p> + “La Palferine burst into a peal of Homeric laughter. + </p> + <p> + “‘Most distinctly,’ he returned, ‘I do <i>not</i> wish to have a woman as + ignorant as a carp for my mistress, a woman that springs like a flying + fish from the green-room of the Opera to Court, for I should like to see + you at the Court of the Citizen King.’ + </p> + <p> + “She turned to me. + </p> + <p> + “‘What is the Southern Cross?’ she asked, in a sad, downcast voice. + </p> + <p> + “I was struck with admiration for this indomitable love, outdoing the most + ingenious marvels of fairy tales in real life—a love that would + spring over a precipice to find a roc’s egg, or to gather the singing + flower. I explained that the Southern Cross was a nebulous constellation + even brighter than the Milky Way, arranged in the form of a cross, and + that it could only be seen in southern latitudes. + </p> + <p> + “‘Very well, Charles, let us go,’ said she. + </p> + <p> + “La Palferine, ferocious though he was, had tears in his eyes; but what a + look there was in Claudine’s face, what a note in her voice! I have seen + nothing like the thing that followed, not even in the supreme touch of a + great actor’s art; nothing to compare with her movement when she saw the + hard eyes softened in tears; Claudine sank upon her knees and kissed La + Palferine’s pitiless hand. He raised her with his grand manner, his + ‘Rusticoli air,’ as he calls it—‘There, child!’ he said, ‘I will do + something for you; I will put you—in my will.’ + </p> + <p> + “Well,” concluded Nathan, “I ask myself sometimes whether du Bruel is + really deceived. Truly there is nothing more comic, nothing stranger than + the sight of a careless young fellow ruling a married couple, his + slightest whims received as law, the weightiest decisions revoked at a + word from him. That dinner incident, as you can see, is repeated times + without number, it interferes with important matters. Still, but for + Claudine’s caprices, du Bruel would be de Cursy still, one vaudevillist + among five hundred; whereas he is in the House of Peers.” + </p> + <p> + “You will change the names, I hope!” said Nathan, addressing Mme. de la + Baudraye. + </p> + <p> + “I should think so! I have only set names to the masks for you. My dear + Nathan,” she added in the poet’s ear, “I know another case on which the + wife takes du Bruel’s place.” + </p> + <p> + “And the catastrophe?” queried Lousteau, returning just at the end of Mme. + de la Baudraye’s story. + </p> + <p> + “I do not believe in catastrophes. One has to invent such good ones to + show that art is quite a match for chance; and nobody reads a book twice, + my friend, except for the details.” + </p> + <p> + “But there is a catastrophe,” persisted Nathan. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “The Marquise de Rochefide is infatuated with Charles Edward. My story + excited her curiosity.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, unhappy woman!” cried Mme. de la Baudraye. + </p> + <p> + “Not so unhappy,” said Nathan, “for Maxime de Trailles and La Palferine + have brought about a rupture between the Marquis and Mme. Schontz, and + they mean to make it up between Arthur and Beatrix.” + </p> + <h3> + 1839 - 1845. + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + ADDENDUM + </h2> + <h3> + The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + </h3> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 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 + Letters of Two Brides + The Muse of the Department + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + + Bruel, Jean Francois du + A Bachelor’s Establishment + The Government Clerks + A Start in Life + The Middle Classes + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Daughter of Eve + + Bruel, Claudine Chaffaroux, Madame du + A Bachelor’s Establishment + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Letters of Two Brides + The Middle Classes + + Chaffaroux + Cesar Birotteau + The Middle Classes + + Chocardelle, Mademoiselle + Beatrix + A Man of Business + Cousin Betty + The Member for Arcis + + La Baudraye, Madame Polydore Milaud de + The Muse of the Department + Cousin Betty + + Laguerre, Mademoiselle + The Peasantry + + La Palferine, Comte de + A Man of Business + Cousin Betty + Beatrix + The Imaginary Mistress + + 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 + Cousin Betty + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + The Unconscious Humorists + + Marcas, Zephirin + Z. Marcas + + Nathan, Raoul + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Letters of Two Brides + The Seamy Side of History + The Muse of the Department + A Man of Business + The Unconscious Humorists + + Nathan, Madame Raoul + The Muse of the Department + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Government Clerks + A Bachelor’s Establishment + Ursule Mirouet + Eugenie Grandet + The Imaginary Mistress + A Daughter of Eve + The Unconscious Humorists + + Popinot, Madame Anselme + Cesar Birotteau + Cousin Betty + Cousin Pons + + Rochefide, Marquise de + Beatrix + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Sarrasine + + Tissot, Pierre-Francois + Father Goriot +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Prince of Bohemia, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRINCE OF BOHEMIA *** + +***** This file should be named 1812-h.htm or 1812-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/1/1812/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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