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diff --git a/1826.txt b/1826.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4731093 --- /dev/null +++ b/1826.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1853 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sarrasine, 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: Sarrasine + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Clara Bell and Others + +Release Date: March 3, 2010 [EBook #1826] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SARRASINE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +SARRASINE + + +By Honore de Balzac + + +Translated by Clara Bell and others + + + + + DEDICATION + + To Monsieur Charles Bernard du Grail. + + + + + +SARRASINE + + +I was buried in one of those profound reveries to which everybody, +even a frivolous man, is subject in the midst of the most uproarious +festivities. The clock on the Elysee-Bourbon had just struck midnight. +Seated in a window recess and concealed behind the undulating folds of +a curtain of watered silk, I was able to contemplate at my leisure the +garden of the mansion at which I was passing the evening. The trees, +being partly covered with snow, were outlined indistinctly against the +grayish background formed by a cloudy sky, barely whitened by the moon. +Seen through the medium of that strange atmosphere, they bore a vague +resemblance to spectres carelessly enveloped in their shrouds, a +gigantic image of the famous _Dance of Death_. Then, turning in the +other direction, I could gaze admiringly upon the dance of the living! +a magnificent salon, with walls of silver and gold, with gleaming +chandeliers, and bright with the light of many candles. There the +loveliest, the wealthiest women in Paris, bearers of the proudest +titles, moved hither and thither, fluttered from room to room in swarms, +stately and gorgeous, dazzling with diamonds; flowers on their heads +and breasts, in their hair, scattered over their dresses or lying +in garlands at their feet. Light quiverings of the body, voluptuous +movements, made the laces and gauzes and silks swirl about their +graceful figures. Sparkling glances here and there eclipsed the lights +and the blaze of the diamonds, and fanned the flame of hearts already +burning too brightly. I detected also significant nods of the head for +lovers and repellent attitudes for husbands. The exclamation of the +card-players at every unexpected _coup_, the jingle of gold, mingled +with music and the murmur of conversation; and to put the finishing +touch to the vertigo of that multitude, intoxicated by all the +seductions the world can offer, a perfume-laden atmosphere and general +exaltation acted upon their over-wrought imaginations. Thus, at my +right was the depressing, silent image of death; at my left the decorous +bacchanalia of life; on the one side nature, cold and gloomy, and in +mourning garb; on the other side, man on pleasure bent. And, standing +on the borderland of those two incongruous pictures, which repeated +thousands of times in diverse ways, make Paris the most entertaining and +most philosophical city in the world, I played a mental _macedoine_[*], +half jesting, half funereal. With my left foot I kept time to the music, +and the other felt as if it were in a tomb. My leg was, in fact, frozen +by one of those draughts which congeal one half of the body while the +other suffers from the intense heat of the salons--a state of things not +unusual at balls. + + [*] _Macedoine_, in the sense in which it is here used, is a + game, or rather a series of games, of cards, each player, + when it is his turn to deal, selecting the game to be + played. + +"Monsieur de Lanty has not owned this house very long, has he?" + +"Oh, yes! It is nearly ten years since the Marechal de Carigliano sold +it to him." + +"Ah!" + +"These people must have an enormous fortune." + +"They surely must." + +"What a magnificent party! It is almost insolent in its splendor." + +"Do you imagine they are as rich as Monsieur de Nucingen or Monsieur de +Gondreville?" + +"Why, don't you know?" + +I leaned forward and recognized the two persons who were talking +as members of that inquisitive genus which, in Paris, busies itself +exclusively with the _Whys_ and _Hows_. _Where does he come from? Who +are they? What's the matter with him? What has she done?_ They lowered +their voices and walked away in order to talk more at their ease on +some retired couch. Never was a more promising mine laid open to seekers +after mysteries. No one knew from what country the Lanty family came, +nor to what source--commerce, extortion, piracy, or inheritance--they +owed a fortune estimated at several millions. All the members of +the family spoke Italian, French, Spanish, English, and German, with +sufficient fluency to lead one to suppose that they had lived long among +those different peoples. Were they gypsies? were they buccaneers? + +"Suppose they're the devil himself," said divers young politicians, +"they entertain mighty well." + +"The Comte de Lanty may have plundered some _Casbah_ for all I care; I +would like to marry his daughter!" cried a philosopher. + +Who would not have married Marianina, a girl of sixteen, whose beauty +realized the fabulous conceptions of Oriental poets! Like the Sultan's +daughter in the tale of the _Wonderful Lamp_, she should have remained +always veiled. Her singing obscured the imperfect talents of the +Malibrans, the Sontags, and the Fodors, in whom some one dominant +quality always mars the perfection of the whole; whereas Marianina +combined in equal degree purity of tone, exquisite feeling, accuracy of +time and intonation, science, soul, and delicacy. She was the type of +that hidden poesy, the link which connects all the arts and which always +eludes those who seek it. Modest, sweet, well-informed, and clever, none +could eclipse Marianina unless it was her mother. + +Have you ever met one of those women whose startling beauty defies the +assaults of time, and who seem at thirty-six more desirable than they +could have been fifteen years earlier? Their faces are impassioned +souls; they fairly sparkle; each feature gleams with intelligence; +each possesses a brilliancy of its own, especially in the light. Their +captivating eyes attract or repel, speak or are silent; their gait is +artlessly seductive; their voices unfold the melodious treasures of the +most coquettishly sweet and tender tones. Praise of their beauty, based +upon comparisons, flatters the most sensitive self-esteem. A movement of +their eyebrows, the slightest play of the eye, the curling of the lip, +instils a sort of terror in those whose lives and happiness depend upon +their favor. A maiden inexperienced in love and easily moved by words +may allow herself to be seduced; but in dealing with women of this sort, +a man must be able, like M. de Jaucourt, to refrain from crying out +when, in hiding him in a closet, the lady's maid crushes two of his +fingers in the crack of a door. To love one of these omnipotent sirens +is to stake one's life, is it not? And that, perhaps, is why we love +them so passionately! Such was the Comtesse de Lanty. + +Filippo, Marianina's brother, inherited, as did his sister, the +Countess' marvelous beauty. To tell the whole story in a word, that +young man was a living image of Antinous, with somewhat slighter +proportions. But how well such a slender and delicate figure accords +with youth, when an olive complexion, heavy eyebrows, and the gleam of +a velvety eye promise virile passions, noble ideas for the future! If +Filippo remained in the hearts of young women as a type of manly beauty, +he likewise remained in the memory of all mothers as the best match in +France. + +The beauty, the great wealth, the intellectual qualities, of these +two children came entirely from their mother. The Comte de Lanty was a +short, thin, ugly little man, as dismal as a Spaniard, as great a bore +as a banker. He was looked upon, however, as a profound politician, +perhaps because he rarely laughed, and was always quoting M. de +Metternich or Wellington. + +This mysterious family had all the attractiveness of a poem by Lord +Byron, whose difficult passages were translated differently by each +person in fashionable society; a poem that grew more obscure and more +sublime from strophe to strophe. The reserve which Monsieur and Madame +de Lanty maintained concerning their origin, their past lives, and their +relations with the four quarters of the globe would not, of itself, have +been for long a subject of wonderment in Paris. In no other country, +perhaps, is Vespasian's maxim more thoroughly understood. Here gold +pieces, even when stained with blood or mud, betray nothing, and +represent everything. Provided that good society knows the amount of +your fortune, you are classed among those figures which equal yours, and +no one asks to see your credentials, because everybody knows how little +they cost. In a city where social problems are solved by algebraic +equations, adventurers have many chances in their favor. Even if this +family were of gypsy extraction, it was so wealthy, so attractive, that +fashionable society could well afford to overlook its little mysteries. +But, unfortunately, the enigmatical history of the Lanty family offered +a perpetual subject of curiosity, not unlike that aroused by the novels +of Anne Radcliffe. + +People of an observing turn, of the sort who are bent upon finding out +where you buy your candelabra, or who ask you what rent you pay when +they are pleased with your apartments, had noticed, from time to time, +the appearance of an extraordinary personage at the fetes, concerts, +balls, and routs given by the countess. It was a man. The first time +that he was seen in the house was at a concert, when he seemed to have +been drawn to the salon by Marianina's enchanting voice. + +"I have been cold for the last minute or two," said a lady near the door +to her neighbor. + +The stranger, who was standing near the speaker, moved away. + +"This is very strange! now I am warm," she said, after his departure. +"Perhaps you will call me mad, but I cannot help thinking that my +neighbor, the gentleman in black who just walked away, was the cause of +my feeling cold." + +Ere long the exaggeration to which people in society are naturally +inclined, produced a large and growing crop of the most amusing ideas, +the most curious expressions, the most absurd fables concerning this +mysterious individual. Without being precisely a vampire, a ghoul, a +fictitious man, a sort of Faust or Robin des Bois, he partook of the +nature of all these anthropomorphic conceptions, according to those +persons who were addicted to the fantastic. Occasionally some +German would take for realities these ingenious jests of Parisian +evil-speaking. The stranger was simply _an old man_. Some young men, who +were accustomed to decide the future of Europe every morning in a few +fashionable phrases, chose to see in the stranger some great criminal, +the possessor of enormous wealth. Novelists described the old man's life +and gave some really interesting details of the atrocities committed by +him while he was in the service of the Prince of Mysore. Bankers, men of +a more positive nature, devised a specious fable. + +"Bah!" they would say, shrugging their broad shoulders pityingly, "that +little old fellow's a _Genoese head_!" + +"If it is not an impertinent question, monsieur, would you have the +kindness to tell me what you mean by a Genoese head?" + +"I mean, monsieur, that he is a man upon whose life enormous sums +depend, and whose good health is undoubtedly essential to the +continuance of this family's income. I remember that I once heard a +mesmerist, at Madame d'Espard's, undertake to prove by very specious +historical deductions, that this old man, if put under the magnifying +glass, would turn out to be the famous Balsamo, otherwise called +Cagliostro. According to this modern alchemist, the Sicilian had escaped +death, and amused himself making gold for his grandchildren. And the +Bailli of Ferette declared that he recognized in this extraordinary +personage the Comte de Saint-Germain." + +Such nonsense as this, put forth with the assumption of superior +cleverness, with the air of raillery, which in our day characterize +a society devoid of faith, kept alive vague suspicions concerning the +Lanty family. At last, by a strange combination of circumstances, the +members of that family justified the conjectures of society by adopting +a decidedly mysterious course of conduct with this old man, whose life +was, in a certain sense, kept hidden from all investigations. + +If he crossed the threshold of the apartment he was supposed to occupy +in the Lanty mansion, his appearance always caused a great sensation in +the family. One would have supposed that it was an event of the greatest +importance. Only Filippo, Marianina, Madame de Lanty, and an old servant +enjoyed the privilege of assisting the unknown to walk, to rise, to sit +down. Each one of them kept a close watch on his slightest movements. It +seemed as if he were some enchanted person upon whom the happiness, the +life, or the fortune of all depended. Was it fear or affection? Society +could discover no indication which enabled them to solve this problem. +Concealed for months at a time in the depths of an unknown sanctuary, +this familiar spirit suddenly emerged, furtively as it were, +unexpectedly, and appeared in the salons like the fairies of old, who +alighted from their winged dragons to disturb festivities to which they +had not been invited. Only the most experienced observers could divine +the anxiety, at such times, of the masters of the house, who were +peculiarly skilful in concealing their feelings. But sometimes, while +dancing a quadrille, the too ingenuous Marianina would cast a terrified +glance at the old man, whom she watched closely from the circle of +dancers. Or perhaps Filippo would leave his place and glide through +the crowd to where he stood, and remain beside him, affectionate and +watchful, as if the touch of man, or the faintest breath, would shatter +that extraordinary creature. The countess would try to draw nearer to +him without apparently intending to join him; then, assuming a manner +and an expression in which servility and affection, submissiveness and +tyranny, were equally noticeable, she would say two or three words, to +which the old man almost always deferred; and he would disappear, led, +or I might better say carried away, by her. If Madame de Lanty were not +present, the Count would employ a thousand ruses to reach his side; but +it always seemed as if he found difficulty in inducing him to listen, +and he treated him like a spoiled child, whose mother gratifies his +whims and at the same time suspects mutiny. Some prying persons having +ventured to question the Comte de Lanty indiscreetly, that cold and +reserved individual seemed not to understand their questions. And so, +after many attempts, which the circumspection of all the members of the +family rendered fruitless, no one sought to discover a secret so well +guarded. Society spies, triflers, and politicians, weary of the strife, +ended by ceasing to concern themselves about the mystery. + +But at that moment, it may be, there were in those gorgeous salons +philosophers who said to themselves, as they discussed an ice or a +sherbet, or placed their empty punch glasses on a tray: + +"I should not be surprised to learn that these people are knaves. That +old fellow who keeps out of sight and appears only at the equinoxes or +solstices, looks to me exactly like an assassin." + +"Or a bankrupt." + +"There's very little difference. To destroy a man's fortune is worse +than to kill the man himself." + +"I bet twenty louis, monsieur; there are forty due me." + +"Faith, monsieur; there are only thirty left on the cloth." + +"Just see what a mixed company there is! One can't play cards in peace." + +"Very true. But it's almost six months since we saw the Spirit. Do you +think he's a living being?" + +"Well, barely." + +These last remarks were made in my neighborhood by persons whom I did +not know, and who passed out of hearing just as I was summarizing in one +last thought my reflections, in which black and white, life and death, +were inextricably mingled. My wandering imagination, like my eyes, +contemplated alternately the festivities, which had now reached the +climax of their splendor, and the gloomy picture presented by the +gardens. I have no idea how long I meditated upon those two faces of +the human medal; but I was suddenly aroused by the stifled laughter of +a young woman. I was stupefied at the picture presented to my eyes. +By virtue of one of the strangest of nature's freaks, the thought half +draped in black, which was tossing about in my brain, emerged from it +and stood before me personified, living; it had come forth like Minerva +from Jupiter's brain, tall and strong; it was at once a hundred years +old and twenty-two; it was alive and dead. Escaped from his chamber, +like a madman from his cell, the little old man had evidently crept +behind a long line of people who were listening attentively to +Marianina's voice as she finished the cavatina from _Tancred_. He seemed +to have come up through the floor, impelled by some stage mechanism. He +stood for a moment motionless and sombre, watching the festivities, a +murmur of which had perhaps reached his ears. His almost somnambulistic +preoccupation was so concentrated upon things that, although he was +in the midst of many people, he saw nobody. He had taken his place +unceremoniously beside one of the most fascinating women in Paris, a +young and graceful dancer, with slender figure, a face as fresh as a +child's, all pink and white, and so fragile, so transparent, that it +seemed that a man's glance must pass through her as the sun's rays pass +through flawless glass. They stood there before me, side by side, so +close together, that the stranger rubbed against the gauze dress, and +the wreaths of flowers, and the hair, slightly crimped, and the floating +ends of the sash. + +I had brought that young woman to Madame de Lanty's ball. As it was +her first visit to that house, I forgave her her stifled laugh; but I +hastily made an imperious sign which abashed her and inspired respect +for her neighbor. She sat down beside me. The old man did not choose +to leave the charming creature, to whom he clung capriciously with the +silent and apparently causeless obstinacy to which very old persons are +subject, and which makes them resemble children. In order to sit down +beside the young lady he needed a folding-chair. His slightest movements +were marked by the inert heaviness, the stupid hesitancy, which +characterize the movements of a paralytic. He sat slowly down upon +his chair with great caution, mumbling some unintelligible words. His +cracked voice resembled the noise made by a stone falling into a well. +The young woman nervously pressed my hand, as if she were trying to +avoid a precipice, and shivered when that man, at whom she happened to +be looking, turned upon her two lifeless, sea-green eyes, which could be +compared to nothing save tarnished mother-of-pearl. + +"I am afraid," she said, putting her lips to my ear. + +"You can speak," I replied; "he hears with great difficulty." + +"You know him, then?" + +"Yes." + +Thereupon she summoned courage to scrutinize for a moment that creature +for which no human language has a name, form without substance, a being +without life, or life without action. She was under the spell of that +timid curiosity which impels women to seek perilous excitement, to gaze +at chained tigers and boa-constrictors, shuddering all the while because +the barriers between them are so weak. Although the little old man's +back was bent like a day-laborer's, it was easy to see that he must +formerly have been of medium height. His excessive thinness, the +slenderness of his limbs, proved that he had always been of slight +build. He wore black silk breeches which hung about his fleshless thighs +in folds, like a lowered veil. An anatomist would instinctively have +recognized the symptoms of consumption in its advanced stages, at sight +of the tiny legs which served to support that strange frame. You would +have said that they were a pair of cross-bones on a gravestone. A +feeling of profound horror seized the heart when a close scrutiny +revealed the marks made by decrepitude upon that frail machine. + +He wore a white waistcoat embroidered with gold, in the old style, and +his linen was of dazzling whiteness. A shirt-frill of English lace, +yellow with age, the magnificence of which a queen might have envied, +formed a series of yellow ruffles on his breast; but upon him the lace +seemed rather a worthless rag than an ornament. In the centre of +the frill a diamond of inestimable value gleamed like a sun. That +superannuated splendor, that display of treasure, of great intrinsic +worth, but utterly without taste, served to bring out in still bolder +relief the strange creature's face. The frame was worthy of the +portrait. That dark face was full of angles and furrowed deep in every +direction; the chin was furrowed; there were great hollows at the +temples; the eyes were sunken in yellow orbits. The maxillary bones, +which his indescribable gauntness caused to protrude, formed deep +cavities in the centre of both cheeks. These protuberances, as the +light fell upon them, caused curious effects of light and shadow which +deprived that face of its last vestige of resemblance to the human +countenance. And then, too, the lapse of years had drawn the fine, +yellow skin so close to the bones that it described a multitude of +wrinkles everywhere, either circular like the ripples in the water +caused by a stone which a child throws in, or star-shaped like a pane of +glass cracked by a blow; but everywhere very deep, and as close together +as the leaves of a closed book. We often see more hideous old men; but +what contributed more than aught else to give to the spectre that rose +before us the aspect of an artificial creation was the red and white +paint with which he glistened. The eyebrows shone in the light with a +lustre which disclosed a very well executed bit of painting. Luckily +for the eye, saddened by such a mass of ruins, his corpse-like skull was +concealed beneath a light wig, with innumerable curls which +indicated extraordinary pretensions to elegance. Indeed, the feminine +coquettishness of this fantastic apparition was emphatically asserted +by the gold ear-rings which hung at his ears, by the rings containing +stones of marvelous beauty which sparkled on his fingers, like the +brilliants in a river of gems around a woman's neck. Lastly, this +species of Japanese idol had constantly upon his blue lips, a fixed, +unchanging smile, the shadow of an implacable and sneering laugh, like +that of a death's head. As silent and motionless as a statue, he exhaled +the musk-like odor of the old dresses which a duchess' heirs exhume from +her wardrobe during the inventory. If the old man turned his eyes toward +the company, it seemed that the movements of those globes, no +longer capable of reflecting a gleam, were accomplished by an almost +imperceptible effort; and, when the eyes stopped, he who was watching +them was not certain finally that they had moved at all. As I saw, +beside that human ruin, a young woman whose bare neck and arms and +breast were white as snow; whose figure was well-rounded and beautiful +in its youthful grace; whose hair, charmingly arranged above an +alabaster forehead, inspired love; whose eyes did not receive but gave +forth light, who was sweet and fresh, and whose fluffy curls, whose +fragrant breath, seemed too heavy, too harsh, too overpowering for that +shadow, for that man of dust--ah! the thought that came into my mind +was of death and life, an imaginary arabesque, a half-hideous chimera, +divinely feminine from the waist up. + +"And yet such marriages are often made in society!" I said to myself. + +"He smells of the cemetery!" cried the terrified young woman, grasping +my arm as if to make sure of my protection, and moving about in a +restless, excited way, which convinced me that she was very much +frightened. "It's a horrible vision," she continued; "I cannot stay here +any longer. If I look at him again I shall believe that Death himself +has come in search of me. But is he alive?" + +She placed her hand on the phenomenon, with the boldness which women +derive from the violence of their wishes, but a cold sweat burst from +her pores, for, the instant she touched the old man, she heard a cry +like the noise made by a rattle. That shrill voice, if indeed it were +a voice, escaped from a throat almost entirely dry. It was at once +succeeded by a convulsive little cough like a child's, of a peculiar +resonance. At that sound, Marianina, Filippo, and Madame de Lanty looked +toward us, and their glances were like lightning flashes. The young +woman wished that she were at the bottom of the Seine. She took my arm +and pulled me away toward a boudoir. Everybody, men and women, made +room for us to pass. Having reached the further end of the suite of +reception-rooms, we entered a small semi-circular cabinet. My companion +threw herself on a divan, breathing fast with terror, not knowing where +she was. + +"You are mad, madame," I said to her. + +"But," she rejoined, after a moment's silence, during which I gazed +at her in admiration, "is it my fault? Why does Madame de Lanty allow +ghosts to wander round her house?" + +"Nonsense," I replied; "you are doing just what fools do. You mistake a +little old man for a spectre." + +"Hush," she retorted, with the imposing, yet mocking, air which all +women are so well able to assume when they are determined to put +themselves in the right. "Oh! what a sweet boudoir!" she cried, looking +about her. "Blue satin hangings always produce an admirable effect. How +cool it is! Ah! the lovely picture!" she added, rising and standing in +front of a magnificently framed painting. + +We stood for a moment gazing at that marvel of art, which seemed +the work of some supernatural brush. The picture represented Adonis +stretched out on a lion's skin. The lamp, in an alabaster vase, hanging +in the centre of the boudoir, cast upon the canvas a soft light which +enabled us to grasp all the beauties of the picture. + +"Does such a perfect creature exist?" she asked me, after examining +attentively, and not without a sweet smile of satisfaction, the +exquisite grace of the outlines, the attitude, the color, the hair, in +fact everything. + +"He is too beautiful for a man," she added, after such a scrutiny as she +would have bestowed upon a rival. + +Ah! how sharply I felt at that moment those pangs of jealousy in which +a poet had tried in vain to make me believe! the jealousy of engravings, +of pictures, of statues, wherein artists exaggerate human beauty, as a +result of the doctrine which leads them to idealize everything. + +"It is a portrait," I replied. "It is a product of Vien's genius. But +that great painter never saw the original, and your admiration will be +modified somewhat perhaps, when I tell you that this study was made from +a statue of a woman." + +"But who is it?" + +I hesitated. + +"I insist upon knowing," she added earnestly. + +"I believe," I said, "that this _Adonis_ represents a--a relative of +Madame de Lanty." + +I had the chagrin of seeing that she was lost in contemplation of that +figure. She sat down in silence, and I seated myself beside her and +took her hand without her noticing it. Forgotten for a portrait! At that +moment we heard in the silence a woman's footstep and the faint rustling +of a dress. We saw the youthful Marianina enter the boudoir, even +more resplendent by reason of her grace and her fresh costume; she +was walking slowly and leading with motherly care, with a daughter's +solicitude, the spectre in human attire, who had driven us from the +music-room; as she led him, she watched with some anxiety the slow +movement of his feeble feet. They walked painfully across the boudoir +to a door hidden in the hangings. Marianina knocked softly. Instantly +a tall, thin man, a sort of familiar spirit, appeared as if by magic. +Before entrusting the old man to this mysterious guardian, the lovely +child, with deep veneration, kissed the ambulatory corpse, and her +chaste caress was not without a touch of that graceful playfulness, the +secret of which only a few privileged women possess. + +"_Addio, addio!_" she said, with the sweetest inflection of her young +voice. + +She added to the last syllable a wonderfully executed trill, in a very +low tone, as if to depict the overflowing affection of her heart by +a poetic expression. The old man, suddenly arrested by some memory, +remained on the threshold of that secret retreat. In the profound +silence we heard the sigh that came forth form his breast; he removed +the most beautiful of the rings with which his skeleton fingers were +laden, and placed it in Marianina's bosom. The young madcap laughed, +plucked out the ring, slipped it on one of her fingers over her glove, +and ran hastily back toward the salon, where the orchestra were, at that +moment, beginning the prelude of a contra-dance. + +She spied us. + +"Ah! were you here?" she said, blushing. + +After a searching glance at us as if to question us, she ran away to her +partner with the careless petulance of her years. + +"What does this mean?" queried my young partner. "Is he her husband? I +believe I am dreaming. Where am I?" + +"You!" I retorted, "you, madame, who are easily excited, and who, +understanding so well the most imperceptible emotions, are able to +cultivate in a man's heart the most delicate of sentiments, without +crushing it, without shattering it at the very outset, you who have +compassion for the tortures of the heart, and who, with the wit of the +Parisian, combine a passionate temperament worthy of Spain or Italy----" + +She realized that my words were heavily charged with bitter irony; and, +thereupon, without seeming to notice it, she interrupted me to say: + +"Oh! you describe me to suit your own taste. A strange kind of tyranny! +You wish me not to be _myself_!" + +"Oh! I wish nothing," I cried, alarmed by the severity of her manner. +"At all events, it is true, is it not, that you like to hear stories of +the fierce passions, kindled in our heart by the enchanting women of the +South?" + +"Yes. And then?" + +"Why, I will come to your house about nine o'clock to-morrow evening, +and elucidate this mystery for you." + +"No," she replied, with a pout; "I wish it done now." + +"You have not yet given me the right to obey you when you say, 'I wish +it.'" + +"At this moment," she said, with an exhibition of coquetry of the sort +that drives men to despair, "I have a most violent desire to know this +secret. To-morrow it may be that I will not listen to you." + +She smiled and we parted, she still as proud and as cruel, I as +ridiculous, as ever. She had the audacity to waltz with a young +aide-de-camp, and I was by turns angry, sulky, admiring, loving, and +jealous. + +"Until to-morrow," she said to me, as she left the ball about two +o'clock in the morning. + +"I won't go," I thought. "I give up. You are a thousand times more +capricious, more fanciful, than--my imagination." + +The next evening we were seated in front of a bright fire in a dainty +little salon, she on a couch, I on cushions almost at her feet, looking +up into her face. The street was silent. The lamp shed a soft light. It +was one of those evenings which delight the soul, one of those moments +which are never forgotten, one of those hours passed in peace and +longing, whose charm is always in later years a source of regret, even +when we are happier. What can efface the deep imprint of the first +solicitations of love? + +"Go on," she said. "I am listening." + +"But I dare not begin. There are passages in the story which are +dangerous to the narrator. If I become excited, you will make me hold my +peace." + +"Speak." + +"I obey. + +"Ernest-Jean Sarrasine was the only son of a prosecuting attorney of +Franche-Comte," I began after a pause. "His father had, by faithful +work, amassed a fortune which yielded an income of six to eight thousand +francs, then considered a colossal fortune for an attorney in the +provinces. Old Maitre Sarrasine, having but one child, determined to +give him a thorough education; he hoped to make a magistrate of him, +and to live long enough to see, in his old age, the grandson of Mathieu +Sarrasine, a ploughman in the Saint-Die country, seated on the lilies, +and dozing through the sessions for the greater glory of the Parliament; +but Heaven had not that joy in store for the attorney. Young Sarrasine, +entrusted to the care of the Jesuits at an early age, gave indications +of an extraordinarily unruly disposition. His was the childhood of a man +of talent. He would not study except as his inclination led him, often +rebelled, and sometimes remained for whole hours at a time buried in +tangled meditations, engaged now in watching his comrades at play, now +in forming mental pictures of Homer's heroes. And, when he did choose to +amuse himself, he displayed extraordinary ardor in his games. Whenever +there was a contest of any sort between a comrade and himself, it rarely +ended without bloodshed. If he were the weaker, he would use his +teeth. Active and passive by turns, either lacking in aptitude, or too +intelligent, his abnormal temperament caused him to distrust his masters +as much as his schoolmates. Instead of learning the elements of the +Greek language, he drew a picture of the reverend father who was +interpreting a passage of Thucydides, sketched the teacher of +mathematics, the prefect, the assistants, the man who administered +punishment, and smeared all the walls with shapeless figures. Instead of +singing the praises of the Lord in the chapel, he amused himself, during +the services, by notching a bench; or, when he had stolen a piece of +wood, he would carve the figure of some saint. If he had no wood or +stone or pencil, he worked out his ideas with bread. Whether he copied +the figures in the pictures which adorned the choir, or improvised, he +always left at this seat rough sketches, whose obscene character drove +the young fathers to despair; and the evil-tongued alleged that +the Jesuits smiled at them. At last, if we are to believe college +traditions, he was expelled because, while awaiting his turn to go to +the confessional one Good Friday, he carved a figure of the Christ from +a stick of wood. The impiety evidenced by that figure was too flagrant +not to draw down chastisement on the artist. He had actually had the +hardihood to place that decidedly cynical image on the top of the +tabernacle! + +"Sarrasine came to Paris to seek a refuge against the threats of a +father's malediction. Having one of those strong wills which know no +obstacles, he obeyed the behests of his genius and entered Bouchardon's +studio. He worked all day and went about at night begging for +subsistence. Bouchardon, marveling at the young artist's intelligence +and rapid progress, soon divined his pupil's destitute condition; he +assisted him, became attached to him, and treated him like his own +child. Then, when Sarrasine's genius stood revealed in one of those +works wherein future talent contends with the effervescence of youth, +the generous Bouchardon tried to restore him to the old attorney's good +graces. The paternal wrath subsided in face of the famous sculptor's +authority. All Besancon congratulated itself on having brought forth a +future great man. In the first outburst of delight due to his flattered +vanity, the miserly attorney supplied his son with the means to appear +to advantage in society. The long and laborious study demanded by the +sculptor's profession subdued for a long time Sarrasine's impetuous +temperament and unruly genius. Bouchardon, foreseeing how violently the +passions would some day rage in that youthful heart, as highly tempered +perhaps as Michelangelo's, smothered its vehemence with constant +toil. He succeeded in restraining within reasonable bounds Sarrasine's +extraordinary impetuosity, by forbidding him to work, by proposing +diversions when he saw that he was on the point of plunging into +dissipation. But with that passionate nature, gentleness was always +the most powerful of all weapons, and the master did not acquire great +influence over his pupil until he had aroused his gratitude by fatherly +kindness. + +"At the age of twenty-two Sarrasine was forcibly removed from the +salutary influence which Bouchardon exercised over his morals and his +habits. He paid the penalty of his genius by winning the prize for +sculpture founded by the Marquis de Marigny, Madame de Pompadour's +brother, who did so much for art. Diderot praised Bouchardon's pupil's +statue as a masterpiece. Not without profound sorrow did the king's +sculptor witness the departure for Italy of a young man whose profound +ignorance of the things of life he had, as a matter of principle, +refrained from enlightening. Sarrasine was Bouchardon's guest for six +years. Fanatically devoted to his art, as Canova was at a later day, he +rose at dawn and went to the studio, there to remain until night, and +lived with his muse alone. If he went to the Comedie-Francaise, he was +dragged thither by his master. He was so bored at Madame Geoffrin's, and +in the fashionable society to which Bouchardon tried to introduce him, +that he preferred to remain alone, and held aloof from the pleasures +of that licentious age. He had no other mistresses than sculpture and +Clotilde, one of the celebrities of the Opera. Even that intrigue was of +brief duration. Sarrasine was decidedly ugly, always badly dressed, and +naturally so independent, so irregular in his private life, that the +illustrious nymph, dreading some catastrophe, soon remitted the sculptor +to love of the arts. Sophie Arnould made some witty remark on the +subject. She was surprised, I think, that her colleague was able to +triumph over statues. + +"Sarrasine started for Italy in 1758. On the journey his ardent +imagination took fire beneath a sky of copper and at the sight of the +marvelous monuments with which the fatherland of the arts is strewn. +He admired the statues, the frescoes, the pictures; and, fired with a +spirit of emulation, he went on to Rome, burning to inscribe his name +between the names of Michelangelo and Bouchardon. At first, therefore, +he divided his time between his studio work and examination of the works +of art which abound in Rome. He had already passed a fortnight in the +ecstatic state into which all youthful imaginations fall at the sight of +the queen of ruins, when he happened one evening to enter the Argentina +theatre, in front of which there was an enormous crowd. He inquired the +reasons for the presence of so great a throng, and every one answered by +two names: + +"'Zambinella! Jomelli!' + +"He entered and took a seat in the pit, crowded between two +unconscionably stout _abbati_; but luckily he was quite near the stage. +The curtain rose. For the first time in his life he heard the music +whose charms Monsieur Jean-Jacques Rousseau had extolled so eloquently +at one of Baron d'Holbach's evening parties. The young sculptor's senses +were lubricated, so to speak, by Jomelli's harmonious strains. The +languorous peculiarities of those skilfully blended Italian voices +plunged him in an ecstasy of delight. He sat there, mute and motionless, +not even conscious of the crowding of the two priests. His soul poured +out through his ears and his eyes. He seemed to be listening with +every one of his pores. Suddenly a whirlwind of applause greeted the +appearance of the prima donna. She came forward coquettishly to the +footlights and curtsied to the audience with infinite grace. The +brilliant light, the enthusiasm of a vast multitude, the illusion of the +stage, the glamour of a costume which was most attractive for the +time, all conspired in that woman's favor. Sarrasine cried aloud with +pleasure. He saw before him at that moment the ideal beauty whose +perfections he had hitherto sought here and there in nature, taking from +one model, often of humble rank, the rounded outline of a shapely +leg, from another the contour of the breast; from another her white +shoulders; stealing the neck of that young girl, the hands of this +woman, and the polished knees of yonder child, but never able to find +beneath the cold skies of Paris the rich and satisfying creations of +ancient Greece. La Zambinella displayed in her single person, intensely +alive and delicate beyond words, all those exquisite proportions of the +female form which he had so ardently longed to behold, and of which a +sculptor is the most severe and at the same time the most passionate +judge. She had an expressive mouth, eyes instinct with love, flesh of +dazzling whiteness. And add to these details, which would have filled +a painter's soul with rapture, all the marvelous charms of the Venuses +worshiped and copied by the chisel of the Greeks. The artist did not +tire of admiring the inimitable grace with which the arms were attached +to the body, the wonderful roundness of the throat, the graceful curves +described by the eyebrows and the nose, and the perfect oval of the +face, the purity of its clean-cut lines, and the effect of the thick, +drooping lashes which bordered the large and voluptuous eyelids. She was +more than a woman; she was a masterpiece! In that unhoped-for creation +there was love enough to enrapture all mankind, and beauties calculated +to satisfy the most exacting critic. + +"Sarrasine devoured with his eyes what seemed to him Pygmalion's statue +descended from its pedestal. When La Zambinella sang, he was beside +himself. He was cold; then suddenly he felt a fire burning in the secret +depths of his being, in what, for lack of a better word, we call the +heart. He did not applaud, he said nothing; he felt a mad impulse, a +sort of frenzy of the sort that seizes us only at the age when there is +a something indefinably terrible and infernal in our desires. Sarrasine +longed to rush upon the stage and seize that woman. His strength, +increased a hundredfold by a moral depression impossible to +describe,--for such phenomena take place in a sphere inaccessible to +human observation,--insisted upon manifesting itself with deplorable +violence. Looking at him, you would have said that he was a cold, dull +man. Renown, science, future, life, prizes, all vanished. + +"'To win her love or die!' Such was the sentence Sarrasine pronounced +upon himself. + +"He was so completely intoxicated that he no longer saw theatre, +audience, or actors, no longer heard the music. Nay, more, there was no +space between him and La Zambinella; he possessed her; his eyes, fixed +steadfastly upon her, took possession of her. An almost diabolical power +enabled him to feel the breath of that voice, to inhale the fragrant +powder with which her hair was covered, to see the slightest +inequalities of her face, to count the blue veins which threaded their +way beneath the satiny skin. And that fresh, brisk voice of silvery +_timbre_, flexible as a thread to which the faintest breath of air gives +form, which it rolls and unrolls, tangles and blows away, that voice +attacked his heart so fiercely that he more than once uttered an +involuntary exclamation, extorted by the convulsive ecstasy too rarely +evoked by human passions. He was soon obliged to leave the theatre. His +trembling legs almost refused to bear him. He was prostrated, weak, like +a nervous man who has given way to a terrible burst of anger. He had had +such exquisite pleasure, or perhaps had suffered so, that his life had +flowed away like water from an overturned vessel. He felt a void +within him, a sense of goneness like the utter lack of strength which +discourages a convalescent just recovering from a serious sickness. +Overwhelmed by inexplicable melancholy, he sat down on the steps of a +church. There, with his back resting against a pillar, he lost himself +in a fit of meditation as confused as a dream. Passion had dealt him a +crushing blow. On his return to his apartments he was seized by one +of those paroxysms of activity which reveal to us the presence of new +principles in our existence. A prey to that first fever of love which +resembles pain as much as pleasure, he sought to defeat his impatience +and his frenzy by sketching La Zambinella from memory. It was a sort of +material meditation. Upon one leaf La Zambinella appeared in that pose, +apparently calm and cold, affected by Raphael, Georgione, and all +the great painters. On another, she was coyly turning her head as she +finished a roulade, and seemed to be listening to herself. Sarrasine +drew his mistress in all poses: he drew her unveiled, seated, standing, +reclining, chaste, and amorous--interpreting, thanks to the delirious +activity of his pencil, all the fanciful ideas which beset our +imagination when our thoughts are completely engrossed by a mistress. +But his frantic thoughts outran his pencil. He met La Zambinella, spoke +to her, entreated her, exhausted a thousand years of life and happiness +with her, placing her in all imaginable situations, trying the future +with her, so to speak. The next day he sent his servant to hire a +box near the stage for the whole season. Then, like all young men of +powerful feelings, he exaggerated the difficulties of his undertaking, +and gave his passion, for its first pasturage, the joy of being able +to admire his mistress without obstacle. The golden age of love, during +which we enjoy our own sentiments, and in which we are almost as happy +by ourselves, was not likely to last long with Sarrasine. However, +events surprised him when he was still under the spell of that +springtime hallucination, as naive as it was voluptuous. In a week he +lived a whole lifetime, occupied through the day in molding the clay +with which he succeeded in copying La Zambinella, notwithstanding the +veils, the skirts, the waists, and the bows of ribbon which concealed +her from him. In the evening, installed at an early hour in his box, +alone, reclining on a sofa, he made for himself, like a Turk drunk with +opium, a happiness as fruitful, as lavish, as he wished. First of all, +he familiarized himself gradually with the too intense emotions which +his mistress' singing caused him; then he taught his eyes to look at +her, and was finally able to contemplate her at his leisure without +fearing an explosion of concealed frenzy, like that which had seized +him the first day. His passion became more profound as it became more +tranquil. But the unsociable sculptor would not allow his solitude, +peopled as it was with images, adorned with the fanciful creations of +hope, and full of happiness, to be disturbed by his comrades. His love +was so intense and so ingenuous, that he had to undergo the innocent +scruples with which we are assailed when we love for the first time. As +he began to realize that he would soon be required to bestir himself, to +intrigue, to ask where La Zambinella lived, to ascertain whether she had +a mother, an uncle, a guardian, a family,--in a word, as he reflected +upon the methods of seeing her, of speaking to her, he felt that his +heart was so swollen with such ambitious ideas, that he postponed those +cares until the following day, as happy in his physical sufferings as in +his intellectual pleasures." + +"But," said Madame de Rochefide, interrupting me, "I see nothing of +Marianina or her little old man in all this." + +"You see nothing but him!" I cried, as vexed as an author for whom some +one has spoiled the effect of a _coup de theatre_. + +"For some days," I resumed after a pause, "Sarrasine had been so +faithful in attendance in his box, and his glances expressed such +passionate love, that his passion for La Zambinella's voice would have +been the town-talk of Paris, if the episode had happened here; but in +Italy, madame, every one goes to the theatre for his own enjoyment, +with all his own passions, with a heartfelt interest which precludes all +thought of espionage with opera-glasses. However, the sculptor's frantic +admiration could not long escape the notice of the performers, male and +female. One evening the Frenchman noticed that they were laughing at +him in the wings. It is hard to say what violent measures he might +have resorted to, had not La Zambinella come on the stage. She cast at +Sarrasine one of those eloquent glances which often say more than women +intend. That glance was a complete revelation in itself. Sarrasine was +beloved! + +"'If it is a mere caprice,' he thought, already accusing his mistress of +too great ardor, 'she does not know the sort of domination to which she +is about to become subject. Her caprice will last, I trust, as long as +my life.' + +"At that moment, three light taps on the door of his box attracted the +artist's attention. He opened the door. An old woman entered with an air +of mystery. + +"'Young man,' she said, 'if you wish to be happy, be prudent. Wrap +yourself in a cloak, pull a broad-brimmed hat over your eyes, and be +on the Rue du Corso, in front of the Hotel d'Espagne, about ten o'clock +to-night.' + +"'I will be there,' he replied, putting two louis in the duenna's +wrinkled hand. + +"He rushed from his box, after a sign of intelligence to La Zambinella, +who lowered her voluptuous eyelids modestly, like a woman overjoyed to +be understood at last. Then he hurried home, in order to borrow from +his wardrobe all the charms it could loan him. As he left the theatre, a +stranger grasped his arm. + +"'Beware, Signor Frenchman,' he said in his ear. 'This is a matter +of life and death. Cardinal Cicognara is her protector, and he is no +trifler.' + +"If a demon had placed the deep pit of hell between Sarrasine and La +Zambinella, he would have crossed it with one stride at that moment. +Like the horses of the immortal gods described by Homer, the sculptor's +love had traversed vast spaces in a twinkling. + +"'If death awaited me on leaving the house, I would go the more +quickly,' he replied. + +"'_Poverino!_' cried the stranger, as he disappeared. + +"To talk of danger to a man in love is to sell him pleasure. Sarrasine's +valet had never seen his master so painstaking in the matter of dress. +His finest sword, a gift from Bouchardon, the bow-knot Clotilde gave +him, his coat with gold braid, his waistcoat of cloth of silver, his +gold snuff-box, his valuable watch, everything was taken from its place, +and he arrayed himself like a maiden about to appear before her first +lover. At the appointed hour, drunk with love and boiling over with +hope, Sarrasine, his nose buried in his cloak, hurried to the rendezvous +appointed by the old woman. She was waiting. + +"'You are very late,' she said. 'Come.' + +"She led the Frenchman through several narrow streets and stopped +in front of a palace of attractive appearance. She knocked; the door +opened. She led Sarrasine through a labyrinth of stairways, galleries, +and apartments which were lighted only by uncertain gleams of moonlight, +and soon reached a door through the cracks of which stole a bright +light, and from which came the joyous sound of several voices. Sarrasine +was suddenly blinded when, at a word from the old woman, he was admitted +to that mysterious apartment and found himself in a salon as brilliantly +lighted as it was sumptuously furnished; in the centre stood a +bountifully supplied table, laden with inviolable bottles, with laughing +decanters whose red facets sparkled merrily. He recognized the singers +from the theatre, male and female, mingled with charming women, all +ready to begin an artists' spree and waiting only for him. Sarrasine +restrained a feeling of displeasure and put a good face on the matter. +He had hoped for a dimly lighted chamber, his mistress leaning over a +brazier, a jealous rival within two steps, death and love, confidences +exchanged in low tones, heart to heart, hazardous kisses, and faces so +near together that La Zambinella's hair would have touched caressingly +his desire-laden brow, burning with happiness. + +"'_Vive la folie!_' he cried. '_Signori e belle donne_, you will allow +me to postpone my revenge and bear witness to my gratitude for the +welcome you offer a poor sculptor.' + +"After receiving congratulations not lacking in warmth from most of +those present, whom he knew by sight, he tried to approach the couch on +which La Zambinella was nonchalantly reclining. Ah! how his heart beat +when he spied a tiny foot in one of those slippers which--if you will +allow me to say so, madame--formerly imparted to a woman's feet such a +coquettish, voluptuous look that I cannot conceive how men could resist +them. Tightly fitting white stockings with green clocks, short skirts, +and the pointed, high-heeled slippers of Louis XV.'s time contributed +somewhat, I fancy, to the demoralization of Europe and the clergy." + +"Somewhat!" exclaimed the marchioness. "Have you read nothing, pray?" + +"La Zambinella," I continued, smiling, "had boldly crossed her legs, +and as she prattled swung the upper one, a duchess' attitude very well +suited to her capricious type of beauty, overflowing with a certain +attractive suppleness. She had laid aside her stage costume, and wore a +waist which outlined a slender figure, displayed to the best advantage +by a _panier_ and a satin dress embroidered with blue flowers. Her +breast, whose treasures were concealed by a coquettish arrangement of +lace, was of a gleaming white. Her hair was dressed almost like Madame +du Barry's; her face, although overshadowed by a large cap, seemed only +the daintier therefor, and the powder was very becoming to her. She +smiled graciously at the sculptor. Sarrasine, disgusted beyond measure +at finding himself unable to speak to her without witnesses, courteously +seated himself beside her, and discoursed of music, extolling her +prodigious talent; but his voice trembled with love and fear and hope. + +"'What do you fear?' queried Vitagliani, the most celebrated singer in +the troupe. 'Go on, you have no rival here to fear.' + +"After he had said this the tenor smiled silently. The lips of all the +guests repeated that smile, in which there was a lurking expression of +malice likely to escape a lover. The publicity of his love was like +a sudden dagger-thrust in Sarrasine's heart. Although possessed of a +certain strength of character, and although nothing that might happen +could subdue the violence of his passion, it had not before occurred +to him that La Zambinella was almost a courtesan, and that he could not +hope to enjoy at one and the same time the pure delights which would +make a maiden's love so sweet, and the passionate transports with which +one must purchase the perilous favors of an actress. He reflected and +resigned himself to his fate. The supper was served. Sarrasine and La +Zambinella seated themselves side by side without ceremony. During the +first half of the feast the artists exercised some restraint, and the +sculptor was able to converse with the singer. He found that she was +very bright and quick-witted; but she was amazingly ignorant and seemed +weak and superstitious. The delicacy of her organs was reproduced in +her understanding. When Vitagliani opened the first bottle of champagne, +Sarrasine read in his neighbor's eyes a shrinking dread of the report +caused by the release of the gas. The involuntary shudder of that +thoroughly feminine temperament was interpreted by the amorous artist +as indicating extreme delicacy of feeling. This weakness delighted the +Frenchman. There is so much of the element of protection in a man's +love! + +"'You may make use of my power as a shield!' + +"Is not that sentence written at the root of all declarations of love? +Sarrasine, who was too passionately in love to make fine speeches to the +fair Italian, was, like all lovers, grave, jovial, meditative, by turns. +Although he seemed to listen to the guests, he did not hear a word that +they said, he was so wrapped up in the pleasure of sitting by her side, +of touching her hand, of waiting on her. He was swimming in a sea of +concealed joy. Despite the eloquence of divers glances they exchanged, +he was amazed at La Zambinella's continued reserve toward him. She had +begun, it is true, by touching his foot with hers and stimulating his +passion with the mischievous pleasure of a woman who is free and in +love; but she had suddenly enveloped herself in maidenly modesty, after +she had heard Sarrasine relate an incident which illustrated the extreme +violence of his temper. When the supper became a debauch, the guests +began to sing, inspired by the Peralta and the Pedro-Ximenes. There +were fascinating duets, Calabrian ballads, Spanish _sequidillas_, and +Neapolitan _canzonettes_. Drunkenness was in all eyes, in the music, +in the hearts and voices of the guests. There was a sudden overflow of +bewitching vivacity, of cordial unconstraint, of Italian good nature, +of which no words can convey an idea to those who know only the evening +parties of Paris, the routs of London, or the clubs of Vienna. Jests +and words of love flew from side to side like bullets in a battle, amid +laughter, impieties, invocations to the Blessed Virgin or the _Bambino_. +One man lay on a sofa and fell asleep. A young woman listened to +a declaration, unconscious that she was spilling Xeres wine on +the tablecloth. Amid all this confusion La Zambinella, as if +terror-stricken, seemed lost in thought. She refused to drink, but ate +perhaps a little too much; but gluttony is attractive in women, it is +said. Sarrasine, admiring his mistress' modesty, indulged in serious +reflections concerning the future. + +"'She desires to be married, I presume,' he said to himself. + +"Thereupon he abandoned himself to blissful anticipations of marriage +with her. It seemed to him that his whole life would be too short to +exhaust the living spring of happiness which he found in the depths of +his heart. Vitagliani, who sat on his other side, filled his glass so +often that, about three in the morning, Sarrasine, while not absolutely +drunk, was powerless to resist his delirious passion. In a moment of +frenzy he seized the woman and carried her to a sort of boudoir which +opened from the salon, and toward which he had more than once turned his +eyes. The Italian was armed with a dagger. + +"'If you come hear me,' she said, 'I shall be compelled to plunge this +blade into your heart. Go! you would despise me. I have conceived too +great a respect for your character to abandon myself to you thus. I do +not choose to destroy the sentiment with which you honor me.' + +"'Ah!' said Sarrasine, 'to stimulate a passion is a poor way to +extinguish it! Are you already so corrupt that, being old in heart, +you act like a young prostitute who inflames the emotions in which she +trades?' + +"'Why, this is Friday,' she replied, alarmed by the Frenchman's +violence. + +"Sarrasine, who was not piously inclined, began to laugh. La Zambinella +gave a bound like a young deer, and darted into the salon. When +Sarrasine appeared, running after her, he was welcomed by a roar of +infernal laughter. He saw La Zambinella swooning on a sofa. She was very +pale, as if exhausted by the extraordinary effort she had made. Although +Sarrasine knew but little Italian, he understood his mistress when she +said to Vitagliani in a low voice: + +"'But he will kill me!' + +"This strange scene abashed the sculptor. His reason returned. He stood +still for a moment; then he recovered his speech, sat down beside his +mistress, and assured her of his profound respect. He found strength +to hold his passion in check while talking to her in the most exalted +strain; and, to describe his love, he displayed all the treasures of +eloquence--that sorcerer, that friendly interpreter, whom women rarely +refuse to believe. When the first rays of dawn surprised the boon +companions, some woman suggested that they go to Frascati. One and +all welcomed with loud applause the idea of passing the day at Villa +Ludovisi. Vitagliani went down to hire carriages. Sarrasine had the good +fortune to drive La Zambinella in a phaeton. When they had left Rome +behind, the merriment of the party, repressed for a moment by the battle +they had all been fighting against drowsiness, suddenly awoke. All, men +and women alike, seemed accustomed to that strange life, that constant +round of pleasures, that artistic energy, which makes of life one never +ending _fete_, where laughter reigns, unchecked by fear of the future. +The sculptor's companion was the only one who seemed out of spirits. + +"'Are you ill?' Sarrasine asked her. 'Would you prefer to go home?' + +"'I am not strong enough to stand all this dissipation,' she replied. 'I +have to be very careful; but I feel so happy with you! Except for you, +I should not have remained to this supper; a night like this takes away +all my freshness.' + +"'You are so delicate!' rejoined Sarrasine, gazing in rapture at the +charming creature's dainty features. + +"'Dissipation ruins my voice.' + +"'Now that we are alone,' cried the artist, 'and that you no longer have +reason to fear the effervescence of my passion, tell me that you love +me.' + +"'Why?' said she; 'for what good purpose? You think me pretty. But you +are a Frenchman, and your fancy will pass away. Ah! you would not love +me as I should like to be loved.' + +"'How?' + +"'Purely, with no mingling of vulgar passion. I abhor men even more, +perhaps than I hate women. I need to take refuge in friendship. The +world is a desert to me. I am an accursed creature, doomed to understand +happiness, to feel it, to desire it, and like many, many others, +compelled to see it always fly from me. Remember, signor, that I have +not deceived you. I forbid you to love me. I can be a devoted friend +to you, for I admire your strength of will and your character. I need a +brother, a protector. Be both of these to me, but nothing more.' + +"'And not love you!' cried Sarrasine; 'but you are my life, my +happiness, dear angel!' + +"'If I should say a word, you would spurn me with horror.' + +"'Coquette! nothing can frighten me. Tell me that you will cost me my +whole future, that I shall die two months hence, that I shall be damned +for having kissed you but once----' + +"And he kissed her, despite La Zambinella's efforts to avoid that +passionate caress. + +"'Tell me that you are a demon, that I must give you my fortune, my +name, all my renown! Would you have me cease to be a sculptor? Speak.' + +"'Suppose I were not a woman?' queried La Zambinella, timidly, in a +sweet, silvery voice. + +"'A merry jest!' cried Sarrasine. 'Think you that you can deceive +an artist's eye? Have I not, for ten days past, admired, examined, +devoured, thy perfections? None but a woman can have this soft +and beautifully rounded arm, these graceful outlines. Ah! you seek +compliments!' + +"She smiled sadly, and murmured: + +"'Fatal beauty!' + +"She raised her eyes to the sky. At that moment, there was in her eyes +an indefinable expression of horror, so startling, so intense, that +Sarrasine shuddered. + +"'Signor Frenchman,' she continued, 'forget forever a moment's madness. +I esteem you, but as for love, do not ask me for that; that sentiment is +suffocated in my heart. I have no heart!' she cried, weeping bitterly. +'The stage on which you saw me, the applause, the music, the renown to +which I am condemned--those are my life; I have no other. A few hours +hence you will no longer look upon me with the same eyes, the woman you +love will be dead.' + +"The sculptor did not reply. He was seized with a dull rage which +contracted his heart. He could do nothing but gaze at that extraordinary +woman, with inflamed, burning eyes. That feeble voice, La Zambinella's +attitude, manners, and gestures, instinct with dejection, melancholy, +and discouragement, reawakened in his soul all the treasures of passion. +Each word was a spur. At that moment, they arrived at Frascati. When the +artist held out his arms to help his mistress to alight, he felt that +she trembled from head to foot. + +"'What is the matter? You would kill me,' he cried, seeing that she +turned pale, 'if you should suffer the slightest pain of which I am, +even innocently, the cause.' + +"'A snake!' she said, pointing to a reptile which was gliding along the +edge of a ditch. 'I am afraid of the disgusting creatures.' + +"Sarrasine crushed the snake's head with a blow of his foot. + +"'How could you dare to do it?' said La Zambinella, gazing at the dead +reptile with visible terror. + +"'Aha!' said the artist, with a smile, 'would you venture to say now +that you are not a woman?' + +"They joined their companions and walked through the woods of Villa +Ludovisi, which at that time belonged to Cardinal Cicognara. The morning +passed all too swiftly for the amorous sculptor, but it was crowded +with incidents which laid bare to him the coquetry, the weakness, the +daintiness, of that pliant, inert soul. She was a true woman with her +sudden terrors, her unreasoning caprices, her instinctive worries, +her causeless audacity, her bravado, and her fascinating delicacy of +feeling. At one time, as the merry little party of singers ventured out +into the open country, they saw at some distance a number of men armed +to the teeth, whose costume was by no means reassuring. At the words, +'Those are brigands!' they all quickened their pace in order to reach +the shelter of the wall enclosing the cardinal's villa. At that critical +moment Sarrasine saw from La Zambinella's manner that she no longer +had strength to walk; he took her in his arms and carried her for some +distance, running. When he was within call of a vineyard near by, he set +his mistress down. + +"'Tell me,' he said, 'why it is that this extreme weakness which in +another woman would be hideous, would disgust me, so that the slightest +indication of it would be enough to destroy my love,--why is it that +in you it pleases me, fascinates me? Oh, how I love you!' he continued. +'All your faults, your frights, your petty foibles, add an indescribable +charm to your character. I feel that I should detest a Sappho, a strong, +courageous woman, overflowing with energy and passion. O sweet and +fragile creature! how couldst thou be otherwise? That angel's voice, +that refined voice, would have been an anachronism coming from any other +breast than thine.' + +"'I can give you no hope,' she said. 'Cease to speak thus to me, for +people would make sport of you. It is impossible for me to shut the door +of the theatre to you; but if you love me, or if you are wise, you will +come there no more. Listen to me, monsieur,' she continued in a grave +voice. + +"'Oh, hush!' said the excited artist. 'Obstacles inflame the love in my +heart.' + +"La Zambinella maintained a graceful and modest attitude; but she +held her peace, as if a terrible thought had suddenly revealed some +catastrophe. When it was time to return to Rome she entered a berlin +with four seats, bidding the sculptor, with a cruelly imperious air, to +return alone in the phaeton. On the road, Sarrasine determined to carry +off La Zambinella. He passed the whole day forming plans, each more +extravagant than the last. At nightfall, as he was going out to inquire +of somebody where his mistress lived, he met one of his fellow-artists +at the door. + +"'My dear fellow,' he said, I am sent by our ambassador to invite you +to come to the embassy this evening. He gives a magnificent concert, and +when I tell you that La Zambinella will be there--' + +"'Zambinella!' cried Sarrasine, thrown into delirium by that name; 'I am +mad with love of her.' + +"'You are like everybody else,' replied his comrade. + +"'But if you are friends of mine, you and Vien and Lauterbourg and +Allegrain, you will lend me your assistance for a _coup de main_, after +the entertainment, will you not?' asked Sarrasine. + +"'There's no cardinal to be killed? no--?' + +"'No, no!' said Sarrasine, 'I ask nothing of you that men of honor may +not do.' + +"In a few moments the sculptor laid all his plans to assure the success +of his enterprise. He was one of the last to arrive at the ambassador's, +but he went thither in a traveling carriage drawn by four stout +horses and driven by one of the most skilful _vetturini_ in Rome. The +ambassador's palace was full of people; not without difficulty did +the sculptor, whom nobody knew, make his way to the salon where La +Zambinella was singing at that moment. + +"'It must be in deference to all the cardinals, bishops, and _abbes_ who +are here,' said Sarrasine, 'that _she_ is dressed as a man, that _she_ +has curly hair which _she_ wears in a bag, and that _she_ has a sword at +her side?' + +"'She! what she?' rejoined the old nobleman whom Sarrasine addressed. + +"'La Zambinella.' + +"'La Zambinella!' echoed the Roman prince. 'Are you jesting? Whence have +you come? Did a woman ever appear in a Roman theatre? And do you not +know what sort of creatures play female parts within the domains of the +Pope? It was I, monsieur, who endowed Zambinella with his voice. I paid +all the knave's expenses, even his teacher in singing. And he has so +little gratitude for the service I have done him that he has never been +willing to step inside my house. And yet, if he makes his fortune, he +will owe it all to me.' + +"Prince Chigi might have talked on forever, Sarrasine did not listen to +him. A ghastly truth had found its way into his mind. He was stricken +as if by a thunderbolt. He stood like a statue, his eyes fastened on +the singer. His flaming glance exerted a sort of magnetic influence on +Zambinella, for he turned his eyes at last in Sarrasine's direction, and +his divine voice faltered. He trembled! An involuntary murmur escaped +the audience, which he held fast as if fastened to his lips; and that +completely disconcerted him; he stopped in the middle of the aria he +was singing and sat down. Cardinal Cicognara, who had watched from +the corner of his eye the direction of his _protege's_ glance, saw the +Frenchman; he leaned toward one of his ecclesiastical aides-de-camp, and +apparently asked the sculptor's name. When he had obtained the reply he +desired he scrutinized the artist with great attention and gave orders +to an _abbe_, who instantly disappeared. Meanwhile Zambinella, having +recovered his self-possession, resumed the aria he had so capriciously +broken off; but he sang badly, and refused, despite all the persistent +appeals showered upon him, to sing anything else. It was the first +time he had exhibited that humorsome tyranny, which, at a later date, +contributed no less to his celebrity than his talent and his vast +fortune, which was said to be due to his beauty as much as to his voice. + +"'It's a woman,' said Sarrasine, thinking that no one could overhear +him. 'There's some secret intrigue beneath all this. Cardinal Cicognara +is hoodwinking the Pope and the whole city of Rome!' + +"The sculptor at once left the salon, assembled his friends, and lay +in wait in the courtyard of the palace. When Zambinella was assured +of Sarrasine's departure he seemed to recover his tranquillity in some +measure. About midnight after wandering through the salons like a man +looking for an enemy, the _musico_ left the party. As he passed through +the palace gate he was seized by men who deftly gagged him with a +handkerchief and placed him in the carriage hired by Sarrasine. Frozen +with terror, Zambinella lay back in a corner, not daring to move +a muscle. He saw before him the terrible face of the artist, who +maintained a deathlike silence. The journey was a short one. Zambinella, +kidnaped by Sarrasine, soon found himself in a dark, bare studio. He +sat, half dead, upon a chair, hardly daring to glance at a statue of a +woman, in which he recognized his own features. He did not utter a word, +but his teeth were chattering; he was paralyzed with fear. Sarrasine +was striding up and down the studio. Suddenly he halted in front of +Zambinella. + +"'Tell me the truth,' he said, in a changed and hollow voice. 'Are you +not a woman? Cardinal Cicognara----' + +"Zambinella fell on his knees, and replied only by hanging his head. + +"'Ah! you are a woman!' cried the artist in a frenzy; 'for even a--' + +"He did not finish the sentence. + +"'No,' he continued, 'even _he_ could not be so utterly base.' + +"'Oh, do not kill me!' cried Zambinella, bursting into tears. 'I +consented to deceive you only to gratify my comrades, who wanted an +opportunity to laugh.' + +"'Laugh!' echoed the sculptor, in a voice in which there was a ring of +infernal ferocity. 'Laugh! laugh! You dared to make sport of a man's +passion--you?' + +"'Oh, mercy!' cried Zambinella. + +"'I ought to kill you!' shouted Sarrasine, drawing his sword in an +outburst of rage. 'But,' he continued, with cold disdain, 'if I searched +your whole being with this blade, should I find there any sentiment to +blot out, anything with which to satisfy my thirst for vengeance? You +are nothing! If you were a man or a woman, I would kill you, but--' + +"Sarrasine made a gesture of disgust, and turned his face away; +thereupon he noticed the statue. + +"'And that is a delusion!' he cried. + +"Then, turning to Zambinella once more, he continued: + +"'A woman's heart was to me a place of refuge, a fatherland. Have you +sisters who resemble you? No. Then die! But no, you shall live. To +leave you your life is to doom you to a fate worse than death. I regret +neither my blood nor my life, but my future and the fortune of my heart. +Your weak hand has overturned my happiness. What hope can I extort from +you in place of all those you have destroyed? You have brought me down +to your level. _To love, to be loved!_ are henceforth meaningless words +to me, as to you. I shall never cease to think of that imaginary woman +when I see a real woman.' + +"He pointed to the statue with a gesture of despair. + +"'I shall always have in my memory a divine harpy who will bury her +talons in all my manly sentiments, and who will stamp all other women +with a seal of imperfection. Monster! you, who can give life to nothing, +have swept all women off the face of the earth.' + +"Sarrasine seated himself in front of the terrified singer. Two great +tears came from his dry eyes, rolled down his swarthy cheeks, and fell +to the floor--two tears of rage, two scalding, burning tears. + +"'An end of love! I am dead to all pleasure, to all human emotions!' + +"As he spoke, he seized a hammer and hurled it at the statue with such +excessive force that he missed it. He thought that he had destroyed +that monument of his madness, and thereupon he drew his sword again, and +raised it to kill the singer. Zambinella uttered shriek after shriek. +Three men burst into the studio at that moment, and the sculptor fell, +pieced by three daggers. + +"'From Cardinal Cicognara,' said one of the men. + +"'A benefaction worthy of a Christian,' retorted the Frenchman, as he +breathed his last. + +"These ominous emissaries told Zambinella of the anxiety of his patron, +who was waiting at the door in a closed carriage in order to take him +away as soon as he was set at liberty." + +"But," said Madame de Rochefide, "what connection is there between this +story and the little old man we saw at the Lantys'?" + +"Madame, Cardinal Cicognara took possession of Zambinella's statue and +had it reproduced in marble; it is in the Albani Museum to-day. In 1794 +the Lanty family discovered it there, and asked Vien to copy it. The +portrait which showed you Zambinella at twenty, a moment after you had +seen him as a centenarian, afterward figured in Girodet's _Endymion_; +you yourself recognized the type in _Adonis_." + +"But this Zambinella, male or female--" + +"Must be, madame, Marianina's maternal great uncle. You can conceive now +Madame de Lanty's interest in concealing the source of a fortune which +comes--" + +"Enough!" said she, with an imperious gesture. + +We remained for a moment in the most profound silence. + +"Well?" I said at last. + +"Ah!" she cried, rising and pacing the floor. + +She came and looked me in the face, and said in an altered voice: + +"You have disgusted me with life and passion for a long time to come. +Leaving monstrosities aside, are not all human sentiments dissolved +thus, by ghastly disillusionment? Children torture mothers by their bad +conduct, or their lack of affection. Wives are betrayed. Mistresses +are cast aside, abandoned. Talk of friendship! Is there such a thing! I +would turn pious to-morrow if I did not know that I can remain like the +inaccessible summit of a cliff amid the tempests of life. If the future +of the Christian is an illusion too, at all events it is not destroyed +until after death. Leave me to myself." + +"Ah!" said I, "you know how to punish." + +"Am I in the wrong?" + +"Yes," I replied, with a sort of desperate courage. "By finishing this +story, which is well known in Italy, I can give you an excellent idea of +the progress made by the civilization of the present day. There are none +of those wretched creatures now." + +"Paris," said she, "is an exceedingly hospitable place; it welcomes one +and all, fortunes stained with shame, and fortunes stained with blood. +Crime and infamy have a right of asylum here; virtue alone is without +altars. But pure hearts have a fatherland in heaven! No one will have +known me! I am proud of it." + +And the marchioness was lost in thought. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Carigliano, Marechal, Duc de + At the Sign of the Cat and Racket + Father Goriot + + Lanty, Comte de + The Member for Arcis + + Lanty, Comtesse de + The Member for Arcis + + Lanty, Marianina de + The Member for Arcis + + Lanty, Filippo de + The Member for Arcis + + Rochefide, Marquise de + Beatrix + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + A Prince of Bohemia + + Sarrasine, Ernest-Jean + The Member for Arcis + + Vien, Joseph-Marie + The Member for Arcis + + Zambinella + The Member for Arcis + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sarrasine, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SARRASINE *** + +***** This file should be named 1826.txt or 1826.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/1826/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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