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diff --git a/old/srrsn10.txt b/old/srrsn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..367aadf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/srrsn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1774 @@ +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Sarrasine, by Honore de Balzac* +#71 in our series by Honore de Balzac + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz + + + + + +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 Etext of Sarrasine, by Honore de Balzac + |