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diff --git a/old/20040922-1884.txt b/old/20040922-1884.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..402f5bd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20040922-1884.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1655 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Exiles, 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.net + + +Title: The Exiles + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Release Date: September 22, 2004 [EBook #1884] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXILES *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and John Bickers + + + + + The Exiles + + By + + Honore de Balzac + + + Translated by Clara Bell and James Waring + + + + ALMAE SORORI + + + +In the year 1308 few houses were yet standing on the Island formed by +the alluvium and sand deposited by the Seine above the Cite, behind +the Church of Notre-Dame. The first man who was so bold as to build on +this strand, then liable to frequent floods, was a constable of the +watch of the City of Paris, who had been able to do some service to +their Reverences the Chapter of the Cathedral; and in return the +Bishop leased him twenty-five perches of land, with exemptions from +all feudal dues or taxes on the buildings he might erect. + +Seven years before the beginning of this narrative, Joseph Tirechair, +one of the sternest of Paris constables, as his name (Tear Flesh) +would indicate, had, thanks to his share of the fines collected by him +for delinquencies committed within the precincts of the Cite, had been +able to build a house on the bank of the Seine just at the end of the +Rue du Port-Saint-Landry. To protect the merchandise landed on the +strand, the municipality had constructed a sort of break-water of +masonry, which may still be seen on some old plans of Paris, and which +preserved the piles of the landing-place by meeting the rush of water +and ice at the upper end of the Island. The constable had taken +advantage of this for the foundation of his house, so that there were +several steps up to his door. + +Like all the houses of that date, this cottage was crowned by a peaked +roof, forming a gable-end to the front, or half a diamond. To the +great regret of historians, but two or three examples of such roofs +survive in Paris. A round opening gave light to a loft, where the +constable's wife dried the linen of the Chapter, for she had the honor +of washing for the Cathedral--which was certainly not a bad customer. +On the first floor were two rooms, let to lodgers at a rent, one year +with another, of forty sous _Parisis_ each, an exorbitant sum, that +was however justified by the luxury Tirechair had lavished on their +adornment. Flanders tapestry hung on the walls, and a large bed with a +top valance of green serge, like a peasant's bed, was amply furnished +with mattresses, and covered with good sheets of fine linen. Each room +had a stove called a _chauffe-doux_; the floor, carefully polished by +Dame Tirechair's apprentices, shone like the woodwork of a shrine. +Instead of stools, the lodgers had deep chairs of carved walnut, the +spoils probably of some raided castle. Two chests with pewter +mouldings, and tables on twisted legs, completed the fittings, worthy +of the most fastidious knights-banneret whom business might bring to +Paris. + +The windows of those two rooms looked out on the river. From one you +could only see the shores of the Seine, and the three barren islands, +of which two were subsequently joined together to form the Ile +Saint-Louis; the third was the Ile de Louviers. From the other could +be seen, down a vista of the Port-Saint-Landry, the buildings on the +Greve, the Bridge of Notre-Dame, with its houses, and the tall towers +of the Louvre, but lately built by Philippe-Auguste to overlook the +then poor and squalid town of Paris, which suggests so many imaginary +marvels to the fancy of modern romancers. + +The ground floor of Tirechair's house consisted of a large hall, where +his wife's business was carried on, through which the lodgers were +obliged to pass on their way to their own rooms up a stairway like a +mill-ladder. Behind this were a kitchen and a bedroom, with a view +over the Seine. A tiny garden, reclaimed from the waters, displayed at +the foot of this modest dwelling its beds of cabbages and onions, and +a few rose-bushes, sheltered by palings, forming a sort of hedge. A +little structure of lath and mud served as a kennel for a big dog, the +indispensable guardian of so lonely a dwelling. Beyond this kennel was +a little plot, where the hens cackled whose eggs were sold to the +Canons. Here and there on this patch of earth, muddy or dry according +to the whimsical Parisian weather, a few trees grew, constantly lashed +by the wind, and teased and broken by the passer-by--willows, reeds, +and tall grasses. + +The Eyot, the Seine, the landing-place, the house, were all +overshadowed on the west by the huge basilica of Notre-Dame casting +its cold gloom over the whole plot as the sun moved. Then, as now, +there was not in all Paris a more deserted spot, a more solemn or more +melancholy prospect. The noise of waters, the chanting of priests, or +the piping of the wind, were the only sounds that disturbed this +wilderness, where lovers would sometimes meet to discuss their secrets +when the church-folds and clergy were safe in church at the services. + + + +One evening in April in the year 1308, Tirechair came home in a +remarkably bad temper. For three days past everything had been in good +order on the King's highway. Now, as an officer of the peace, nothing +annoyed him so much as to feel himself useless. He flung down his +halbert in a rage, muttered inarticulate words as he pulled off his +doublet, half red and half blue, and slipped on a shabby camlet +jerkin. After helping himself from the bread-box to a hunch of bread, +and spreading it with butter, he seated himself on a bench, looked +round at his four whitewashed walls, counted the beams of the ceiling, +made a mental inventory of the household goods hanging from the nails, +scowled at the neatness which left him nothing to complain of, and +looked at his wife, who said not a word as she ironed the albs and +surplices from the sacristy. + +"By my halidom," he said, to open the conversation, "I cannot think, +Jacqueline, where you go to catch your apprenticed maids. Now, here is +one," he went on, pointing to a girl who was folding an altar-cloth, +clumsily enough, it must be owned, "who looks to me more like a damsel +rather free of her person than a sturdy country wench. Her hands are +as white as a fine lady's! By the Mass! and her hair smells of +essences, I verily believe, and her hose are as find as a queen's. By +the two horns of Old Nick, matters please me but ill as I find them +here." + +The girl colored, and stole a look at Jacqueline, full of alarm not +unmixed with pride. The mistress answered her glance with a smile, +laid down her work, and turned to her husband. + +"Come now," said she, in a sharp tone, "you need not harry me. Are you +going to accuse me next of some underhand tricks? Patrol your roads as +much as you please, but do not meddle here with anything but what +concerns your sleeping in peace, drinking your wine, and eating what I +set before you, or else, I warn you, I will have no more to do with +keeping you healthy and happy. Let any one find me a happier man in +all the town," she went on, with a scolding grimace. "He has silver in +his purse, a gable over the Seine, a stout halbert on one hand, an +honest wife on the other, a house as clean and smart as a new pin! And +he growls like a pilgrim smarting from Saint Anthony's fire!" + +"Hey day!" exclaimed the sergeant of the watch, "do you fancy, +Jacqueline, that I have any wish to see my house razed down, my +halbert given to another, and my wife standing in the pillory?" + +Jacqueline and the dainty journeywoman turned pale. + +"Just tell me what you are driving at," said the washerwoman sharply, +"and make a clean breast of it. For some days, my man, I have observed +that you have some maggot twisting in your poor brain. Come up, then, +and have it all out. You must be a pretty coward indeed if you fear +any harm when you have only to guard the common council and live under +the protection of the Chapter! Their Reverences the Canons would lay +the whole bishopric under an interdict if Jacqueline brought a +complaint of the smallest damage." + +As she spoke, she went straight up to her husband and took him by the +arm. + +"Come with me," she added, pulling him up and out on to the steps. + +When they were down by the water in their little garden, Jacqueline +looked saucily in her husband's face. + +"I would have you to know, you old gaby, that when my lady fair goes +out, a piece of gold comes into our savings-box." + +"Oh, ho!" said the constable, who stood silent and meditative before +his wife. But he presently said, "Any way, we are done for.--What +brings the dame to our house?" + +"She comes to see the well-favored young clerk who lives overhead," +replied Jacqueline, looking up at the window that opened on to the +vast landscape of the Seine valley. + +"The Devil's in it!" cried the man. "For a few base crowns you have +ruined me, Jacqueline. Is that an honest trade for a sergeant's decent +wife to ply? And, be she Countess or Baroness, the lady will not be +able to get us out of the trap in which we shall find ourselves caught +sooner or later. Shall we not have to square accounts with some +puissant and offended husband? for, by the Mass, she is fair to look +upon!" + +"But she is a widow, I tell you, gray gander! How dare you accuse your +wife of foul play and folly? And the lady has never spoken a word to +yon gentle clerk, she is content to look on him and think of him. Poor +lad! he would be dead of starvation by now but for her, for she is as +good as a mother to him. And he, the sweet cherub! it is as easy to +cheat him as to rock a new-born babe. He believes his pence will last +for ever, and he has eaten them through twice over in the past six +months." + +"Woman," said the sergeant, solemnly pointing to the Place de Greve, +"do you remember seeing, even from this spot, the fire in which they +burnt the Danish woman the other day?" + +"What then?" said Jacqueline, in a fright. + +"What then?" echoed Tirechair. "Why, the two men who lodge with us +smell of scorching. Neither Chapter nor Countess or Protector can +serve them. Here is Easter come round; the year is ending; we must +turn our company out of doors, and that at once. Do you think you can +teach an old constable how to know a gallows-bird? Our two lodgers +were on terms with la Porette, that heretic jade from Denmark or +Norway, whose last cries you heard from here. She was a brave witch; +she never blenched at the stake, which was proof enough of her compact +with the Devil. I saw her as plain as I see you; she preached to the +throng, and declared she was in heaven and could see God. + +"And since that, I tell you, I have never slept quietly in my bed. My +lord, who lodges over us, is of a surety more of a wizard than a +Christian. On my word as an officer, I shiver when that old man passes +near me; he never sleeps of nights; if I wake, his voice is ringing +like a bourdon of bells, and I hear him muttering incantations in the +language of hell. Have you ever seen him eat an honest crust of bread +or a hearth-cake made by a good Catholic baker? His brown skin has +been scorched and tanned by hell-fires. Marry, and I tell you his eyes +hold a spell like that of serpents. Jacqueline, I will have none of +those two men under my roof. I see too much of the law not to know +that it is well to have nothing to do with it.--You must get rid of +our two lodgers; the elder because I suspect him; the youngster, +because he is too pretty. They neither of them seem to me to keep +Christian company. The boy is ever staring at the moon, the stars, and +the clouds, like a wizard watching for the hour when he shall mount +his broomstick; the other old rogue certainly makes some use of the +poor boy for his black art. My house stands too close to the river as +it is, and that risk of ruin is bad enough without bringing down fire +from heaven, or the love affairs of a countess. I have spoken. Do not +rebel." + +In spite of her sway in the house, Jacqueline stood stupefied as she +listened to the edict fulminated against his lodgers by the sergeant +of the watch. She mechanically looked up at the window of the room +inhabited by the old man, and shivered with horror as she suddenly +caught sight of the gloomy, melancholy face, and the piercing eye that +so affected her husband, accustomed as he was to dealing with +criminals. + +At that period, great and small, priests and laymen, all trembled +before the idea of any supernatural power. The word "magic" was as +powerful as leprosy to root up feelings, break social ties, and freeze +piety in the most generous soul. It suddenly struck the constable's +wife that she had never, in fact, seen either of her lodgers +exercising any human function. Though the younger man's voice was as +sweet and melodious as the tones of a flute, she so rarely heard it +that she was tempted to think his silence the result of a spell. As +she recalled the strange beauty of that pink-and-white face, and saw +in memory the fine hair and moist brilliancy of those eyes, she +believed that they were indeed the artifices of the Devil. She +remembered that for days at a time she had never heard the slightest +sound from either room. Where were the strangers during all those +hours? + +Suddenly the most singular circumstances recurred to her mind. She was +completely overmastered by fear, and could even discern witchcraft in +the rich lady's interest in the young Godefroid, a poor orphan who had +come from Flanders to study at the University of Paris. She hastily +put her hand into one of her pockets, pulled out four livres of +Tournay in large silver coinage, and looked at the pieces with an +expression of avarice mingled with terror. + +"That, at any rate, is not false coin," said she, showing the silver +to her husband. "Besides," she went on, "how can I turn them out after +taking next year's rent paid in advance?" + +"You had better inquire of the Dean of the Chapter," replied +Tirechair. "Is not it his business to tell us how we should deal with +these extraordinary persons?" + +"Ay, truly extraordinary," cried Jacqueline. "To think of their +cunning; coming here under the very shadow of Notre-Dame! Still," she +went on, "or ever I ask the Dean, why not warn that fair and noble +lady of the risk she runs?" + +As she spoke, Jacqueline went into the house with her husband, who had +not missed a mouthful. Tirechair, as a man grown old in the tricks of +his trade, affected to believe that the strange lady was in fact a +work-girl; still, this assumed indifference could not altogether cloak +the timidity of a courtier who respects a royal incognity. At this +moment six was striking by the clock of Saint-Denis du Pas, a small +church that stood between Notre-Dame and the Port-Saint-Landry--the +first church erected in Paris, on the very spot where Saint-Denis was +laid on the gridiron, as chronicles tell. The hour flew from steeple +to tower all over the city. Then suddenly confused shouts were heard +on the left bank of the Seine, behind Notre-Dame, in the quarter where +the schools of the University harbored their swarms. + +At this signal, Jacqueline's elder lodger began to move about his +room. The sergeant, his wife, and the strange lady listened while he +opened and shut his door, and the old man's heavy step was heard on +the steep stair. The constable's suspicions gave such interest to the +advent of this personage, that the lady was startled as she observed +the strange expression of the two countenances before her. Referring +the terrors of this couple to the youth she was protecting--as was +natural in a lover--the young lady awaited, with some uneasiness, the +event thus heralded by the fears of her so-called master and mistress. + +The old man paused for a moment on the threshold to scrutinize the +three persons in the room, and seemed to be looking for his young +companion. This glance of inquiry, unsuspicious as it was, agitated +the three. Indeed, nobody, not even the stoutest man, could deny that +Nature had bestowed exceptional powers on this being, who seemed +almost supernatural. Though his eyes were somewhat deeply shaded by +the wide sockets fringed with long eyebrows, they were set, like a +kite's eyes, in eyelids so broad, and bordered by so dark a circle +sharply defined on his cheek, that they seemed rather prominent. These +singular eyes had in them something indescribably domineering and +piercing, which took possession of the soul by a grave and thoughtful +look, a look as bright and lucid as that of a serpent or a bird, but +which held one fascinated and crushed by the swift communication of +some tremendous sorrow, or of some super-human power. + +Every feature was in harmony with this eye of lead and of fire, at +once rigid and flashing, stern and calm. While in this eagle eye +earthly emotions seemed in some sort extinct, the lean, parched face +also bore traces of unhappy passions and great deeds done. The nose, +which was narrow and aquiline, was so long that it seemed to hang on +by the nostrils. The bones of the face were strongly marked by the +long, straight wrinkles that furrowed the hollow cheeks. Every line in +the countenance looked dark. It would suggest the bed of a torrent +where the violence of former floods was recorded in the depth of the +water-courses, which testified to some terrible, unceasing turmoil. +Like the ripples left by the oars of a boat on the waters, deep lines, +starting from each side of his nose, marked his face strongly, and +gave an expression of bitter sadness to his mouth, which was firm and +straight-lipped. Above the storm thus stamped on his countenance, his +calm brow rose with what may be called boldness, and crowned it as +with a marble dome. + +The stranger preserved that intrepid and dignified manner that is +frequently habitual with men inured to disaster, and fitted by nature +to stand unmoved before a furious mob and to face the greatest +dangers. He seemed to move in a sphere apart, where he poised above +humanity. His gestures, no less than his look, were full of +irresistible power; his lean hands were those of a soldier; and if +your own eyes were forced to fall before his piercing gaze, you were +no less sure to tremble when by word or action he spoke to your soul. +He moved in silent majesty that made him seem a king without his +guard, a god without his rays. + +His dress emphasized the ideas suggested by the peculiarities of his +mien and face. Soul, body, and garb were in harmony, and calculated to +impress the coldest imagination. He wore a sort of sleeveless gown of +black cloth, fastened in front, and falling to the calf, leaving the +neck bare with no collar. His doublet and boots were likewise black. +On his head was a black velvet cap like a priest's, sitting in a close +circle above his forehead, and not showing a single hair. It was the +strictest mourning, the gloomiest habit a man could wear. But for a +long sword that hung by his side from a leather belt which could be +seen where his surcoat hung open, a priest would have hailed him as a +brother. Though of no more than middle height, he appeared tall; and, +looking him in the face he seemed a giant. + +"The clock has struck, the boat is waiting; will you not come?" + +At these words, spoken in bad French, but distinctly audible in the +silence, a little noise was heard in the other top room, and the young +man came down as lightly as a bird. + +When Godefroid appeared, the lady's face turned crimson; she trembled, +started, and covered her face with her white hands. + +Any woman might have shared her agitation at the sight of this youth +of about twenty, of a form and stature so slender that at a first +glance he might have been taken for a mere boy, or a young girl in +disguise. His black cap--like the _beret_ worn by the Basque people +--showed a brow as white as snow, where grace and innocence shone with +an expression of divine sweetness--the light of a soul full of faith. +A poet's fancy would have seen there the star which, in some old tale, +a mother entreats the fairy godmother to set on the forehead of an +infant abandoned, like Moses, to the waves. Love lurked in the +thousand fair curls that fell over his shoulders. His throat, truly a +swan's throat, was white and exquisitely round. His blue eyes, bright +and liquid, mirrored the sky. His features and the mould of his brow +were refined and delicate enough to enchant a painter. The bloom of +beauty, which in a woman's face causes men such indescribable delight, +the exquisite purity of outline, the halo of light that bathes the +features we love, were here combined with a masculine complexion, and +with strength as yet but half developed, in the most enchanting +contrast. His was one of those melodious countenances which even when +silent speak and attract us. And yet, on marking it attentively, the +incipient blight might have been detected which comes of a great +thought or a passion, the faint yellow tinge that made him seem like a +young leaf opening to the sun. + +No contrast could be greater or more startling than that seen in the +companionship of these two men. It was like seeing a frail and +graceful shrub that has grown from the hollow trunk of some gnarled +willow, withered by age, blasted by lightning, standing decrepit; one +of those majestic trees that painters love; the trembling sapling +takes shelter there from storms. One was a god, the other was an +angel; one the poet that feels, the other the poet that expresses--a +prophet in sorrow, a levite in prayer. + +They went out together without speaking. + +"Did you mark how he called him to him?" cried the sergeant of the +watch when the footsteps of the couple were no longer audible on the +strand. "Are not they a demon and his familiar?" + +"Phooh!" puffed Jacqueline. "I felt smothered! I never marked our two +lodgers so carefully. 'Tis a bad thing for us women that the Devil can +wear so fair a mien!" + +"Ay, cast some holy water on him," said Tirechair, "and you will see +him turn into a toad.--I am off to tell the office all about them." + +On hearing this speech, the lady roused herself from the reverie into +which she had sunk, and looked at the constable, who was donning his +red-and-blue jacket. + +"Whither are you off to?" she asked. + +"To tell the justices that wizards are lodging in our house very much +against our will." + +The lady smiled. + +"I," said she, "am the Comtesse de Mahaut," and she rose with a +dignity that took the man's breath away. "Beware of bringing the +smallest trouble on your guests. Above all, respect the old man; I +have seen him in the company of your Lord the King, who entreated him +courteously; you will be ill advised to trouble him in any way. As to +my having been here--never breathe a word of it, as you value your +life." + +She said no more, but relapsed into thought. + +Presently she looked up, signed to Jacqueline, and together they went +up into Godefroid's room. The fair Countess looked at the bed, the +carved chairs, the chest, the tapestry, the table, with a joy like +that of the exile who sees on his return the crowded roofs of his +native town nestling at the foot of a hill. + +"If you have not deceived me," she said to Jacqueline, "I promise you +a hundred crowns in gold." + +"Behold, madame," said the woman, "the poor angel is confiding--here +is all his treasure." + +As she spoke, Jacqueline opened a drawer in the table and showed some +parchments. + +"God of mercy!" cried the Countess, snatching up a document that +caught her eye, on which she read, _Gothofredus Comes Gantiacus_ +(Godefroid, Count of Ghent). + +She dropped the parchment, and passed her hand over her brow; then, +feeling, no doubt, that she had compromised herself by showing so much +emotion, she recovered her cold demeanor. + +"I am satisfied," said she. + +She went downstairs and out of the house. The constable and his +wife stood in their doorway, and saw her take the path to the +landing-place. + +A boat was moored hard by. When the rustle of the Countess' approach +was audible, a boatman suddenly stood up, helped the fair laundress to +take her seat in it, and rowed with such strength as to make the boat +fly like a swallow down the stream. + +"You are a sorry fellow," said Jacqueline, giving the officer's +shoulder a familiar slap. "We have earned a hundred gold crowns this +morning." + +"I like harboring lords no better than harboring wizards. And I know +not, of the two, which is the more like to bring us to the gallows," +replied Tirechair, taking up his halbert. "I will go my rounds over by +Champfleuri; God protect us, and send me to meet some pert jade out in +her bravery of gold rings to glitter in the shade like a glow-worm!" + +Jacqueline, alone in the house, hastily went up to the unknown lord's +room to discover, if she could, some clue to this mysterious business. +Like some learned men who give themselves infinite pains to complicate +the clear and simple laws of nature, she had already invented a +chaotic romance to account for the meeting of these three persons +under her humble roof. She hunted through the chest, examined +everything, but could find nothing extraordinary. She saw nothing on +the table but a writing-case and some sheets of parchment; and as she +could not read, this discovery told her nothing. A woman's instinct +then took her into the young man's room, and from thence she descried +her two lodgers crossing the river in the ferry boat. + +"They stand like two statues," said she to herself. "Ah, ha! They are +landing at the Rue du Fouarre. How nimble he is, the sweet youth! He +jumped out like a bird. By him the old man looks like some stone saint +in the Cathedral.--They are going to the old School of the Four +Nations. Presto! they are out of sight.--And this is where he lives, +poor cherub!" she went on, looking about the room. "How smart and +winning he is! Ah! your fine gentry are made of other stuff than we +are." + +And Jacqueline went down again after smoothing down the bed-coverlet, +dusting the chest, and wondering for the hundredth time in six months: + +"What in the world does he do all the blessed day? He cannot always be +staring at the blue sky and the stars that God has hung up there like +lanterns. That dear boy has known trouble. But why do he and the old +man hardly ever speak to each other?" + +Then she lost herself in wonderment and in thoughts which, in her +woman's brain, were tangled like a skein of thread. + +The old man and his young companion had gone into one of the schools +for which the Rue du Fouarre was at that time famous throughout +Europe. At the moment when Jacqueline's two lodgers arrived at the old +School des Quatre Nations, the celebrated Sigier, the most noted +Doctor of Mystical Theology of the University of Paris, was mounting +his pulpit in a spacious low room on a level with the street. The cold +stones were strewn with clean straw, on which several of his disciples +knelt on one knee, writing on the other, to enable them to take notes +from the Master's improvised discourse, in the shorthand abbreviations +which are the despair of modern decipherers. + +The hall was full, not of students only, but of the most distinguished +men belonging to the clergy, the court, and the legal faculty. There +were some learned foreigners, too--soldiers and rich citizens. The +broad faces were there, with prominent brows and venerable beards, +which fill us with a sort of pious respect for our ancestors when we +see their portraits from the Middle Ages. Lean faces, too, with +burning, sunken eyes, under bald heads yellow from the labors of +futile scholasticism, contrasted with young and eager countenances, +grave faces, warlike faces, and the ruddy cheeks of the financial +class. + +These lectures, dissertations, theses, sustained by the brightest +geniuses of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, roused our +forefathers to enthusiasm. They were to them their bull-fights, their +Italian opera, their tragedy, their dancers; in short, all their +drama. The performance of Mysteries was a later thing than these +spiritual disputations, to which, perhaps, we owe the French stage. +Inspired eloquence, combining the attractions of the human voice +skilfully used, with daring inquisition into the secrets of God, +sufficed to satisfy every form of curiosity, appealed to the soul, and +constituted the fashionable entertainment of the time. Not only did +Theology include the other sciences, it was science itself, as grammar +was science to the Ancient Greeks; and those who distinguished +themselves in these duels, in which the orators, like Jacob, wrestled +with the Spirit of God, had a promising future before them. Embassies, +arbitrations between sovereigns, chancellorships, and ecclesiastical +dignities were the meed of men whose rhetoric had been schooled in +theological controversy. The professor's chair was the tribune of the +period. + +This system lasted till the day when Rabelais gibbeted dialectics by +his merciless satire, as Cervantes demolished chivalry by a narrative +comedy. + +To understand this amazing period and the spirit which dictated its +voluminous, though now forgotten, masterpieces, to analyze it, even to +its barbarisms, we need only examine the Constitutions of the +University of Paris and the extraordinary scheme of instruction that +then obtained. Theology was taught under two faculties--that of +Theology properly so called, and that of Canon Law. The faculty of +Theology, again, had three sections--Scholastic, Canonical, and +Mystic. It would be wearisome to give an account of the attributes of +each section of the science, since one only, namely, Mystic, is the +subject of this _Etude_. + +Mystical Theology included the whole of Divine Revelation and the +elucidation of the Mysteries. And this branch of ancient theology has +been secretly preserved with reverence even to our own day; Jacob +Boehm, Swendenborg, Martinez Pasqualis, Saint-Martin, Molinos, Madame +Guyon, Madame Bourignon, and Madame Krudener, the extensive sect of +the Ecstatics, and that of the Illuminati, have at different periods +duly treasured the doctrines of this science, of which the aim is +indeed truly startling and portentous. In Doctor Sigier's day, as in +our own, man has striven to gain wings to fly into the sanctuary where +God hides from our gaze. + +This digression was necessary to give a clue to the scene at which the +old man and the youth from the island under Notre-Dame had come to be +audience; it will also protect this narrative from all blame on the +score of falsehood and hyperbole, of which certain persons of hasty +judgment might perhaps suspect me. + +Doctor Sigier was a tall man in the prime of life. His face, rescued +from oblivion by the archives of the University, had singular +analogies with that of Mirabeau. It was stamped with the seal of +fierce, swift, and terrible eloquence. But the Doctor bore on his brow +the expression of religious faith that his modern double had not. His +voice, too, was of persuasive sweetness, with a clear and pleasing +ring in it. + +At this moment the daylight, that was stintingly diffused through the +small, heavily-leaded window-panes, tinted the assembly with +capricious tones and powerful contrasts from the chequered light and +shade. Here, in a dark corner, eyes shone brightly, their dark heads +under the sunbeams gleamed light above faces in shadow, and various +bald heads, with only a circlet of white hair, were distinguished +among the crowd like battlements silvered by moonlight. Every face was +turned towards the Doctor, mute but impatient. The drowsy voices of +other lecturers in the adjoining schools were audible in the silent +street like the murmuring of the sea; and the steps of the two +strangers, as they now came in, attracted general attention. Doctor +Sigier, ready to begin, saw the stately senior standing, looked round +for a seat for him, and then finding none, as the place was full, came +down from his place, went to the newcomer, and with great respect, led +him to the platform of his professor's chair, and there gave him his +stool to sit upon. The assembly hailed this mark of deference with a +murmur of approval, recognizing the old man as the orator of a fine +thesis admirably argued not long since at the Sorbonne. + +The stranger looked down from his raised position on the crowd below +with that deep glance that held a whole poem of sorrow, and those who +met his eye felt an indescribable thrill. The lad, following the old +man, sat down on one of the steps, leaning against the pulpit in a +graceful and melancholy attitude. The silence was now profound, and +the doorway and even the street were blocked by scholars who had +deserted the other classes. + +Doctor Sigier was to-day to recapitulate, in the last of a series of +discourses, the views he had set forth in the former lectures on the +Resurrection, Heaven, and Hell. His strange doctrine responded to the +sympathies of the time, and gratified the immoderate love of the +marvelous, which haunts the mind of man in every age. This effort of +man to clutch the infinite, which for ever slips through his +ineffectual grasp, this last tourney of thought against thought, was a +task worthy of an assembly where the most stupendous human imagination +ever known, perhaps, at that moment shone. + +The Doctor began by summing up in a mild and even tone the principal +points he had so far established: + +"No intellect was the exact counterpart of another. Had man any right +to require an account of his Creator for the inequality of powers +bestowed on each? Without attempting to penetrate rashly into the +designs of God, ought we not to recognize the fact that by reason of +their general diversity intelligences could be classed in spheres? +From the sphere where the least degree of intelligence gleamed, to the +most translucent souls who could see the road by which to ascend to +God, was there not an ascending scale of spiritual gift? And did not +spirits of the same sphere understand each other like brothers in +soul, in flesh, in mind, and in feeling?" + +From this the Doctor went on to unfold the most wonderful theories of +sympathy. He set forth in Biblical language the phenomena of love, of +instinctive repulsion, of strong affinities which transcend the laws +of space, of the sudden mingling of souls which seem to recognize each +other. With regard to the different degrees of strength of which our +affections are capable, he accounted for them by the place, more or +less near the centre, occupied by beings in their respective circles. + +He gave mathematical expression to God's grand idea in the +co-ordination of the various human spheres. "Through man," he said, +"these spheres constituted a world intermediate between the +intelligence of the brute and the intelligence of the angels." As he +stated it, the divine Word nourishes the spiritual Word, the spiritual +Word nourishes the living Word, the living Word nourishes the animal +Word, the animal Word nourishes the vegetable Word, and the vegetable +Word is the expression of the life of the barren Word. These +successive evolutions, as of a chrysalis, which God thus wrought in +our souls, this infusorial life, so to speak, communicated from each +zone to the next, more vivid, more spiritual, more perceptive in its +ascent, represented, rather dimly no doubt, but marvelously enough to +his inexperienced hearers, the impulse given to Nature by the +Almighty. Supported by many texts from the Sacred Scriptures, which he +used as a commentary on his own statements to express by concrete +images the abstract arguments he felt to be wanting, he flourished the +Spirit of God like a torch over the deep secrets of creation, with an +eloquence peculiar to himself, and accents that urged conviction on +his audience. As he unfolded his mysterious system and all its +consequences, he gave a key to every symbol and justified the +vocation, the special gifts, the genius, the talent of each human +being. + +Then, instinctively becoming physiological, he remarked on the +resemblance to certain animals stamped on some human faces, accounting +for them by primordial analogies and the upward tendency of all +creation. He showed his audience the workings of Nature, and assigned +a mission and a future to minerals, plants, and animals. Bible in +hand, after thus spiritualizing Matter and materializing Spirit, after +pointing to the Will of God in all things, and enjoining respect for +His smallest works, he suggested the possibility of rising by faith +from sphere to sphere. + +This was the first portion of his discourse, and by adroit digressions +he applied the doctrine of his system to feudalism. The poetry +--religious and profane--and the abrupt eloquence of that period had a +grand opening in this vast theory, wherein the Doctor had amalgamated +all the philosophical systems of the ancients, and from which he +brought them out again classified, transfigured, purified. The false +dogmas of two adverse principles and of Pantheism were demolished at +his word, which proclaimed the Divine Unity, while ascribing to God +and His angels the knowledge, the ends to which the means shone +resplendent to the eyes of man. Fortified by the demonstrations that +proved the existence of the world of Matter, Doctor Sigier constructed +the scheme of a spiritual world dividing us from God by an ascending +scale of spheres, just as the plant is divided from man by an infinite +number of grades. He peopled the heavens, the stars, the planets, the +sun. + +Quoting Saint Paul, he invested man with a new power; he might rise, +from globe to globe, to the very Fount of eternal life. Jacob's +mystical ladder was both the religious formula and the traditional +proof of the fact. He soared through space, carrying with him the +passionate souls of his hearers on the wings of his word, making them +feel the infinite, and bathing them in the heavenly sea. Then the +Doctor accounted logically for hell by circles placed in inverse order +to the shining spheres that lead to God, in which torments and +darkness take the place of the Spirit and of light. Pain was as +intelligible as rapture. The terms of comparison were present in the +conditions of human life and its various atmospheres of suffering and +of intellect. Thus the most extraordinary traditions of hell and +purgatory were quite naturally conceivable. + +He gave the fundamental _rationale_ of virtue with admirable +clearness. A pious man, toiling onward in poverty, proud of his good +conscience, at peace with himself, and steadfastly true to himself in +his heart in spite of the spectacle of exultant vice, was a fallen +angel doing penance, who remembered his origin, foresaw his guerdon, +accomplished his task, and obeyed his glorious mission. The sublime +resignation of Christians was then seen in all its glory. He depicted +martyrs at the burning stake, and almost stripped them of their merit +by stripping them of their sufferings. He showed their inner angel as +dwelling in the heavens, while the outer man was tortured by the +executioner's sword. He described angels dwelling among men, and gave +tokens by which to recognize them. + +He next strove to drag from the very depths of man's understanding the +real sense of the word fall, which occurs in every language. He +appealed to the most widely-spread traditions in evidence of this one +true origin, explaining, with much lucidity, the passion all men have +for rising, mounting--an instinctive ambition, the perennial +revelations of our destiny. + +He displayed the whole universe at a glance, and described the nature +of God Himself circulating in a full tide from the centre to the +extremities, and from the extremities to the centre again. Nature was +one and homogeneous. In the most seemingly trivial, as in the most +stupendous work, everything obeyed that law; each created object +reproduced in little an exact image of that nature--the sap in the +plant, the blood in man, the orbits of the planets. He piled proof on +proof, always completing his idea by a picture musical with poetry. + +And he boldly anticipated every objection. He thundered forth an +eloquent challenge to the monumental works of science and human +excrescences of knowledge, such as those which societies use the +elements of the earthly globe to produce. He asked whether our wars, +our disasters, our depravity could hinder the great movement given by +God to all the globes; and he laughed human impotence to scorn by +pointing to their efforts everywhere in ruins. He cried upon the manes +of Tyre, Carthage, and Babylon; he called upon Babel and Jerusalem to +appear; and sought, without finding them, the transient furrows made +by the ploughshare of civilization. Humanity floated on the surface of +the earth as a ship whose wake is lost in the calm level of ocean. + +These were the fundamental notions set forth in Doctor Sigier's +address, all wrapped in the mystical language and strange school Latin +of the time. He had made a special study of the Scriptures, and they +supplied him with the weapons with which he came before his +contemporaries to hasten their progress. He hid his boldness under his +immense learning, as with a cloak, and his philosophical bent under a +saintly life. At this moment, after bringing his hearers face to face +with God, after packing the universe into an idea, and almost +unveiling the idea of the world, he gazed down on the silent, +throbbing mass, and scrutinized the stranger with a look. Then, +spurred on, no doubt, by the presence of this remarkable personage, he +added these words, from which I have eliminated the corrupt Latinity +of the Middle Ages:-- + +"Where, think you, may a man find these fruitful truths if not in the +heart of God Himself?--What am I?--The humble interpreter of a single +line left to us by the greatest of the Apostles--a single line out of +thousands all equally full of light. Before us, Saint Paul said, '_In +Deo vivimus movemur et sumus_.' In our day, less believing and more +learned, or better instructed and more sceptical, we should ask the +Apostle, 'To what end this perpetual motion? Whither leads this life +divided into zones? Wherefore an intelligence that begins with the +obscure perfection of marble and proceeds from sphere to sphere up to +man, up to the angel, up to God? Where is the Fount, where is the +ocean, if life, attaining to God across worlds and stars, through +Matter and Spirit, has to come down again to some other goal?' + +"You desire to see both aspects of the universe at once. You would +adore the Sovereign on condition of being suffered to sit for an +instant on His throne. Mad fools that we are! We will not admit that +the most intelligent animals are able to understand our ideas and the +object of our actions; we are merciless to the creatures of the +inferior spheres, and exile them from our own; we deny them the +faculty of divining human thoughts, and yet we ourselves would fain +master the highest of all ideas--the Idea of the Idea! + +"Well, go then, start! Fly by faith up from globe to globe, soar +through space! Thought, love, and faith are its mystical keys. +Traverse the circles, reach the throne! God is more merciful than you +are; He opens His temple to all His creatures. Only, do not forget the +pattern of Moses; put your shoes from off your feet, cast off all +filth, leave your body far behind; otherwise you shall be consumed; +for God--God is Light!" + +Just as Doctor Sigier spoke these grand words, his face radiant, his +hand uplifted, a sunbeam pierced through an open window, like a magic +jet from a fount of splendor, a long triangular shaft of gold that lay +like a scarf over the whole assembly. They all clapped their hands, +for the audience accepted this effect of the sinking sun as a miracle. +There was a universal cry of: + +"_Vivant_! _Vivant_!" + +The very sky seemed to shed approval. Godefroid, struck with +reverence, looked from the old man to Doctor Sigier; they were talking +together in an undertone. + +"All honor to the Master!" said the stranger. + +"What is such transient honor?" replied Sigier. + +"I would I could perpetuate my gratitude," said the older man. + +"A line written by you is enough!" said the Doctor. "It would give me +immortality, humanly speaking." + +"Can I give what I have not?" cried the elder. + +Escorted by the crowd, which followed in their footsteps, like +courtiers round a king, at a respectful distance, Godefroid, with the +old man and the Doctor, made their way to the oozy shore, where as yet +there were no houses, and where the ferryman was waiting for them. The +Doctor and the stranger were talking together, not in Latin nor in any +Gallic tongue, but in an unknown language, and very gravely. They +pointed with their hands now to heaven and now to the earth. Sigier, +to whom the paths by the river were familiar, guided the venerable +stranger with particular care to the narrow planks which here and +there bridged the mud; the following watched them inquisitively; and +some of the students envied the privileged boy who might walk with +these two great masters of speech. Finally, the Doctor took leave of +the stranger, and the ferry-boat pushed off. + +At the moment when the boat was afloat on the wide river, +communicating its motion to the soul, the sun pierced the clouds like +a conflagration blazing up on the horizon, and poured forth a flood of +light, coloring slate roof-tops and humbler thatch with a ruddy glow +and tawny reflections, fringed Philippe Auguste's towers with fire, +flooded the sky, dyed the waters, gilded the plants, and aroused the +half-sleeping insects. The immense shaft of light set the clouds on +fire. It was like the last verse of the daily hymn. Every heart was +thrilled; nature in such a moment is sublime. + +As he gazed at the spectacle, the stranger's eyes moistened with the +tenderest of human tears: Godefroid too was weeping; his trembling +hand touched that of the elder man, who, looking round, confessed his +emotion. But thinking his dignity as a man compromised, no doubt, to +redeem it, he said in a deep voice: + +"I weep for my native land. I am an exile! Young man, in such an hour +as this I left my home. There, at this hour, the fireflies are coming +out of their fragile dwellings and clinging like diamond sparks to the +leaves of the iris. At this hour the breeze, as sweet as the sweetest +poetry, rises up from a valley bathed in light, bearing on its wings +the richest fragrance. On the horizon I could see a golden city like +the Heavenly Jerusalem--a city whose name I may not speak. There, too, +a river winds. But that city and its buildings, that river of which +the lovely vistas, and the pools of blue water, mingled, crossed, and +embraced each other, which gladdened my sight and filled me with love +--where are they? + +"At that hour the waters assumed fantastic hues under the sunset sky, +and seemed to be painted pictures; the stars dropped tender streaks of +light, the moon spread its pleasing snares; it gave another life to +the trees, to the color and form of things, and a new aspect to the +sparkling water, the silent hills, the eloquent buildings. The city +spoke, it glittered, it called to me to return! + +"Columns of smoke rose up by the side of the ancient pillars, whose +marble sheen gleamed white through the night; the lines of the horizon +were still visible through the mists of evening; all was harmony and +mystery. Nature would not say farewell; she desired to keep me there. +Ah! It was all in all to me; my mother and my child, my wife and my +glory! The very bells bewailed my condemnation. Oh, land of marvels! +It is as beautiful as heaven. From that hour the wide world has been +my dungeon. Beloved land, why hast thou rejected me? + +"But I shall triumph there yet!" he cried, speaking with an accent of +such intense conviction and such a ringing tone, that the boatman +started as at a trumpet call. + +The stranger was standing in a prophetic attitude and gazing +southwards into the blue, pointing to his native home across the skyey +regions. The ascetic pallor of his face had given place to a glow of +triumph, his eyes flashed, he was as grand as a lion shaking his mane. + +"But you, poor child," he went on, looking at Godefroid, whose cheeks +were beaded with glittering tears, "have you, like me, studied life +from blood-stained pages? What can you have to weep for, at your age?" + +"Alas!" said Godefroid, "I regret a land more beautiful than any land +on earth--a land I never saw and yet remember. Oh, if I could but +cleave the air on beating wings, I would fly----" + +"Whither?" asked the exile. + +"Up there," replied the boy. + +On hearing this answer, the stranger seemed surprised; he looked +darkly at the youth, who remained silent. They seemed to communicate +by an unspeakable effusion of the spirit, hearing each other's +yearnings in the teeming silence, and going forth side by side, like +two doves sweeping the air on equal wing, till the boat, touching the +strand of the island, roused them from their deep reverie. + +Then, each lost in thought, they went together to the sergeant's +house. + +"And so the boy believes that he is an angel exiled from heaven!" +thought the tall stranger. "Which of us all has a right to undeceive +him? Not I--I, who am so often lifted by some magic spell so far above +the earth; I who am dedicate to God; I who am a mystery to myself. +Have I not already seen the fairest of the angels dwelling in this +mire? Is this child more or less crazed than I am? Has he taken a +bolder step in the way of faith? He believes, and his belief no doubt +will lead him into some path of light like that in which I walk. But +though he is as beautiful as an angel, is he not too feeble to stand +fast in such a struggle?" + +Abashed by the presence of his companion, whose voice of thunder +expressed to him his own thoughts, as lightning expresses the will of +Heaven, the boy was satisfied to gaze at the stars with a lover's +eyes. Overwhelmed by a luxury of sentiment, which weighed on his +heart, he stood there timid and weak--a midge in the sunbeams. +Sigier's discourse had proved to them the mysteries of the spiritual +world; the tall, old man was to invest them with glory; the lad felt +them in himself, though he could in no way express them. The three +represented in living embodiment Science, Poetry, and Feeling. + + + +On going into the house, the Exile shut himself into his room, lighted +the inspiring lamp, and gave himself over to the ruthless demon of +Work, seeking words of the silence and ideas of the night. Godefroid +sat down in his window sill, by turns gazing at the moon reflected in +the water, and studying the mysteries of the sky. Lost in one of the +trances that were frequent to him, he traveled from sphere to sphere, +from vision to vision, listening for obscure rustlings and the voices +of angels, and believing that he heard them; seeing, or fancying that +he saw, a divine radiance in which he lost himself; striving to attain +the far-away goal, the source of all light, the fount of all harmony. + +Presently the vast clamor of Paris, brought down on the current, was +hushed; lights were extinguished one by one in the houses; silence +spread over all; and the huge city slept like a tired giant. + +Midnight struck. The least noise, the fall of a leaf, or the flight +of a jackdaw changing its perching-place among the pinnacles of +Notre-Dame, would have been enough to bring the stranger's mind to +earth again, to have made the youth drop from the celestial heights +to which his soul had soared on the wings of rapture. + +And then the old man heard with dismay a groan mingling with the sound +of a heavy fall--the fall, as his experienced ear assured him, of a +dead body. He hastened into Godefroid's room, and saw him lying in a +heap with a long rope tight round his neck, the end meandering over +the floor. + +When he had untied it, the poor lad opened his eyes. + +"Where am I?" he asked, with a hopeful gleam. + +"In your own room," said the elder man, looking with surprise at +Godefroid's neck, and at the nail to which the cord had been tied, and +which was still in the knot. + +"In heaven?" said the boy, in a voice of music. + +"No; on earth!" + +Godefroid rose and walked along the path of light traced on the floor +by the moon through the window, which stood open; he saw the rippling +Seine, the willows and plants on the island. A misty atmosphere hung +over the waters like a smokey floor. + +On seeing the view, to him so heartbreaking, he folded his hands over +his bosom, and stood in an attitude of despair; the Exile came up to +him with astonishment on his face. + +"You meant to kill yourself?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied Godefroid, while the stranger passed his hand about his +neck again and again to feel the place where the rope had tightened on +it. + +But for some slight bruises, the young man had been but little hurt. +His friend supposed that the nail had given way at once under the +weight of the body, and the terrible attempt had ended in a fall +without injury. + +"And why, dear lad, did you try to kill yourself?" + +"Alas!" said Godefroid, no longer restraining the tears that rolled +down his cheeks, "I heard the Voice from on high; it called me by +name! It had never named me before, but this time it bade me to +Heaven! Oh, how sweet is that voice!--As I could not fly to Heaven," +he added artlessly, "I took the only way we know of going to God." + +"My child! oh, sublime boy!" cried the old man, throwing his arms +round Godefroid, and clasping him to his heart. "You are a poet; you +can boldly ride the whirlwind! Your poetry does not proceed from your +heart; your living, burning thoughts, your creations, move and grow in +your soul.--Go, never reveal your ideas to the vulgar! Be at once the +altar, the priest, and the victim! + +"You know Heaven, do you not? You have seen those myriads of angels, +white-winged, and holding golden sistrums, all soaring with equal +flight towards the Throne, and you have often seen their pinions +moving at the breath of God as the trees of the forest bow with one +consent before the storm. Ah, how glorious is unlimited space! Tell +me." + +The stranger clasped Godefroid's hand convulsively, and they both +gazed at the firmament, whence the stars seemed to shed gentle poetry +which they could bear. + +"Oh, to see God!" murmured Godefroid. + +"Child!" said the old man suddenly, in a sterner voice, "have you so +soon forgotten the holy teaching of our good master, Doctor Sigier? In +order to return, you to your heavenly home, and I to my native land on +earth, must we not obey the voice of God? We must walk on resignedly +in the stony paths where His almighty finger points the way. Do not +you quail at the thought of the danger to which you exposed yourself? +Arriving there without being bidden, and saying, 'Here I am!' before +your time, would you not have been cast back into a world beneath that +where your soul now hovers? Poor outcast cherub! Should you not rather +bless God for having suffered you to live in a sphere where you may +hear none but heavenly harmonies? Are you not as pure as a diamond, as +lovely as a flower? + +"Think what it is to know, like me, only the City of Sorrows! +--Dwelling there I have worn out my heart.--To search the tombs for +their horrible secrets; to wipe hands steeped in blood, counting them +over night after night, seeing them rise up before me imploring +forgiveness which I may not grant; to mark the writhing of the +assassin and the last shriek of his victim; to listen to appalling +noises and fearful silence, the silence of a father devouring his dead +sons; to wonder at the laughter of the damned; to look for some human +form among the livid heaps wrung and trampled by crime; to learn words +such as living men may not hear without dying; to call perpetually on +the dead, and always to accuse and condemn!--Is that living?" + +"Cease!" cried Godefroid; "I cannot see you or hear you any further! +My reason wanders, my eyes are dim. You light a fire within me which +consumes me." + +"And yet I must go on!" said the senior, waving his hand with a +strange gesture that worked on the youth like a spell. + +For a moment the old man fixed Godefroid with his large, weary, +lightless eyes; then he pointed with one finger to the ground. A gulf +seemed to open at his bidding. He remained standing in the doubtful +light of the moon; it lent a glory to his brow which reflected an +almost solar gleam. Though at first a somewhat disdainful expression +lurked in the wrinkles of his face, his look presently assumed the +fixity which seems to gaze on an object invisible to the ordinary +organs of sight. His eyes, no doubt, were seeing then the remoter +images which the grave has in store for us. + +Never, perhaps, had this man presented so grand an aspect. A terrible +struggle was going on in his soul, and reacted on his outer frame; +strong man as he seemed to be, he bent as a reed bows under the breeze +that comes before a storm. Godefroid stood motionless, speechless, +spellbound; some inexplicable force nailed him to the floor; and, as +happens when our attention takes us out of ourselves while watching a +fire or a battle, he was wholly unconscious of his body. + +"Shall I tell you the fate to which you were hastening, poor angel of +love? Listen! It has been given to me to see immeasurable space, +bottomless gulfs in which all human creations are swallowed up, the +shoreless sea whither flows the vast stream of men and of angels. As I +made my way through the realms of eternal torment, I was sheltered +under the cloak of an immortal--the robe of glory due to genius, and +which the ages hand on--I, a frail mortal! When I wandered through the +fields of light where the happy souls play, I was borne up by the love +of a woman, the wings of an angel; resting on her heart, I could taste +the ineffable pleasures whose touch is more perilous to us mortals +than are the torments of the worser world. + +"As I achieved my pilgrimage through the dark regions below I had +mounted from torture to torture, from crime to crime, from punishment +to punishment, from awful silence to heartrending cries, till I +reached the uppermost circle of Hell. Already, from afar, I could see +the glory of Paradise shining at a vast distance; I was still in +darkness, but on the borders of day. I flew, upheld by my Guide, borne +along by a power akin to that which, during our dreams, wafts us to +spheres invisible to the eye of the body. The halo that crowned our +heads seared away the shades as we passed, like impalpable dust. Far +above us the suns of all the worlds shone with scarce so much light as +the twinkling fireflies of my native land. I was soaring towards the +fields of air where, round about Paradise, the bodies of light are in +closer array, where the azure is easy to pass through, where worlds +innumerable spring like flowers in a meadow. + +"There, on the last level of the circles where those phantoms dwell +that I had left behind me, like sorrows one would fain forget, I saw a +vast shade. Standing in an attitude of aspiration, that soul looked +eagerly into space; his feet were riveted by the will of God to the +topmost point of the margin, and he remained for ever in the painful +strain by which we project our purpose when we long to soar, as birds +about to take wing. I saw the man; he neither looked at us nor heard +us; every muscle quivered and throbbed; at each separate instant he +seemed to feel, though he did not move, all the fatigue of traversing +the infinite that divided him from Paradise where, as he gazed +steadfastly, he believed he had glimpses of a beloved image. At this +last gate of Hell, as at the first, I saw the stamp of despair even in +hope. The hapless creature was so fearfully held by some unseen force, +that his anguish entered into my bones and froze my blood. I shrank +closer to my Guide, whose protection restored me to peace and silence. + +"Suddenly the Shade gave a cry of joy--a cry as shrill as that of the +mother bird that sees a hawk in the air, or suspects its presence. We +looked where he was looking, and saw, as it were, a sapphire, floating +high up in the abysses of light. The glowing star fell with the +swiftness of a sunbeam when it flashes over the horizon in the morning +and its first rays shoot across the world. The Splendor became clearer +and grew larger; presently I beheld the cloud of glory in which the +angels move--a shining vapor that emanates from their divine +substance, and that glitters here and there like tongues of flame. A +noble face, whose glory none may endure that have not won the mantle, +the laurel, and the palm--the attribute of the Powers--rose above this +cloud as white and pure as snow. It was Light within light. His wings +as they waved shed dazzling ripples in the spheres through which he +descended, as the glance of God pierces through the universe. At last +I saw the archangel in all his glory. The flower of eternal beauty +that belongs to the angels of the Spirit shone in him. In one hand he +held a green palm branch, in the other a sword of flame: the palm to +bestow on the pardoned soul, the sword to drive back all the hosts of +Hell with one sweep. As he approached, the perfumes of Heaven fell +upon us as dew. In the region where the archangel paused, the air took +the hues of opal, and moved in eddies of which he was the centre. He +paused, looked at the Shade, and said: + +"'To-morrow.' + +"Then he turned heavenwards once more, spread his wings, and clove +through space as a vessel cuts through the waves, hardly showing her +white sails to the exiles left on some deserted shore. + +"The Shade uttered appalling cries, to which the damned responded from +the lowest circle, the deepest in the immensity of suffering, to the +more peaceful zone near the surface on which we were standing. This +worst torment of all had appealed to all the rest. The turmoil was +swelled by the roar of a sea of fire which formed a bass to the +terrific harmony of endless millions of suffering souls. + +"Then suddenly the Shade took flight through the doleful city, and +down to its place at the very bottom of Hell; but as suddenly it came +up again, turned, soared through the endless circles in every +direction, as a vulture, confined for the first time in a cage, +exhausts itself in vain efforts. The Shade was free to do this; he +could wander through the zones of Hell icy, fetid, or scorching +without enduring their pangs; he glided into that vastness as a +sunbeam makes its way into the deepest dark. + +"'God has not condemned him to any torment,' said the Master; 'but +not one of the souls you have seen suffering their various punishments +would exchange his anguish for the hope that is consuming this soul.' + +"And just then the Shade came back to us, brought thither by an +irresistible force which condemned him to perch on the verge of Hell. +My divine Guide, guessing my curiosity, touched the unhappy Shade with +his palm-branch. He, who was perhaps trying to measure the age of +sorrow that divided him from that ever-vanishing 'To-morrow,' started +and gave a look full of all the tears he had already shed. + +"'You would know my woe?' said he sadly. 'Oh, I love to tell it. I am +here, Teresa is above; that is all. On earth we were happy, we were +always together. When I saw my loved Teresa Donati for the first time, +she was ten years old. We loved each other even then, not knowing what +love meant. Our lives were one; I turned pale if she were pale, I was +happy in her joy; we gave ourselves up to the pleasure of thinking and +feeling together; and we learned what love was, each through the +other. We were wedded at Cremona; we never saw each other's lips but +decked with pearls of a smile; our eyes always shone; our hair, like +our desires, flowed together; our heads were always bent over one book +when we read, our feet walked in equal step. Life was one long kiss, +our home was a nest. + +"'One day, for the first time, Teresa turned pale and said, "I am in +pain!"--And I was not in pain! + +"'She never rose again. I saw her sweet face change, her golden hair +fade--and I did not die! She smiled to hide her sufferings, but I +could read them in her blue eyes, of which I could interpret the +slightest trembling. "Honorino, I love you!" said she, at the very +moment when her lips turned white, and she was clasping my hand still +in hers when death chilled them. So I killed myself that she might not +lie alone in her sepulchral bed, under her marble sheet. Teresa is +above and I am here. I could not bear to leave her, but God has +divided us. Why, then, did He unite us on earth? He is jealous! +Paradise was no doubt so much the fairer on the day when Teresa +entered in. + +"'Do you see her? She is sad in her bliss; she is parted from me! +Paradise must be a desert to her.' + +"'Master,' said I with tears, for I thought of my love, 'when this +one shall desire Paradise for God's sake alone, shall he not be +delivered?' And the Father of Poets mildly bowed his head in sign of +assent. + +"We departed, cleaving the air, and making no more noise than the +birds that pass overhead sometimes when we lie in the shade of a tree. +It would have been vain to try to check the hapless shade in his +blasphemy. It is one of the griefs of the angels of darkness that they +can never see the light even when they are surrounded by it. He would +not have understood us." + + + +At this moment the swift approach of many horses rang through the +stillness, the dog barked, the constable's deep growl replied; the +horsemen dismounted, knocked at the door; the noise was so unexpected +that it seemed like some sudden explosion. + +The two exiles, the two poets, fell to earth through all the space +that divides us from the skies. The painful shock of this fall rushed +through their veins like strange blood, hissing as it seemed, and full +of scorching sparks. Their pain was like an electric discharge. The +loud, heavy step of a man-at-arms sounded on the stairs with the iron +clank of his sword, his cuirass, and spurs; a soldier presently stood +before the astonished stranger. + +"We can return to Florence," said the man, whose bass voice sounded +soft as he spoke in Italian. + +"What is that you say?" asked the old man. + +"The _Bianchi_ are triumphant." + +"Are you not mistaken?" asked the poet. + +"No, dear Dante!" replied the soldier, whose warlike tones rang with +the thrill of battle and the exultation of victory. + +"To Florence! To Florence! Ah, my Florence!" cried Dante Alighieri, +drawing himself up, and gazing into the distance. In fancy he saw +Italy; he was gigantic. + +"But I--when shall I be in Heaven?" said Godefroid, kneeling on one +knee before the immortal poet, like an angel before the sanctuary. + +"Come to Florence," said Dante in compassionate tones. "Come! when you +see its lovely landscape from the heights of Fiesole you will fancy +yourself in Paradise." + +The soldier smiled. For the first time, perhaps for the only time in +his life, Dante's gloomy and solemn features wore a look of joy; his +eyes and brows expressed the happiness he has depicted so lavishly in +his vision of Paradise. He thought perhaps that he heard the voice of +Beatrice. + +A light step, and the rustle of a woman's gown, were audible in the +silence. Dawn was now showing its first streaks of light. The fair +Comtesse de Mahaut came in and flew to Godefroid. + +"Come, my child, my son! I may at last acknowledge you. Your birth is +recognized, your rights are under the protection of the King of +France, and you will find Paradise in your mother's heart." + +"I hear, I know, the voice of Heaven!" cried the youth in rapture. + +The exclamation roused Dante, who saw the young man folded in the +Countess' arms. He took leave of them with a look, and left his young +companion on his mother's bosom. + +"Come away!" he cried in a voice of thunder. "Death to the Guelphs!" + + + +PARIS, October 1831. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Exiles, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXILES *** + +***** This file should be named 1884.txt or 1884.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/1/8/8/1884/ + +Produced by Dagny, and John Bickers + +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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