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diff --git a/1940.txt b/1940.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..029d110 --- /dev/null +++ b/1940.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1106 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christ in Flanders, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christ in Flanders + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ellen Marriage + +Release Date: October, 1999 [Etext #1940] +Posting Date: March 6, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRIST IN FLANDERS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +CHRIST IN FLANDERS + + +By Honore De Balzac + + + +Translated by Ellen Marriage + + + + + DEDICATION + + To Marcelline Desbordes-Valmore, a daughter of Flanders, of whom + these modern days may well be proud, I dedicate this quaint legend + of old Flanders. + + DE BALZAC. + + + + + +CHRIST IN FLANDERS + + +At a dimly remote period in the history of Brabant, communication +between the Island of Cadzand and the Flemish coast was kept up by a +boat which carried passengers from one shore to the other. Middelburg, +the chief town in the island, destined to become so famous in the annals +of Protestantism, at that time only numbered some two or three hundred +hearths; and the prosperous town of Ostend was an obscure haven, a +straggling village where pirates dwelt in security among the fishermen +and the few poor merchants who lived in the place. + +But though the town of Ostend consisted altogether of some score of +houses and three hundred cottages, huts or hovels built of the driftwood +of wrecked vessels, it nevertheless rejoiced in the possession of a +governor, a garrison, a forked gibbet, a convent, and a burgomaster, in +short, in all the institutions of an advanced civilization. + +Who reigned over Brabant and Flanders in those days? On this point +tradition is mute. Let us confess at once that this tale savors strongly +of the marvelous, the mysterious, and the vague; elements which Flemish +narrators have infused into a story retailed so often to gatherings of +workers on winter evenings, that the details vary widely in poetic merit +and incongruity of detail. It has been told by every generation, handed +down by grandames at the fireside, narrated night and day, and the +chronicle has changed its complexion somewhat in every age. Like some +great building that has suffered many modifications of successive +generations of architects, some sombre weather-beaten pile, the delight +of a poet, the story would drive the commentator and the industrious +winnower of words, facts, and dates to despair. The narrator believes in +it, as all superstitious minds in Flanders likewise believe; and is not +a whit wiser nor more credulous than his audience. But as it would be +impossible to make a harmony of all the different renderings, here +are the outlines of the story; stripped, it may be, of its picturesque +quaintness, but with all its bold disregard of historical truth, and its +moral teachings approved by religion--a myth, the blossom of imaginative +fancy; an allegory that the wise may interpret to suit themselves. To +each his own pasturage, and the task of separating the tares from the +wheat. + + + +The boat that served to carry passengers from the Island of Cadzand to +Ostend was upon the point of departure; but before the skipper loosed +the chain that secured the shallop to the little jetty, where people +embarked, he blew a horn several times, to warn late lingerers, this +being his last journey that day. Night was falling. It was scarcely +possible to see the coast of Flanders by the dying fires of the sunset, +or to make out upon the hither shore any forms of belated passengers +hurrying along the wall of the dykes that surrounded the open country, +or among the tall reeds of the marshes. The boat was full. + +"What are you waiting for? Let us put off!" they cried. + +Just at that moment a man appeared a few paces from the jetty, to +the surprise of the skipper, who had heard no sound of footsteps. The +traveler seemed to have sprung up from the earth, like a peasant who had +laid himself down on the ground to wait till the boat should start, and +had slept till the sound of the horn awakened him. Was he a thief? or +some one belonging to the custom-house or the police? + +As soon as the man appeared on the jetty to which the boat was moored, +seven persons who were standing in the stern of the shallop hastened to +sit down on the benches, so as to leave no room for the newcomer. It was +the swift and instinctive working of the aristocratic spirit, an impulse +of exclusiveness that comes from the rich man's heart. Four of the seven +personages belonged to the most aristocratic families in Flanders. First +among them was a young knight with two beautiful greyhounds; his long +hair flowed from beneath a jeweled cap; he clanked his gilded spurs, +curled the ends of his moustache from time to time with a swaggering +grace, and looked round disdainfully on the rest of the crew. A +high-born damsel, with a falcon on her wrist, only spoke with her mother +or with a churchman of high rank, who was evidently a relation. All +these persons made a great deal of noise, and talked among themselves as +though there were no one else in the boat; yet close beside them sat +a man of great importance in the district, a stout burgher of Bruges, +wrapped about with a vast cloak. His servant, armed to the teeth, had +set down a couple of bags filled with gold at his side. Next to the +burgher came a man of learning, a doctor of the University of Louvain, +who was traveling with his clerk. This little group of folk, who looked +contemptuously at each other, was separated from the passengers in the +forward part of the boat by the bench of rowers. + +The belated traveler glanced about him as he stepped on board, saw that +there was no room for him in the stern, and went to the bows in quest +of a seat. They were all poor people there. At first sight of the +bareheaded man in the brown camlet coat and trunk-hose, and plain stiff +linen collar, they noticed that he wore no ornaments, carried no cap nor +bonnet in his hand, and had neither sword nor purse at his girdle, and +one and all took him for a burgomaster sure of his authority, a worthy +and kindly burgomaster like so many a Fleming of old times, whose homely +features and characters have been immortalized by Flemish painters. +The poorer passengers, therefore, received him with demonstrations of +respect that provoked scornful tittering at the other end of the boat. +An old soldier, inured to toil and hardship, gave up his place on the +bench to the newcomer, and seated himself on the edge of the vessel, +keeping his balance by planting his feet against one of those traverse +beams, like the backbone of a fish, that hold the planks of a boat +together. A young mother, who bore her baby in her arms, and seemed to +belong to the working class in Ostend, moved aside to make room for the +stranger. There was neither servility nor scorn in her manner of doing +this; it was a simple sign of the goodwill by which the poor, who know +by long experience the value of a service and the warmth that fellowship +brings, give expression to the open-heartedness and the natural impulses +of their souls; so artlessly do they reveal their good qualities and +their defects. The stranger thanked her by a gesture full of gracious +dignity, and took his place between the young mother and the old +soldier. Immediately behind him sat a peasant and his son, a boy ten +years of age. A beggar woman, old, wrinkled, and clad in rags, was +crouching, with her almost empty wallet, on a great coil of rope that +lay in the prow. One of the rowers, an old sailor, who had known her in +the days of her beauty and prosperity, had let her come in "for the love +of God," in the beautiful phrase that the common people use. + +"Thank you kindly, Thomas," the old woman had said. "I will say two +_Paters_ and two _Aves_ for you in my prayers to-night." + +The skipper blew his horn for the last time, looked along the silent +shore, flung off the chain, ran along the side of the boat, and took up +his position at the helm. He looked at the sky, and as soon as they were +out in the open sea, he shouted to the men: "Pull away, pull with all +your might! The sea is smiling at a squall, the witch! I can feel the +swell by the way the rudder works, and the storm in my wounds." + +The nautical phrases, unintelligible to ears unused to the sound of the +sea, seemed to put fresh energy into the oars; they kept time together, +the rhythm of the movement was still even and steady, but quite unlike +the previous manner of rowing; it was as if a cantering horse had broken +into a gallop. The gay company seated in the stern amused themselves by +watching the brawny arms, the tanned faces, and sparkling eyes of the +rowers, the play of the tense muscles, the physical and mental forces +that were being exerted to bring them for a trifling toll across the +channel. So far from pitying the rowers' distress, they pointed out the +men's faces to each other, and laughed at the grotesque expressions on +the faces of the crew who were straining every muscle; but in the fore +part of the boat the soldier, the peasant, and the old beggar woman +watched the sailors with the sympathy naturally felt by toilers who live +by the sweat of their brow and know the rough struggle, the strenuous +excitement of effort. These folk, moreover, whose lives were spent in +the open air, had all seen the warnings of danger in the sky, and their +faces were grave. The young mother rocked her child, singing an old hymn +of the Church for a lullaby. + +"If we ever get there at all," the soldier remarked to the peasant, "it +will be because the Almighty is bent on keeping us alive." + +"Ah! He is the Master," said the old woman, "but I think it will be +His good pleasure to take us to Himself. Just look at that light down +there..." and she nodded her head as she spoke towards the sunset. + +Streaks of fiery red glared from behind the masses of crimson-flushed +brown cloud that seemed about to unloose a furious gale. There was a +smothered murmur of the sea, a moaning sound that seemed to come from +the depths, a low warning growl, such as a dog gives when he only means +mischief as yet. After all, Ostend was not far away. Perhaps painting, +like poetry, could not prolong the existence of the picture presented by +sea and sky at that moment beyond the time of its actual duration. Art +demands vehement contrasts, wherefore artists usually seek out Nature's +most striking effects, doubtless because they despair of rendering the +great and glorious charm of her daily moods; yet the human soul is often +stirred as deeply by her calm as by her emotion, and by silence as by +storm. + +For a moment no one spoke on board the boat. Every one watched that sea +and sky, either with some presentiment of danger, or because they felt +the influence of the religious melancholy that takes possession of +nearly all of us at the close of the day, the hour of prayer, when all +nature is hushed save for the voices of the bells. The sea gleamed pale +and wan, but its hues changed, and the surface took all the colors of +steel. The sky was almost overspread with livid gray, but down in the +west there were long narrow bars like streaks of blood; while lines of +bright light in the eastern sky, sharp and clean as if drawn by the tip +of a brush, were separated by folds of cloud, like the wrinkles on an +old man's brow. The whole scene made a background of ashen grays and +half-tints, in strong contrast to the bale-fires of the sunset. If +written language might borrow of spoken language some of the bold +figures of speech invented by the people, it might be said with the +soldier that "the weather has been routed," or, as the peasant would +say, "the sky glowered like an executioner." Suddenly a wind arose from +the quarter of the sunset, and the skipper, who never took his eyes off +the sea, saw the swell on the horizon line, and cried: + +"Stop rowing!" + +The sailors stopped immediately, and let their oars lie on the water. + +"The skipper is right," said Thomas coolly. A great wave caught up the +boat, carried it high on its crest, only to plunge it, as it were, +into the trough of the sea that seemed to yawn for them. At this mighty +upheaval, this sudden outbreak of the wrath of the sea, the company in +the stern turned pale, and sent up a terrible cry. + +"We are lost!" + +"Oh, not yet!" said the skipper calmly. + +As he spoke, the clouds immediately above their heads were torn asunder +by the vehemence of the wind. The gray mass was rent and scattered east +and west with ominous speed, a dim uncertain light from the rift in +the sky fell full upon the boat, and the travelers beheld each other's +faces. All of them, the noble and the wealthy, the sailors and the poor +passengers alike, were amazed for a moment by the appearance of the last +comer. His golden hair, parted upon his calm, serene forehead, fell in +thick curls about his shoulders; and his face, sublime in its sweetness +and radiant with divine love, stood out against the surrounding gloom. +He had no contempt for death; he knew that he should not die. But if at +the first the company in the stern forgot for a moment the implacable +fury of the storm that threatened their lives, selfishness and their +habits of life soon prevailed again. + +"How lucky that stupid burgomaster is, not to see the risks we are all +running! He is just like a dog, he will die without a struggle," said +the doctor. + +He had scarcely pronounced this highly judicious dictum when the storm +unloosed all its legions. The wind blew from every quarter of the +heavens, the boat span round like a top, and the sea broke in. + +"Oh! my poor child! my poor child!... Who will save my baby?" the mother +cried in a heart-rending voice. + +"You yourself will save it," the stranger said. + +The thrilling tones of that voice went to the young mother's heart and +brought hope with them; she heard the gracious words through all the +whistling of the wind and the shrieks of the passengers. + +"Holy Virgin of Good Help, who art at Antwerp, I promise thee a thousand +pounds of wax and a statue, if thou wilt rescue me from this!" cried the +burgher, kneeling upon his bags of gold. + +"The Virgin is no more at Antwerp than she is here," was the doctor's +comment on this appeal. + +"She is in heaven," said a voice that seemed to come from the sea. + +"Who said that?" + +"'Tis the devil!" exclaimed the servant. "He is scoffing at the Virgin +of Antwerp." + +"Let us have no more of your Holy Virgin at present," the skipper cried +to the passengers. "Put your hands to the scoops and bail the water out +of the boat.--And the rest of you," he went on, addressing the sailors, +"pull with all your might! Now is the time; in the name of the devil who +is leaving you in this world, be your own Providence! Every one knows +that the channel is fearfully dangerous; I have been to and fro across +it these thirty years. Am I facing a storm for the first time to-night?" + +He stood at the helm, and looked, as before, at his boat and at the sea +and sky in turn. + +"The skipper always laughs at everything," muttered Thomas. + +"Will God leave us to perish along with those wretched creatures?" asked +the haughty damsel of the handsome cavalier. + +"No, no, noble maiden.... Listen!" and he caught her by the waist and +said in her ear, "I can swim, say nothing about it! I will hold you by +your fair hair and bring you safely to the shore; but I can only save +you." + +The girl looked at her aged mother. The lady was on her knees entreating +absolution of the Bishop, who did not heed her. In the beautiful +eyes the knight read a vague feeling of filial piety, and spoke in a +smothered voice. + +"Submit yourself to the will of God. If it is His pleasure to take your +mother to Himself, it will doubtless be for her happiness--in another +world," he added, and his voice dropped still lower. "And for ours in +this," he thought within himself. + +The Dame of Rupelmonde was lady of seven fiefs beside the barony of +Gavres. + +The girl felt the longing for life in her heart, and for love that spoke +through the handsome adventurer, a young miscreant who haunted churches +in search of a prize, an heiress to marry, or ready money. The Bishop +bestowed his benison on the waves, and bade them be calm; it was all +that he could do. He thought of his concubine, and of the delicate feast +with which she would welcome him; perhaps at that very moment she was +bathing, perfuming herself, robing herself in velvet, fastening her +necklace and her jeweled clasps; and the perverse Bishop, so far from +thinking of the power of Holy Church, of his duty to comfort Christians +and exhort them to trust in God, mingled worldly regrets and lover's +sighs with the holy words of the breviary. By the dim light that shone +on the pale faces of the company, it was possible to see their differing +expressions as the boat was lifted high in air by a wave, to be cast +back into the dark depths; the shallop quivered like a fragile leaf, the +plaything of the north wind in the autumn; the hull creaked, it seemed +ready to go to pieces. Fearful shrieks went up, followed by an awful +silence. + +There was a strange difference between the behavior of the folk in the +bows and that of the rich or great people at the other end of the boat. +The young mother clasped her infant tightly to her breast every time +that a great wave threatened to engulf the fragile vessel; but she clung +to the hope that the stranger's words had set in her heart. Each time +that the eyes turned to his face she drew fresh faith at the sight, the +strong faith of a helpless woman, a mother's faith. She lived by that +divine promise, the loving words from his lips; the simple creature +waited trustingly for them to be fulfilled, and scarcely feared the +danger any longer. + +The soldier, holding fast to the vessel's side, never took his eyes off +the strange visitor. He copied on his own rough and swarthy features the +imperturbability of the other's face, applying to this task the whole +strength of a will and intelligence but little corrupted in the course +of a life of mechanical and passive obedience. So emulous was he of a +calm and tranquil courage greater than his own, that at last, perhaps +unconsciously, something of that mysterious nature passed into his +own soul. His admiration became an instinctive zeal for this man, a +boundless love for and belief in him, such a love as soldiers feel for +their leader when he has the power of swaying other men, when the halo +of victories surrounds him, and the magical fascination of genius is +felt in all that he does. The poor outcast was murmuring to herself: + +"Ah! miserable wretch that I am! Have I not suffered enough to expiate +the sins of my youth? Ah! wretched woman, why did you lead the gay life +of a frivolous Frenchwoman? why did you devour the goods of God with +churchmen, the substance of the poor with extortioners and fleecers of +the poor? Oh! I have sinned indeed!--Oh my God! my God! let me finish my +time in hell here in this world of misery." + +And again she cried, "Holy Virgin, Mother of God, have pity upon me!" + +"Be comforted, mother. God is not a Lombard usurer. I may have killed +people good and bad at random in my time, but I am not afraid of the +resurrection." + +"Ah! master Lancepesade, how happy those fair ladies are, to be so near +to a bishop, a holy man! They will get absolution for their sins," said +the old woman. "Oh! if I could only hear a priest say to me, 'Thy sins +are forgiven!' I should believe it then." + +The stranger turned towards her, and the goodness in his face made her +tremble. + +"Have faith," he said, "and you will be saved." + +"May God reward you, good sir," she answered. "If what you say is true, +I will go on pilgrimage barefooted to Our Lady of Loretto to pray to her +for you and for me." + +The two peasants, father and son, were silent, patient, and submissive +to the will of God, like folk whose wont it is to fall in instinctively +with the ways of Nature like cattle. At the one end of the boat stood +riches, pride, learning, debauchery, and crime--human society, such as +art and thought and education and worldly interests and laws have made +it; and at this end there was terror and wailing, innumerable different +impulses all repressed by hideous doubts--at this end, and at this only, +the agony of fear. + +Above all these human lives stood a strong man, the skipper; no doubts +assailed him, the chief, the king, the fatalist among them. He was +trusting in himself rather than in Providence, crying, "Bail away!" +instead of "Holy Virgin," defying the storm, in fact, and struggling +with the sea like a wrestler. + +But the helpless poor at the other end of the wherry! The mother rocking +on her bosom the little one who smiled at the storm; the woman once +so frivolous and gay, and now tormented with bitter remorse; the old +soldier covered with scars, a mutilated life the sole reward of his +unflagging loyalty and faithfulness. This veteran could scarcely count +on the morsel of bread soaked in tears to keep the life in him, yet he +was always ready to laugh, and went his way merrily, happy when he could +drown his glory in the depths of a pot of beer, or could tell tales +of the wars to the children who admired him, leaving his future with a +light heart in the hands of God. Lastly, there were the two peasants, +used to hardships and toil, labor incarnate, the labor by which the +world lives. These simple folk were indifferent to thought and its +treasures, ready to sink them all in a belief; and their faith was but +so much the more vigorous because they had never disputed about it nor +analyzed it. Such a nature is a virgin soil, conscience has not been +tampered with, feeling is deep and strong; repentance, trouble, love, +and work have developed, purified, concentrated, and increased their +force of will a hundred times, the will--the one thing in man that +resembles what learned doctors call the Soul. + +The boat, guided by the well-nigh miraculous skill of the steersman, +came almost within sight of Ostend, when, not fifty paces from the +shore, she was suddenly struck by a heavy sea and capsized. The stranger +with the light about his head spoke to this little world of drowning +creatures: + +"Those who have faith shall be saved; let them follow me!" + +He stood upright, and walked with a firm step upon the waves. The young +mother at once took her child in her arms, and followed at his side +across the sea. The soldier too sprang up, saying in his homely fashion, +"Ah! _nom d'un pipe_! I would follow _you_ to the devil;" and without +seeming astonished by it, he walked on the water. The worn-out sinner, +believing in the omnipotence of God, also followed the stranger. + +The two peasants said to each other, "If they are walking on the sea, +why should we not do as they do?" and they also arose and hastened after +the others. Thomas tried to follow, but his faith tottered; he sank +in the sea more than once, and rose again, but the third time he also +walked on the sea. The bold steersman clung like a remora to the wreck +of his boat. The miser had had faith, and had risen to go, but he tried +to take his gold with him, and it was his gold that dragged him down +to the bottom. The learned man had scoffed at the charlatan and at the +fools who listened to him; and when he heard the mysterious stranger +propose to the passengers that they should walk on the waves, he began +to laugh, and the ocean swallowed him. The girl was dragged down into +the depths by her lover. The Bishop and the older lady went to the +bottom, heavily laden with sins, it may be, but still more heavily laden +with incredulity and confidence in idols, weighted down by devotion, +into which alms-deeds and true religion entered but little. + +The faithful flock, who walked with a firm step high and dry above the +surge, heard all about them the dreadful whistling of the blast; great +billows broke across their path, but an irresistible force cleft a way +for them through the sea. These believing ones saw through the spray a +dim speck of light flickering in the window of a fisherman's hut on the +shore, and each one, as he pushed on bravely towards the light, seemed +to hear the voice of his fellow crying, "Courage!" through all the +roaring of the surf; yet no one had spoken a word--so absorbed was each +by his own peril. In this way they reached the shore. + +When they were all seated near the fisherman's fire, they looked round +in vain for their guide with the light about him. The sea washed up the +steersman at the base of the cliff on which the cottage stood; he was +clinging with might and main to the plank as a sailor can cling when +death stares him in the face; the MAN went down and rescued the almost +exhausted seaman; then he said, as he held out a succoring hand above +the man's head: + +"Good, for this once; but do not try it again; the example would be too +bad." + +He took the skipper on his shoulders, and carried him to the fisherman's +door; knocked for admittance for the exhausted man; then, when the door +of the humble refuge opened, the Saviour disappeared. + +The Convent of Mercy was built for sailors on this spot, where for long +afterwards (so it was said) the footprints of Jesus Christ could be seen +in the sand; but in 1793, at the time of the French invasion, the monks +carried away this precious relic, that bore witness to the Saviour's +last visit to earth. + + + +There at the convent I found myself shortly after the Revolution of +1830. I was weary of life. If you had asked me the reason of my despair, +I should have found it almost impossible to give it, so languid had +grown the soul that was melted within me. The west wind had slackened +the springs of my intelligence. A cold gray light poured down from the +heavens, and the murky clouds that passed overhead gave a boding look to +the land; all these things, together with the immensity of the sea, said +to me, "Die to-day or die to-morrow, still must we not die?" And then--I +wandered on, musing on the doubtful future, on my blighted hopes. Gnawed +by these gloomy thoughts, I turned mechanically into the convent church, +with the gray towers that loomed like ghosts though the sea mists. +I looked round with no kindling of the imagination at the forest of +columns, at the slender arches set aloft upon the leafy capitals, a +delicate labyrinth of sculpture. I walked with careless eyes along the +side aisles that opened out before me like vast portals, ever turning +upon their hinges. It was scarcely possible to see, by the dim light of +the autumn day, the sculptured groinings of the roof, the delicate and +clean-cut lines of the mouldings of the graceful pointed arches. The +organ pipes were mute. There was no sound save the noise of my own +footsteps to awaken the mournful echoes lurking in the dark chapels. +I sat down at the base of one of the four pillars that supported the +tower, near the choir. Thence I could see the whole of the building. I +gazed, and no ideas connected with it arose in my mind. I saw without +seeing the mighty maze of pillars, the great rose windows that hung like +a network suspended as by a miracle in air above the vast doorways. I +saw the doors at the end of the side aisles, the aerial galleries, the +stained glass windows framed in archways, divided by slender columns, +fretted into flower forms and trefoil by fine filigree work of carved +stone. A dome of glass at the end of the choir sparkled as if it had +been built of precious stones set cunningly. In contrast to the roof +with its alternating spaces of whiteness and color, the two aisles lay +to right and left in shadow so deep that the faint gray outlines of +their hundred shafts were scarcely visible in the gloom. I gazed at the +marvelous arcades, the scroll-work, the garlands, the curving lines, and +arabesques interwoven and interlaced, and strangely lighted, until by +sheer dint of gazing my perceptions became confused, and I stood upon +the borderland between illusion and reality, taken in the snare set for +the eyes, and almost light-headed by reason of the multitudinous changes +of the shapes about me. + +Imperceptibly a mist gathered about the carven stonework, and I only +beheld it through a haze of fine golden dust, like the motes that hover +in the bars of sunlight slanting through the air of a chamber. Suddenly +the stone lacework of the rose windows gleamed through this vapor +that had made all forms so shadowy. Every moulding, the edges of every +carving, the least detail of the sculpture was dipped in silver. The +sunlight kindled fires in the stained windows, their rich colors sent +out glowing sparks of light. The shafts began to tremble, the capitals +were gently shaken. A light shudder as of delight ran through the +building, the stones were loosened in their setting, the wall-spaces +swayed with graceful caution. Here and there a ponderous pier moved as +solemnly as a dowager when she condescends to complete a quadrille at +the close of a ball. A few slender and graceful columns, their heads +adorned with wreaths of trefoil, began to laugh and dance here and +there. Some of the pointed arches dashed at the tall lancet windows, +who, like ladies of the Middle Ages, wore the armorial bearings of their +houses emblazoned on their golden robes. The dance of the mitred arcades +with the slender windows became like a fray at a tourney. + +In another moment every stone in the church vibrated, without leaving +its place; for the organ-pipes spoke, and I heard divine music mingling +with the songs of angels, and unearthly harmony, accompanied by the deep +notes of the bells, that boomed as the giant towers rocked and swayed on +their square bases. This strange Sabbath seemed to me the most natural +thing in the world; and I, who had seen Charles X. hurled from his +throne, was no longer amazed by anything. Nay, I myself was gently +swaying with a see-saw movement that influenced my nerves pleasurably in +a manner of which it is impossible to give any idea. Yet in the midst of +this heated riot, the cathedral choir felt cold as if it were a winter +day, and I became aware of a multitude of women, robed in white, silent, +and impassive, sitting there. The sweet incense smoke that arose from +the censers was grateful to my soul. The tall wax candles flickered. The +lectern, gay as a chanter undone by the treachery of wine, was skipping +about like a peal of Chinese bells. + +Then I knew that the whole cathedral was whirling round so fast that +everything appeared to be undisturbed. The colossal Figure on the +crucifix above the altar smiled upon me with a mingled malice and +benevolence that frightened me; I turned my eyes away, and marveled +at the bluish vapor that slid across the pillars, lending to them an +indescribable charm. Then some graceful women's forms began to stir on +the friezes. The cherubs who upheld the heavy columns shook out their +wings. I felt myself uplifted by some divine power that steeped me in +infinite joy, in a sweet and languid rapture. I would have given my +life, I think, to have prolonged these phantasmagoria for a little, but +suddenly a shrill voice clamored in my ears: + +"Awake and follow me!" + +A withered woman took my hand in hers; its icy coldness crept through +every nerve. The bones of her face showed plainly through the sallow, +almost olive-tinted wrinkles of the skin. The shrunken, ice-cold old +woman wore a black robe, which she trailed in the dust, and at her +throat there was something white, which I dared not examine. I could +scarcely see her wan and colorless eyes, for they were fixed in a stare +upon the heavens. She drew me after her along the aisles, leaving a +trace of her presence in the ashes that she shook from her dress. Her +bones rattled as she walked, like the bones of a skeleton; and as we +went I heard behind me the tinkling of a little bell, a thin, sharp +sound that rang through my head like the notes of a harmonica. + +"Suffer!" she cried, "suffer! So it must be!" + +We came out of the church; we went through the dirtiest streets of the +town, till we came at last to a dingy dwelling, and she bade me enter +in. She dragged me with her, calling to me in a harsh, tuneless voice +like a cracked bell: + +"Defend me! defend me!" + +Together we went up a winding staircase. She knocked at a door in the +darkness, and a mute, like some familiar of the Inquisition, opened +to her. In another moment we stood in a room hung with ancient, ragged +tapestry, amid piles of old linen, crumpled muslin, and gilded brass. + +"Behold the wealth that shall endure for ever!" said she. + +I shuddered with horror; for just then, by the light of a tall torch and +two altar candles, I saw distinctly that this woman was fresh from the +graveyard. She had no hair. I turned to fly. She raised her fleshless +arm and encircled me with a band of iron set with spikes, and as she +raised it a cry went up all about us, the cry of millions of voices--the +shouting of the dead! + +"It is my purpose to make thee happy for ever," she said. "Thou art my +son." + +We were sitting before the hearth, the ashes lay cold upon it; the +old shrunken woman grasped my hand so tightly in hers that I could not +choose but stay. I looked fixedly at her, striving to read the story of +her life from the things among which she was crouching. Had she indeed +any life in her? It was a mystery. Yet I saw plainly that once she must +have been young and beautiful; fair, with all the charm of simplicity, +perfect as some Greek statue, with the brow of a vestal. + +"Ah! ah!" I cried, "now I know thee! Miserable woman, why hast thou +prostituted thyself? In the age of thy passions, in the time of thy +prosperity, the grace and purity of thy youth were forgotten. Forgetful +of thy heroic devotion, thy pure life, thy abundant faith, thou didst +resign thy primitive power and thy spiritual supremacy for fleshly +power. Thy linen vestments, thy couch of moss, the cell in the rock, +bright with rays of the Light Divine, was forsaken; thou hast sparkled +with diamonds, and shone with the glitter of luxury and pride. Then, +grown bold and insolent, seizing and overturning all things in thy +course like a courtesan eager for pleasure in her days of splendor, thou +hast steeped thyself in blood like some queen stupefied by empery. Dost +thou not remember to have been dull and heavy at times, and the sudden +marvelous lucidity of other moments; as when Art emerges from an +orgy? Oh! poet, painter, and singer, lover of splendid ceremonies and +protector of the arts, was thy friendship for art perchance a caprice, +that so thou shouldst sleep beneath magnificent canopies? Was there not +a day when, in thy fantastic pride, though chastity and humility were +prescribed to thee, thou hadst brought all things beneath thy feet, and +set thy foot on the necks of princes; when earthly dominion, and +wealth, and the mind of man bore thy yoke? Exulting in the abasement of +humanity, joying to witness the uttermost lengths to which man's folly +would go, thou hast bidden thy lovers walk on all fours, and required +of them their lands and wealth, nay, even their wives if they were worth +aught to thee. Thou hast devoured millions of men without a cause; thou +hast flung away lives like sand blown by the wind from West to East. +Thou hast come down from the heights of thought to sit among the kings +of men. Woman! instead of comforting men, thou hast tormented and +afflicted them! Knowing that thou couldst ask and have, thou hast +demanded--blood! A little flour surely should have contented thee, +accustomed as thou hast been to live on bread and to mingle water with +thy wine. Unlike all others in all things, formerly thou wouldst bid thy +lovers fast, and they obeyed. Why should thy fancies have led thee to +require things impossible? Why, like a courtesan spoiled by her lovers, +hast thou doted on follies, and left those undeceived who sought to +explain and justify all thy errors? Then came the days of thy later +passions, terrible like the love of a woman of forty years, with a +fierce cry thou hast sought to clasp the whole universe in one last +embrace--and thy universe recoiled from thee! + +"Then old men succeeded to thy young lovers; decrepitude came to thy +feet and made thee hideous. Yet, even then, men with the eagle power +of vision said to thee in a glance, 'Thou shalt perish ingloriously, +because thou hast fallen away, because thou hast broken the vows of thy +maidenhood. The angel with peace written on her forehead, who should +have shed light and joy along her path, has been a Messalina, delighting +in the circus, in debauchery, and abuse of power. The days of thy +virginity cannot return; henceforward thou shalt be subject to a master. +Thy hour has come; the hand of death is upon thee. Thy heirs believe +that thou art rich; they will kill thee and find nothing. Yet try at +least to fling away this raiment no longer in fashion; be once more as +in the days of old!--Nay, thou art dead, and by thy own deed!' + +"Is not this thy story?" so I ended. "Decrepit, toothless, shivering +crone, now forgotten, going thy ways without so much as a glance from +passers-by! Why art thou still alive? What doest thou in that beggar's +garb, uncomely and desired of none? Where are thy riches?--for what were +they spent? Where are thy treasures?--what great deeds hast thou done?" + +At this demand, the shriveled woman raised her bony form, flung off her +rags, and grew tall and radiant, smiling as she broke forth from the +dark chrysalid sheath. Then like a butterfly, this diaphanous creature +emerged, fair and youthful, clothed in white linen, an Indian from +creation issuing her palms. Her golden hair rippled over her shoulders, +her eyes glowed, a bright mist clung about her, a ring of gold hovered +above her head, she shook the flaming blade of a sword towards the +spaces of heaven. + +"See and believe!" she cried. + +And suddenly I saw, afar off, many thousands of cathedrals like the one +that I had just quitted; but these were covered with pictures and with +frescoes, and I heard them echo with entrancing music. Myriads of human +creatures flocked to these great buildings, swarming about them like +ants on an ant-heap. Some were eager to rescue books from oblivion or +to copy manuscripts, others were helping the poor, but nearly all were +studying. Up above this countless multitude rose giant statues that they +had erected in their midst, and by the gleams of a strange light from +some luminary as powerful as the sun, I read the inscriptions on the +bases of the statues--Science, History, Literature. + +The light died out. Again I faced the young girl. Gradually she slipped +into the dreary sheath, into the ragged cere-cloths, and became an aged +woman again. Her familiar brought her a little dust, and she stirred it +into the ashes of her chafing-dish, for the weather was cold and stormy; +and then he lighted for her, whose palaces had been lit with thousands +of wax-tapers, a little cresset, that she might see to read her prayers +through the hours of night. + +"There is no faith left in the earth!..." she said. + +In such a perilous plight did I behold the fairest and the greatest, the +truest and most life-giving of all Powers. + + + +"Wake up, sir, the doors are just about to be shut," said a hoarse +voice. I turned and beheld the beadle's ugly countenance; the man was +shaking me by the arm, and the cathedral lay wrapped in shadows as a man +is wrapped in his cloak. + +"Belief," I said to myself, "is Life! I have just witnessed the funeral +of a monarchy, now we must defend the church." + + +PARIS, February 1831. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christ in Flanders, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRIST IN FLANDERS *** + +***** This file should be named 1940.txt or 1940.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/1940/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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