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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1954-0.txt b/1954-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f29bbc --- /dev/null +++ b/1954-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3154 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Chabert, 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: Colonel Chabert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + +Release Date: November, 1999 [Etext #1954] +Posting Date: March 6, 2010 +Last Updated: November 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +COLONEL CHABERT + + +By Honore De Balzac + + +Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + + + + + DEDICATION + + To Madame la Comtesse Ida de Bocarme nee du Chasteler. + + + + + + +COLONEL CHABERT + + +“HULLO! There is that old Box-coat again!” + +This exclamation was made by a lawyer’s clerk of the class called in +French offices a gutter-jumper--a messenger in fact--who at this moment +was eating a piece of dry bread with a hearty appetite. He pulled off +a morsel of crumb to make into a bullet, and fired it gleefully through +the open pane of the window against which he was leaning. The pellet, +well aimed, rebounded almost as high as the window, after hitting the +hat of a stranger who was crossing the courtyard of a house in the Rue +Vivienne, where dwelt Maitre Derville, attorney-at-law. + +“Come, Simonnin, don’t play tricks on people, or I will turn you out of +doors. However poor a client may be, he is still a man, hang it all!” + said the head clerk, pausing in the addition of a bill of costs. + +The lawyer’s messenger is commonly, as was Simonnin, a lad of thirteen +or fourteen, who, in every office, is under the special jurisdiction of +the managing clerk, whose errands and _billets-doux_ keep him employed +on his way to carry writs to the bailiffs and petitions to the Courts. +He is akin to the street boy in his habits, and to the pettifogger +by fate. The boy is almost always ruthless, unbroken, unmanageable, a +ribald rhymester, impudent, greedy, and idle. And yet, almost all these +clerklings have an old mother lodging on some fifth floor with whom they +share their pittance of thirty or forty francs a month. + +“If he is a man, why do you call him old Box-coat?” asked Simonnin, with +the air of a schoolboy who has caught out his master. + +And he went on eating his bread and cheese, leaning his shoulder against +the window jamb; for he rested standing like a cab-horse, one of his +legs raised and propped against the other, on the toe of his shoe. + +“What trick can we play that cove?” said the third clerk, whose name was +Godeschal, in a low voice, pausing in the middle of a discourse he +was extemporizing in an appeal engrossed by the fourth clerk, of which +copies were being made by two neophytes from the provinces. + +Then he went on improvising: + +“_But, in his noble and beneficent wisdom, his Majesty, Louis the +Eighteenth_--(write it at full length, heh! Desroches the learned--you, +as you engross it!)--_when he resumed the reins of Government, +understood_--(what did that old nincompoop ever understand?)--_the high +mission to which he had been called by Divine Providence!_--(a note of +admiration and six stops. They are pious enough at the Courts to let us +put six)--_and his first thought, as is proved by the date of the order +hereinafter designated, was to repair the misfortunes caused by the +terrible and sad disasters of the revolutionary times, by restoring to +his numerous and faithful adherents_--[‘numerous’ is flattering, and +ought to please the Bench)--_all their unsold estates, whether within +our realm, or in conquered or acquired territory, or in the endowments +of public institutions, for we are, and proclaim ourselves competent to +declare, that this is the spirit and meaning of the famous, truly loyal +order given in_--Stop,” said Godeschal to the three copying clerks, +“that rascally sentence brings me to the end of my page.--Well,” he went +on, wetting the back fold of the sheet with his tongue, so as to be able +to fold back the page of thick stamped paper, “well, if you want to play +him a trick, tell him that the master can only see his clients between +two and three in the morning; we shall see if he comes, the old +ruffian!” + +And Godeschal took up the sentence he was dictating--“_given in_--Are +you ready?” + +“Yes,” cried the three writers. + +It all went all together, the appeal, the gossip, and the conspiracy. + +“_Given in_--Here, Daddy Boucard, what is the date of the order? We +must dot our _i_‘s and cross our _t_‘s, by Jingo! it helps to fill the +pages.” + +“By Jingo!” repeated one of the copying clerks before Boucard, the head +clerk, could reply. + +“What! have you written _by Jingo_?” cried Godeschal, looking at one of +the novices, with an expression at once stern and humorous. + +“Why, yes,” said Desroches, the fourth clerk, leaning across his +neighbor’s copy, “he has written, ‘_We must dot our i’s_’ and spelt it +_by Gingo_!” + +All the clerks shouted with laughter. + +“Why! Monsieur Hure, you take ‘By Jingo’ for a law term, and you say you +come from Mortagne!” exclaimed Simonnin. + +“Scratch it cleanly out,” said the head clerk. “If the judge, whose +business it is to tax the bill, were to see such things, he would say +you were laughing at the whole boiling. You would hear of it from the +chief! Come, no more of this nonsense, Monsieur Hure! A Norman ought not +to write out an appeal without thought. It is the ‘Shoulder arms!’ of +the law.” + +“_Given in--in_?” asked Godeschal.--“Tell me when, Boucard.” + +“June 1814,” replied the head clerk, without looking up from his work. + +A knock at the office door interrupted the circumlocutions of the prolix +document. Five clerks with rows of hungry teeth, bright, mocking eyes, +and curly heads, lifted their noses towards the door, after crying all +together in a singing tone, “Come in!” + +Boucard kept his face buried in a pile of papers--_broutilles_ (odds and +ends) in French law jargon--and went on drawing out the bill of costs on +which he was busy. + +The office was a large room furnished with the traditional stool which +is to be seen in all these dens of law-quibbling. The stove-pipe crossed +the room diagonally to the chimney of a bricked-up fireplace; on the +marble chimney-piece were several chunks of bread, triangles of Brie +cheese, pork cutlets, glasses, bottles, and the head clerk’s cup of +chocolate. The smell of these dainties blended so completely with that +of the immoderately overheated stove and the odor peculiar to offices +and old papers, that the trail of a fox would not have been perceptible. +The floor was covered with mud and snow, brought in by the clerks. Near +the window stood the desk with a revolving lid, where the head clerk +worked, and against the back of it was the second clerk’s table. The +second clerk was at this moment in Court. It was between eight and nine +in the morning. + +The only decoration of the office consisted in huge yellow posters, +announcing seizures of real estate, sales, settlements under trust, +final or interim judgments,--all the glory of a lawyer’s office. Behind +the head clerk was an enormous room, of which each division was crammed +with bundles of papers with an infinite number of tickets hanging from +them at the ends of red tape, which give a peculiar physiognomy to law +papers. The lower rows were filled with cardboard boxes, yellow with +use, on which might be read the names of the more important clients +whose cases were juicily stewing at this present time. The dirty +window-panes admitted but little daylight. Indeed, there are very few +offices in Paris where it is possible to write without lamplight before +ten in the morning in the month of February, for they are all left to +very natural neglect; every one comes and no one stays; no one has any +personal interest in a scene of mere routine--neither the attorney, nor +the counsel, nor the clerks, trouble themselves about the appearance +of a place which, to the youths, is a schoolroom; to the clients, a +passage; to the chief, a laboratory. The greasy furniture is handed down +to successive owners with such scrupulous care, that in some offices +may still be seen boxes of _remainders_, machines for twisting +parchment gut, and bags left by the prosecuting parties of the Chatelet +(abbreviated to _Chlet_)--a Court which, under the old order of things, +represented the present Court of First Instance (or County Court). + +So in this dark office, thick with dust, there was, as in all its +fellows, something repulsive to the clients--something which made it +one of the most hideous monstrosities of Paris. Nay, were it not for +the mouldy sacristies where prayers are weighed out and paid for like +groceries, and for the old-clothes shops, where flutter the rags that +blight all the illusions of life by showing us the last end of all our +festivities--an attorney’s office would be, of all social marts, the +most loathsome. But we might say the same of the gambling-hell, of the +Law Court, of the lottery office, of the brothel. + +But why? In these places, perhaps, the drama being played in a man’s +soul makes him indifferent to accessories, which would also account for +the single-mindedness of great thinkers and men of great ambitions. + +“Where is my penknife?” + +“I am eating my breakfast.” + +“You go and be hanged! here is a blot on the copy.” + +“Silence, gentlemen!” + +These various exclamations were uttered simultaneously at the moment +when the old client shut the door with the sort of humility which +disfigures the movements of a man down on his luck. The stranger tried +to smile, but the muscles of his face relaxed as he vainly looked for +some symptoms of amenity on the inexorably indifferent faces of the six +clerks. Accustomed, no doubt, to gauge men, he very politely addressed +the gutter-jumper, hoping to get a civil answer from this boy of all +work. + +“Monsieur, is your master at home?” + +The pert messenger made no reply, but patted his ear with the fingers of +his left hand, as much as to say, “I am deaf.” + +“What do you want, sir?” asked Godeschal, swallowing as he spoke a +mouthful of bread big enough to charge a four-pounder, flourishing his +knife and crossing his legs, throwing up one foot in the air to the +level of his eyes. + +“This is the fifth time I have called,” replied the victim. “I wish to +speak to M. Derville.” + +“On business?” + +“Yes, but I can explain it to no one but--” + +“M. Derville is in bed; if you wish to consult him on some difficulty, +he does no serious work till midnight. But if you will lay the case +before us, we could help you just as well as he can to----” + +The stranger was unmoved; he looked timidly about him, like a dog who +has got into a strange kitchen and expects a kick. By grace of their +profession, lawyers’ clerks have no fear of thieves; they did not +suspect the owner of the box-coat, and left him to study the place, +where he looked in vain for a chair to sit on, for he was evidently +tired. Attorneys, on principle, do not have many chairs in their +offices. The inferior client, being kept waiting on his feet, goes away +grumbling, but then he does not waste time, which, as an old lawyer once +said, is not allowed for when the bill is taxed. + +“Monsieur,” said the old man, “as I have already told you, I cannot +explain my business to any one but M. Derville. I will wait till he is +up.” + +Boucard had finished his bill. He smelt the fragrance of his chocolate, +rose from his cane armchair, went to the chimney-piece, looked the old +man from head to foot, stared at his coat, and made an indescribable +grimace. He probably reflected that whichever way his client might be +wrung, it would be impossible to squeeze out a centime, so he put in a +few brief words to rid the office of a bad customer. + +“It is the truth, monsieur. The chief only works at night. If your +business is important, I recommend you to return at one in the morning.” + The stranger looked at the head clerk with a bewildered expression, and +remained motionless for a moment. The clerks, accustomed to every +change of countenance, and the odd whimsicalities to which indecision or +absence of mind gives rise in “parties,” went on eating, making as much +noise with their jaws as horses over a manger, and paying no further +heed to the old man. + +“I will come again to-night,” said the stranger at length, with the +tenacious desire, peculiar to the unfortunate, to catch humanity at +fault. + +The only irony allowed to poverty is to drive Justice and Benevolence to +unjust denials. When a poor wretch has convicted Society of falsehood, +he throws himself more eagerly on the mercy of God. + +“What do you think of that for a cracked pot?” said Simonnin, without +waiting till the old man had shut the door. + +“He looks as if he had been buried and dug up again,” said a clerk. + +“He is some colonel who wants his arrears of pay,” said the head clerk. + +“No, he is a retired concierge,” said Godeschal. + +“I bet you he is a nobleman,” cried Boucard. + +“I bet you he has been a porter,” retorted Godeschal. “Only porters are +gifted by nature with shabby box-coats, as worn and greasy and frayed +as that old body’s. And did you see his trodden-down boots that let the +water in, and his stock which serves for a shirt? He has slept in a dry +arch.” + +“He may be of noble birth, and yet have pulled the doorlatch,” cried +Desroches. “It has been known!” + +“No,” Boucard insisted, in the midst of laughter, “I maintain that he +was a brewer in 1789, and a colonel in the time of the Republic.” + +“I bet theatre tickets round that he never was a soldier,” said +Godeschal. + +“Done with you,” answered Boucard. + +“Monsieur! Monsieur!” shouted the little messenger, opening the window. + +“What are you at now, Simonnin?” asked Boucard. + +“I am calling him that you may ask him whether he is a colonel or a +porter; he must know.” + +All the clerks laughed. As to the old man, he was already coming +upstairs again. + +“What can we say to him?” cried Godeschal. + +“Leave it to me,” replied Boucard. + +The poor man came in nervously, his eyes cast down, perhaps not to +betray how hungry he was by looking too greedily at the eatables. + +“Monsieur,” said Boucard, “will you have the kindness to leave your +name, so that M. Derville may know----” + +“Chabert.” + +“The Colonel who was killed at Eylau?” asked Hure, who, having so far +said nothing, was jealous of adding a jest to all the others. + +“The same, monsieur,” replied the good man, with antique simplicity. And +he went away. + +“Whew!” + +“Done brown!” + +“Poof!” + +“Oh!” + +“Ah!” + +“Boum!” + +“The old rogue!” + +“Ting-a-ring-ting!” + +“Sold again!” + +“Monsieur Desroches, you are going to the play without paying,” said +Hure to the fourth clerk, giving him a slap on the shoulder that might +have killed a rhinoceros. + +There was a storm of cat-calls, cries, and exclamations, which all the +onomatopeia of the language would fail to represent. + +“Which theatre shall we go to?” + +“To the opera,” cried the head clerk. + +“In the first place,” said Godeschal, “I never mentioned which theatre. +I might, if I chose, take you to see Madame Saqui.” + +“Madame Saqui is not the play.” + +“What is a play?” replied Godeschal. “First, we must define the point +of fact. What did I bet, gentlemen? A play. What is a play? A spectacle. +What is a spectacle? Something to be seen--” + +“But on that principle you would pay your bet by taking us to see the +water run under the Pont Neuf!” cried Simonnin, interrupting him. + +“To be seen for money,” Godeschal added. + +“But a great many things are to be seen for money that are not plays. +The definition is defective,” said Desroches. + +“But do listen to me!” + +“You are talking nonsense, my dear boy,” said Boucard. + +“Is Curtius’ a play?” said Godeschal. + +“No,” said the head clerk, “it is a collection of figures--but it is a +spectacle.” + +“I bet you a hundred francs to a sou,” Godeschal resumed, “that Curtius’ +Waxworks forms such a show as might be called a play or theatre. It +contains a thing to be seen at various prices, according to the place +you choose to occupy.” + +“And so on, and so forth!” said Simonnin. + +“You mind I don’t box your ears!” said Godeschal. + +The clerk shrugged their shoulders. + +“Besides, it is not proved that that old ape was not making game of us,” + he said, dropping his argument, which was drowned in the laughter of the +other clerks. “On my honor, Colonel Chabert is really and truly dead. +His wife is married again to Comte Ferraud, Councillor of State. Madame +Ferraud is one of our clients.” + +“Come, the case is remanded till to-morrow,” said Boucard. “To work, +gentlemen. The deuce is in it; we get nothing done here. Finish copying +that appeal; it must be handed in before the sitting of the Fourth +Chamber, judgment is to be given to-day. Come, on you go!” + +“If he really were Colonel Chabert, would not that impudent rascal +Simonnin have felt the leather of his boot in the right place when he +pretended to be deaf?” said Desroches, regarding this remark as more +conclusive than Godeschal’s. + +“Since nothing is settled,” said Boucard, “let us all agree to go to the +upper boxes of the Francais and see Talma in ‘Nero.’ Simonnin may go to +the pit.” + +And thereupon the head clerk sat down at his table, and the others +followed his example. + +“_Given in June eighteen hundred and fourteen_ (in words),” said +Godeschal. “Ready?” + +“Yes,” replied the two copying-clerks and the engrosser, whose pens +forthwith began to creak over the stamped paper, making as much noise +in the office as a hundred cockchafers imprisoned by schoolboys in paper +cages. + +“_And we hope that my lords on the Bench_,” the extemporizing clerk went +on. “Stop! I must read my sentence through again. I do not understand it +myself.” + +“Forty-six (that must often happen) and three forty-nines,” said +Boucard. + +“_We hope_,” Godeschal began again, after reading all through the +document, “_that my lords on the Bench will not be less magnanimous than +the august author of the decree, and that they will do justice against +the miserable claims of the acting committee of the chief Board of the +Legion of Honor by interpreting the law in the wide sense we have here +set forth_----” + +“Monsieur Godeschal, wouldn’t you like a glass of water?” said the +little messenger. + +“That imp of a boy!” said Boucard. “Here, get on your double-soled +shanks-mare, take this packet, and spin off to the Invalides.” + +“_Here set forth_,” Godeschal went on. “Add _in the interest of Madame +la Vicomtesse_ (at full length) _de Grandlieu_.” + +“What!” cried the chief, “are you thinking of drawing up an appeal in +the case of Vicomtesse de Grandlieu against the Legion of Honor--a case +for the office to stand or fall by? You are something like an ass! Have +the goodness to put aside your copies and your notes; you may keep all +that for the case of Navarreins against the Hospitals. It is late. +I will draw up a little petition myself, with a due allowance of +‘inasmuch,’ and go to the Courts myself.” + +This scene is typical of the thousand delights which, when we look back +on our youth, make us say, “Those were good times.” + + + +At about one in the morning Colonel Chabert, self-styled, knocked at the +door of Maitre Derville, attorney to the Court of First Instance in the +Department of the Seine. The porter told him that Monsieur Derville had +not yet come in. The old man said he had an appointment, and was +shown upstairs to the rooms occupied by the famous lawyer, who, +notwithstanding his youth, was considered to have one of the longest +heads in Paris. + +Having rung, the distrustful applicant was not a little astonished at +finding the head clerk busily arranging in a convenient order on his +master’s dining-room table the papers relating to the cases to be tried +on the morrow. The clerk, not less astonished, bowed to the Colonel and +begged him to take a seat, which the client did. + +“On my word, monsieur, I thought you were joking yesterday when you +named such an hour for an interview,” said the old man, with the forced +mirth of a ruined man, who does his best to smile. + +“The clerks were joking, but they were speaking the truth too,” replied +the man, going on with his work. “M. Derville chooses this hour for +studying his cases, taking stock of their possibilities, arranging +how to conduct them, deciding on the line of defence. His prodigious +intellect is freer at this hour--the only time when he can have the +silence and quiet needed for the conception of good ideas. Since he +entered the profession, you are the third person to come to him for +a consultation at this midnight hour. After coming in the chief will +discuss each case, read everything, spend four or five hours perhaps +over the business, then he will ring for me and explain to me his +intentions. In the morning from ten to two he hears what his clients +have to say, then he spends the rest of his day in appointments. In the +evening he goes into society to keep up his connections. So he has only +the night for undermining his cases, ransacking the arsenal of the code, +and laying his plan of battle. He is determined never to lose a case; +he loves his art. He will not undertake every case, as his brethren do. +That is his life, an exceptionally active one. And he makes a great deal +of money.” + +As he listened to this explanation, the old man sat silent, and his +strange face assumed an expression so bereft of intelligence, that the +clerk, after looking at him, thought no more about him. + +A few minutes later Derville came in, in evening dress; his head clerk +opened the door to him, and went back to finish arranging the papers. +The young lawyer paused for a moment in amazement on seeing in the +dim light the strange client who awaited him. Colonel Chabert was as +absolutely immovable as one of the wax figures in Curtius’ collection to +which Godeschal had proposed to treat his fellow-clerks. This quiescence +would not have been a subject for astonishment if it had not completed +the supernatural aspect of the man’s whole person. The old soldier was +dry and lean. His forehead, intentionally hidden under a smoothly +combed wig, gave him a look of mystery. His eyes seemed shrouded in a +transparent film; you would have compared them to dingy mother-of-pearl +with a blue iridescence changing in the gleam of the wax lights. His +face, pale, livid, and as thin as a knife, if I may use such a vulgar +expression, was as the face of the dead. Round his neck was a tight +black silk stock. + +Below the dark line of this rag the body was so completely hidden in +shadow that a man of imagination might have supposed the old head was +due to some chance play of light and shade, or have taken it for a +portrait by Rembrandt, without a frame. The brim of the hat which +covered the old man’s brow cast a black line of shadow on the upper part +of the face. This grotesque effect, though natural, threw into relief by +contrast the white furrows, the cold wrinkles, the colorless tone of the +corpse-like countenance. And the absence of all movement in the +figure, of all fire in the eye, were in harmony with a certain look of +melancholy madness, and the deteriorating symptoms characteristic of +senility, giving the face an indescribably ill-starred look which no +human words could render. + +But an observer, especially a lawyer, could also have read in this +stricken man the signs of deep sorrow, the traces of grief which had +worn into this face, as drops of water from the sky falling on fine +marble at last destroy its beauty. A physician, an author, or a judge +might have discerned a whole drama at the sight of its sublime horror, +while the least charm was its resemblance to the grotesques which +artists amuse themselves by sketching on a corner of the lithographic +stone while chatting with a friend. + +On seeing the attorney, the stranger started, with the convulsive thrill +that comes over a poet when a sudden noise rouses him from a fruitful +reverie in silence and at night. The old man hastily removed his hat +and rose to bow to the young man; the leather lining of his hat was +doubtless very greasy; his wig stuck to it without his noticing it, +and left his head bare, showing his skull horribly disfigured by a +scar beginning at the nape of the neck and ending over the right eye, a +prominent seam all across his head. The sudden removal of the dirty +wig which the poor man wore to hide this gash gave the two lawyers no +inclination to laugh, so horrible to behold was this riven skull. +The first idea suggested by the sight of this old wound was, “His +intelligence must have escaped through that cut.” + +“If this is not Colonel Chabert, he is some thorough-going trooper!” + thought Boucard. + +“Monsieur,” said Derville, “to whom have I the honor of speaking?” + +“To Colonel Chabert.” + +“Which?” + +“He who was killed at Eylau,” replied the old man. + +On hearing this strange speech, the lawyer and his clerk glanced at each +other, as much as to say, “He is mad.” + +“Monsieur,” the Colonel went on, “I wish to confide to you the secret of +my position.” + +A thing worthy of note is the natural intrepidity of lawyers. Whether +from the habit of receiving a great many persons, or from the deep sense +of the protection conferred on them by the law, or from confidence in +their missions, they enter everywhere, fearing nothing, like priests and +physicians. Derville signed to Boucard, who vanished. + +“During the day, sir,” said the attorney, “I am not so miserly of my +time, but at night every minute is precious. So be brief and concise. Go +to the facts without digression. I will ask for any explanations I may +consider necessary. Speak.” + +Having bid his strange client to be seated, the young man sat down at +the table; but while he gave his attention to the deceased Colonel, he +turned over the bundles of papers. + +“You know, perhaps,” said the dead man, “that I commanded a cavalry +regiment at Eylau. I was of important service to the success of Murat’s +famous charge which decided the victory. Unhappily for me, my death is +a historical fact, recorded in _Victoires et Conquetes_, where it is +related in full detail. We cut through the three Russian lines, which at +once closed up and formed again, so that we had to repeat the movement +back again. At the moment when we were nearing the Emperor, after +having scattered the Russians, I came against a squadron of the enemy’s +cavalry. I rushed at the obstinate brutes. Two Russian officers, perfect +giants, attacked me both at once. One of them gave me a cut across the +head that crashed through everything, even a black silk cap I wore next +my head, and cut deep into the skull. I fell from my horse. Murat came +up to support me. He rode over my body, he and all his men, fifteen +hundred of them--there might have been more! My death was announced +to the Emperor, who as a precaution--for he was fond of me, was the +master--wished to know if there were no hope of saving the man he had +to thank for such a vigorous attack. He sent two surgeons to identify me +and bring me into Hospital, saying, perhaps too carelessly, for he +was very busy, ‘Go and see whether by any chance poor Chabert is still +alive.’ These rascally saw-bones, who had just seen me lying under +the hoofs of the horses of two regiments, no doubt did not trouble +themselves to feel my pulse, and reported that I was quite dead. The +certificate of death was probably made out in accordance with the rules +of military jurisprudence.” + +As he heard his visitor express himself with complete lucidity, and +relate a story so probable though so strange, the young lawyer ceased +fingering the papers, rested his left elbow on the table, and with his +head on his hand looked steadily at the Colonel. + +“Do you know, monsieur, that I am lawyer to the Countess Ferraud,” he +said, interrupting the speaker, “Colonel Chabert’s widow?” + +“My wife--yes monsieur. Therefore, after a hundred fruitless attempts to +interest lawyers, who have all thought me mad, I made up my mind to come +to you. I will tell you of my misfortunes afterwards; for the present, +allow me to prove the facts, explaining rather how things must have +fallen out rather than how they did occur. Certain circumstances, known, +I suppose to no one but the Almighty, compel me to speak of some things +as hypothetical. The wounds I had received must presumably have produced +tetanus, or have thrown me into a state analogous to that of a disease +called, I believe, catalepsy. Otherwise how is it conceivable that I +should have been stripped, as is the custom in time of the war, and +thrown into the common grave by the men ordered to bury the dead? + +“Allow me here to refer to a detail of which I could know nothing till +after the event, which, after all, I must speak of as my death. At +Stuttgart, in 1814, I met an old quartermaster of my regiment. This dear +fellow, the only man who chose to recognize me, and of whom I will tell +you more later, explained the marvel of my preservation, by telling me +that my horse was shot in the flank at the moment when I was wounded. +Man and beast went down together, like a monk cut out of card-paper. As +I fell, to the right or to the left, I was no doubt covered by the body +of my horse, which protected me from being trampled to death or hit by a +ball. + +“When I came to myself, monsieur, I was in a position and an atmosphere +of which I could give you no idea if I talked till to-morrow. The little +air there was to breathe was foul. I wanted to move, and found no room. +I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. The most alarming circumstance +was the lack of air, and this enlightened me as to my situation. I +understood that no fresh air could penetrate to me, and that I must die. +This thought took off the sense of intolerable pain which had aroused +me. There was a violent singing in my ears. I heard--or I thought I +heard, I will assert nothing--groans from the world of dead among whom I +was lying. Some nights I still think I hear those stifled moans; +though the remembrance of that time is very obscure, and my memory very +indistinct, in spite of my impressions of far more acute suffering I was +fated to go through, and which have confused my ideas. + +“But there was something more awful than cries; there was a silence such +as I have never known elsewhere--literally, the silence of the grave. +At last, by raising my hands and feeling the dead, I discerned a vacant +space between my head and the human carrion above. I could thus measure +the space, granted by a chance of which I knew not the cause. It would +seem that, thanks to the carelessness and the haste with which we had +been pitched into the trench, two dead bodies had leaned across and +against each other, forming an angle like that made by two cards when a +child is building a card castle. Feeling about me at once, for there +was no time for play, I happily felt an arm lying detached, the arm of +a Hercules! A stout bone, to which I owed my rescue. But for this +unhoped-for help, I must have perished. But with a fury you may imagine, +I began to work my way through the bodies which separated me from the +layer of earth which had no doubt been thrown over us--I say us, as if +there had been others living! I worked with a will, monsieur, for here I +am! But to this day I do not know how I succeeded in getting through the +pile of flesh which formed a barrier between me and life. You will say I +had three arms. This crowbar, which I used cleverly enough, opened out +a little air between the bodies I moved, and I economized my breath. At +last I saw daylight, but through snow! + +“At that moment I perceived that my head was cut open. Happily my blood, +or that of my comrades, or perhaps the torn skin of my horse, who knows, +had in coagulating formed a sort of natural plaster. But, in spite +of it, I fainted away when my head came into contact with the snow. +However, the little warmth left in me melted the snow about me; and when +I recovered consciousness, I found myself in the middle of a round hole, +where I stood shouting as long as I could. But the sun was rising, so I +had very little chance of being heard. Was there any one in the fields +yet? I pulled myself up, using my feet as a spring, resting on one of +the dead, whose ribs were firm. You may suppose that this was not the +moment for saying, ‘Respect courage in misfortune!’ In short, monsieur, +after enduring the anguish, if the word is strong enough for my frenzy, +of seeing for a long time, yes, quite a long time, those cursed Germans +flying from a voice they heard where they could see no one, I was dug +out by a woman, who was brave or curious enough to come close to my +head, which must have looked as though it had sprouted from the ground +like a mushroom. This woman went to fetch her husband, and between them +they got me to their poor hovel. + +“It would seem that I must have again fallen into a catalepsy--allow me +to use the word to describe a state of which I have no idea, but which, +from the account given by my hosts, I suppose to have been the effect +of that malady. I remained for six months between life and death; not +speaking, or, if I spoke, talking in delirium. At last, my hosts got me +admitted to the hospital at Heilsberg. + +“You will understand, Monsieur, that I came out of the womb of the grave +as naked as I came from my mother’s; so that six months afterwards, when +I remembered, one fine morning, that I had been Colonel Chabert, and +when, on recovering my wits, I tried to exact from my nurse rather more +respect than she paid to any poor devil, all my companions in the ward +began to laugh. Luckily for me, the surgeon, out of professional pride, +had answered for my cure, and was naturally interested in his patient. +When I told him coherently about my former life, this good man, named +Sparchmann, signed a deposition, drawn up in the legal form of his +country, giving an account of the miraculous way in which I had escaped +from the trench dug for the dead, the day and hour when I had been found +by my benefactress and her husband, the nature and exact spot of my +injuries, adding to these documents a description of my person. + +“Well, monsieur, I have neither these important pieces of evidence, +nor the declaration I made before a notary at Heilsberg, with a view +to establishing my identity. From the day when I was turned out of that +town by the events of the war, I have wandered about like a vagabond, +begging my bread, treated as a madman when I have told my story, without +ever having found or earned a sou to enable me to recover the deeds +which would prove my statements, and restore me to society. My +sufferings have often kept me for six months at a time in some little +town, where every care was taken of the invalid Frenchman, but where he +was laughed at to his face as soon as he said he was Colonel Chabert. +For a long time that laughter, those doubts, used to put me into rages +which did me harm, and which even led to my being locked up at Stuttgart +as a madman. And indeed, as you may judge from my story, there was ample +reason for shutting a man up. + +“At the end of two years’ detention, which I was compelled to submit to, +after hearing my keepers say a thousand times, ‘Here is a poor man who +thinks he is Colonel Chabert’ to people who would reply, ‘Poor fellow!’ +I became convinced of the impossibility of my own adventure. I grew +melancholy, resigned, and quiet, and gave up calling myself Colonel +Chabert, in order to get out of my prison, and see France once more. Oh, +monsieur! To see Paris again was a delirium which I----” + +Without finishing his sentence, Colonel Chabert fell into a deep study, +which Derville respected. + +“One fine day,” his visitor resumed, “one spring day, they gave me the +key of the fields, as we say, and ten thalers, admitting that I talked +quite sensibly on all subjects, and no longer called myself Colonel +Chabert. On my honor, at that time, and even to this day, sometimes I +hate my name. I wish I were not myself. The sense of my rights kills me. +If my illness had but deprived me of all memory of my past life, I could +be happy. I should have entered the service again under any name, +no matter what, and should, perhaps, have been made Field-Marshal in +Austria or Russia. Who knows?” + +“Monsieur,” said the attorney, “you have upset all my ideas. I feel as +if I heard you in a dream. Pause for a moment, I beg of you.” + +“You are the only person,” said the Colonel, with a melancholy look, +“who ever listened to me so patiently. No lawyer has been willing to +lend me ten napoleons to enable me to procure from Germany the necessary +documents to begin my lawsuit--” + +“What lawsuit?” said the attorney, who had forgotten his client’s +painful position in listening to the narrative of his past sufferings. + +“Why, monsieur, is not the Comtesse Ferraud my wife? She has thirty +thousand francs a year, which belong to me, and she will not give me a +son. When I tell lawyers these things--men of sense; when I propose--I, +a beggar--to bring action against a Count and Countess; when I--a +dead man--bring up as against a certificate of death a certificate of +marriage and registers of births, they show me out, either with the air +of cold politeness, which you all know how to assume to rid yourself of +a hapless wretch, or brutally, like men who think they have to deal with +a swindler or a madman--it depends on their nature. I have been buried +under the dead; but now I am buried under the living, under papers, +under facts, under the whole of society, which wants to shove me +underground again!” + +“Pray resume your narrative,” said Derville. + +“‘Pray resume it!’” cried the hapless old man, taking the young lawyer’s +hand. “That is the first polite word I have heard since----” + +The Colonel wept. Gratitude choked his voice. The appealing and +unutterable eloquence that lies in the eyes, in a gesture, even in +silence, entirely convinced Derville, and touched him deeply. + +“Listen, monsieur,” said he; “I have this evening won three hundred +francs at cards. I may very well lay out half that sum in making a man +happy. I will begin the inquiries and researches necessary to obtain the +documents of which you speak, and until they arrive I will give you five +francs a day. If you are Colonel Chabert, you will pardon the smallness +of the loan as it is coming from a young man who has his fortune to +make. Proceed.” + +The Colonel, as he called himself, sat for a moment motionless and +bewildered; the depth of his woes had no doubt destroyed his powers of +belief. Though he was eager in pursuit of his military distinction, of +his fortune, of himself, perhaps it was in obedience to the inexplicable +feeling, the latent germ in every man’s heart, to which we owe the +experiments of alchemists, the passion for glory, the discoveries of +astronomy and of physics, everything which prompts man to expand his +being by multiplying himself through deeds or ideas. In his mind the +_Ego_ was now but a secondary object, just as the vanity of success or +the pleasures of winning become dearer to the gambler than the object +he has at stake. The young lawyer’s words were as a miracle to this man, +for ten years repudiated by his wife, by justice, by the whole social +creation. To find in a lawyer’s office the ten gold pieces which had +so long been refused him by so many people, and in so many ways! The +colonel was like the lady who, having been ill of a fever for fifteen +years, fancied she had some fresh complaint when she was cured. There +are joys in which we have ceased to believe; they fall on us, it is like +a thunderbolt; they burn us. The poor man’s gratitude was too great to +find utterance. To superficial observers he seemed cold, but Derville +saw complete honesty under this amazement. A swindler would have found +his voice. + +“Where was I?” said the Colonel, with the simplicity of a child or of +a soldier, for there is often something of the child in a true soldier, +and almost always something of the soldier in a child, especially in +France. + +“At Stuttgart. You were out of prison,” said Derville. + +“You know my wife?” asked the Colonel. + +“Yes,” said Derville, with a bow. + +“What is she like?” + +“Still quite charming.” + +The old man held up his hand, and seemed to be swallowing down +some secret anguish with the grave and solemn resignation that is +characteristic of men who have stood the ordeal of blood and fire on the +battlefield. + +“Monsieur,” said he, with a sort of cheerfulness--for he breathed again, +the poor Colonel; he had again risen from the grave; he had just melted +a covering of snow less easily thawed than that which had once before +frozen his head; and he drew a deep breath, as if he had just escaped +from a dungeon--“Monsieur, if I had been a handsome young fellow, none +of my misfortunes would have befallen me. Women believe in men when they +flavor their speeches with the word Love. They hurry then, they come, +they go, they are everywhere at once; they intrigue, they assert facts, +they play the very devil for a man who takes their fancy. But how could +I interest a woman? I had a face like a Requiem. I was dressed like a +_sans-culotte_. I was more like an Esquimaux than a Frenchman--I, who +had formerly been considered one of the smartest of fops in 1799!--I, +Chabert, Count of the Empire. + +“Well, on the very day when I was turned out into the streets like +a dog, I met the quartermaster of whom I just now spoke. This old +soldier’s name was Boutin. The poor devil and I made the queerest pair +of broken-down hacks I ever set eyes on. I met him out walking; but +though I recognized him, he could not possibly guess who I was. We went +into a tavern together. In there, when I told him my name, Boutin’s +mouth opened from ear to ear in a roar of laughter, like the bursting +of a mortar. That mirth, monsieur, was one of the keenest pangs I have +known. It told me without disguise how great were the changes in me! I +was, then, unrecognizable even to the humblest and most grateful of my +former friends! + +“I had once saved Boutin’s life, but it was only the repayment of a debt +I owed him. I need not tell you how he did me this service; it was at +Ravenna, in Italy. The house where Boutin prevented my being stabbed was +not extremely respectable. At that time I was not a colonel, but, like +Boutin himself, a common trooper. Happily there were certain details of +this adventure which could be known only to us two, and when I recalled +them to his mind his incredulity diminished. I then told him the story +of my singular experiences. Although my eyes and my voice, he told +me, were strangely altered, although I had neither hair, teeth, nor +eyebrows, and was as colorless as an Albino, he at last recognized his +Colonel in the beggar, after a thousand questions, which I answered +triumphantly. + +“He related his adventures; they were not less extraordinary than my +own; he had lately come back from the frontiers of China, which he +had tried to cross after escaping from Siberia. He told me of the +catastrophe of the Russian campaign, and of Napoleon’s first abdication. +That news was one of the things which caused me most anguish! + +“We were two curious derelicts, having been rolled over the globe as +pebbles are rolled by the ocean when storms bear them from shore to +shore. Between us we had seen Egypt, Syria, Spain, Russia, Holland, +Germany, Italy and Dalmatia, England, China, Tartary, Siberia; the only +thing wanting was that neither of us had been to America or the Indies. +Finally, Boutin, who still was more locomotive than I, undertook to go +to Paris as quickly as might be to inform my wife of the predicament in +which I was. I wrote a long letter full of details to Madame Chabert. +That, monsieur, was the fourth! If I had had any relations, perhaps +nothing of all this might have happened; but, to be frank with you, I +am but a workhouse child, a soldier, whose sole fortune was his courage, +whose sole family is mankind at large, whose country is France, whose +only protector is the Almighty.--Nay, I am wrong! I had a father--the +Emperor! Ah! if he were but here, the dear man! If he could see _his +Chabert_, as he used to call me, in the state in which I am now, he +would be in a rage! What is to be done? Our sun is set, and we are all +out in the cold now. After all, political events might account for my +wife’s silence! + +“Boutin set out. He was a lucky fellow! He had two bears, admirably +trained, which brought him in a living. I could not go with him; the +pain I suffered forbade my walking long stages. I wept, monsieur, when +we parted, after I had gone as far as my state allowed in company with +him and his bears. At Carlsruhe I had an attack of neuralgia in the +head, and lay for six weeks on straw in an inn. I should never have +ended if I were to tell you all the distresses of my life as a beggar. +Moral suffering, before which physical suffering pales, nevertheless +excites less pity, because it is not seen. I remember shedding tears, as +I stood in front of a fine house in Strassburg where once I had given +an entertainment, and where nothing was given me, not even a piece of +bread. Having agreed with Boutin on the road I was to take, I went to +every post-office to ask if there were a letter or some money for me. +I arrived at Paris without having found either. What despair I had been +forced to endure! ‘Boutin must be dead! I told myself, and in fact the +poor fellow was killed at Waterloo. I heard of his death later, and by +mere chance. His errand to my wife had, of course, been fruitless. + +“At last I entered Paris--with the Cossacks. To me this was grief on +grief. On seeing the Russians in France, I quite forgot that I had no +shoes on my feet nor money in my pocket. Yes, monsieur, my clothes were +in tatters. The evening before I reached Paris I was obliged to bivouac +in the woods of Claye. The chill of the night air no doubt brought on an +attack of some nameless complaint which seized me as I was crossing +the Faubourg Saint-Martin. I dropped almost senseless at the door of an +ironmonger’s shop. When I recovered I was in a bed in the Hotel-Dieu. +There I stayed very contentedly for about a month. I was then turned +out; I had no money, but I was well, and my feet were on the good stones +of Paris. With what delight and haste did I make my way to the Rue du +Mont-Blanc, where my wife should be living in a house belonging to me! +Bah! the Rue du Mont-Blanc was now the Rue de la Chausee d’Antin; I +could not find my house; it had been sold and pulled down. Speculators +had built several houses over my gardens. Not knowing that my wife had +married M. Ferraud, I could obtain no information. + +“At last I went to the house of an old lawyer who had been in charge of +my affairs. This worthy man was dead, after selling his connection to +a younger man. This gentleman informed me, to my great surprise, of the +administration of my estate, the settlement of the moneys, of my wife’s +marriage, and the birth of her two children. When I told him that I was +Colonel Chabert, he laughed so heartily that I left him without saying +another word. My detention at Stuttgart had suggested possibilities of +Charenton, and I determined to act with caution. Then, monsieur, +knowing where my wife lived, I went to her house, my heart high with +hope.--Well,” said the Colonel, with a gesture of concentrated fury, +“when I called under an assumed name I was not admitted, and on the day +when I used my own I was turned out of doors. + +“To see the Countess come home from a ball or the play in the early +morning, I have sat whole nights through, crouching close to the wall of +her gateway. My eyes pierced the depths of the carriage, which flashed +past me with the swiftness of lightning, and I caught a glimpse of the +woman who is my wife and no longer mine. Oh, from that day I have +lived for vengeance!” cried the old man in a hollow voice, and suddenly +standing up in front of Derville. “She knows that I am alive; since my +return she has had two letters written with my own hand. She loves me +no more!--I--I know not whether I love or hate her. I long for her and +curse her by turns. To me she owes all her fortune, all her happiness; +well, she has not sent me the very smallest pittance. Sometimes I do not +know what will become of me!” + +With these words the veteran dropped on to his chair again and remained +motionless. Derville sat in silence, studying his client. + +“It is a serious business,” he said at length, mechanically. “Even +granting the genuineness of the documents to be procured from Heilsberg, +it is not proved to me that we can at once win our case. It must go +before three tribunals in succession. I must think such a matter over +with a clear head; it is quite exceptional.” + +“Oh,” said the Colonel, coldly, with a haughty jerk of his head, “if I +fail, I can die--but not alone.” + +The feeble old man had vanished. The eyes were those of a man of energy, +lighted up with the spark of desire and revenge. + +“We must perhaps compromise,” said the lawyer. + +“Compromise!” echoed Colonel Chabert. “Am I dead, or am I alive?” + +“I hope, monsieur,” the attorney went on, “that you will follow my +advice. Your cause is mine. You will soon perceive the interest I take +in your situation, almost unexampled in judicial records. For the moment +I will give you a letter to my notary, who will pay to your order fifty +francs every ten days. It would be unbecoming for you to come here to +receive alms. If you are Colonel Chabert, you ought to be at no man’s +mercy. I shall record these advances as a loan; you have estates to +recover; you are rich.” + +This delicate compassion brought tears to the old man’s eyes. Derville +rose hastily, for it was perhaps not correct for a lawyer to show +emotion; he went into the adjoining room, and came back with an unsealed +letter, which he gave to the Colonel. When the poor man held it in his +hand, he felt through the paper two gold pieces. + +“Will you be good enough to describe the documents, and tell me the name +of the town, and in what kingdom?” said the lawyer. + +The Colonel dictated the information, and verified the spelling of the +names of places; then he took his hat in one hand, looked at Derville, +and held out the other--a horny hand, saying with much simplicity: + +“On my honor, sir, after the Emperor, you are the man to whom I shall +owe most. You are a splendid fellow!” + +The attorney clapped his hand into the Colonel’s, saw him to the stairs, +and held a light for him. + +“Boucard,” said Derville to his head clerk, “I have just listened to a +tale that may cost me five and twenty louis. If I am robbed, I shall not +regret the money, for I shall have seen the most consummate actor of the +day.” + +When the Colonel was in the street and close to a lamp, he took the two +twenty-franc pieces out of the letter and looked at them for a moment +under the light. It was the first gold he had seen for nine years. + +“I may smoke cigars!” he said to himself. + + + +About three months after this interview, at night, in Derville’s room, +the notary commissioned to advance the half-pay on Derville’s account to +his eccentric client, came to consult the attorney on a serious matter, +and began by begging him to refund the six hundred francs that the old +soldier had received. + +“Are you amusing yourself with pensioning the old army?” said the +notary, laughing--a young man named Crottat, who had just bought up +the office in which he had been head clerk, his chief having fled in +consequence of a disastrous bankruptcy. + +“I have to thank you, my dear sir, for reminding me of that affair,” + replied Derville. “My philanthropy will not carry me beyond twenty-five +louis; I have, I fear, already been the dupe of my patriotism.” + +As Derville finished the sentence, he saw on his desk the papers his +head clerk had laid out for him. His eye was struck by the appearance +of the stamps--long, square, and triangular, in red and blue ink, which +distinguished a letter that had come through the Prussian, Austrian, +Bavarian, and French post-offices. + +“Ah ha!” said he with a laugh, “here is the last act of the comedy; now +we shall see if I have been taken in!” + +He took up the letter and opened it; but he could not read it; it was +written in German. + +“Boucard, go yourself and have this letter translated, and bring it back +immediately,” said Derville, half opening his study door, and giving the +letter to the head clerk. + +The notary at Berlin, to whom the lawyer had written, informed him that +the documents he had been requested to forward would arrive within a +few days of this note announcing them. They were, he said, all perfectly +regular and duly witnessed, and legally stamped to serve as evidence +in law. He also informed him that almost all the witnesses to the facts +recorded under these affidavits were still to be found at Eylau, in +Prussia, and that the woman to whom M. le Comte Chabert owed his life +was still living in a suburb of Heilsberg. + +“This looks like business,” cried Derville, when Boucard had given +him the substance of the letter. “But look here, my boy,” he went on, +addressing the notary, “I shall want some information which ought to +exist in your office. Was it not that old rascal Roguin--?” + +“We will say that unfortunate, that ill-used Roguin,” interrupted +Alexandre Crottat with a laugh. + +“Well, was it not that ill-used man who has just carried off eight +hundred thousand francs of his clients’ money, and reduced several +families to despair, who effected the settlement of Chabert’s estate? I +fancy I have seen that in the documents in our case of Ferraud.” + +“Yes,” said Crottat. “It was when I was third clerk; I copied the papers +and studied them thoroughly. Rose Chapotel, wife and widow of Hyacinthe, +called Chabert, Count of the Empire, grand officer of the Legion of +Honor. They had married without settlement; thus, they held all the +property in common. To the best of my recollections, the personalty was +about six hundred thousand francs. Before his marriage, Colonel Chabert +had made a will in favor of the hospitals of Paris, by which he left +them one-quarter of the fortune he might possess at the time of his +decease, the State to take the other quarter. The will was contested, +there was a forced sale, and then a division, for the attorneys went at +a pace. At the time of the settlement the monster who was then governing +France handed over to the widow, by special decree, the portion +bequeathed to the treasury.” + +“So that Comte Chabert’s personal fortune was no more than three hundred +thousand francs?” + +“Consequently so it was, old fellow!” said Crottat. “You lawyers +sometimes are very clear-headed, though you are accused of false +practices in pleading for one side or the other.” + +Colonel Chabert, whose address was written at the bottom of the +first receipt he had given the notary, was lodging in the Faubourg +Saint-Marceau, Rue du Petit-Banquier, with an old quartermaster of the +Imperial Guard, now a cowkeeper, named Vergniaud. Having reached the +spot, Derville was obliged to go on foot in search of his client, for +his coachman declined to drive along an unpaved street, where the ruts +were rather too deep for cab wheels. Looking about him on all sides, +the lawyer at last discovered at the end of the street nearest to the +boulevard, between two walls built of bones and mud, two shabby stone +gate-posts, much knocked about by carts, in spite of two wooden stumps +that served as blocks. These posts supported a cross beam with a +penthouse coping of tiles, and on the beam, in red letters, were the +words, “Vergniaud, dairyman.” To the right of this inscription were some +eggs, to the left a cow, all painted in white. The gate was open, and no +doubt remained open all day. Beyond a good-sized yard there was a house +facing the gate, if indeed the name of house may be applied to one of +the hovels built in the neighborhood of Paris, which are like nothing +else, not even the most wretched dwellings in the country, of which they +have all the poverty without their poetry. + +Indeed, in the midst of the fields, even a hovel may have a certain +grace derived from the pure air, the verdure, the open country--a hill, +a serpentine road, vineyards, quickset hedges, moss-grown thatch and +rural implements; but poverty in Paris gains dignity only by horror. +Though recently built, this house seemed ready to fall into ruins. None +of its materials had found a legitimate use; they had been collected +from the various demolitions which are going on every day in Paris. On +a shutter made of the boards of a shop-sign Derville read the words, +“Fancy Goods.” The windows were all mismatched and grotesquely placed. +The ground floor, which seemed to be the habitable part, was on one +side raised above the soil, and on the other sunk in the rising ground. +Between the gate and the house lay a puddle full of stable litter, into +which flowed the rain-water and house waste. The back wall of this frail +construction, which seemed rather more solidly built than the rest, +supported a row of barred hutches, where rabbits bred their numerous +families. To the right of the gate was the cowhouse, with a loft above +for fodder; it communicated with the house through the dairy. To +the left was a poultry yard, with a stable and pig-styes, the roofs +finished, like that of the house, with rough deal boards nailed so as to +overlap, and shabbily thatched with rushes. + +Like most of the places where the elements of the huge meal daily +devoured by Paris are every day prepared, the yard Derville now entered +showed traces of the hurry that comes of the necessity for being +ready at a fixed hour. The large pot-bellied tin cans in which milk +is carried, and the little pots for cream, were flung pell-mell at the +dairy door, with their linen-covered stoppers. The rags that were used +to clean them, fluttered in the sunshine, riddled with holes, hanging +to strings fastened to poles. The placid horse, of a breed known only +to milk-women, had gone a few steps from the cart, and was standing in +front of the stable, the door being shut. A goat was munching the shoots +of a starved and dusty vine that clung to the cracked yellow wall of the +house. A cat, squatting on the cream jars, was licking them over. The +fowls, scared by Derville’s approach, scuttered away screaming, and the +watch-dog barked. + +“And the man who decided the victory at Eylau is to be found here!” said +Derville to himself, as his eyes took in at a glance the general effect +of the squalid scene. + +The house had been left in charge of three little boys. One, who had +climbed to the top of the cart loaded with hay, was pitching stones into +the chimney of a neighboring house, in the hope that they might fall +into a saucepan; another was trying to get a pig into a cart, to hoist +it by making the whole thing tilt. When Derville asked them if M. +Chabert lived there, neither of them replied, but all three looked at +him with a sort of bright stupidity, if I may combine those two words. +Derville repeated his questions, but without success. Provoked by the +saucy cunning of these three imps, he abused them with the sort of +pleasantry which young men think they have the right to address to +little boys, and they broke the silence with a horse-laugh. Then +Derville was angry. + +The Colonel, hearing him, now came out of the little low room, close to +the dairy, and stood on the threshold of his doorway with indescribable +military coolness. He had in his mouth a very finely-colored pipe--a +technical phrase to a smoker--a humble, short clay pipe of the kind +called “_brule-queule_.” He lifted the peak of a dreadfully greasy +cloth cap, saw Derville, and came straight across the midden to join his +benefactor the sooner, calling out in friendly tones to the boys: + +“Silence in the ranks!” + +The children at once kept a respectful silence, which showed the power +the old soldier had over them. + +“Why did you not write to me?” he said to Derville. “Go along by the +cowhouse! There--the path is paved there,” he exclaimed, seeing the +lawyer’s hesitancy, for he did not wish to wet his feet in the manure +heap. + +Jumping from one dry spot to another, Derville reached the door by which +the Colonel had come out. Chabert seemed but ill pleased at having to +receive him in the bed-room he occupied; and, in fact, Derville found +but one chair there. The Colonel’s bed consisted of some trusses of +straw, over which his hostess had spread two or three of those old +fragments of carpet, picked up heaven knows where, which milk-women +use to cover the seats of their carts. The floor was simply the trodden +earth. The walls, sweating salt-petre, green with mould, and full of +cracks, were so excessively damp that on the side where the Colonel’s +bed was a reed mat had been nailed. The famous box-coat hung on a nail. +Two pairs of old boots lay in a corner. There was not a sign of linen. +On the worm-eaten table the _Bulletins de la Grande Armee_, reprinted +by Plancher, lay open, and seemed to be the Colonel’s reading; his +countenance was calm and serene in the midst of this squalor. His visit +to Derville seemed to have altered his features; the lawyer perceived in +them traces of a happy feeling, a particular gleam set there by hope. + +“Does the smell of the pipe annoy you?” he said, placing the dilapidated +straw-bottomed chair for his lawyer. + +“But, Colonel, you are dreadfully uncomfortable here!” + +The speech was wrung from Derville by the distrust natural to lawyers, +and the deplorable experience which they derive early in life from the +appalling and obscure tragedies at which they look on. + +“Here,” said he to himself, “is a man who has of course spent my money +in satisfying a trooper’s three theological virtues--play, wine, and +women!” + +“To be sure, monsieur, we are not distinguished for luxury here. It is +a camp lodging, tempered by friendship, but----” And the soldier shot a +deep glance at the man of law--“I have done no one wrong, I have never +turned my back on anybody, and I sleep in peace.” + +Derville reflected that there would be some want of delicacy in asking +his client to account for the sums of money he had advanced, so he +merely said: + +“But why would you not come to Paris, where you might have lived as +cheaply as you do here, but where you would have been better lodged?” + +“Why,” replied the Colonel, “the good folks with whom I am living had +taken me in and fed me _gratis_ for a year. How could I leave them just +when I had a little money? Besides, the father of those three pickles is +an old _Egyptian_--” + +“An Egyptian!” + +“We give that name to the troopers who came back from the expedition +into Egypt, of which I was one. Not merely are all who get back +brothers; Vergniaud was in my regiment. We have shared a draught of +water in the desert; and besides, I have not yet finished teaching his +brats to read.” + +“He might have lodged you better for your money,” said Derville. + +“Bah!” said the Colonel, “his children sleep on the straw as I do. He +and his wife have no better bed; they are very poor you see. They +have taken a bigger business than they can manage. But if I recover my +fortune... However, it does very well.” + +“Colonel, to-morrow or the next day, I shall receive your papers from +Heilsberg. The woman who dug you out is still alive!” + +“Curse the money! To think I haven’t got any!” he cried, flinging his +pipe on the ground. + +Now, a well-colored pipe is to a smoker a precious possession; but the +impulse was so natural, the emotion so generous, that every smoker, and +the excise office itself, would have pardoned this crime of treason to +tobacco. Perhaps the angels may have picked up the pieces. + +“Colonel, it is an exceedingly complicated business,” said Derville as +they left the room to walk up and down in the sunshine. + +“To me,” said the soldier, “it appears exceedingly simple. I was thought +to be dead, and here I am! Give me back my wife and my fortune; give me +the rank of General, to which I have a right, for I was made Colonel of +the Imperial Guard the day before the battle of Eylau.” + +“Things are not done so in the legal world,” said Derville. “Listen to +me. You are Colonel Chabert, I am glad to think it; but it has to be +proved judicially to persons whose interest it will be to deny it. +Hence, your papers will be disputed. That contention will give rise to +ten or twelve preliminary inquiries. Every question will be sent under +contradiction up to the supreme court, and give rise to so many costly +suits, which will hang on for a long time, however eagerly I may push +them. Your opponents will demand an inquiry, which we cannot refuse, and +which may necessitate the sending of a commission of investigation to +Prussia. But even if we hope for the best; supposing that justice should +at once recognize you as Colonel Chabert--can we know how the questions +will be settled that will arise out of the very innocent bigamy +committed by the Comtesse Ferraud? + +“In your case, the point of law is unknown to the Code, and can only be +decided as a point in equity, as a jury decides in the delicate cases +presented by the social eccentricities of some criminal prosecutions. +Now, you had no children by your marriage; M. le Comte Ferraud has two. +The judges might pronounce against the marriage where the family ties +are weakest, to the confirmation of that where they are stronger, since +it was contracted in perfect good faith. Would you be in a very becoming +moral position if you insisted, at your age, and in your present +circumstances, in resuming your rights over a woman who no longer loves +you? You will have both your wife and her husband against you, two +important persons who might influence the Bench. Thus, there are many +elements which would prolong the case; you will have time to grow old in +the bitterest regrets.” + +“And my fortune?” + +“Do you suppose you had a fine fortune?” + +“Had I not thirty thousand francs a year?” + +“My dear Colonel, in 1799 you made a will before your marriage, leaving +one-quarter of your property to hospitals.” + +“That is true.” + +“Well, when you were reported dead, it was necessary to make a +valuation, and have a sale, to give this quarter away. Your wife was not +particular about honesty as to the poor. The valuation, in which she no +doubt took care not to include the ready money or jewelry, or too +much of the plate, and in which the furniture would be estimated at +two-thirds of its actual cost, either to benefit her, or to lighten the +succession duty, and also because a valuer can be held responsible +for the declared value--the valuation thus made stood at six hundred +thousand francs. Your wife had a right of half for her share. Everything +was sold and bought in by her; she got something out of it all, and the +hospitals got their seventy-five thousand francs. Then, as the remainder +went to the State, since you had made no mention of your wife in your +will, the Emperor restored to your widow by decree the residue which +would have reverted to the Exchequer. So, now, what can you claim? Three +hundred thousand francs, no more, and minus the costs.” + +“And you call that justice!” said the Colonel, in dismay. + +“Why, certainly--” + +“A pretty kind of justice!” + +“So it is, my dear Colonel. You see, that what you thought so easy is +not so. Madame Ferraud might even choose to keep the sum given to her by +the Emperor.” + +“But she was not a widow. The decree is utterly void----” + +“I agree with you. But every case can get a hearing. Listen to me. I +think that under these circumstances a compromise would be both for her +and for you the best solution of the question. You will gain by it a +more considerable sum than you can prove a right to.” + +“That would be to sell my wife!” + +“With twenty-four thousand francs a year you could find a woman who, in +the position in which you are, would suit you better than your own wife, +and make you happier. I propose going this very day to see the Comtesse +Ferraud and sounding the ground; but I would not take such a step +without giving you due notice.” + +“Let us go together.” + +“What, just as you are?” said the lawyer. “No, my dear Colonel, no. You +might lose your case on the spot.” + +“Can I possibly gain it?” + +“On every count,” replied Derville. “But, my dear Colonel Chabert, you +overlook one thing. I am not rich; the price of my connection is not +wholly paid up. If the bench should allow you a maintenance, that is to +say, a sum advanced on your prospects, they will not do so till you +have proved that you are Comte Chabert, grand officer of the Legion of +Honor.” + +“To be sure, I am a grand officer of the Legion of Honor; I had +forgotten that,” said he simply. + +“Well, until then,” Derville went on, “will you not have to engage +pleaders, to have documents copied, to keep the underlings of the +law going, and to support yourself? The expenses of the preliminary +inquiries will, at a rough guess, amount to ten or twelve thousand +francs. I have not so much to lend you--I am crushed as it is by the +enormous interest I have to pay on the money I borrowed to buy my +business; and you?--Where can you find it.” + +Large tears gathered in the poor veteran’s faded eyes, and rolled down +his withered cheeks. This outlook of difficulties discouraged him. The +social and the legal world weighed on his breast like a nightmare. + +“I will go to the foot of the Vendome column!” he cried. “I will call +out: ‘I am Colonel Chabert who rode through the Russian square at +Eylau!’--The statue--he--he will know me.” + +“And you will find yourself in Charenton.” + +At this terrible name the soldier’s transports collapsed. + +“And will there be no hope for me at the Ministry of War?” + +“The war office!” said Derville. “Well, go there; but take a formal +legal opinion with you, nullifying the certificate of your death. The +government offices would be only too glad if they could annihilate the +men of the Empire.” + +The Colonel stood for a while, speechless, motionless, his eyes fixed, +but seeing nothing, sunk in bottomless despair. Military justice is +ready and swift; it decides with Turk-like finality, and almost always +rightly. This was the only justice known to Chabert. As he saw the +labyrinth of difficulties into which he must plunge, and how much money +would be required for the journey, the poor old soldier was mortally hit +in that power peculiar to man, and called the Will. He thought it would +be impossible to live as party to a lawsuit; it seemed a thousand times +simpler to remain poor and a beggar, or to enlist as a trooper if any +regiment would pass him. + +His physical and mental sufferings had already impaired his bodily +health in some of the most important organs. He was on the verge of one +of those maladies for which medicine has no name, and of which the seat +is in some degree variable, like the nervous system itself, the part +most frequently attacked of the whole human machine, a malady which may +be designated as the heart-sickness of the unfortunate. However serious +this invisible but real disorder might already be, it could still be +cured by a happy issue. But a fresh obstacle, an unexpected incident, +would be enough to wreck this vigorous constitution, to break the +weakened springs, and produce the hesitancy, the aimless, unfinished +movements, which physiologists know well in men undermined by grief. + +Derville, detecting in his client the symptoms of extreme dejection, +said to him: + +“Take courage; the end of the business cannot fail to be in your favor. +Only, consider whether you can give me your whole confidence and blindly +accept the result I may think best for your interests.” + +“Do what you will,” said Chabert. + +“Yes, but you surrender yourself to me like a man marching to his +death.” + +“Must I not be left to live without a position, without a name? Is that +endurable?” + +“That is not my view of it,” said the lawyer. “We will try a friendly +suit, to annul both your death certificate and your marriage, so as to +put you in possession of your rights. You may even, by Comte Ferraud’s +intervention, have your name replaced on the army list as general, and +no doubt you will get a pension.” + +“Well, proceed then,” said Chabert. “I put myself entirely in your +hands.” + +“I will send you a power of attorney to sign,” said Derville. “Good-bye. +Keep up your courage. If you want money, rely on me.” + +Chabert warmly wrung the lawyer’s hand, and remained standing with his +back against the wall, not having the energy to follow him excepting +with his eyes. Like all men who know but little of legal matters, he was +frightened by this unforeseen struggle. + +During their interview, several times, the figure of a man posted in the +street had come forward from behind one of the gate-pillars, watching +for Derville to depart, and he now accosted the lawyer. He was an old +man, wearing a blue waistcoat and a white-pleated kilt, like a brewer’s; +on his head was an otter-skin cap. His face was tanned, hollow-cheeked, +and wrinkled, but ruddy on the cheek-bones by hard work and exposure to +the open air. + +“Asking your pardon, sir,” said he, taking Derville by the arm, “if I +take the liberty of speaking to you. But I fancied, from the look of +you, that you were a friend of our General’s.” + +“And what then?” replied Derville. “What concern have you with him?--But +who are you?” said the cautious lawyer. + +“I am Louis Vergniaud,” he replied at once. “I have a few words to say +to you.” + +“So you are the man who has lodged Comte Chabert as I have found him?” + +“Asking your pardon, sir, he has the best room. I would have given him +mine if I had had but one; I could have slept in the stable. A man +who has suffered as he has, who teaches my kids to read, a general, +an Egyptian, the first lieutenant I ever served under--What do you +think?--Of us all, he is best served. I shared what I had with him. +Unfortunately, it is not much to boast of--bread, milk, eggs. Well, +well; it’s neighbors’ fare, sir. And he is heartily welcome.--But he has +hurt our feelings.” + +“He?” + +“Yes, sir, hurt our feelings. To be plain with you, I have taken a +larger business than I can manage, and he saw it. Well, it worried +him; he must needs mind the horse! I says to him, ‘Really, General----’ +‘Bah!’ says he, ‘I am not going to eat my head off doing nothing. I +learned to rub a horse down many a year ago.’--I had some bills out for +the purchase money of my dairy--a fellow named Grados--Do you know him, +sir?” + +“But, my good man, I have not time to listen to your story. Only tell me +how the Colonel offended you.” + +“He hurt our feelings, sir, as sure as my name is Louis Vergniaud, and +my wife cried about it. He heard from our neighbors that we had not a +sou to begin to meet the bills with. The old soldier, as he is, he saved +up all you gave him, he watched for the bill to come in, and he paid it. +Such a trick! While my wife and me, we knew he had no tobacco, poor old +boy, and went without.--Oh! now--yes, he has his cigar every morning! +I would sell my soul for it--No, we are hurt. Well, so I wanted to ask +you--for he said you were a good sort--to lend us a hundred crowns on +the stock, so that we may get him some clothes, and furnish his room. +He thought he was getting us out of debt, you see? Well, it’s just +the other way; the old man is running us into debt--and hurt our +feelings!--He ought not to have stolen a march on us like that. And we +his friends, too!--On my word as an honest man, as sure as my name is +Louis Vergniaud, I would sooner sell up and enlist than fail to pay you +back your money----” + +Derville looked at the dairyman, and stepped back a few paces to glance +at the house, the yard, the manure-pool, the cowhouse, the rabbits, the +children. + +“On my honor, I believe it is characteristic of virtue to have nothing +to do with riches!” thought he. + +“All right, you shall have your hundred crowns, and more. But I shall +not give them to you; the Colonel will be rich enough to help, and I +will not deprive him of the pleasure.” + +“And will that be soon?” + +“Why, yes.” + +“Ah, dear God! how glad my wife will be!” and the cowkeeper’s tanned +face seemed to expand. + +“Now,” said Derville to himself, as he got into his cab again, “let us +call on our opponent. We must not show our hand, but try to see hers, +and win the game at one stroke. She must be frightened. She is a woman. +Now, what frightens women most? A woman is afraid of nothing but...” + +And he set to work to study the Countess’ position, falling into one of +those brown studies to which great politicians give themselves up when +concocting their own plans and trying to guess the secrets of a hostile +Cabinet. Are not attorneys, in a way, statesmen in charge of private +affairs? + +But a brief survey of the situation in which the Comte Ferraud and +his wife now found themselves is necessary for a comprehension of the +lawyer’s cleverness. + +Monsieur le Comte Ferraud was the only son of a former Councillor in the +old _Parlement_ of Paris, who had emigrated during the Reign of Terror, +and so, though he saved his head, lost his fortune. He came back under +the Consulate, and remained persistently faithful to the cause of Louis +XVIII., in whose circle his father had moved before the Revolution. +He thus was one of the party in the Faubourg Saint-Germain which nobly +stood out against Napoleon’s blandishments. The reputation for capacity +gained by the young Count--then simply called Monsieur Ferraud--made him +the object of the Emperor’s advances, for he was often as well pleased +at his conquests among the aristocracy as at gaining a battle. The Count +was promised the restitution of his title, of such of his estates as had +not been sold, and he was shown in perspective a place in the ministry +or as senator. + +The Emperor fell. + +At the time of Comte Chabert’s death, M. Ferraud was a young man of +six-and-twenty, without a fortune, of pleasing appearance, who had had +his successes, and whom the Faubourg Saint-Germain had adopted as doing +it credit; but Madame la Comtesse Chabert had managed to turn her share +of her husband’s fortune to such good account that, after eighteen +months of widowhood, she had about forty thousand francs a year. Her +marriage to the young Count was not regarded as news in the circles of +the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Napoleon, approving of this union, which +carried out his idea of fusion, restored to Madame Chabert the money +falling to the Exchequer under her husband’s will; but Napoleon’s hopes +were again disappointed. Madame Ferraud was not only in love with her +lover; she had also been fascinated by the notion of getting into +the haughty society which, in spite of its humiliation, was still +predominant at the Imperial Court. By this marriage all her vanities +were as much gratified as her passions. She was to become a real fine +lady. When the Faubourg Saint-Germain understood that the young Count’s +marriage did not mean desertion, its drawing-rooms were thrown open to +his wife. + +Then came the Restoration. The Count’s political advancement was not +rapid. He understood the exigencies of the situation in which Louis +XVIII. found himself; he was one of the inner circle who waited till the +“Gulf of Revolution should be closed”--for this phrase of the King’s, at +which the Liberals laughed so heartily, had a political sense. The order +quoted in the long lawyer’s preamble at the beginning of this story had, +however, put him in possession of two tracts of forest, and of an estate +which had considerably increased in value during its sequestration. At +the present moment, though Comte Ferraud was a Councillor of State, and +a Director-General, he regarded his position as merely the first step of +his political career. + +Wholly occupied as he was by the anxieties of consuming ambition, he had +attached to himself, as secretary, a ruined attorney named Delbecq, a +more than clever man, versed in all the resources of the law, to whom he +left the conduct of his private affairs. This shrewd practitioner had so +well understood his position with the Count as to be honest in his own +interest. He hoped to get some place by his master’s influence, and he +made the Count’s fortune his first care. His conduct so effectually gave +the lie to his former life, that he was regarded as a slandered man. The +Countess, with the tact and shrewdness of which most women have a share +more or less, understood the man’s motives, watched him quietly, +and managed him so well, that she had made good use of him for the +augmentation of her private fortune. She had contrived to make Delbecq +believe that she ruled her husband, and had promised to get him +appointed President of an inferior court in some important provincial +town, if he devoted himself entirely to her interests. + +The promise of a place, not dependent on changes of ministry, which +would allow of his marrying advantageously, and rising subsequently to +a high political position, by being chosen Depute, made Delbecq the +Countess’ abject slave. He had never allowed her to miss one of those +favorable chances which the fluctuations of the Bourse and the increased +value of property afforded to clever financiers in Paris during the +first three years after the Restoration. He had trebled his protectress’ +capital, and all the more easily because the Countess had no scruples +as to the means which might make her an enormous fortune as quickly as +possible. The emoluments derived by the Count from the places he held +she spent on the housekeeping, so as to reinvest her dividends; and +Delbecq lent himself to these calculations of avarice without trying to +account for her motives. People of that sort never trouble themselves +about any secrets of which the discovery is not necessary to their own +interests. And, indeed, he naturally found the reason in the thirst for +money, which taints almost every Parisian woman; and as a fine fortune +was needed to support the pretensions of Comte Ferraud, the secretary +sometimes fancied that he saw in the Countess’ greed a consequence of +her devotion to a husband with whom she still was in love. The Countess +buried the secrets of her conduct at the bottom of her heart. There lay +the secrets of life and death to her, there lay the turning-point of +this history. + +At the beginning of the year 1818 the Restoration was settled on +an apparently immovable foundation; its doctrines of government, as +understood by lofty minds, seemed calculated to bring to France an era +of renewed prosperity, and Parisian society changed its aspect. Madame +la Comtesse Ferraud found that by chance she had achieved for love a +marriage that had brought her fortune and gratified ambition. Still +young and handsome, Madame Ferraud played the part of a woman of +fashion, and lived in the atmosphere of the Court. Rich herself, with a +rich husband who was cried up as one of the ablest men of the royalist +party, and, as a friend of the King, certain to be made Minister, she +belonged to the aristocracy, and shared its magnificence. In the midst +of this triumph she was attacked by a moral canker. There are feelings +which women guess in spite of the care men take to bury them. On +the first return of the King, Comte Ferraud had begun to regret his +marriage. Colonel Chabert’s widow had not been the means of allying him +to anybody; he was alone and unsupported in steering his way in a course +full of shoals and beset by enemies. Also, perhaps, when he came to +judge his wife coolly, he may have discerned in her certain vices of +education which made her unfit to second him in his schemes. + +A speech he made, _a propos_ of Talleyrand’s marriage, enlightened the +Countess, to whom it proved that if he had still been a free man she +would never have been Madame Ferraud. What woman could forgive this +repentance? Does it not include the germs of every insult, every crime, +every form of repudiation? But what a wound must it have left in the +Countess’ heart, supposing that she lived in the dread of her first +husband’s return? She had known that he still lived, and she had ignored +him. Then during the time when she had heard no more of him, she had +chosen to believe that he had fallen at Waterloo with the Imperial +Eagle, at the same time as Boutin. She resolved, nevertheless, to bind +the Count to her by the strongest of all ties, by a chain of gold, and +vowed to be so rich that her fortune might make her second marriage +dissoluble, if by chance Colonel Chabert should ever reappear. And he +had reappeared; and she could not explain to herself why the struggle +she had dreaded had not already begun. Suffering, sickness, had perhaps +delivered her from that man. Perhaps he was half mad, and Charenton +might yet do her justice. She had not chosen to take either Delbecq or +the police into her confidence, for fear of putting herself in their +power, or of hastening the catastrophe. There are in Paris many women +who, like the Countess Ferraud, live with an unknown moral monster, or +on the brink of an abyss; a callus forms over the spot that tortures +them, and they can still laugh and enjoy themselves. + +“There is something very strange in Comte Ferraud’s position,” said +Derville to himself, on emerging from his long reverie, as his cab +stopped at the door of the Hotel Ferraud in the Rue de Varennes. “How is +it that he, so rich as he is, and such a favorite with the King, is not +yet a peer of France? It may, to be sure, be true that the King, as +Mme. de Grandlieu was telling me, desires to keep up the value of the +_pairie_ by not bestowing it right and left. And, after all, the son of +a Councillor of the _Parlement_ is not a Crillon nor a Rohan. A Comte +Ferraud can only get into the Upper Chamber surreptitiously. But if his +marriage were annulled, could he not get the dignity of some old peer +who has only daughters transferred to himself, to the King’s great +satisfaction? At any rate this will be a good bogey to put forward and +frighten the Countess,” thought he as he went up the steps. + +Derville had without knowing it laid his finger on the hidden wound, put +his hand on the canker that consumed Madame Ferraud. + +She received him in a pretty winter dining-room, where she was at +breakfast, while playing with a monkey tethered by a chain to a little +pole with climbing bars of iron. The Countess was in an elegant wrapper; +the curls of her hair, carelessly pinned up, escaped from a cap, giving +her an arch look. She was fresh and smiling. Silver, gilding, and +mother-of-pearl shone on the table, and all about the room were rare +plants growing in magnificent china jars. As he saw Colonel Chabert’s +wife, rich with his spoil, in the lap of luxury and the height of +fashion, while he, poor wretch, was living with a poor dairyman among +the beasts, the lawyer said to himself: + +“The moral of all this is that a pretty woman will never acknowledge as +her husband, nor even as a lover, a man in an old box-coat, a tow wig, +and boots with holes in them.” + +A mischievous and bitter smile expressed the feelings, half +philosophical and half satirical, which such a man was certain to +experience--a man well situated to know the truth of things in spite of +the lies behind which most families in Paris hide their mode of life. + +“Good-morning, Monsieur Derville,” said she, giving the monkey some +coffee to drink. + +“Madame,” said he, a little sharply, for the light tone in which she +spoke jarred on him. “I have come to speak with you on a very serious +matter.” + +“I am so _grieved_, M. le Comte is away--” + +“I, madame, am delighted. It would be grievous if he could be present at +our interview. Besides, I am informed through M. Delbecq that you like +to manage your own business without troubling the Count.” + +“Then I will send for Delbecq,” said she. + +“He would be of no use to you, clever as he is,” replied Derville. +“Listen to me, madame; one word will be enough to make you grave. +Colonel Chabert is alive!” + +“Is it by telling me such nonsense as that that you think you can make +me grave?” said she with a shout of laughter. But she was suddenly +quelled by the singular penetration of the fixed gaze which Derville +turned on her, seeming to read to the bottom of her soul. + +“Madame,” he said with cold and piercing solemnity, “you know not the +extent of the danger that threatens you. I need say nothing of the +indisputable authenticity of the evidence nor of the fulness of proof +which testifies to the identity of Comte Chabert. I am not, as you know, +the man to take up a bad cause. If you resist our proceedings to show +that the certificate of death was false, you will lose that first case, +and that matter once settled, we shall gain every point.” + +“What, then, do you wish to discuss with me?” + +“Neither the Colonel nor yourself. Nor need I allude to the briefs which +clever advocates may draw up when armed with the curious facts of this +case, or the advantage they may derive from the letters you received +from your first husband before your marriage to your second.” + +“It is false,” she cried, with the violence of a spoilt woman. “I never +had a letter from Comte Chabert; and if some one is pretending to be +the Colonel, it is some swindler, some returned convict, like Coignard +perhaps. It makes me shudder only to think of it. Can the Colonel rise +from the dead, monsieur? Bonaparte sent an aide-de-camp to inquire for +me on his death, and to this day I draw the pension of three thousand +francs granted to this widow by the Government. I have been perfectly in +the right to turn away all the Chaberts who have ever come, as I shall +all who may come.” + +“Happily we are alone, madame. We can tell lies at our ease,” said he +coolly, and finding it amusing to lash up the Countess’ rage so as to +lead her to betray herself, by tactics familiar to lawyers, who are +accustomed to keep cool when their opponents or their clients are in +a passion. “Well, then, we must fight it out,” thought he, instantly +hitting on a plan to entrap her and show her her weakness. + +“The proof that you received the first letter, madame, is that it +contained some securities--” + +“Oh, as to securities--that it certainly did not.” + +“Then you received the letter,” said Derville, smiling. “You are caught, +madame, in the first snare laid for you by an attorney, and you fancy +you could fight against Justice----” + +The Countess colored, and then turned pale, hiding her face in her +hands. Then she shook off her shame, and retorted with the natural +impertinence of such women, “Since you are the so-called Chabert’s +attorney, be so good as to--” + +“Madame,” said Derville, “I am at this moment as much your lawyer as I +am Colonel Chabert’s. Do you suppose I want to lose so valuable a client +as you are?--But you are not listening.” + +“Nay, speak on, monsieur,” said she graciously. + +“Your fortune came to you from M. le Comte Chabert, and you cast him +off. Your fortune is immense, and you leave him to beg. An advocate +can be very eloquent when a cause is eloquent in itself; there are here +circumstances which might turn public opinion strongly against you.” + +“But, monsieur,” said the Comtesse, provoked by the way in which +Derville turned and laid her on the gridiron, “even if I grant that your +M. Chabert is living, the law will uphold my second marriage on account +of the children, and I shall get off with the restitution of two hundred +and twenty-five thousand francs to M. Chabert.” + +“It is impossible to foresee what view the Bench may take of the +question. If on one side we have a mother and children, on the other we +have an old man crushed by sorrows, made old by your refusals to know +him. Where is he to find a wife? Can the judges contravene the law? Your +marriage with Colonel Chabert has priority on its side and every legal +right. But if you appear under disgraceful colors, you might have an +unlooked-for adversary. That, madame, is the danger against which I +would warn you.” + +“And who is he?” + +“Comte Ferraud.” + +“Monsieur Ferraud has too great an affection for me, too much respect +for the mother of his children--” + +“Do not talk of such absurd things,” interrupted Derville, “to lawyers, +who are accustomed to read hearts to the bottom. At this instant +Monsieur Ferraud has not the slightest wish to annual your union, and I +am quite sure that he adores you; but if some one were to tell him that +his marriage is void, that his wife will be called before the bar of +public opinion as a criminal--” + +“He would defend me, monsieur.” + +“No, madame.” + +“What reason could he have for deserting me, monsieur?” + +“That he would be free to marry the only daughter of a peer of France, +whose title would be conferred on him by patent from the King.” + +The Countess turned pale. + +“A hit!” said Derville to himself. “I have you on the hip; the poor +Colonel’s case is won.”--“Besides, madame,” he went on aloud, “he would +feel all the less remorse because a man covered with glory--a +General, Count, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor--is not such a bad +alternative; and if that man insisted on his wife’s returning to him--” + +“Enough, enough, monsieur!” she exclaimed. “I will never have any lawyer +but you. What is to be done?” + +“Compromise!” said Derville. + +“Does he still love me?” she said. + +“Well, I do not think he can do otherwise.” + +The Countess raised her head at these words. A flash of hope shone in +her eyes; she thought perhaps that she could speculate on her first +husband’s affection to gain her cause by some feminine cunning. + +“I shall await your orders, madame, to know whether I am to report our +proceedings to you, or if you will come to my office to agree to the +terms of a compromise,” said Derville, taking leave. + + + +A week after Derville had paid these two visits, on a fine morning +in June, the husband and wife, who had been separated by an almost +supernatural chance, started from the opposite ends of Paris to meet in +the office of the lawyer who was engaged by both. The supplies liberally +advanced by Derville to Colonel Chabert had enabled him to dress as +suited his position in life, and the dead man arrived in a very decent +cab. He wore a wig suited to his face, was dressed in blue cloth with +white linen, and wore under his waistcoat the broad red ribbon of the +higher grade of the Legion of Honor. In resuming the habits of wealth he +had recovered his soldierly style. He held himself up; his face, grave +and mysterious-looking, reflected his happiness and all his hopes, and +seemed to have acquired youth and _impasto_, to borrow a picturesque +word from the painter’s art. He was no more like the Chabert of the old +box-coat than a cartwheel double sou is like a newly coined forty-franc +piece. The passer-by, only to see him, would have recognized at once one +of the noble wrecks of our old army, one of the heroic men on whom +our national glory is reflected, as a splinter of ice on which the sun +shines seems to reflect every beam. These veterans are at once a picture +and a book. + +When the Count jumped out of his carriage to go into Derville’s office, +he did it as lightly as a young man. Hardly had his cab moved off, +when a smart brougham drove up, splendid with coats-of-arms. Madame +la Comtesse Ferraud stepped out in a dress which, though simple, was +cleverly designed to show how youthful her figure was. She wore a pretty +drawn bonnet lined with pink, which framed her face to perfection, +softening its outlines and making it look younger. + +If the clients were rejuvenescent, the office was unaltered, and +presented the same picture as that described at the beginning of this +story. Simonnin was eating his breakfast, his shoulder leaning against +the window, which was then open, and he was staring up at the blue sky +in the opening of the courtyard enclosed by four gloomy houses. + +“Ah, ha!” cried the little clerk, “who will bet an evening at the play +that Colonel Chabert is a General, and wears a red ribbon?” + +“The chief is a great magician,” said Godeschal. + +“Then there is no trick to play on him this time?” asked Desroches. + +“His wife has taken that in hand, the Comtesse Ferraud,” said Boucard. + +“What next?” said Godeschal. “Is Comtesse Ferraud required to belong to +two men?” + +“Here she is,” answered Simonnin. + +“So you are not deaf, you young rogue!” said Chabert, taking the +gutter-jumper by the ear and twisting it, to the delight of the other +clerks, who began to laugh, looking at the Colonel with the curious +attention due to so singular a personage. + +Comte Chabert was in Derville’s private room at the moment when his wife +came in by the door of the office. + +“I say, Boucard, there is going to be a queer scene in the chief’s room! +There is a woman who can spend her days alternately, the odd with Comte +Ferraud, and the even with Comte Chabert.” + +“And in leap year,” said Godeschal, “they must settle the _count_ +between them.” + +“Silence, gentlemen, you can be heard!” said Boucard severely. “I never +was in an office where there was so much jesting as there is here over +the clients.” + +Derville had made the Colonel retire to the bedroom when the Countess +was admitted. + +“Madame,” he said, “not knowing whether it would be agreeable to you +to meet M. le Comte Chabert, I have placed you apart. If, however, you +should wish it--” + +“It is an attention for which I am obliged to you.” + +“I have drawn up the memorandum of an agreement of which you and M. +Chabert can discuss the conditions, here, and now. I will go alternately +to him and to you, and explain your views respectively.” + +“Let me see, monsieur,” said the Countess impatiently. + +Derville read aloud: + +“‘Between the undersigned: + +“‘M. Hyacinthe Chabert, Count, Marechal de Camp, and Grand Officer of +the Legion of Honor, living in Paris, Rue du Petit-Banquier, on the one +part; + +“‘And Madame Rose Chapotel, wife of the aforesaid M. le Comte Chabert, +_nee_--’” + +“Pass over the preliminaries,” said she. “Come to the conditions.” + +“Madame,” said the lawyer, “the preamble briefly sets forth the position +in which you stand to each other. Then, by the first clause, you +acknowledge, in the presence of three witnesses, of whom two shall be +notaries, and one the dairyman with whom your husband has been lodging, +to all of whom your secret is known, and who will be absolutely +silent--you acknowledge, I say, that the individual designated in the +documents subjoined to the deed, and whose identity is to be further +proved by an act of recognition prepared by your notary, Alexandre +Crottat, is your first husband, Comte Chabert. By the second clause +Comte Chabert, to secure your happiness, will undertake to assert his +rights only under certain circumstances set forth in the deed.--And +these,” said Derville, in a parenthesis, “are none other than a failure +to carry out the conditions of this secret agreement.--M. Chabert, on +his part, agrees to accept judgment on a friendly suit, by which his +certificate of death shall be annulled, and his marriage dissolved.” + +“That will not suit me in the least,” said the Countess with surprise. +“I will be a party to no suit; you know why.” + +“By the third clause,” Derville went on, with imperturbable coolness, +“you pledge yourself to secure to Hyacinthe Comte Chabert an income of +twenty-four thousand francs on government stock held in his name, to +revert to you at his death--” + +“But it is much too dear!” exclaimed the Countess. + +“Can you compromise the matter cheaper?” + +“Possibly.” + +“But what do you want, madame?” + +“I want--I will not have a lawsuit. I want--” + +“You want him to remain dead?” said Derville, interrupting her hastily. + +“Monsieur,” said the Countess, “if twenty-four thousand francs a year +are necessary, we will go to law--” + +“Yes, we will go to law,” said the Colonel in a deep voice, as he opened +the door and stood before his wife, with one hand in his waistcoat and +the other hanging by his side--an attitude to which the recollection of +his adventure gave horrible significance. + +“It is he,” said the Countess to herself. + +“Too dear!” the old soldier exclaimed. “I have given you near on a +million, and you are cheapening my misfortunes. Very well; now I will +have you--you and your fortune. Our goods are in common, our marriage is +not dissolved--” + +“But monsieur is not Colonel Chabert!” cried the Countess, in feigned +amazement. + +“Indeed!” said the old man, in a tone of intense irony. “Do you want +proofs? I found you in the Palais Royal----” + +The Countess turned pale. Seeing her grow white under her rouge, the old +soldier paused, touched by the acute suffering he was inflicting on the +woman he had once so ardently loved; but she shot such a venomous glance +at him that he abruptly went on: + +“You were with La--” + +“Allow me, Monsieur Derville,” said the Countess to the lawyer. “You +must give me leave to retire. I did not come here to listen to such +dreadful things.” + +She rose and went out. Derville rushed after her; but the Countess had +taken wings, and seemed to have flown from the place. + +On returning to his private room, he found the Colonel in a towering +rage, striding up and down. + +“In those times a man took his wife where he chose,” said he. “But I was +foolish and chose badly; I trusted to appearances. She has no heart.” + +“Well, Colonel, was I not right to beg you not to come?--I am now +positive of your identity; when you came in, the Countess gave a little +start, of which the meaning was unequivocal. But you have lost your +chances. Your wife knows that you are unrecognizable.” + +“I will kill her!” + +“Madness! you will be caught and executed like any common wretch. +Besides you might miss! That would be unpardonable. A man must not miss +his shot when he wants to kill his wife.--Let me set things straight; +you are only a big child. Go now. Take care of yourself; she is capable +of setting some trap for you and shutting you up in Charenton. I will +notify her of our proceedings to protect you against a surprise.” + +The unhappy Colonel obeyed his young benefactor, and went away, +stammering apologies. He slowly went down the dark staircase, lost in +gloomy thoughts, and crushed perhaps by the blow just dealt him--the +most cruel he could feel, the thrust that could most deeply pierce +his heart--when he heard the rustle of a woman’s dress on the lowest +landing, and his wife stood before him. + +“Come, monsieur,” said she, taking his arm with a gesture like those +familiar to him of old. Her action and the accent of her voice, which +had recovered its graciousness, were enough to allay the Colonel’s +wrath, and he allowed himself to be led to the carriage. + +“Well, get in!” said she, when the footman had let down the step. + +And as if by magic, he found himself sitting by his wife in the +brougham. + +“Where to?” asked the servant. + +“To Groslay,” said she. + +The horses started at once, and carried them all across Paris. + +“Monsieur,” said the Countess, in a tone of voice which betrayed one of +those emotions which are rare in our lives, and which agitate every part +of our being. At such moments the heart, fibres, nerves, countenance, +soul, and body, everything, every pore even, feels a thrill. Life +no longer seems to be within us; it flows out, springs forth, is +communicated as if by contagion, transmitted by a look, a tone of voice, +a gesture, impressing our will on others. The old soldier started on +hearing this single word, this first, terrible “monsieur!” But still it +was at once a reproach and a pardon, a hope and a despair, a question +and an answer. This word included them all; none but an actress could +have thrown so much eloquence, so many feelings into a single word. +Truth is less complete in its utterance; it does not put everything on +the outside; it allows us to see what is within. The Colonel was filled +with remorse for his suspicions, his demands, and his anger; he looked +down not to betray his agitation. + +“Monsieur,” repeated she, after an imperceptible pause, “I knew you at +once.” + +“Rosine,” said the old soldier, “those words contain the only balm that +can help me to forget my misfortunes.” + +Two large tears rolled hot on to his wife’s hands, which he pressed to +show his paternal affection. + +“Monsieur,” she went on, “could you not have guessed what it cost me +to appear before a stranger in a position so false as mine now is? If +I have to blush for it, at least let it be in the privacy of my family. +Ought not such a secret to remain buried in our hearts? You will forgive +me, I hope, for my apparent indifference to the woes of a Chabert in +whose existence I could not possibly believe. I received your letters,” + she hastily added, seeing in his face the objection it expressed, “but +they did not reach me till thirteen months after the battle of Eylau. +They were opened, dirty, the writing was unrecognizable; and after +obtaining Napoleon’s signature to my second marriage contract, I could +not help believing that some clever swindler wanted to make a fool of +me. Therefore, to avoid disturbing Monsieur Ferraud’s peace of mind, +and disturbing family ties, I was obliged to take precautions against a +pretended Chabert. Was I not right, I ask you?” + +“Yes, you were right. It was I who was the idiot, the owl, the dolt, not +to have calculated better what the consequences of such a position might +be.--But where are we going?” he asked, seeing that they had reached the +barrier of La Chapelle. + +“To my country house near Groslay, in the valley of Montmorency. There, +monsieur, we will consider the steps to be taken. I know my duties. +Though I am yours by right, I am no longer yours in fact. Can you wish +that we should become the talk of Paris? We need not inform the public +of a situation, which for me has its ridiculous side, and let us +preserve our dignity. You still love me,” she said, with a sad, sweet +gaze at the Colonel, “but have not I been authorized to form other ties? +In so strange a position, a secret voice bids me trust to your kindness, +which is so well known to me. Can I be wrong in taking you as the sole +arbiter of my fate? Be at once judge and party to the suit. I trust in +your noble character; you will be generous enough to forgive me for the +consequences of faults committed in innocence. I may then confess to +you: I love M. Ferraud. I believed that I had a right to love him. I +do not blush to make this confession to you; even if it offends you, it +does not disgrace us. I cannot conceal the facts. When fate made me a +widow, I was not a mother.” + +The Colonel with a wave of his hand bid his wife be silent, and for a +mile and a half they sat without speaking a single word. Chabert could +fancy he saw the two little ones before him. + +“Rosine.” + +“Monsieur?” + +“The dead are very wrong to come to life again.” + +“Oh, monsieur, no, no! Do not think me ungrateful. Only, you find me a +lover, a mother, while you left me merely a wife. Though it is no longer +in my power to love, I know how much I owe you, and I can still offer +you all the affection of a daughter.” + +“Rosine,” said the old man in a softened tone, “I no longer feel any +resentment against you. We will forget anything,” he added, with one of +those smiles which always reflect a noble soul; “I have not so little +delicacy as to demand the mockery of love from a wife who no longer +loves me.” + +The Countess gave him a flashing look full of such deep gratitude that +poor Chabert would have been glad to sink again into his grave at Eylau. +Some men have a soul strong enough for such self-devotion, of which the +whole reward consists in the assurance that they have made the person +they love happy. + +“My dear friend, we will talk all this over later when our hearts have +rested,” said the Countess. + +The conversation turned to other subjects, for it was impossible to +dwell very long on this one. Though the couple came back again and +again to their singular position, either by some allusion or of serious +purpose, they had a delightful drive, recalling the events of their +former life together and the times of the Empire. The Countess knew how +to lend peculiar charm to her reminiscences, and gave the conversation +the tinge of melancholy that was needed to keep it serious. She revived +his love without awakening his desires, and allowed her first husband to +discern the mental wealth she had acquired while trying to accustom him +to moderate his pleasure to that which a father may feel in the society +of a favorite daughter. + +The Colonel had known the Countess of the Empire; he found her a +Countess of the Restoration. + +At last, by a cross-road, they arrived at the entrance to a large park +lying in the little valley which divides the heights of Margency from +the pretty village of Groslay. The Countess had there a delightful +house, where the Colonel on arriving found everything in readiness +for his stay there, as well as for his wife’s. Misfortune is a kind +of talisman whose virtue consists in its power to confirm our original +nature; in some men it increases their distrust and malignancy, just as +it improves the goodness of those who have a kind heart. + +Sorrow had made the Colonel even more helpful and good than he had +always been, and he could understand some secrets of womanly distress +which are unrevealed to most men. Nevertheless, in spite of his loyal +trustfulness, he could not help saying to his wife: + +“Then you felt quite sure you would bring me here?” + +“Yes,” replied she, “if I found Colonel Chabert in Derville’s client.” + +The appearance of truth she contrived to give to this answer dissipated +the slight suspicions which the Colonel was ashamed to have felt. For +three days the Countess was quite charming to her first husband. By +tender attentions and unfailing sweetness she seemed anxious to wipe out +the memory of the sufferings he had endured, and to earn forgiveness +for the woes which, as she confessed, she had innocently caused him. She +delighted in displaying for him the charms she knew he took pleasure +in, while at the same time she assumed a kind of melancholy; for men are +more especially accessible to certain ways, certain graces of the heart +or of the mind which they cannot resist. She aimed at interesting him in +her position, and appealing to his feelings so far as to take possession +of his mind and control him despotically. + +Ready for anything to attain her ends, she did not yet know what she +was to do with this man; but at any rate she meant to annihilate him +socially. On the evening of the third day she felt that in spite of her +efforts she could not conceal her uneasiness as to the results of her +manoeuvres. To give herself a minute’s reprieve she went up to her room, +sat down before her writing-table, and laid aside the mask of composure +which she wore in Chabert’s presence, like an actress who, returning to +her dressing-room after a fatiguing fifth act, drops half dead, leaving +with the audience an image of herself which she no longer resembles. She +proceeded to finish a letter she had begun to Delbecq, whom she desired +to go in her name and demand of Derville the deeds relating to Colonel +Chabert, to copy them, and to come to her at once to Groslay. She had +hardly finished when she heard the Colonel’s step in the passage; uneasy +at her absence, he had come to look for her. + +“Alas!” she exclaimed, “I wish I were dead! My position is +intolerable...” + +“Why, what is the matter?” asked the good man. + +“Nothing, nothing!” she replied. + +She rose, left the Colonel, and went down to speak privately to her +maid, whom she sent off to Paris, impressing on her that she was herself +to deliver to Delbecq the letter just written, and to bring it back to +the writer as soon as he had read it. Then the Countess went out to sit +on a bench sufficiently in sight for the Colonel to join her as soon as +he might choose. The Colonel, who was looking for her, hastened up and +sat down by her. + +“Rosine,” said he, “what is the matter with you?” + +She did not answer. + +It was one of those glorious, calm evenings in the month of June, whose +secret harmonies infuse such sweetness into the sunset. The air was +clear, the stillness perfect, so that far away in the park they could +hear the voices of some children, which added a kind of melody to the +sublimity of the scene. + +“You do not answer me?” the Colonel said to his wife. + +“My husband----” said the Countess, who broke off, started a little, and +with a blush stopped to ask him, “What am I to say when I speak of M. +Ferraud?” + +“Call him your husband, my poor child,” replied the Colonel, in a kind +voice. “Is he not the father of your children?” + +“Well, then,” she said, “if he should ask what I came here for, if he +finds out that I came here, alone, with a stranger, what am I to say +to him? Listen, monsieur,” she went on, assuming a dignified attitude, +“decide my fate, I am resigned to anything--” + +“My dear,” said the Colonel, taking possession of his wife’s hands, “I +have made up my mind to sacrifice myself entirely for your happiness--” + +“That is impossible!” she exclaimed, with a sudden spasmodic movement. +“Remember that you would have to renounce your identity, and in an +authenticated form.” + +“What?” said the Colonel. “Is not my word enough for you?” + +The word “authenticated” fell on the old man’s heart, and roused +involuntary distrust. He looked at his wife in a way that made her +color, she cast down her eyes, and he feared that he might find himself +compelled to despise her. The Countess was afraid lest she had scared +the shy modesty, the stern honesty, of a man whose generous temper and +primitive virtues were known to her. Though these feelings had brought +the clouds to her brow, they immediately recovered their harmony. This +was the way of it. A child’s cry was heard in the distance. + +“Jules, leave your sister in peace,” the Countess called out. + +“What, are your children here?” said Chabert. + +“Yes, but I told them not to trouble you.” + +The old soldier understood the delicacy, the womanly tact of so gracious +a precaution, and took the Countess’ hand to kiss it. + +“But let them come,” said he. + +The little girl ran up to complain of her brother. + +“Mamma!” + +“Mamma!” + +“It was Jules--” + +“It was her--” + +Their little hands were held out to their mother, and the two childish +voices mingled; it was an unexpected and charming picture. + +“Poor little things!” cried the Countess, no longer restraining her +tears, “I shall have to leave them. To whom will the law assign them? A +mother’s heart cannot be divided; I want them, I want them.” + +“Are you making mamma cry?” said Jules, looking fiercely at the Colonel. + +“Silence, Jules!” said the mother in a decided tone. + +The two children stood speechless, examining their mother and the +stranger with a curiosity which it is impossible to express in words. + +“Oh yes!” she cried. “If I am separated from the Count, only leave me my +children, and I will submit to anything...” + +This was the decisive speech which gained all that she had hoped from +it. + +“Yes,” exclaimed the Colonel, as if he were ending a sentence already +begun in his mind, “I must return underground again. I had told myself +so already.” + +“Can I accept such a sacrifice?” replied his wife. “If some men have +died to save a mistress’ honor, they gave their life but once. But +in this case you would be giving your life every day. No, no. It is +impossible. If it were only your life, it would be nothing; but to sign +a declaration that you are not Colonel Chabert, to acknowledge yourself +an imposter, to sacrifice your honor, and live a lie every hour of the +day! Human devotion cannot go so far. Only think!--No. But for my poor +children I would have fled with you by this time to the other end of the +world.” + +“But,” said Chabert, “cannot I live here in your little lodge as one of +your relations? I am as worn out as a cracked cannon; I want nothing but +a little tobacco and the _Constitutionnel_.” + +The Countess melted into tears. There was a contest of generosity +between the Comtesse Ferraud and Colonel Chabert, and the soldier came +out victorious. One evening, seeing this mother with her children, the +soldier was bewitched by the touching grace of a family picture in the +country, in the shade and the silence; he made a resolution to remain +dead, and, frightened no longer at the authentication of a deed, he +asked what he could do to secure beyond all risk the happiness of this +family. + +“Do exactly as you like,” said the Countess. “I declare to you that I +will have nothing to do with this affair. I ought not.” + +Delbecq had arrived some days before, and in obedience to the Countess’ +verbal instructions, the intendant had succeeded in gaining the old +soldier’s confidence. So on the following morning Colonel Chabert went +with the erewhile attorney to Saint-Leu-Taverny, where Delbecq had +caused the notary to draw up an affidavit in such terms that, after +hearing it read, the Colonel started up and walked out of the office. + +“Turf and thunder! What a fool you must think me! Why, I should make +myself out a swindler!” he exclaimed. + +“Indeed, monsieur,” said Delbecq, “I should advise you not to sign in +haste. In your place I would get at least thirty thousand francs a year +out of the bargain. Madame would pay them.” + +After annihilating this scoundrel _emeritus_ by the lightning look of an +honest man insulted, the Colonel rushed off, carried away by a thousand +contrary emotions. He was suspicious, indignant, and calm again by +turns. + +Finally he made his way back into the park of Groslay by a gap in a +fence, and slowly walked on to sit down and rest, and meditate at his +ease, in a little room under a gazebo, from which the road to Saint-Leu +could be seen. The path being strewn with the yellowish sand which is +used instead of river-gravel, the Countess, who was sitting in the upper +room of this little summer-house, did not hear the Colonel’s approach, +for she was too much preoccupied with the success of her business to pay +the smallest attention to the slight noise made by her husband. Nor did +the old man notice that his wife was in the room over him. + +“Well, Monsieur Delbecq, has he signed?” the Countess asked her +secretary, whom she saw alone on the road beyond the hedge of a haha. + +“No, madame. I do not even know what has become of our man. The old +horse reared.” + +“Then we shall be obliged to put him into Charenton,” said she, “since +we have got him.” + +The Colonel, who recovered the elasticity of youth to leap the haha, +in the twinkling of an eye was standing in front of Delbecq, on whom he +bestowed the two finest slaps that ever a scoundrel’s cheeks received. + +“And you may add that old horses can kick!” said he. + +His rage spent, the Colonel no longer felt vigorous enough to leap the +ditch. He had seen the truth in all its nakedness. The Countess’ speech +and Delbecq’s reply had revealed the conspiracy of which he was to be +the victim. The care taken of him was but a bait to entrap him in a +snare. That speech was like a drop of subtle poison, bringing on in the +old soldier a return of all his sufferings, physical and moral. He came +back to the summer-house through the park gate, walking slowly like a +broken man. + +Then for him there was to be neither peace nor truce. From this moment +he must begin the odious warfare with this woman of which Derville had +spoken, enter on a life of litigation, feed on gall, drink every morning +of the cup of bitterness. And then--fearful thought!--where was he to +find the money needful to pay the cost of the first proceedings? He felt +such disgust of life, that if there had been any water at hand he would +have thrown himself into it; that if he had had a pistol, he would +have blown out his brains. Then he relapsed into the indecision of +mind which, since his conversation with Derville at the dairyman’s had +changed his character. + +At last, having reached the kiosque, he went up to the gazebo, where +little rose-windows afforded a view over each lovely landscape of the +valley, and where he found his wife seated on a chair. The Countess was +gazing at the distance, and preserved a calm countenance, showing that +impenetrable face which women can assume when resolved to do their +worst. She wiped her eyes as if she had been weeping, and played +absently with the pink ribbons of her sash. Nevertheless, in spite of +her apparent assurance, she could not help shuddering slightly when she +saw before her her venerable benefactor, standing with folded arms, his +face pale, his brow stern. + +“Madame,” he said, after gazing at her fixedly for a moment and +compelling her to blush, “Madame, I do not curse you--I scorn you. I can +now thank the chance that has divided us. I do not feel even a desire +for revenge; I no longer love you. I want nothing from you. Live in +peace on the strength of my word; it is worth more than the scrawl of +all the notaries in Paris. I will never assert my claim to the name I +perhaps have made illustrious. I am henceforth but a poor devil named +Hyacinthe, who asks no more than his share of the sunshine.--Farewell!” + +The Countess threw herself at his feet; she would have detained him by +taking his hands, but he pushed her away with disgust, saying: + +“Do not touch me!” + +The Countess’ expression when she heard her husband’s retreating steps +is quite indescribable. Then, with the deep perspicacity given only +by utter villainy, or by fierce worldly selfishness, she knew that she +might live in peace on the word and the contempt of this loyal veteran. + +Chabert, in fact, disappeared. The dairyman failed in business, and +became a hackney-cab driver. The Colonel, perhaps, took up some similar +industry for a time. Perhaps, like a stone flung into a chasm, he went +falling from ledge to ledge, to be lost in the mire of rags that seethes +through the streets of Paris. + +Six months after this event, Derville, hearing no more of Colonel +Chabert or the Comtesse Ferraud, supposed that they had no doubt come +to a compromise, which the Countess, out of revenge, had had arranged by +some other lawyer. So one morning he added up the sums he had advanced +to the said Chabert with the costs, and begged the Comtesse Ferraud to +claim from M. le Comte Chabert the amount of the bill, assuming that she +would know where to find her first husband. + +The very next day Comte Ferraud’s man of business, lately appointed +President of the County Court in a town of some importance, wrote this +distressing note to Derville: + + “MONSIEUR,-- + + “Madame la Comtesse Ferraud desires me to inform you that your + client took complete advantage of your confidence, and that the + individual calling himself Comte Chabert has acknowledged that he + came forward under false pretences. + +“Yours, etc., DELBECQ.” + + +“One comes across people who are, on my honor, too stupid by half,” + cried Derville. “They don’t deserve to be Christians! Be humane, +generous, philanthropical, and a lawyer, and you are bound to +be cheated! There is a piece of business that will cost me two +thousand-franc notes!” + + + +Some time after receiving this letter, Derville went to the Palais de +Justice in search of a pleader to whom he wished to speak, and who was +employed in the Police Court. As chance would have it, Derville went +into Court Number 6 at the moment when the Presiding Magistrate was +sentencing one Hyacinthe to two months’ imprisonment as a vagabond, and +subsequently to be taken to the Mendicity House of Detention, a sentence +which, by magistrates’ law, is equivalent to perpetual imprisonment. On +hearing the name of Hyacinthe, Derville looked at the deliquent, sitting +between two _gendarmes_ on the bench for the accused, and recognized in +the condemned man his false Colonel Chabert. + +The old soldier was placid, motionless, almost absentminded. In spite +of his rags, in spite of the misery stamped on his countenance, it +gave evidence of noble pride. His eye had a stoical expression which no +magistrate ought to have misunderstood; but as soon as a man has fallen +into the hands of justice, he is no more than a moral entity, a matter +of law or of fact, just as to statists he has become a zero. + +When the veteran was taken back to the lock-up, to be removed later +with the batch of vagabonds at that moment at the bar, Derville availed +himself of the privilege accorded to lawyers of going wherever they +please in the Courts, and followed him to the lock-up, where he stood +scrutinizing him for some minutes, as well as the curious crew of +beggars among whom he found himself. The passage to the lock-up at that +moment afforded one of those spectacles which, unfortunately, neither +legislators, nor philanthropists, nor painters, nor writers come to +study. Like all the laboratories of the law, this ante-room is a dark +and malodorous place; along the walls runs a wooden seat, blackened +by the constant presence there of the wretches who come to this +meeting-place of every form of social squalor, where not one of them is +missing. + +A poet might say that the day was ashamed to light up this dreadful +sewer through which so much misery flows! There is not a spot on that +plank where some crime has not sat, in embryo or matured; not a corner +where a man has never stood who, driven to despair by the blight which +justice has set upon him after his first fault, has not there begun a +career, at the end of which looms the guillotine or the pistol-snap of +the suicide. All who fall on the pavement of Paris rebound against these +yellow-gray walls, on which a philanthropist who was not a speculator +might read a justification of the numerous suicides complained of by +hypocritical writers who are incapable of taking a step to prevent +them--for that justification is written in that ante-room, like a +preface to the dramas of the Morgue, or to those enacted on the Place de +la Greve. + +At this moment Colonel Chabert was sitting among these men--men with +coarse faces, clothed in the horrible livery of misery, and silent at +intervals, or talking in a low tone, for three gendarmes on duty paced +to and fro, their sabres clattering on the floor. + +“Do you recognize me?” said Derville to the old man, standing in front +of him. + +“Yes, sir,” said Chabert, rising. + +“If you are an honest man,” Derville went on in an undertone, “how could +you remain in my debt?” + +The old soldier blushed as a young girl might when accused by her mother +of a clandestine love affair. + +“What! Madame Ferraud has not paid you?” cried he in a loud voice. + +“Paid me?” said Derville. “She wrote to me that you were a swindler.” + +The Colonel cast up his eyes in a sublime impulse of horror and +imprecation, as if to call heaven to witness to this fresh subterfuge. + +“Monsieur,” said he, in a voice that was calm by sheer huskiness, “get +the gendarmes to allow me to go into the lock-up, and I will sign an +order which will certainly be honored.” + +At a word from Derville to the sergeant he was allowed to take his +client into the room, where Hyacinthe wrote a few lines, and addressed +them to the Comtesse Ferraud. + +“Send her that,” said the soldier, “and you will be paid your costs and +the money you advanced. Believe me, monsieur, if I have not shown +you the gratitude I owe you for your kind offices, it is not the less +there,” and he laid his hand on his heart. “Yes, it is there, deep and +sincere. But what can the unfortunate do? They live, and that is all.” + +“What!” said Derville. “Did you not stipulate for an allowance?” + +“Do not speak of it!” cried the old man. “You cannot conceive how deep +my contempt is for the outside life to which most men cling. I was +suddenly attacked by a sickness--disgust of humanity. When I think +that Napoleon is at Saint-Helena, everything on earth is a matter of +indifference to me. I can no longer be a soldier; that is my only real +grief. After all,” he added with a gesture of childish simplicity, “it +is better to enjoy luxury of feeling than of dress. For my part, I fear +nobody’s contempt.” + +And the Colonel sat down on his bench again. + +Derville went away. On returning to his office, he sent Godeschal, at +that time his second clerk, to the Comtesse Ferraud, who, on reading the +note, at once paid the sum due to Comte Chabert’s lawyer. + + + +In 1840, towards the end of June, Godeschal, now himself an attorney, +went to Ris with Derville, to whom he had succeeded. When they reached +the avenue leading from the highroad to Bicetre, they saw, under one +of the elm-trees by the wayside, one of those old, broken, and hoary +paupers who have earned the Marshal’s staff among beggars by living on +at Bicetre as poor women live on at la Salpetriere. This man, one of +the two thousand poor creatures who are lodged in the infirmary for the +aged, was seated on a corner-stone, and seemed to have concentrated all +his intelligence on an operation well known to these pensioners, which +consists in drying their snuffy pocket-handkerchiefs in the sun, perhaps +to save washing them. This old man had an attractive countenance. He was +dressed in a reddish cloth wrapper-coat which the work-house affords to +its inmates, a sort of horrible livery. + +“I say, Derville,” said Godeschal to his traveling companion, “look at +that old fellow. Isn’t he like those grotesque carved figures we get +from Germany? And it is alive, perhaps it is happy.” + +Derville looked at the poor man through his eyeglass, and with a little +exclamation of surprise he said: + +“That old man, my dear fellow, is a whole poem, or, as the romantics +say, a drama.--Did you ever meet the Comtesse Ferraud?” + +“Yes; she is a clever woman, and agreeable; but rather too pious,” said +Godeschal. + +“That old Bicetre pauper is her lawful husband, Comte Chabert, the +old Colonel. She has had him sent here, no doubt. And if he is in +this workhouse instead of living in a mansion, it is solely because he +reminded the pretty Countess that he had taken her, like a hackney cab, +on the street. I can remember now the tiger’s glare she shot at him at +that moment.” + +This opening having excited Godeschal’s curiosity, Derville related the +story here told. + +Two days later, on Monday morning, as they returned to Paris, the two +friends looked again at Bicetre, and Derville proposed that they should +call on Colonel Chabert. Halfway up the avenue they found the old man +sitting on the trunk of a felled tree. With his stick in one hand, he +was amusing himself with drawing lines in the sand. On looking at him +narrowly, they perceived that he had been breakfasting elsewhere than at +Bicetre. + +“Good-morning, Colonel Chabert,” said Derville. + +“Not Chabert! not Chabert! My name is Hyacinthe,” replied the veteran. +“I am no longer a man, I am No. 164, Room 7,” he added, looking at +Derville with timid anxiety, the fear of an old man and a child.--“Are +you going to visit the man condemned to death?” he asked after a +moment’s silence. “He is not married! He is very lucky!” + +“Poor fellow!” said Godeschal. “Would you like something to buy snuff?” + +With all the simplicity of a street Arab, the Colonel eagerly held out +his hand to the two strangers, who each gave him a twenty-franc piece; +he thanked them with a puzzled look, saying: + +“Brave troopers!” + +He ported arms, pretended to take aim at them, and shouted with a smile: + +“Fire! both arms! _Vive Napoleon_!” And he drew a flourish in the air +with his stick. + +“The nature of his wound has no doubt made him childish,” said Derville. + +“Childish! he?” said another old pauper, who was looking on. “Why, there +are days when you had better not tread on his corns. He is an old rogue, +full of philosophy and imagination. But to-day, what can you expect! He +has had his Monday treat.--He was here, monsieur, so long ago as 1820. +At that time a Prussian officer, whose chaise was crawling up the hill +of Villejuif, came by on foot. We two were together, Hyacinthe and I, +by the roadside. The officer, as he walked, was talking to another, a +Russian, or some animal of the same species, and when the Prussian saw +the old boy, just to make fun, he said to him, ‘Here is an old cavalry +man who must have been at Rossbach.’--‘I was too young to be there,’ +said Hyacinthe. ‘But I was at Jena.’ And the Prussian made off pretty +quick, without asking any more questions.” + +“What a destiny!” exclaimed Derville. “Taken out of the Foundling +Hospital to die in the Infirmary for the Aged, after helping Napoleon +between whiles to conquer Egypt and Europe.--Do you know, my dear +fellow,” Derville went on after a pause, “there are in modern society +three men who can never think well of the world--the priest, the doctor, +and the man of law? And they wear black robes, perhaps because they are +in mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most hapless of +the three is the lawyer. When a man comes in search of the priest, he +is prompted by repentance, by remorse, by beliefs which make him +interesting, which elevate him and comfort the soul of the intercessor +whose task will bring him a sort of gladness; he purifies, repairs and +reconciles. But we lawyers, we see the same evil feelings repeated again +and again, nothing can correct them; our offices are sewers which can +never be cleansed. + +“How many things have I learned in the exercise of my profession! I have +seen a father die in a garret, deserted by two daughters, to whom he had +given forty thousand francs a year! I have known wills burned; I have +seen mothers robbing their children, wives killing their husbands, and +working on the love they could inspire to make the men idiotic or mad, +that they might live in peace with a lover. I have seen women teaching +the child of their marriage such tastes as must bring it to the grave in +order to benefit the child of an illicit affection. I could not tell +you all I have seen, for I have seen crimes against which justice is +impotent. In short, all the horrors that romancers suppose they have +invented are still below the truth. You will know something of these +pretty things; as for me, I am going to live in the country with my +wife. I have a horror of Paris.” + +“I have seen plenty of them already in Desroches’ office,” replied +Godeschal. + + +PARIS, February-March 1832. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Bonaparte, Napoleon + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Seamy Side of History + A Woman of Thirty + + Crottat, Alexandre + Cesar Birotteau + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + Cousin Pons + + Derville + Gobseck + A Start in Life + The Gondreville Mystery + Father Goriot + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + + Desroches (son) + A Bachelor’s Establishment + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Commission in Lunacy + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + + Ferraud, Comtesse + The Government Clerks + + Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + A Bachelor’s Establishment + A Start in Life + The Commission in Lunacy + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Gobseck + + Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier + The Chouans + The Seamy Side of History + The Gondreville Mystery + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Ball at Sceaux + The Lily of the Valley + The Government Clerks + + Murat, Joachim, Prince + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Country Doctor + + Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor’s Establishment + The Muse of the Department + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Peasantry + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + Cousin Betty + + Vergniaud, Louis + The Vendetta + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Chabert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1954-0.txt or 1954-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/5/1954/ + +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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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1954-0.zip b/1954-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..434195a --- /dev/null +++ b/1954-0.zip diff --git a/1954-h.zip b/1954-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d564b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1954-h.zip diff --git a/1954-h/1954-h.htm b/1954-h/1954-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..09eb2a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/1954-h/1954-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3693 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Colonel Chabert, by Honore de Balzac + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Chabert, 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: Colonel Chabert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + +Release Date: March 6, 2010 [EBook #1954] +Last Updated: November 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + COLONEL CHABERT + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Honore De Balzac + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + DEDICATION<br /><br /> To Madame la Comtesse Ida de Bocarme nee du + Chasteler.<br /> + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>COLONEL CHABERT</b> </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> ADDENDUM </a> + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + COLONEL CHABERT + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + “HULLO! There is that old Box-coat again!” + </p> + <p> + This exclamation was made by a lawyer’s clerk of the class called in + French offices a gutter-jumper—a messenger in fact—who at this + moment was eating a piece of dry bread with a hearty appetite. He pulled + off a morsel of crumb to make into a bullet, and fired it gleefully + through the open pane of the window against which he was leaning. The + pellet, well aimed, rebounded almost as high as the window, after hitting + the hat of a stranger who was crossing the courtyard of a house in the Rue + Vivienne, where dwelt Maitre Derville, attorney-at-law. + </p> + <p> + “Come, Simonnin, don’t play tricks on people, or I will turn you out of + doors. However poor a client may be, he is still a man, hang it all!” said + the head clerk, pausing in the addition of a bill of costs. + </p> + <p> + The lawyer’s messenger is commonly, as was Simonnin, a lad of thirteen or + fourteen, who, in every office, is under the special jurisdiction of the + managing clerk, whose errands and <i>billets-doux</i> keep him employed on + his way to carry writs to the bailiffs and petitions to the Courts. He is + akin to the street boy in his habits, and to the pettifogger by fate. The + boy is almost always ruthless, unbroken, unmanageable, a ribald rhymester, + impudent, greedy, and idle. And yet, almost all these clerklings have an + old mother lodging on some fifth floor with whom they share their pittance + of thirty or forty francs a month. + </p> + <p> + “If he is a man, why do you call him old Box-coat?” asked Simonnin, with + the air of a schoolboy who has caught out his master. + </p> + <p> + And he went on eating his bread and cheese, leaning his shoulder against + the window jamb; for he rested standing like a cab-horse, one of his legs + raised and propped against the other, on the toe of his shoe. + </p> + <p> + “What trick can we play that cove?” said the third clerk, whose name was + Godeschal, in a low voice, pausing in the middle of a discourse he was + extemporizing in an appeal engrossed by the fourth clerk, of which copies + were being made by two neophytes from the provinces. + </p> + <p> + Then he went on improvising: + </p> + <p> + “<i>But, in his noble and beneficent wisdom, his Majesty, Louis the + Eighteenth</i>—(write it at full length, heh! Desroches the learned—you, + as you engross it!)—<i>when he resumed the reins of Government, + understood</i>—(what did that old nincompoop ever understand?)—<i>the + high mission to which he had been called by Divine Providence!</i>—(a + note of admiration and six stops. They are pious enough at the Courts to + let us put six)—<i>and his first thought, as is proved by the date + of the order hereinafter designated, was to repair the misfortunes caused + by the terrible and sad disasters of the revolutionary times, by restoring + to his numerous and faithful adherents</i>—(‘numerous’ is + flattering, and ought to please the Bench)—<i>all their unsold + estates, whether within our realm, or in conquered or acquired territory, + or in the endowments of public institutions, for we are, and proclaim + ourselves competent to declare, that this is the spirit and meaning of the + famous, truly loyal order given in</i>—Stop,” said Godeschal to the + three copying clerks, “that rascally sentence brings me to the end of my + page.—Well,” he went on, wetting the back fold of the sheet with his + tongue, so as to be able to fold back the page of thick stamped paper, + “well, if you want to play him a trick, tell him that the master can only + see his clients between two and three in the morning; we shall see if he + comes, the old ruffian!” + </p> + <p> + And Godeschal took up the sentence he was dictating—“<i>given in</i>—Are + you ready?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” cried the three writers. + </p> + <p> + It all went all together, the appeal, the gossip, and the conspiracy. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Given in</i>—Here, Daddy Boucard, what is the date of the order? + We must dot our <i>i</i>’s and cross our <i>t</i>’s, by Jingo! it helps to + fill the pages.” + </p> + <p> + “By Jingo!” repeated one of the copying clerks before Boucard, the head + clerk, could reply. + </p> + <p> + “What! have you written <i>by Jingo</i>?” cried Godeschal, looking at one + of the novices, with an expression at once stern and humorous. + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes,” said Desroches, the fourth clerk, leaning across his + neighbor’s copy, “he has written, ‘<i>We must dot our i’s</i>’ and spelt + it <i>by Gingo</i>!” + </p> + <p> + All the clerks shouted with laughter. + </p> + <p> + “Why! Monsieur Hure, you take ‘By Jingo’ for a law term, and you say you + come from Mortagne!” exclaimed Simonnin. + </p> + <p> + “Scratch it cleanly out,” said the head clerk. “If the judge, whose + business it is to tax the bill, were to see such things, he would say you + were laughing at the whole boiling. You would hear of it from the chief! + Come, no more of this nonsense, Monsieur Hure! A Norman ought not to write + out an appeal without thought. It is the ‘Shoulder arms!’ of the law.” + </p> + <p> + “<i>Given in—in</i>?” asked Godeschal.—“Tell me when, + Boucard.” + </p> + <p> + “June 1814,” replied the head clerk, without looking up from his work. + </p> + <p> + A knock at the office door interrupted the circumlocutions of the prolix + document. Five clerks with rows of hungry teeth, bright, mocking eyes, and + curly heads, lifted their noses towards the door, after crying all + together in a singing tone, “Come in!” + </p> + <p> + Boucard kept his face buried in a pile of papers—<i>broutilles</i> + (odds and ends) in French law jargon—and went on drawing out the + bill of costs on which he was busy. + </p> + <p> + The office was a large room furnished with the traditional stool which is + to be seen in all these dens of law-quibbling. The stove-pipe crossed the + room diagonally to the chimney of a bricked-up fireplace; on the marble + chimney-piece were several chunks of bread, triangles of Brie cheese, pork + cutlets, glasses, bottles, and the head clerk’s cup of chocolate. The + smell of these dainties blended so completely with that of the + immoderately overheated stove and the odor peculiar to offices and old + papers, that the trail of a fox would not have been perceptible. The floor + was covered with mud and snow, brought in by the clerks. Near the window + stood the desk with a revolving lid, where the head clerk worked, and + against the back of it was the second clerk’s table. The second clerk was + at this moment in Court. It was between eight and nine in the morning. + </p> + <p> + The only decoration of the office consisted in huge yellow posters, + announcing seizures of real estate, sales, settlements under trust, final + or interim judgments,—all the glory of a lawyer’s office. Behind the + head clerk was an enormous room, of which each division was crammed with + bundles of papers with an infinite number of tickets hanging from them at + the ends of red tape, which give a peculiar physiognomy to law papers. The + lower rows were filled with cardboard boxes, yellow with use, on which + might be read the names of the more important clients whose cases were + juicily stewing at this present time. The dirty window-panes admitted but + little daylight. Indeed, there are very few offices in Paris where it is + possible to write without lamplight before ten in the morning in the month + of February, for they are all left to very natural neglect; every one + comes and no one stays; no one has any personal interest in a scene of + mere routine—neither the attorney, nor the counsel, nor the clerks, + trouble themselves about the appearance of a place which, to the youths, + is a schoolroom; to the clients, a passage; to the chief, a laboratory. + The greasy furniture is handed down to successive owners with such + scrupulous care, that in some offices may still be seen boxes of <i>remainders</i>, + machines for twisting parchment gut, and bags left by the prosecuting + parties of the Chatelet (abbreviated to <i>Chlet</i>)—a Court which, + under the old order of things, represented the present Court of First + Instance (or County Court). + </p> + <p> + So in this dark office, thick with dust, there was, as in all its fellows, + something repulsive to the clients—something which made it one of + the most hideous monstrosities of Paris. Nay, were it not for the mouldy + sacristies where prayers are weighed out and paid for like groceries, and + for the old-clothes shops, where flutter the rags that blight all the + illusions of life by showing us the last end of all our festivities—an + attorney’s office would be, of all social marts, the most loathsome. But + we might say the same of the gambling-hell, of the Law Court, of the + lottery office, of the brothel. + </p> + <p> + But why? In these places, perhaps, the drama being played in a man’s soul + makes him indifferent to accessories, which would also account for the + single-mindedness of great thinkers and men of great ambitions. + </p> + <p> + “Where is my penknife?” + </p> + <p> + “I am eating my breakfast.” + </p> + <p> + “You go and be hanged! here is a blot on the copy.” + </p> + <p> + “Silence, gentlemen!” + </p> + <p> + These various exclamations were uttered simultaneously at the moment when + the old client shut the door with the sort of humility which disfigures + the movements of a man down on his luck. The stranger tried to smile, but + the muscles of his face relaxed as he vainly looked for some symptoms of + amenity on the inexorably indifferent faces of the six clerks. Accustomed, + no doubt, to gauge men, he very politely addressed the gutter-jumper, + hoping to get a civil answer from this boy of all work. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur, is your master at home?” + </p> + <p> + The pert messenger made no reply, but patted his ear with the fingers of + his left hand, as much as to say, “I am deaf.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you want, sir?” asked Godeschal, swallowing as he spoke a + mouthful of bread big enough to charge a four-pounder, flourishing his + knife and crossing his legs, throwing up one foot in the air to the level + of his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “This is the fifth time I have called,” replied the victim. “I wish to + speak to M. Derville.” + </p> + <p> + “On business?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but I can explain it to no one but—” + </p> + <p> + “M. Derville is in bed; if you wish to consult him on some difficulty, he + does no serious work till midnight. But if you will lay the case before + us, we could help you just as well as he can to——” + </p> + <p> + The stranger was unmoved; he looked timidly about him, like a dog who has + got into a strange kitchen and expects a kick. By grace of their + profession, lawyers’ clerks have no fear of thieves; they did not suspect + the owner of the box-coat, and left him to study the place, where he + looked in vain for a chair to sit on, for he was evidently tired. + Attorneys, on principle, do not have many chairs in their offices. The + inferior client, being kept waiting on his feet, goes away grumbling, but + then he does not waste time, which, as an old lawyer once said, is not + allowed for when the bill is taxed. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said the old man, “as I have already told you, I cannot + explain my business to any one but M. Derville. I will wait till he is + up.” + </p> + <p> + Boucard had finished his bill. He smelt the fragrance of his chocolate, + rose from his cane armchair, went to the chimney-piece, looked the old man + from head to foot, stared at his coat, and made an indescribable grimace. + He probably reflected that whichever way his client might be wrung, it + would be impossible to squeeze out a centime, so he put in a few brief + words to rid the office of a bad customer. + </p> + <p> + “It is the truth, monsieur. The chief only works at night. If your + business is important, I recommend you to return at one in the morning.” + The stranger looked at the head clerk with a bewildered expression, and + remained motionless for a moment. The clerks, accustomed to every change + of countenance, and the odd whimsicalities to which indecision or absence + of mind gives rise in “parties,” went on eating, making as much noise with + their jaws as horses over a manger, and paying no further heed to the old + man. + </p> + <p> + “I will come again to-night,” said the stranger at length, with the + tenacious desire, peculiar to the unfortunate, to catch humanity at fault. + </p> + <p> + The only irony allowed to poverty is to drive Justice and Benevolence to + unjust denials. When a poor wretch has convicted Society of falsehood, he + throws himself more eagerly on the mercy of God. + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of that for a cracked pot?” said Simonnin, without + waiting till the old man had shut the door. + </p> + <p> + “He looks as if he had been buried and dug up again,” said a clerk. + </p> + <p> + “He is some colonel who wants his arrears of pay,” said the head clerk. + </p> + <p> + “No, he is a retired concierge,” said Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + “I bet you he is a nobleman,” cried Boucard. + </p> + <p> + “I bet you he has been a porter,” retorted Godeschal. “Only porters are + gifted by nature with shabby box-coats, as worn and greasy and frayed as + that old body’s. And did you see his trodden-down boots that let the water + in, and his stock which serves for a shirt? He has slept in a dry arch.” + </p> + <p> + “He may be of noble birth, and yet have pulled the doorlatch,” cried + Desroches. “It has been known!” + </p> + <p> + “No,” Boucard insisted, in the midst of laughter, “I maintain that he was + a brewer in 1789, and a colonel in the time of the Republic.” + </p> + <p> + “I bet theatre tickets round that he never was a soldier,” said Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + “Done with you,” answered Boucard. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur! Monsieur!” shouted the little messenger, opening the window. + </p> + <p> + “What are you at now, Simonnin?” asked Boucard. + </p> + <p> + “I am calling him that you may ask him whether he is a colonel or a + porter; he must know.” + </p> + <p> + All the clerks laughed. As to the old man, he was already coming upstairs + again. + </p> + <p> + “What can we say to him?” cried Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + “Leave it to me,” replied Boucard. + </p> + <p> + The poor man came in nervously, his eyes cast down, perhaps not to betray + how hungry he was by looking too greedily at the eatables. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said Boucard, “will you have the kindness to leave your name, + so that M. Derville may know——” + </p> + <p> + “Chabert.” + </p> + <p> + “The Colonel who was killed at Eylau?” asked Hure, who, having so far said + nothing, was jealous of adding a jest to all the others. + </p> + <p> + “The same, monsieur,” replied the good man, with antique simplicity. And + he went away. + </p> + <p> + “Whew!” + </p> + <p> + “Done brown!” + </p> + <p> + “Poof!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” + </p> + <p> + “Boum!” + </p> + <p> + “The old rogue!” + </p> + <p> + “Ting-a-ring-ting!” + </p> + <p> + “Sold again!” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur Desroches, you are going to the play without paying,” said Hure + to the fourth clerk, giving him a slap on the shoulder that might have + killed a rhinoceros. + </p> + <p> + There was a storm of cat-calls, cries, and exclamations, which all the + onomatopeia of the language would fail to represent. + </p> + <p> + “Which theatre shall we go to?” + </p> + <p> + “To the opera,” cried the head clerk. + </p> + <p> + “In the first place,” said Godeschal, “I never mentioned which theatre. I + might, if I chose, take you to see Madame Saqui.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame Saqui is not the play.” + </p> + <p> + “What is a play?” replied Godeschal. “First, we must define the point of + fact. What did I bet, gentlemen? A play. What is a play? A spectacle. What + is a spectacle? Something to be seen—” + </p> + <p> + “But on that principle you would pay your bet by taking us to see the + water run under the Pont Neuf!” cried Simonnin, interrupting him. + </p> + <p> + “To be seen for money,” Godeschal added. + </p> + <p> + “But a great many things are to be seen for money that are not plays. The + definition is defective,” said Desroches. + </p> + <p> + “But do listen to me!” + </p> + <p> + “You are talking nonsense, my dear boy,” said Boucard. + </p> + <p> + “Is Curtius’ a play?” said Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the head clerk, “it is a collection of figures—but it is + a spectacle.” + </p> + <p> + “I bet you a hundred francs to a sou,” Godeschal resumed, “that Curtius’ + Waxworks forms such a show as might be called a play or theatre. It + contains a thing to be seen at various prices, according to the place you + choose to occupy.” + </p> + <p> + “And so on, and so forth!” said Simonnin. + </p> + <p> + “You mind I don’t box your ears!” said Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + The clerk shrugged their shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “Besides, it is not proved that that old ape was not making game of us,” + he said, dropping his argument, which was drowned in the laughter of the + other clerks. “On my honor, Colonel Chabert is really and truly dead. His + wife is married again to Comte Ferraud, Councillor of State. Madame + Ferraud is one of our clients.” + </p> + <p> + “Come, the case is remanded till to-morrow,” said Boucard. “To work, + gentlemen. The deuce is in it; we get nothing done here. Finish copying + that appeal; it must be handed in before the sitting of the Fourth + Chamber, judgment is to be given to-day. Come, on you go!” + </p> + <p> + “If he really were Colonel Chabert, would not that impudent rascal + Simonnin have felt the leather of his boot in the right place when he + pretended to be deaf?” said Desroches, regarding this remark as more + conclusive than Godeschal’s. + </p> + <p> + “Since nothing is settled,” said Boucard, “let us all agree to go to the + upper boxes of the Francais and see Talma in ‘Nero.’ Simonnin may go to + the pit.” + </p> + <p> + And thereupon the head clerk sat down at his table, and the others + followed his example. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Given in June eighteen hundred and fourteen</i> (in words),” said + Godeschal. “Ready?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” replied the two copying-clerks and the engrosser, whose pens + forthwith began to creak over the stamped paper, making as much noise in + the office as a hundred cockchafers imprisoned by schoolboys in paper + cages. + </p> + <p> + “<i>And we hope that my lords on the Bench</i>,” the extemporizing clerk + went on. “Stop! I must read my sentence through again. I do not understand + it myself.” + </p> + <p> + “Forty-six (that must often happen) and three forty-nines,” said Boucard. + </p> + <p> + “<i>We hope</i>,” Godeschal began again, after reading all through the + document, “<i>that my lords on the Bench will not be less magnanimous than + the august author of the decree, and that they will do justice against the + miserable claims of the acting committee of the chief Board of the Legion + of Honor by interpreting the law in the wide sense we have here set forth</i>——” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur Godeschal, wouldn’t you like a glass of water?” said the little + messenger. + </p> + <p> + “That imp of a boy!” said Boucard. “Here, get on your double-soled + shanks-mare, take this packet, and spin off to the Invalides.” + </p> + <p> + “<i>Here set forth</i>,” Godeschal went on. “Add <i>in the interest of + Madame la Vicomtesse</i> (at full length) <i>de Grandlieu</i>.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” cried the chief, “are you thinking of drawing up an appeal in the + case of Vicomtesse de Grandlieu against the Legion of Honor—a case + for the office to stand or fall by? You are something like an ass! Have + the goodness to put aside your copies and your notes; you may keep all + that for the case of Navarreins against the Hospitals. It is late. I will + draw up a little petition myself, with a due allowance of ‘inasmuch,’ and + go to the Courts myself.” + </p> + <p> + This scene is typical of the thousand delights which, when we look back on + our youth, make us say, “Those were good times.” + </p> + <p> + At about one in the morning Colonel Chabert, self-styled, knocked at the + door of Maitre Derville, attorney to the Court of First Instance in the + Department of the Seine. The porter told him that Monsieur Derville had + not yet come in. The old man said he had an appointment, and was shown + upstairs to the rooms occupied by the famous lawyer, who, notwithstanding + his youth, was considered to have one of the longest heads in Paris. + </p> + <p> + Having rung, the distrustful applicant was not a little astonished at + finding the head clerk busily arranging in a convenient order on his + master’s dining-room table the papers relating to the cases to be tried on + the morrow. The clerk, not less astonished, bowed to the Colonel and + begged him to take a seat, which the client did. + </p> + <p> + “On my word, monsieur, I thought you were joking yesterday when you named + such an hour for an interview,” said the old man, with the forced mirth of + a ruined man, who does his best to smile. + </p> + <p> + “The clerks were joking, but they were speaking the truth too,” replied + the man, going on with his work. “M. Derville chooses this hour for + studying his cases, taking stock of their possibilities, arranging how to + conduct them, deciding on the line of defence. His prodigious intellect is + freer at this hour—the only time when he can have the silence and + quiet needed for the conception of good ideas. Since he entered the + profession, you are the third person to come to him for a consultation at + this midnight hour. After coming in the chief will discuss each case, read + everything, spend four or five hours perhaps over the business, then he + will ring for me and explain to me his intentions. In the morning from ten + to two he hears what his clients have to say, then he spends the rest of + his day in appointments. In the evening he goes into society to keep up + his connections. So he has only the night for undermining his cases, + ransacking the arsenal of the code, and laying his plan of battle. He is + determined never to lose a case; he loves his art. He will not undertake + every case, as his brethren do. That is his life, an exceptionally active + one. And he makes a great deal of money.” + </p> + <p> + As he listened to this explanation, the old man sat silent, and his + strange face assumed an expression so bereft of intelligence, that the + clerk, after looking at him, thought no more about him. + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later Derville came in, in evening dress; his head clerk + opened the door to him, and went back to finish arranging the papers. The + young lawyer paused for a moment in amazement on seeing in the dim light + the strange client who awaited him. Colonel Chabert was as absolutely + immovable as one of the wax figures in Curtius’ collection to which + Godeschal had proposed to treat his fellow-clerks. This quiescence would + not have been a subject for astonishment if it had not completed the + supernatural aspect of the man’s whole person. The old soldier was dry and + lean. His forehead, intentionally hidden under a smoothly combed wig, gave + him a look of mystery. His eyes seemed shrouded in a transparent film; you + would have compared them to dingy mother-of-pearl with a blue iridescence + changing in the gleam of the wax lights. His face, pale, livid, and as + thin as a knife, if I may use such a vulgar expression, was as the face of + the dead. Round his neck was a tight black silk stock. + </p> + <p> + Below the dark line of this rag the body was so completely hidden in + shadow that a man of imagination might have supposed the old head was due + to some chance play of light and shade, or have taken it for a portrait by + Rembrandt, without a frame. The brim of the hat which covered the old + man’s brow cast a black line of shadow on the upper part of the face. This + grotesque effect, though natural, threw into relief by contrast the white + furrows, the cold wrinkles, the colorless tone of the corpse-like + countenance. And the absence of all movement in the figure, of all fire in + the eye, were in harmony with a certain look of melancholy madness, and + the deteriorating symptoms characteristic of senility, giving the face an + indescribably ill-starred look which no human words could render. + </p> + <p> + But an observer, especially a lawyer, could also have read in this + stricken man the signs of deep sorrow, the traces of grief which had worn + into this face, as drops of water from the sky falling on fine marble at + last destroy its beauty. A physician, an author, or a judge might have + discerned a whole drama at the sight of its sublime horror, while the + least charm was its resemblance to the grotesques which artists amuse + themselves by sketching on a corner of the lithographic stone while + chatting with a friend. + </p> + <p> + On seeing the attorney, the stranger started, with the convulsive thrill + that comes over a poet when a sudden noise rouses him from a fruitful + reverie in silence and at night. The old man hastily removed his hat and + rose to bow to the young man; the leather lining of his hat was doubtless + very greasy; his wig stuck to it without his noticing it, and left his + head bare, showing his skull horribly disfigured by a scar beginning at + the nape of the neck and ending over the right eye, a prominent seam all + across his head. The sudden removal of the dirty wig which the poor man + wore to hide this gash gave the two lawyers no inclination to laugh, so + horrible to behold was this riven skull. The first idea suggested by the + sight of this old wound was, “His intelligence must have escaped through + that cut.” + </p> + <p> + “If this is not Colonel Chabert, he is some thorough-going trooper!” + thought Boucard. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said Derville, “to whom have I the honor of speaking?” + </p> + <p> + “To Colonel Chabert.” + </p> + <p> + “Which?” + </p> + <p> + “He who was killed at Eylau,” replied the old man. + </p> + <p> + On hearing this strange speech, the lawyer and his clerk glanced at each + other, as much as to say, “He is mad.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” the Colonel went on, “I wish to confide to you the secret of + my position.” + </p> + <p> + A thing worthy of note is the natural intrepidity of lawyers. Whether from + the habit of receiving a great many persons, or from the deep sense of the + protection conferred on them by the law, or from confidence in their + missions, they enter everywhere, fearing nothing, like priests and + physicians. Derville signed to Boucard, who vanished. + </p> + <p> + “During the day, sir,” said the attorney, “I am not so miserly of my time, + but at night every minute is precious. So be brief and concise. Go to the + facts without digression. I will ask for any explanations I may consider + necessary. Speak.” + </p> + <p> + Having bid his strange client to be seated, the young man sat down at the + table; but while he gave his attention to the deceased Colonel, he turned + over the bundles of papers. + </p> + <p> + “You know, perhaps,” said the dead man, “that I commanded a cavalry + regiment at Eylau. I was of important service to the success of Murat’s + famous charge which decided the victory. Unhappily for me, my death is a + historical fact, recorded in <i>Victoires et Conquetes</i>, where it is + related in full detail. We cut through the three Russian lines, which at + once closed up and formed again, so that we had to repeat the movement + back again. At the moment when we were nearing the Emperor, after having + scattered the Russians, I came against a squadron of the enemy’s cavalry. + I rushed at the obstinate brutes. Two Russian officers, perfect giants, + attacked me both at once. One of them gave me a cut across the head that + crashed through everything, even a black silk cap I wore next my head, and + cut deep into the skull. I fell from my horse. Murat came up to support + me. He rode over my body, he and all his men, fifteen hundred of them—there + might have been more! My death was announced to the Emperor, who as a + precaution—for he was fond of me, was the master—wished to + know if there were no hope of saving the man he had to thank for such a + vigorous attack. He sent two surgeons to identify me and bring me into + Hospital, saying, perhaps too carelessly, for he was very busy, ‘Go and + see whether by any chance poor Chabert is still alive.’ These rascally + saw-bones, who had just seen me lying under the hoofs of the horses of two + regiments, no doubt did not trouble themselves to feel my pulse, and + reported that I was quite dead. The certificate of death was probably made + out in accordance with the rules of military jurisprudence.” + </p> + <p> + As he heard his visitor express himself with complete lucidity, and relate + a story so probable though so strange, the young lawyer ceased fingering + the papers, rested his left elbow on the table, and with his head on his + hand looked steadily at the Colonel. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know, monsieur, that I am lawyer to the Countess Ferraud,” he + said, interrupting the speaker, “Colonel Chabert’s widow?” + </p> + <p> + “My wife—yes monsieur. Therefore, after a hundred fruitless attempts + to interest lawyers, who have all thought me mad, I made up my mind to + come to you. I will tell you of my misfortunes afterwards; for the + present, allow me to prove the facts, explaining rather how things must + have fallen out rather than how they did occur. Certain circumstances, + known, I suppose to no one but the Almighty, compel me to speak of some + things as hypothetical. The wounds I had received must presumably have + produced tetanus, or have thrown me into a state analogous to that of a + disease called, I believe, catalepsy. Otherwise how is it conceivable that + I should have been stripped, as is the custom in time of the war, and + thrown into the common grave by the men ordered to bury the dead? + </p> + <p> + “Allow me here to refer to a detail of which I could know nothing till + after the event, which, after all, I must speak of as my death. At + Stuttgart, in 1814, I met an old quartermaster of my regiment. This dear + fellow, the only man who chose to recognize me, and of whom I will tell + you more later, explained the marvel of my preservation, by telling me + that my horse was shot in the flank at the moment when I was wounded. Man + and beast went down together, like a monk cut out of card-paper. As I + fell, to the right or to the left, I was no doubt covered by the body of + my horse, which protected me from being trampled to death or hit by a + ball. + </p> + <p> + “When I came to myself, monsieur, I was in a position and an atmosphere of + which I could give you no idea if I talked till to-morrow. The little air + there was to breathe was foul. I wanted to move, and found no room. I + opened my eyes, and saw nothing. The most alarming circumstance was the + lack of air, and this enlightened me as to my situation. I understood that + no fresh air could penetrate to me, and that I must die. This thought took + off the sense of intolerable pain which had aroused me. There was a + violent singing in my ears. I heard—or I thought I heard, I will + assert nothing—groans from the world of dead among whom I was lying. + Some nights I still think I hear those stifled moans; though the + remembrance of that time is very obscure, and my memory very indistinct, + in spite of my impressions of far more acute suffering I was fated to go + through, and which have confused my ideas. + </p> + <p> + “But there was something more awful than cries; there was a silence such + as I have never known elsewhere—literally, the silence of the grave. + At last, by raising my hands and feeling the dead, I discerned a vacant + space between my head and the human carrion above. I could thus measure + the space, granted by a chance of which I knew not the cause. It would + seem that, thanks to the carelessness and the haste with which we had been + pitched into the trench, two dead bodies had leaned across and against + each other, forming an angle like that made by two cards when a child is + building a card castle. Feeling about me at once, for there was no time + for play, I happily felt an arm lying detached, the arm of a Hercules! A + stout bone, to which I owed my rescue. But for this unhoped-for help, I + must have perished. But with a fury you may imagine, I began to work my + way through the bodies which separated me from the layer of earth which + had no doubt been thrown over us—I say us, as if there had been + others living! I worked with a will, monsieur, for here I am! But to this + day I do not know how I succeeded in getting through the pile of flesh + which formed a barrier between me and life. You will say I had three arms. + This crowbar, which I used cleverly enough, opened out a little air + between the bodies I moved, and I economized my breath. At last I saw + daylight, but through snow! + </p> + <p> + “At that moment I perceived that my head was cut open. Happily my blood, + or that of my comrades, or perhaps the torn skin of my horse, who knows, + had in coagulating formed a sort of natural plaster. But, in spite of it, + I fainted away when my head came into contact with the snow. However, the + little warmth left in me melted the snow about me; and when I recovered + consciousness, I found myself in the middle of a round hole, where I stood + shouting as long as I could. But the sun was rising, so I had very little + chance of being heard. Was there any one in the fields yet? I pulled + myself up, using my feet as a spring, resting on one of the dead, whose + ribs were firm. You may suppose that this was not the moment for saying, + ‘Respect courage in misfortune!’ In short, monsieur, after enduring the + anguish, if the word is strong enough for my frenzy, of seeing for a long + time, yes, quite a long time, those cursed Germans flying from a voice + they heard where they could see no one, I was dug out by a woman, who was + brave or curious enough to come close to my head, which must have looked + as though it had sprouted from the ground like a mushroom. This woman went + to fetch her husband, and between them they got me to their poor hovel. + </p> + <p> + “It would seem that I must have again fallen into a catalepsy—allow + me to use the word to describe a state of which I have no idea, but which, + from the account given by my hosts, I suppose to have been the effect of + that malady. I remained for six months between life and death; not + speaking, or, if I spoke, talking in delirium. At last, my hosts got me + admitted to the hospital at Heilsberg. + </p> + <p> + “You will understand, Monsieur, that I came out of the womb of the grave + as naked as I came from my mother’s; so that six months afterwards, when I + remembered, one fine morning, that I had been Colonel Chabert, and when, + on recovering my wits, I tried to exact from my nurse rather more respect + than she paid to any poor devil, all my companions in the ward began to + laugh. Luckily for me, the surgeon, out of professional pride, had + answered for my cure, and was naturally interested in his patient. When I + told him coherently about my former life, this good man, named Sparchmann, + signed a deposition, drawn up in the legal form of his country, giving an + account of the miraculous way in which I had escaped from the trench dug + for the dead, the day and hour when I had been found by my benefactress + and her husband, the nature and exact spot of my injuries, adding to these + documents a description of my person. + </p> + <p> + “Well, monsieur, I have neither these important pieces of evidence, nor + the declaration I made before a notary at Heilsberg, with a view to + establishing my identity. From the day when I was turned out of that town + by the events of the war, I have wandered about like a vagabond, begging + my bread, treated as a madman when I have told my story, without ever + having found or earned a sou to enable me to recover the deeds which would + prove my statements, and restore me to society. My sufferings have often + kept me for six months at a time in some little town, where every care was + taken of the invalid Frenchman, but where he was laughed at to his face as + soon as he said he was Colonel Chabert. For a long time that laughter, + those doubts, used to put me into rages which did me harm, and which even + led to my being locked up at Stuttgart as a madman. And indeed, as you may + judge from my story, there was ample reason for shutting a man up. + </p> + <p> + “At the end of two years’ detention, which I was compelled to submit to, + after hearing my keepers say a thousand times, ‘Here is a poor man who + thinks he is Colonel Chabert’ to people who would reply, ‘Poor fellow!’ I + became convinced of the impossibility of my own adventure. I grew + melancholy, resigned, and quiet, and gave up calling myself Colonel + Chabert, in order to get out of my prison, and see France once more. Oh, + monsieur! To see Paris again was a delirium which I——” + </p> + <p> + Without finishing his sentence, Colonel Chabert fell into a deep study, + which Derville respected. + </p> + <p> + “One fine day,” his visitor resumed, “one spring day, they gave me the key + of the fields, as we say, and ten thalers, admitting that I talked quite + sensibly on all subjects, and no longer called myself Colonel Chabert. On + my honor, at that time, and even to this day, sometimes I hate my name. I + wish I were not myself. The sense of my rights kills me. If my illness had + but deprived me of all memory of my past life, I could be happy. I should + have entered the service again under any name, no matter what, and should, + perhaps, have been made Field-Marshal in Austria or Russia. Who knows?” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said the attorney, “you have upset all my ideas. I feel as if + I heard you in a dream. Pause for a moment, I beg of you.” + </p> + <p> + “You are the only person,” said the Colonel, with a melancholy look, “who + ever listened to me so patiently. No lawyer has been willing to lend me + ten napoleons to enable me to procure from Germany the necessary documents + to begin my lawsuit—” + </p> + <p> + “What lawsuit?” said the attorney, who had forgotten his client’s painful + position in listening to the narrative of his past sufferings. + </p> + <p> + “Why, monsieur, is not the Comtesse Ferraud my wife? She has thirty + thousand francs a year, which belong to me, and she will not give me a + son. When I tell lawyers these things—men of sense; when I propose—I, + a beggar—to bring action against a Count and Countess; when I—a + dead man—bring up as against a certificate of death a certificate of + marriage and registers of births, they show me out, either with the air of + cold politeness, which you all know how to assume to rid yourself of a + hapless wretch, or brutally, like men who think they have to deal with a + swindler or a madman—it depends on their nature. I have been buried + under the dead; but now I am buried under the living, under papers, under + facts, under the whole of society, which wants to shove me underground + again!” + </p> + <p> + “Pray resume your narrative,” said Derville. + </p> + <p> + “‘Pray resume it!’” cried the hapless old man, taking the young lawyer’s + hand. “That is the first polite word I have heard since——” + </p> + <p> + The Colonel wept. Gratitude choked his voice. The appealing and + unutterable eloquence that lies in the eyes, in a gesture, even in + silence, entirely convinced Derville, and touched him deeply. + </p> + <p> + “Listen, monsieur,” said he; “I have this evening won three hundred francs + at cards. I may very well lay out half that sum in making a man happy. I + will begin the inquiries and researches necessary to obtain the documents + of which you speak, and until they arrive I will give you five francs a + day. If you are Colonel Chabert, you will pardon the smallness of the loan + as it is coming from a young man who has his fortune to make. Proceed.” + </p> + <p> + The Colonel, as he called himself, sat for a moment motionless and + bewildered; the depth of his woes had no doubt destroyed his powers of + belief. Though he was eager in pursuit of his military distinction, of his + fortune, of himself, perhaps it was in obedience to the inexplicable + feeling, the latent germ in every man’s heart, to which we owe the + experiments of alchemists, the passion for glory, the discoveries of + astronomy and of physics, everything which prompts man to expand his being + by multiplying himself through deeds or ideas. In his mind the <i>Ego</i> + was now but a secondary object, just as the vanity of success or the + pleasures of winning become dearer to the gambler than the object he has + at stake. The young lawyer’s words were as a miracle to this man, for ten + years repudiated by his wife, by justice, by the whole social creation. To + find in a lawyer’s office the ten gold pieces which had so long been + refused him by so many people, and in so many ways! The colonel was like + the lady who, having been ill of a fever for fifteen years, fancied she + had some fresh complaint when she was cured. There are joys in which we + have ceased to believe; they fall on us, it is like a thunderbolt; they + burn us. The poor man’s gratitude was too great to find utterance. To + superficial observers he seemed cold, but Derville saw complete honesty + under this amazement. A swindler would have found his voice. + </p> + <p> + “Where was I?” said the Colonel, with the simplicity of a child or of a + soldier, for there is often something of the child in a true soldier, and + almost always something of the soldier in a child, especially in France. + </p> + <p> + “At Stuttgart. You were out of prison,” said Derville. + </p> + <p> + “You know my wife?” asked the Colonel. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Derville, with a bow. + </p> + <p> + “What is she like?” + </p> + <p> + “Still quite charming.” + </p> + <p> + The old man held up his hand, and seemed to be swallowing down some secret + anguish with the grave and solemn resignation that is characteristic of + men who have stood the ordeal of blood and fire on the battlefield. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said he, with a sort of cheerfulness—for he breathed + again, the poor Colonel; he had again risen from the grave; he had just + melted a covering of snow less easily thawed than that which had once + before frozen his head; and he drew a deep breath, as if he had just + escaped from a dungeon—“Monsieur, if I had been a handsome young + fellow, none of my misfortunes would have befallen me. Women believe in + men when they flavor their speeches with the word Love. They hurry then, + they come, they go, they are everywhere at once; they intrigue, they + assert facts, they play the very devil for a man who takes their fancy. + But how could I interest a woman? I had a face like a Requiem. I was + dressed like a <i>sans-culotte</i>. I was more like an Esquimaux than a + Frenchman—I, who had formerly been considered one of the smartest of + fops in 1799!—I, Chabert, Count of the Empire. + </p> + <p> + “Well, on the very day when I was turned out into the streets like a dog, + I met the quartermaster of whom I just now spoke. This old soldier’s name + was Boutin. The poor devil and I made the queerest pair of broken-down + hacks I ever set eyes on. I met him out walking; but though I recognized + him, he could not possibly guess who I was. We went into a tavern + together. In there, when I told him my name, Boutin’s mouth opened from + ear to ear in a roar of laughter, like the bursting of a mortar. That + mirth, monsieur, was one of the keenest pangs I have known. It told me + without disguise how great were the changes in me! I was, then, + unrecognizable even to the humblest and most grateful of my former + friends! + </p> + <p> + “I had once saved Boutin’s life, but it was only the repayment of a debt I + owed him. I need not tell you how he did me this service; it was at + Ravenna, in Italy. The house where Boutin prevented my being stabbed was + not extremely respectable. At that time I was not a colonel, but, like + Boutin himself, a common trooper. Happily there were certain details of + this adventure which could be known only to us two, and when I recalled + them to his mind his incredulity diminished. I then told him the story of + my singular experiences. Although my eyes and my voice, he told me, were + strangely altered, although I had neither hair, teeth, nor eyebrows, and + was as colorless as an Albino, he at last recognized his Colonel in the + beggar, after a thousand questions, which I answered triumphantly. + </p> + <p> + “He related his adventures; they were not less extraordinary than my own; + he had lately come back from the frontiers of China, which he had tried to + cross after escaping from Siberia. He told me of the catastrophe of the + Russian campaign, and of Napoleon’s first abdication. That news was one of + the things which caused me most anguish! + </p> + <p> + “We were two curious derelicts, having been rolled over the globe as + pebbles are rolled by the ocean when storms bear them from shore to shore. + Between us we had seen Egypt, Syria, Spain, Russia, Holland, Germany, + Italy and Dalmatia, England, China, Tartary, Siberia; the only thing + wanting was that neither of us had been to America or the Indies. Finally, + Boutin, who still was more locomotive than I, undertook to go to Paris as + quickly as might be to inform my wife of the predicament in which I was. I + wrote a long letter full of details to Madame Chabert. That, monsieur, was + the fourth! If I had had any relations, perhaps nothing of all this might + have happened; but, to be frank with you, I am but a workhouse child, a + soldier, whose sole fortune was his courage, whose sole family is mankind + at large, whose country is France, whose only protector is the Almighty.—Nay, + I am wrong! I had a father—the Emperor! Ah! if he were but here, the + dear man! If he could see <i>his Chabert</i>, as he used to call me, in + the state in which I am now, he would be in a rage! What is to be done? + Our sun is set, and we are all out in the cold now. After all, political + events might account for my wife’s silence! + </p> + <p> + “Boutin set out. He was a lucky fellow! He had two bears, admirably + trained, which brought him in a living. I could not go with him; the pain + I suffered forbade my walking long stages. I wept, monsieur, when we + parted, after I had gone as far as my state allowed in company with him + and his bears. At Carlsruhe I had an attack of neuralgia in the head, and + lay for six weeks on straw in an inn. I should never have ended if I were + to tell you all the distresses of my life as a beggar. Moral suffering, + before which physical suffering pales, nevertheless excites less pity, + because it is not seen. I remember shedding tears, as I stood in front of + a fine house in Strassburg where once I had given an entertainment, and + where nothing was given me, not even a piece of bread. Having agreed with + Boutin on the road I was to take, I went to every post-office to ask if + there were a letter or some money for me. I arrived at Paris without + having found either. What despair I had been forced to endure! ‘Boutin + must be dead! I told myself, and in fact the poor fellow was killed at + Waterloo. I heard of his death later, and by mere chance. His errand to my + wife had, of course, been fruitless. + </p> + <p> + “At last I entered Paris—with the Cossacks. To me this was grief on + grief. On seeing the Russians in France, I quite forgot that I had no + shoes on my feet nor money in my pocket. Yes, monsieur, my clothes were in + tatters. The evening before I reached Paris I was obliged to bivouac in + the woods of Claye. The chill of the night air no doubt brought on an + attack of some nameless complaint which seized me as I was crossing the + Faubourg Saint-Martin. I dropped almost senseless at the door of an + ironmonger’s shop. When I recovered I was in a bed in the Hotel-Dieu. + There I stayed very contentedly for about a month. I was then turned out; + I had no money, but I was well, and my feet were on the good stones of + Paris. With what delight and haste did I make my way to the Rue du + Mont-Blanc, where my wife should be living in a house belonging to me! + Bah! the Rue du Mont-Blanc was now the Rue de la Chausee d’Antin; I could + not find my house; it had been sold and pulled down. Speculators had built + several houses over my gardens. Not knowing that my wife had married M. + Ferraud, I could obtain no information. + </p> + <p> + “At last I went to the house of an old lawyer who had been in charge of my + affairs. This worthy man was dead, after selling his connection to a + younger man. This gentleman informed me, to my great surprise, of the + administration of my estate, the settlement of the moneys, of my wife’s + marriage, and the birth of her two children. When I told him that I was + Colonel Chabert, he laughed so heartily that I left him without saying + another word. My detention at Stuttgart had suggested possibilities of + Charenton, and I determined to act with caution. Then, monsieur, knowing + where my wife lived, I went to her house, my heart high with hope.—Well,” + said the Colonel, with a gesture of concentrated fury, “when I called + under an assumed name I was not admitted, and on the day when I used my + own I was turned out of doors. + </p> + <p> + “To see the Countess come home from a ball or the play in the early + morning, I have sat whole nights through, crouching close to the wall of + her gateway. My eyes pierced the depths of the carriage, which flashed + past me with the swiftness of lightning, and I caught a glimpse of the + woman who is my wife and no longer mine. Oh, from that day I have lived + for vengeance!” cried the old man in a hollow voice, and suddenly standing + up in front of Derville. “She knows that I am alive; since my return she + has had two letters written with my own hand. She loves me no more!—I—I + know not whether I love or hate her. I long for her and curse her by + turns. To me she owes all her fortune, all her happiness; well, she has + not sent me the very smallest pittance. Sometimes I do not know what will + become of me!” + </p> + <p> + With these words the veteran dropped on to his chair again and remained + motionless. Derville sat in silence, studying his client. + </p> + <p> + “It is a serious business,” he said at length, mechanically. “Even + granting the genuineness of the documents to be procured from Heilsberg, + it is not proved to me that we can at once win our case. It must go before + three tribunals in succession. I must think such a matter over with a + clear head; it is quite exceptional.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said the Colonel, coldly, with a haughty jerk of his head, “if I + fail, I can die—but not alone.” + </p> + <p> + The feeble old man had vanished. The eyes were those of a man of energy, + lighted up with the spark of desire and revenge. + </p> + <p> + “We must perhaps compromise,” said the lawyer. + </p> + <p> + “Compromise!” echoed Colonel Chabert. “Am I dead, or am I alive?” + </p> + <p> + “I hope, monsieur,” the attorney went on, “that you will follow my advice. + Your cause is mine. You will soon perceive the interest I take in your + situation, almost unexampled in judicial records. For the moment I will + give you a letter to my notary, who will pay to your order fifty francs + every ten days. It would be unbecoming for you to come here to receive + alms. If you are Colonel Chabert, you ought to be at no man’s mercy. I + shall record these advances as a loan; you have estates to recover; you + are rich.” + </p> + <p> + This delicate compassion brought tears to the old man’s eyes. Derville + rose hastily, for it was perhaps not correct for a lawyer to show emotion; + he went into the adjoining room, and came back with an unsealed letter, + which he gave to the Colonel. When the poor man held it in his hand, he + felt through the paper two gold pieces. + </p> + <p> + “Will you be good enough to describe the documents, and tell me the name + of the town, and in what kingdom?” said the lawyer. + </p> + <p> + The Colonel dictated the information, and verified the spelling of the + names of places; then he took his hat in one hand, looked at Derville, and + held out the other—a horny hand, saying with much simplicity: + </p> + <p> + “On my honor, sir, after the Emperor, you are the man to whom I shall owe + most. You are a splendid fellow!” + </p> + <p> + The attorney clapped his hand into the Colonel’s, saw him to the stairs, + and held a light for him. + </p> + <p> + “Boucard,” said Derville to his head clerk, “I have just listened to a + tale that may cost me five and twenty louis. If I am robbed, I shall not + regret the money, for I shall have seen the most consummate actor of the + day.” + </p> + <p> + When the Colonel was in the street and close to a lamp, he took the two + twenty-franc pieces out of the letter and looked at them for a moment + under the light. It was the first gold he had seen for nine years. + </p> + <p> + “I may smoke cigars!” he said to himself. + </p> + <p> + About three months after this interview, at night, in Derville’s room, the + notary commissioned to advance the half-pay on Derville’s account to his + eccentric client, came to consult the attorney on a serious matter, and + began by begging him to refund the six hundred francs that the old soldier + had received. + </p> + <p> + “Are you amusing yourself with pensioning the old army?” said the notary, + laughing—a young man named Crottat, who had just bought up the + office in which he had been head clerk, his chief having fled in + consequence of a disastrous bankruptcy. + </p> + <p> + “I have to thank you, my dear sir, for reminding me of that affair,” + replied Derville. “My philanthropy will not carry me beyond twenty-five + louis; I have, I fear, already been the dupe of my patriotism.” + </p> + <p> + As Derville finished the sentence, he saw on his desk the papers his head + clerk had laid out for him. His eye was struck by the appearance of the + stamps—long, square, and triangular, in red and blue ink, which + distinguished a letter that had come through the Prussian, Austrian, + Bavarian, and French post-offices. + </p> + <p> + “Ah ha!” said he with a laugh, “here is the last act of the comedy; now we + shall see if I have been taken in!” + </p> + <p> + He took up the letter and opened it; but he could not read it; it was + written in German. + </p> + <p> + “Boucard, go yourself and have this letter translated, and bring it back + immediately,” said Derville, half opening his study door, and giving the + letter to the head clerk. + </p> + <p> + The notary at Berlin, to whom the lawyer had written, informed him that + the documents he had been requested to forward would arrive within a few + days of this note announcing them. They were, he said, all perfectly + regular and duly witnessed, and legally stamped to serve as evidence in + law. He also informed him that almost all the witnesses to the facts + recorded under these affidavits were still to be found at Eylau, in + Prussia, and that the woman to whom M. le Comte Chabert owed his life was + still living in a suburb of Heilsberg. + </p> + <p> + “This looks like business,” cried Derville, when Boucard had given him the + substance of the letter. “But look here, my boy,” he went on, addressing + the notary, “I shall want some information which ought to exist in your + office. Was it not that old rascal Roguin—?” + </p> + <p> + “We will say that unfortunate, that ill-used Roguin,” interrupted + Alexandre Crottat with a laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Well, was it not that ill-used man who has just carried off eight hundred + thousand francs of his clients’ money, and reduced several families to + despair, who effected the settlement of Chabert’s estate? I fancy I have + seen that in the documents in our case of Ferraud.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Crottat. “It was when I was third clerk; I copied the papers + and studied them thoroughly. Rose Chapotel, wife and widow of Hyacinthe, + called Chabert, Count of the Empire, grand officer of the Legion of Honor. + They had married without settlement; thus, they held all the property in + common. To the best of my recollections, the personalty was about six + hundred thousand francs. Before his marriage, Colonel Chabert had made a + will in favor of the hospitals of Paris, by which he left them one-quarter + of the fortune he might possess at the time of his decease, the State to + take the other quarter. The will was contested, there was a forced sale, + and then a division, for the attorneys went at a pace. At the time of the + settlement the monster who was then governing France handed over to the + widow, by special decree, the portion bequeathed to the treasury.” + </p> + <p> + “So that Comte Chabert’s personal fortune was no more than three hundred + thousand francs?” + </p> + <p> + “Consequently so it was, old fellow!” said Crottat. “You lawyers sometimes + are very clear-headed, though you are accused of false practices in + pleading for one side or the other.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel Chabert, whose address was written at the bottom of the first + receipt he had given the notary, was lodging in the Faubourg + Saint-Marceau, Rue du Petit-Banquier, with an old quartermaster of the + Imperial Guard, now a cowkeeper, named Vergniaud. Having reached the spot, + Derville was obliged to go on foot in search of his client, for his + coachman declined to drive along an unpaved street, where the ruts were + rather too deep for cab wheels. Looking about him on all sides, the lawyer + at last discovered at the end of the street nearest to the boulevard, + between two walls built of bones and mud, two shabby stone gate-posts, + much knocked about by carts, in spite of two wooden stumps that served as + blocks. These posts supported a cross beam with a penthouse coping of + tiles, and on the beam, in red letters, were the words, “Vergniaud, + dairyman.” To the right of this inscription were some eggs, to the left a + cow, all painted in white. The gate was open, and no doubt remained open + all day. Beyond a good-sized yard there was a house facing the gate, if + indeed the name of house may be applied to one of the hovels built in the + neighborhood of Paris, which are like nothing else, not even the most + wretched dwellings in the country, of which they have all the poverty + without their poetry. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, in the midst of the fields, even a hovel may have a certain grace + derived from the pure air, the verdure, the open country—a hill, a + serpentine road, vineyards, quickset hedges, moss-grown thatch and rural + implements; but poverty in Paris gains dignity only by horror. Though + recently built, this house seemed ready to fall into ruins. None of its + materials had found a legitimate use; they had been collected from the + various demolitions which are going on every day in Paris. On a shutter + made of the boards of a shop-sign Derville read the words, “Fancy Goods.” + The windows were all mismatched and grotesquely placed. The ground floor, + which seemed to be the habitable part, was on one side raised above the + soil, and on the other sunk in the rising ground. Between the gate and the + house lay a puddle full of stable litter, into which flowed the rain-water + and house waste. The back wall of this frail construction, which seemed + rather more solidly built than the rest, supported a row of barred + hutches, where rabbits bred their numerous families. To the right of the + gate was the cowhouse, with a loft above for fodder; it communicated with + the house through the dairy. To the left was a poultry yard, with a stable + and pig-styes, the roofs finished, like that of the house, with rough deal + boards nailed so as to overlap, and shabbily thatched with rushes. + </p> + <p> + Like most of the places where the elements of the huge meal daily devoured + by Paris are every day prepared, the yard Derville now entered showed + traces of the hurry that comes of the necessity for being ready at a fixed + hour. The large pot-bellied tin cans in which milk is carried, and the + little pots for cream, were flung pell-mell at the dairy door, with their + linen-covered stoppers. The rags that were used to clean them, fluttered + in the sunshine, riddled with holes, hanging to strings fastened to poles. + The placid horse, of a breed known only to milk-women, had gone a few + steps from the cart, and was standing in front of the stable, the door + being shut. A goat was munching the shoots of a starved and dusty vine + that clung to the cracked yellow wall of the house. A cat, squatting on + the cream jars, was licking them over. The fowls, scared by Derville’s + approach, scuttered away screaming, and the watch-dog barked. + </p> + <p> + “And the man who decided the victory at Eylau is to be found here!” said + Derville to himself, as his eyes took in at a glance the general effect of + the squalid scene. + </p> + <p> + The house had been left in charge of three little boys. One, who had + climbed to the top of the cart loaded with hay, was pitching stones into + the chimney of a neighboring house, in the hope that they might fall into + a saucepan; another was trying to get a pig into a cart, to hoist it by + making the whole thing tilt. When Derville asked them if M. Chabert lived + there, neither of them replied, but all three looked at him with a sort of + bright stupidity, if I may combine those two words. Derville repeated his + questions, but without success. Provoked by the saucy cunning of these + three imps, he abused them with the sort of pleasantry which young men + think they have the right to address to little boys, and they broke the + silence with a horse-laugh. Then Derville was angry. + </p> + <p> + The Colonel, hearing him, now came out of the little low room, close to + the dairy, and stood on the threshold of his doorway with indescribable + military coolness. He had in his mouth a very finely-colored pipe—a + technical phrase to a smoker—a humble, short clay pipe of the kind + called “<i>brule-queule</i>.” He lifted the peak of a dreadfully greasy + cloth cap, saw Derville, and came straight across the midden to join his + benefactor the sooner, calling out in friendly tones to the boys: + </p> + <p> + “Silence in the ranks!” + </p> + <p> + The children at once kept a respectful silence, which showed the power the + old soldier had over them. + </p> + <p> + “Why did you not write to me?” he said to Derville. “Go along by the + cowhouse! There—the path is paved there,” he exclaimed, seeing the + lawyer’s hesitancy, for he did not wish to wet his feet in the manure + heap. + </p> + <p> + Jumping from one dry spot to another, Derville reached the door by which + the Colonel had come out. Chabert seemed but ill pleased at having to + receive him in the bed-room he occupied; and, in fact, Derville found but + one chair there. The Colonel’s bed consisted of some trusses of straw, + over which his hostess had spread two or three of those old fragments of + carpet, picked up heaven knows where, which milk-women use to cover the + seats of their carts. The floor was simply the trodden earth. The walls, + sweating salt-petre, green with mould, and full of cracks, were so + excessively damp that on the side where the Colonel’s bed was a reed mat + had been nailed. The famous box-coat hung on a nail. Two pairs of old + boots lay in a corner. There was not a sign of linen. On the worm-eaten + table the <i>Bulletins de la Grande Armee</i>, reprinted by Plancher, lay + open, and seemed to be the Colonel’s reading; his countenance was calm and + serene in the midst of this squalor. His visit to Derville seemed to have + altered his features; the lawyer perceived in them traces of a happy + feeling, a particular gleam set there by hope. + </p> + <p> + “Does the smell of the pipe annoy you?” he said, placing the dilapidated + straw-bottomed chair for his lawyer. + </p> + <p> + “But, Colonel, you are dreadfully uncomfortable here!” + </p> + <p> + The speech was wrung from Derville by the distrust natural to lawyers, and + the deplorable experience which they derive early in life from the + appalling and obscure tragedies at which they look on. + </p> + <p> + “Here,” said he to himself, “is a man who has of course spent my money in + satisfying a trooper’s three theological virtues—play, wine, and + women!” + </p> + <p> + “To be sure, monsieur, we are not distinguished for luxury here. It is a + camp lodging, tempered by friendship, but——” And the soldier + shot a deep glance at the man of law—“I have done no one wrong, I + have never turned my back on anybody, and I sleep in peace.” + </p> + <p> + Derville reflected that there would be some want of delicacy in asking his + client to account for the sums of money he had advanced, so he merely + said: + </p> + <p> + “But why would you not come to Paris, where you might have lived as + cheaply as you do here, but where you would have been better lodged?” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” replied the Colonel, “the good folks with whom I am living had + taken me in and fed me <i>gratis</i> for a year. How could I leave them + just when I had a little money? Besides, the father of those three pickles + is an old <i>Egyptian</i>—” + </p> + <p> + “An Egyptian!” + </p> + <p> + “We give that name to the troopers who came back from the expedition into + Egypt, of which I was one. Not merely are all who get back brothers; + Vergniaud was in my regiment. We have shared a draught of water in the + desert; and besides, I have not yet finished teaching his brats to read.” + </p> + <p> + “He might have lodged you better for your money,” said Derville. + </p> + <p> + “Bah!” said the Colonel, “his children sleep on the straw as I do. He and + his wife have no better bed; they are very poor you see. They have taken a + bigger business than they can manage. But if I recover my fortune... + However, it does very well.” + </p> + <p> + “Colonel, to-morrow or the next day, I shall receive your papers from + Heilsberg. The woman who dug you out is still alive!” + </p> + <p> + “Curse the money! To think I haven’t got any!” he cried, flinging his pipe + on the ground. + </p> + <p> + Now, a well-colored pipe is to a smoker a precious possession; but the + impulse was so natural, the emotion so generous, that every smoker, and + the excise office itself, would have pardoned this crime of treason to + tobacco. Perhaps the angels may have picked up the pieces. + </p> + <p> + “Colonel, it is an exceedingly complicated business,” said Derville as + they left the room to walk up and down in the sunshine. + </p> + <p> + “To me,” said the soldier, “it appears exceedingly simple. I was thought + to be dead, and here I am! Give me back my wife and my fortune; give me + the rank of General, to which I have a right, for I was made Colonel of + the Imperial Guard the day before the battle of Eylau.” + </p> + <p> + “Things are not done so in the legal world,” said Derville. “Listen to me. + You are Colonel Chabert, I am glad to think it; but it has to be proved + judicially to persons whose interest it will be to deny it. Hence, your + papers will be disputed. That contention will give rise to ten or twelve + preliminary inquiries. Every question will be sent under contradiction up + to the supreme court, and give rise to so many costly suits, which will + hang on for a long time, however eagerly I may push them. Your opponents + will demand an inquiry, which we cannot refuse, and which may necessitate + the sending of a commission of investigation to Prussia. But even if we + hope for the best; supposing that justice should at once recognize you as + Colonel Chabert—can we know how the questions will be settled that + will arise out of the very innocent bigamy committed by the Comtesse + Ferraud? + </p> + <p> + “In your case, the point of law is unknown to the Code, and can only be + decided as a point in equity, as a jury decides in the delicate cases + presented by the social eccentricities of some criminal prosecutions. Now, + you had no children by your marriage; M. le Comte Ferraud has two. The + judges might pronounce against the marriage where the family ties are + weakest, to the confirmation of that where they are stronger, since it was + contracted in perfect good faith. Would you be in a very becoming moral + position if you insisted, at your age, and in your present circumstances, + in resuming your rights over a woman who no longer loves you? You will + have both your wife and her husband against you, two important persons who + might influence the Bench. Thus, there are many elements which would + prolong the case; you will have time to grow old in the bitterest + regrets.” + </p> + <p> + “And my fortune?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you suppose you had a fine fortune?” + </p> + <p> + “Had I not thirty thousand francs a year?” + </p> + <p> + “My dear Colonel, in 1799 you made a will before your marriage, leaving + one-quarter of your property to hospitals.” + </p> + <p> + “That is true.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, when you were reported dead, it was necessary to make a valuation, + and have a sale, to give this quarter away. Your wife was not particular + about honesty as to the poor. The valuation, in which she no doubt took + care not to include the ready money or jewelry, or too much of the plate, + and in which the furniture would be estimated at two-thirds of its actual + cost, either to benefit her, or to lighten the succession duty, and also + because a valuer can be held responsible for the declared value—the + valuation thus made stood at six hundred thousand francs. Your wife had a + right of half for her share. Everything was sold and bought in by her; she + got something out of it all, and the hospitals got their seventy-five + thousand francs. Then, as the remainder went to the State, since you had + made no mention of your wife in your will, the Emperor restored to your + widow by decree the residue which would have reverted to the Exchequer. + So, now, what can you claim? Three hundred thousand francs, no more, and + minus the costs.” + </p> + <p> + “And you call that justice!” said the Colonel, in dismay. + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly—” + </p> + <p> + “A pretty kind of justice!” + </p> + <p> + “So it is, my dear Colonel. You see, that what you thought so easy is not + so. Madame Ferraud might even choose to keep the sum given to her by the + Emperor.” + </p> + <p> + “But she was not a widow. The decree is utterly void——” + </p> + <p> + “I agree with you. But every case can get a hearing. Listen to me. I think + that under these circumstances a compromise would be both for her and for + you the best solution of the question. You will gain by it a more + considerable sum than you can prove a right to.” + </p> + <p> + “That would be to sell my wife!” + </p> + <p> + “With twenty-four thousand francs a year you could find a woman who, in + the position in which you are, would suit you better than your own wife, + and make you happier. I propose going this very day to see the Comtesse + Ferraud and sounding the ground; but I would not take such a step without + giving you due notice.” + </p> + <p> + “Let us go together.” + </p> + <p> + “What, just as you are?” said the lawyer. “No, my dear Colonel, no. You + might lose your case on the spot.” + </p> + <p> + “Can I possibly gain it?” + </p> + <p> + “On every count,” replied Derville. “But, my dear Colonel Chabert, you + overlook one thing. I am not rich; the price of my connection is not + wholly paid up. If the bench should allow you a maintenance, that is to + say, a sum advanced on your prospects, they will not do so till you have + proved that you are Comte Chabert, grand officer of the Legion of Honor.” + </p> + <p> + “To be sure, I am a grand officer of the Legion of Honor; I had forgotten + that,” said he simply. + </p> + <p> + “Well, until then,” Derville went on, “will you not have to engage + pleaders, to have documents copied, to keep the underlings of the law + going, and to support yourself? The expenses of the preliminary inquiries + will, at a rough guess, amount to ten or twelve thousand francs. I have + not so much to lend you—I am crushed as it is by the enormous + interest I have to pay on the money I borrowed to buy my business; and + you?—Where can you find it.” + </p> + <p> + Large tears gathered in the poor veteran’s faded eyes, and rolled down his + withered cheeks. This outlook of difficulties discouraged him. The social + and the legal world weighed on his breast like a nightmare. + </p> + <p> + “I will go to the foot of the Vendome column!” he cried. “I will call out: + ‘I am Colonel Chabert who rode through the Russian square at Eylau!’—The + statue—he—he will know me.” + </p> + <p> + “And you will find yourself in Charenton.” + </p> + <p> + At this terrible name the soldier’s transports collapsed. + </p> + <p> + “And will there be no hope for me at the Ministry of War?” + </p> + <p> + “The war office!” said Derville. “Well, go there; but take a formal legal + opinion with you, nullifying the certificate of your death. The government + offices would be only too glad if they could annihilate the men of the + Empire.” + </p> + <p> + The Colonel stood for a while, speechless, motionless, his eyes fixed, but + seeing nothing, sunk in bottomless despair. Military justice is ready and + swift; it decides with Turk-like finality, and almost always rightly. This + was the only justice known to Chabert. As he saw the labyrinth of + difficulties into which he must plunge, and how much money would be + required for the journey, the poor old soldier was mortally hit in that + power peculiar to man, and called the Will. He thought it would be + impossible to live as party to a lawsuit; it seemed a thousand times + simpler to remain poor and a beggar, or to enlist as a trooper if any + regiment would pass him. + </p> + <p> + His physical and mental sufferings had already impaired his bodily health + in some of the most important organs. He was on the verge of one of those + maladies for which medicine has no name, and of which the seat is in some + degree variable, like the nervous system itself, the part most frequently + attacked of the whole human machine, a malady which may be designated as + the heart-sickness of the unfortunate. However serious this invisible but + real disorder might already be, it could still be cured by a happy issue. + But a fresh obstacle, an unexpected incident, would be enough to wreck + this vigorous constitution, to break the weakened springs, and produce the + hesitancy, the aimless, unfinished movements, which physiologists know + well in men undermined by grief. + </p> + <p> + Derville, detecting in his client the symptoms of extreme dejection, said + to him: + </p> + <p> + “Take courage; the end of the business cannot fail to be in your favor. + Only, consider whether you can give me your whole confidence and blindly + accept the result I may think best for your interests.” + </p> + <p> + “Do what you will,” said Chabert. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but you surrender yourself to me like a man marching to his death.” + </p> + <p> + “Must I not be left to live without a position, without a name? Is that + endurable?” + </p> + <p> + “That is not my view of it,” said the lawyer. “We will try a friendly + suit, to annul both your death certificate and your marriage, so as to put + you in possession of your rights. You may even, by Comte Ferraud’s + intervention, have your name replaced on the army list as general, and no + doubt you will get a pension.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, proceed then,” said Chabert. “I put myself entirely in your hands.” + </p> + <p> + “I will send you a power of attorney to sign,” said Derville. “Good-bye. + Keep up your courage. If you want money, rely on me.” + </p> + <p> + Chabert warmly wrung the lawyer’s hand, and remained standing with his + back against the wall, not having the energy to follow him excepting with + his eyes. Like all men who know but little of legal matters, he was + frightened by this unforeseen struggle. + </p> + <p> + During their interview, several times, the figure of a man posted in the + street had come forward from behind one of the gate-pillars, watching for + Derville to depart, and he now accosted the lawyer. He was an old man, + wearing a blue waistcoat and a white-pleated kilt, like a brewer’s; on his + head was an otter-skin cap. His face was tanned, hollow-cheeked, and + wrinkled, but ruddy on the cheek-bones by hard work and exposure to the + open air. + </p> + <p> + “Asking your pardon, sir,” said he, taking Derville by the arm, “if I take + the liberty of speaking to you. But I fancied, from the look of you, that + you were a friend of our General’s.” + </p> + <p> + “And what then?” replied Derville. “What concern have you with him?—But + who are you?” said the cautious lawyer. + </p> + <p> + “I am Louis Vergniaud,” he replied at once. “I have a few words to say to + you.” + </p> + <p> + “So you are the man who has lodged Comte Chabert as I have found him?” + </p> + <p> + “Asking your pardon, sir, he has the best room. I would have given him + mine if I had had but one; I could have slept in the stable. A man who has + suffered as he has, who teaches my kids to read, a general, an Egyptian, + the first lieutenant I ever served under—What do you think?—Of + us all, he is best served. I shared what I had with him. Unfortunately, it + is not much to boast of—bread, milk, eggs. Well, well; it’s + neighbors’ fare, sir. And he is heartily welcome.—But he has hurt + our feelings.” + </p> + <p> + “He?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir, hurt our feelings. To be plain with you, I have taken a larger + business than I can manage, and he saw it. Well, it worried him; he must + needs mind the horse! I says to him, ‘Really, General——’ + ‘Bah!’ says he, ‘I am not going to eat my head off doing nothing. I + learned to rub a horse down many a year ago.’—I had some bills out + for the purchase money of my dairy—a fellow named Grados—Do + you know him, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “But, my good man, I have not time to listen to your story. Only tell me + how the Colonel offended you.” + </p> + <p> + “He hurt our feelings, sir, as sure as my name is Louis Vergniaud, and my + wife cried about it. He heard from our neighbors that we had not a sou to + begin to meet the bills with. The old soldier, as he is, he saved up all + you gave him, he watched for the bill to come in, and he paid it. Such a + trick! While my wife and me, we knew he had no tobacco, poor old boy, and + went without.—Oh! now—yes, he has his cigar every morning! I + would sell my soul for it—No, we are hurt. Well, so I wanted to ask + you—for he said you were a good sort—to lend us a hundred + crowns on the stock, so that we may get him some clothes, and furnish his + room. He thought he was getting us out of debt, you see? Well, it’s just + the other way; the old man is running us into debt—and hurt our + feelings!—He ought not to have stolen a march on us like that. And + we his friends, too!—On my word as an honest man, as sure as my name + is Louis Vergniaud, I would sooner sell up and enlist than fail to pay you + back your money——” + </p> + <p> + Derville looked at the dairyman, and stepped back a few paces to glance at + the house, the yard, the manure-pool, the cowhouse, the rabbits, the + children. + </p> + <p> + “On my honor, I believe it is characteristic of virtue to have nothing to + do with riches!” thought he. + </p> + <p> + “All right, you shall have your hundred crowns, and more. But I shall not + give them to you; the Colonel will be rich enough to help, and I will not + deprive him of the pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + “And will that be soon?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, dear God! how glad my wife will be!” and the cowkeeper’s tanned face + seemed to expand. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” said Derville to himself, as he got into his cab again, “let us + call on our opponent. We must not show our hand, but try to see hers, and + win the game at one stroke. She must be frightened. She is a woman. Now, + what frightens women most? A woman is afraid of nothing but...” + </p> + <p> + And he set to work to study the Countess’ position, falling into one of + those brown studies to which great politicians give themselves up when + concocting their own plans and trying to guess the secrets of a hostile + Cabinet. Are not attorneys, in a way, statesmen in charge of private + affairs? + </p> + <p> + But a brief survey of the situation in which the Comte Ferraud and his + wife now found themselves is necessary for a comprehension of the lawyer’s + cleverness. + </p> + <p> + Monsieur le Comte Ferraud was the only son of a former Councillor in the + old <i>Parlement</i> of Paris, who had emigrated during the Reign of + Terror, and so, though he saved his head, lost his fortune. He came back + under the Consulate, and remained persistently faithful to the cause of + Louis XVIII., in whose circle his father had moved before the Revolution. + He thus was one of the party in the Faubourg Saint-Germain which nobly + stood out against Napoleon’s blandishments. The reputation for capacity + gained by the young Count—then simply called Monsieur Ferraud—made + him the object of the Emperor’s advances, for he was often as well pleased + at his conquests among the aristocracy as at gaining a battle. The Count + was promised the restitution of his title, of such of his estates as had + not been sold, and he was shown in perspective a place in the ministry or + as senator. + </p> + <p> + The Emperor fell. + </p> + <p> + At the time of Comte Chabert’s death, M. Ferraud was a young man of + six-and-twenty, without a fortune, of pleasing appearance, who had had his + successes, and whom the Faubourg Saint-Germain had adopted as doing it + credit; but Madame la Comtesse Chabert had managed to turn her share of + her husband’s fortune to such good account that, after eighteen months of + widowhood, she had about forty thousand francs a year. Her marriage to the + young Count was not regarded as news in the circles of the Faubourg + Saint-Germain. Napoleon, approving of this union, which carried out his + idea of fusion, restored to Madame Chabert the money falling to the + Exchequer under her husband’s will; but Napoleon’s hopes were again + disappointed. Madame Ferraud was not only in love with her lover; she had + also been fascinated by the notion of getting into the haughty society + which, in spite of its humiliation, was still predominant at the Imperial + Court. By this marriage all her vanities were as much gratified as her + passions. She was to become a real fine lady. When the Faubourg + Saint-Germain understood that the young Count’s marriage did not mean + desertion, its drawing-rooms were thrown open to his wife. + </p> + <p> + Then came the Restoration. The Count’s political advancement was not + rapid. He understood the exigencies of the situation in which Louis XVIII. + found himself; he was one of the inner circle who waited till the “Gulf of + Revolution should be closed”—for this phrase of the King’s, at which + the Liberals laughed so heartily, had a political sense. The order quoted + in the long lawyer’s preamble at the beginning of this story had, however, + put him in possession of two tracts of forest, and of an estate which had + considerably increased in value during its sequestration. At the present + moment, though Comte Ferraud was a Councillor of State, and a + Director-General, he regarded his position as merely the first step of his + political career. + </p> + <p> + Wholly occupied as he was by the anxieties of consuming ambition, he had + attached to himself, as secretary, a ruined attorney named Delbecq, a more + than clever man, versed in all the resources of the law, to whom he left + the conduct of his private affairs. This shrewd practitioner had so well + understood his position with the Count as to be honest in his own + interest. He hoped to get some place by his master’s influence, and he + made the Count’s fortune his first care. His conduct so effectually gave + the lie to his former life, that he was regarded as a slandered man. The + Countess, with the tact and shrewdness of which most women have a share + more or less, understood the man’s motives, watched him quietly, and + managed him so well, that she had made good use of him for the + augmentation of her private fortune. She had contrived to make Delbecq + believe that she ruled her husband, and had promised to get him appointed + President of an inferior court in some important provincial town, if he + devoted himself entirely to her interests. + </p> + <p> + The promise of a place, not dependent on changes of ministry, which would + allow of his marrying advantageously, and rising subsequently to a high + political position, by being chosen Depute, made Delbecq the Countess’ + abject slave. He had never allowed her to miss one of those favorable + chances which the fluctuations of the Bourse and the increased value of + property afforded to clever financiers in Paris during the first three + years after the Restoration. He had trebled his protectress’ capital, and + all the more easily because the Countess had no scruples as to the means + which might make her an enormous fortune as quickly as possible. The + emoluments derived by the Count from the places he held she spent on the + housekeeping, so as to reinvest her dividends; and Delbecq lent himself to + these calculations of avarice without trying to account for her motives. + People of that sort never trouble themselves about any secrets of which + the discovery is not necessary to their own interests. And, indeed, he + naturally found the reason in the thirst for money, which taints almost + every Parisian woman; and as a fine fortune was needed to support the + pretensions of Comte Ferraud, the secretary sometimes fancied that he saw + in the Countess’ greed a consequence of her devotion to a husband with + whom she still was in love. The Countess buried the secrets of her conduct + at the bottom of her heart. There lay the secrets of life and death to + her, there lay the turning-point of this history. + </p> + <p> + At the beginning of the year 1818 the Restoration was settled on an + apparently immovable foundation; its doctrines of government, as + understood by lofty minds, seemed calculated to bring to France an era of + renewed prosperity, and Parisian society changed its aspect. Madame la + Comtesse Ferraud found that by chance she had achieved for love a marriage + that had brought her fortune and gratified ambition. Still young and + handsome, Madame Ferraud played the part of a woman of fashion, and lived + in the atmosphere of the Court. Rich herself, with a rich husband who was + cried up as one of the ablest men of the royalist party, and, as a friend + of the King, certain to be made Minister, she belonged to the aristocracy, + and shared its magnificence. In the midst of this triumph she was attacked + by a moral canker. There are feelings which women guess in spite of the + care men take to bury them. On the first return of the King, Comte Ferraud + had begun to regret his marriage. Colonel Chabert’s widow had not been the + means of allying him to anybody; he was alone and unsupported in steering + his way in a course full of shoals and beset by enemies. Also, perhaps, + when he came to judge his wife coolly, he may have discerned in her + certain vices of education which made her unfit to second him in his + schemes. + </p> + <p> + A speech he made, <i>a propos</i> of Talleyrand’s marriage, enlightened + the Countess, to whom it proved that if he had still been a free man she + would never have been Madame Ferraud. What woman could forgive this + repentance? Does it not include the germs of every insult, every crime, + every form of repudiation? But what a wound must it have left in the + Countess’ heart, supposing that she lived in the dread of her first + husband’s return? She had known that he still lived, and she had ignored + him. Then during the time when she had heard no more of him, she had + chosen to believe that he had fallen at Waterloo with the Imperial Eagle, + at the same time as Boutin. She resolved, nevertheless, to bind the Count + to her by the strongest of all ties, by a chain of gold, and vowed to be + so rich that her fortune might make her second marriage dissoluble, if by + chance Colonel Chabert should ever reappear. And he had reappeared; and + she could not explain to herself why the struggle she had dreaded had not + already begun. Suffering, sickness, had perhaps delivered her from that + man. Perhaps he was half mad, and Charenton might yet do her justice. She + had not chosen to take either Delbecq or the police into her confidence, + for fear of putting herself in their power, or of hastening the + catastrophe. There are in Paris many women who, like the Countess Ferraud, + live with an unknown moral monster, or on the brink of an abyss; a callus + forms over the spot that tortures them, and they can still laugh and enjoy + themselves. + </p> + <p> + “There is something very strange in Comte Ferraud’s position,” said + Derville to himself, on emerging from his long reverie, as his cab stopped + at the door of the Hotel Ferraud in the Rue de Varennes. “How is it that + he, so rich as he is, and such a favorite with the King, is not yet a peer + of France? It may, to be sure, be true that the King, as Mme. de Grandlieu + was telling me, desires to keep up the value of the <i>pairie</i> by not + bestowing it right and left. And, after all, the son of a Councillor of + the <i>Parlement</i> is not a Crillon nor a Rohan. A Comte Ferraud can + only get into the Upper Chamber surreptitiously. But if his marriage were + annulled, could he not get the dignity of some old peer who has only + daughters transferred to himself, to the King’s great satisfaction? At any + rate this will be a good bogey to put forward and frighten the Countess,” + thought he as he went up the steps. + </p> + <p> + Derville had without knowing it laid his finger on the hidden wound, put + his hand on the canker that consumed Madame Ferraud. + </p> + <p> + She received him in a pretty winter dining-room, where she was at + breakfast, while playing with a monkey tethered by a chain to a little + pole with climbing bars of iron. The Countess was in an elegant wrapper; + the curls of her hair, carelessly pinned up, escaped from a cap, giving + her an arch look. She was fresh and smiling. Silver, gilding, and + mother-of-pearl shone on the table, and all about the room were rare + plants growing in magnificent china jars. As he saw Colonel Chabert’s + wife, rich with his spoil, in the lap of luxury and the height of fashion, + while he, poor wretch, was living with a poor dairyman among the beasts, + the lawyer said to himself: + </p> + <p> + “The moral of all this is that a pretty woman will never acknowledge as + her husband, nor even as a lover, a man in an old box-coat, a tow wig, and + boots with holes in them.” + </p> + <p> + A mischievous and bitter smile expressed the feelings, half philosophical + and half satirical, which such a man was certain to experience—a man + well situated to know the truth of things in spite of the lies behind + which most families in Paris hide their mode of life. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Monsieur Derville,” said she, giving the monkey some coffee + to drink. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said he, a little sharply, for the light tone in which she spoke + jarred on him. “I have come to speak with you on a very serious matter.” + </p> + <p> + “I am so <i>grieved</i>, M. le Comte is away—” + </p> + <p> + “I, madame, am delighted. It would be grievous if he could be present at + our interview. Besides, I am informed through M. Delbecq that you like to + manage your own business without troubling the Count.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I will send for Delbecq,” said she. + </p> + <p> + “He would be of no use to you, clever as he is,” replied Derville. “Listen + to me, madame; one word will be enough to make you grave. Colonel Chabert + is alive!” + </p> + <p> + “Is it by telling me such nonsense as that that you think you can make me + grave?” said she with a shout of laughter. But she was suddenly quelled by + the singular penetration of the fixed gaze which Derville turned on her, + seeming to read to the bottom of her soul. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” he said with cold and piercing solemnity, “you know not the + extent of the danger that threatens you. I need say nothing of the + indisputable authenticity of the evidence nor of the fulness of proof + which testifies to the identity of Comte Chabert. I am not, as you know, + the man to take up a bad cause. If you resist our proceedings to show that + the certificate of death was false, you will lose that first case, and + that matter once settled, we shall gain every point.” + </p> + <p> + “What, then, do you wish to discuss with me?” + </p> + <p> + “Neither the Colonel nor yourself. Nor need I allude to the briefs which + clever advocates may draw up when armed with the curious facts of this + case, or the advantage they may derive from the letters you received from + your first husband before your marriage to your second.” + </p> + <p> + “It is false,” she cried, with the violence of a spoilt woman. “I never + had a letter from Comte Chabert; and if some one is pretending to be the + Colonel, it is some swindler, some returned convict, like Coignard + perhaps. It makes me shudder only to think of it. Can the Colonel rise + from the dead, monsieur? Bonaparte sent an aide-de-camp to inquire for me + on his death, and to this day I draw the pension of three thousand francs + granted to this widow by the Government. I have been perfectly in the + right to turn away all the Chaberts who have ever come, as I shall all who + may come.” + </p> + <p> + “Happily we are alone, madame. We can tell lies at our ease,” said he + coolly, and finding it amusing to lash up the Countess’ rage so as to lead + her to betray herself, by tactics familiar to lawyers, who are accustomed + to keep cool when their opponents or their clients are in a passion. + “Well, then, we must fight it out,” thought he, instantly hitting on a + plan to entrap her and show her her weakness. + </p> + <p> + “The proof that you received the first letter, madame, is that it + contained some securities—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, as to securities—that it certainly did not.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you received the letter,” said Derville, smiling. “You are caught, + madame, in the first snare laid for you by an attorney, and you fancy you + could fight against Justice——” + </p> + <p> + The Countess colored, and then turned pale, hiding her face in her hands. + Then she shook off her shame, and retorted with the natural impertinence + of such women, “Since you are the so-called Chabert’s attorney, be so good + as to—” + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said Derville, “I am at this moment as much your lawyer as I am + Colonel Chabert’s. Do you suppose I want to lose so valuable a client as + you are?—But you are not listening.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, speak on, monsieur,” said she graciously. + </p> + <p> + “Your fortune came to you from M. le Comte Chabert, and you cast him off. + Your fortune is immense, and you leave him to beg. An advocate can be very + eloquent when a cause is eloquent in itself; there are here circumstances + which might turn public opinion strongly against you.” + </p> + <p> + “But, monsieur,” said the Comtesse, provoked by the way in which Derville + turned and laid her on the gridiron, “even if I grant that your M. Chabert + is living, the law will uphold my second marriage on account of the + children, and I shall get off with the restitution of two hundred and + twenty-five thousand francs to M. Chabert.” + </p> + <p> + “It is impossible to foresee what view the Bench may take of the question. + If on one side we have a mother and children, on the other we have an old + man crushed by sorrows, made old by your refusals to know him. Where is he + to find a wife? Can the judges contravene the law? Your marriage with + Colonel Chabert has priority on its side and every legal right. But if you + appear under disgraceful colors, you might have an unlooked-for adversary. + That, madame, is the danger against which I would warn you.” + </p> + <p> + “And who is he?” + </p> + <p> + “Comte Ferraud.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur Ferraud has too great an affection for me, too much respect for + the mother of his children—” + </p> + <p> + “Do not talk of such absurd things,” interrupted Derville, “to lawyers, + who are accustomed to read hearts to the bottom. At this instant Monsieur + Ferraud has not the slightest wish to annual your union, and I am quite + sure that he adores you; but if some one were to tell him that his + marriage is void, that his wife will be called before the bar of public + opinion as a criminal—” + </p> + <p> + “He would defend me, monsieur.” + </p> + <p> + “No, madame.” + </p> + <p> + “What reason could he have for deserting me, monsieur?” + </p> + <p> + “That he would be free to marry the only daughter of a peer of France, + whose title would be conferred on him by patent from the King.” + </p> + <p> + The Countess turned pale. + </p> + <p> + “A hit!” said Derville to himself. “I have you on the hip; the poor + Colonel’s case is won.”—“Besides, madame,” he went on aloud, “he + would feel all the less remorse because a man covered with glory—a + General, Count, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor—is not such a bad + alternative; and if that man insisted on his wife’s returning to him—” + </p> + <p> + “Enough, enough, monsieur!” she exclaimed. “I will never have any lawyer + but you. What is to be done?” + </p> + <p> + “Compromise!” said Derville. + </p> + <p> + “Does he still love me?” she said. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I do not think he can do otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + The Countess raised her head at these words. A flash of hope shone in her + eyes; she thought perhaps that she could speculate on her first husband’s + affection to gain her cause by some feminine cunning. + </p> + <p> + “I shall await your orders, madame, to know whether I am to report our + proceedings to you, or if you will come to my office to agree to the terms + of a compromise,” said Derville, taking leave. + </p> + <p> + A week after Derville had paid these two visits, on a fine morning in + June, the husband and wife, who had been separated by an almost + supernatural chance, started from the opposite ends of Paris to meet in + the office of the lawyer who was engaged by both. The supplies liberally + advanced by Derville to Colonel Chabert had enabled him to dress as suited + his position in life, and the dead man arrived in a very decent cab. He + wore a wig suited to his face, was dressed in blue cloth with white linen, + and wore under his waistcoat the broad red ribbon of the higher grade of + the Legion of Honor. In resuming the habits of wealth he had recovered his + soldierly style. He held himself up; his face, grave and + mysterious-looking, reflected his happiness and all his hopes, and seemed + to have acquired youth and <i>impasto</i>, to borrow a picturesque word + from the painter’s art. He was no more like the Chabert of the old + box-coat than a cartwheel double sou is like a newly coined forty-franc + piece. The passer-by, only to see him, would have recognized at once one + of the noble wrecks of our old army, one of the heroic men on whom our + national glory is reflected, as a splinter of ice on which the sun shines + seems to reflect every beam. These veterans are at once a picture and a + book. + </p> + <p> + When the Count jumped out of his carriage to go into Derville’s office, he + did it as lightly as a young man. Hardly had his cab moved off, when a + smart brougham drove up, splendid with coats-of-arms. Madame la Comtesse + Ferraud stepped out in a dress which, though simple, was cleverly designed + to show how youthful her figure was. She wore a pretty drawn bonnet lined + with pink, which framed her face to perfection, softening its outlines and + making it look younger. + </p> + <p> + If the clients were rejuvenescent, the office was unaltered, and presented + the same picture as that described at the beginning of this story. + Simonnin was eating his breakfast, his shoulder leaning against the + window, which was then open, and he was staring up at the blue sky in the + opening of the courtyard enclosed by four gloomy houses. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, ha!” cried the little clerk, “who will bet an evening at the play + that Colonel Chabert is a General, and wears a red ribbon?” + </p> + <p> + “The chief is a great magician,” said Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + “Then there is no trick to play on him this time?” asked Desroches. + </p> + <p> + “His wife has taken that in hand, the Comtesse Ferraud,” said Boucard. + </p> + <p> + “What next?” said Godeschal. “Is Comtesse Ferraud required to belong to + two men?” + </p> + <p> + “Here she is,” answered Simonnin. + </p> + <p> + “So you are not deaf, you young rogue!” said Chabert, taking the + gutter-jumper by the ear and twisting it, to the delight of the other + clerks, who began to laugh, looking at the Colonel with the curious + attention due to so singular a personage. + </p> + <p> + Comte Chabert was in Derville’s private room at the moment when his wife + came in by the door of the office. + </p> + <p> + “I say, Boucard, there is going to be a queer scene in the chief’s room! + There is a woman who can spend her days alternately, the odd with Comte + Ferraud, and the even with Comte Chabert.” + </p> + <p> + “And in leap year,” said Godeschal, “they must settle the <i>count</i> + between them.” + </p> + <p> + “Silence, gentlemen, you can be heard!” said Boucard severely. “I never + was in an office where there was so much jesting as there is here over the + clients.” + </p> + <p> + Derville had made the Colonel retire to the bedroom when the Countess was + admitted. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” he said, “not knowing whether it would be agreeable to you to + meet M. le Comte Chabert, I have placed you apart. If, however, you should + wish it—” + </p> + <p> + “It is an attention for which I am obliged to you.” + </p> + <p> + “I have drawn up the memorandum of an agreement of which you and M. + Chabert can discuss the conditions, here, and now. I will go alternately + to him and to you, and explain your views respectively.” + </p> + <p> + “Let me see, monsieur,” said the Countess impatiently. + </p> + <p> + Derville read aloud: + </p> + <p> + “‘Between the undersigned: + </p> + <p> + “‘M. Hyacinthe Chabert, Count, Marechal de Camp, and Grand Officer of the + Legion of Honor, living in Paris, Rue du Petit-Banquier, on the one part; + </p> + <p> + “‘And Madame Rose Chapotel, wife of the aforesaid M. le Comte Chabert, <i>nee</i>—‘” + </p> + <p> + “Pass over the preliminaries,” said she. “Come to the conditions.” + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” said the lawyer, “the preamble briefly sets forth the position + in which you stand to each other. Then, by the first clause, you + acknowledge, in the presence of three witnesses, of whom two shall be + notaries, and one the dairyman with whom your husband has been lodging, to + all of whom your secret is known, and who will be absolutely silent—you + acknowledge, I say, that the individual designated in the documents + subjoined to the deed, and whose identity is to be further proved by an + act of recognition prepared by your notary, Alexandre Crottat, is your + first husband, Comte Chabert. By the second clause Comte Chabert, to + secure your happiness, will undertake to assert his rights only under + certain circumstances set forth in the deed.—And these,” said + Derville, in a parenthesis, “are none other than a failure to carry out + the conditions of this secret agreement.—M. Chabert, on his part, + agrees to accept judgment on a friendly suit, by which his certificate of + death shall be annulled, and his marriage dissolved.” + </p> + <p> + “That will not suit me in the least,” said the Countess with surprise. “I + will be a party to no suit; you know why.” + </p> + <p> + “By the third clause,” Derville went on, with imperturbable coolness, “you + pledge yourself to secure to Hyacinthe Comte Chabert an income of + twenty-four thousand francs on government stock held in his name, to + revert to you at his death—” + </p> + <p> + “But it is much too dear!” exclaimed the Countess. + </p> + <p> + “Can you compromise the matter cheaper?” + </p> + <p> + “Possibly.” + </p> + <p> + “But what do you want, madame?” + </p> + <p> + “I want—I will not have a lawsuit. I want—” + </p> + <p> + “You want him to remain dead?” said Derville, interrupting her hastily. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said the Countess, “if twenty-four thousand francs a year are + necessary, we will go to law—” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we will go to law,” said the Colonel in a deep voice, as he opened + the door and stood before his wife, with one hand in his waistcoat and the + other hanging by his side—an attitude to which the recollection of + his adventure gave horrible significance. + </p> + <p> + “It is he,” said the Countess to herself. + </p> + <p> + “Too dear!” the old soldier exclaimed. “I have given you near on a + million, and you are cheapening my misfortunes. Very well; now I will have + you—you and your fortune. Our goods are in common, our marriage is + not dissolved—” + </p> + <p> + “But monsieur is not Colonel Chabert!” cried the Countess, in feigned + amazement. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed!” said the old man, in a tone of intense irony. “Do you want + proofs? I found you in the Palais Royal——” + </p> + <p> + The Countess turned pale. Seeing her grow white under her rouge, the old + soldier paused, touched by the acute suffering he was inflicting on the + woman he had once so ardently loved; but she shot such a venomous glance + at him that he abruptly went on: + </p> + <p> + “You were with La—” + </p> + <p> + “Allow me, Monsieur Derville,” said the Countess to the lawyer. “You must + give me leave to retire. I did not come here to listen to such dreadful + things.” + </p> + <p> + She rose and went out. Derville rushed after her; but the Countess had + taken wings, and seemed to have flown from the place. + </p> + <p> + On returning to his private room, he found the Colonel in a towering rage, + striding up and down. + </p> + <p> + “In those times a man took his wife where he chose,” said he. “But I was + foolish and chose badly; I trusted to appearances. She has no heart.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Colonel, was I not right to beg you not to come?—I am now + positive of your identity; when you came in, the Countess gave a little + start, of which the meaning was unequivocal. But you have lost your + chances. Your wife knows that you are unrecognizable.” + </p> + <p> + “I will kill her!” + </p> + <p> + “Madness! you will be caught and executed like any common wretch. Besides + you might miss! That would be unpardonable. A man must not miss his shot + when he wants to kill his wife.—Let me set things straight; you are + only a big child. Go now. Take care of yourself; she is capable of setting + some trap for you and shutting you up in Charenton. I will notify her of + our proceedings to protect you against a surprise.” + </p> + <p> + The unhappy Colonel obeyed his young benefactor, and went away, stammering + apologies. He slowly went down the dark staircase, lost in gloomy + thoughts, and crushed perhaps by the blow just dealt him—the most + cruel he could feel, the thrust that could most deeply pierce his heart—when + he heard the rustle of a woman’s dress on the lowest landing, and his wife + stood before him. + </p> + <p> + “Come, monsieur,” said she, taking his arm with a gesture like those + familiar to him of old. Her action and the accent of her voice, which had + recovered its graciousness, were enough to allay the Colonel’s wrath, and + he allowed himself to be led to the carriage. + </p> + <p> + “Well, get in!” said she, when the footman had let down the step. + </p> + <p> + And as if by magic, he found himself sitting by his wife in the brougham. + </p> + <p> + “Where to?” asked the servant. + </p> + <p> + “To Groslay,” said she. + </p> + <p> + The horses started at once, and carried them all across Paris. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said the Countess, in a tone of voice which betrayed one of + those emotions which are rare in our lives, and which agitate every part + of our being. At such moments the heart, fibres, nerves, countenance, + soul, and body, everything, every pore even, feels a thrill. Life no + longer seems to be within us; it flows out, springs forth, is communicated + as if by contagion, transmitted by a look, a tone of voice, a gesture, + impressing our will on others. The old soldier started on hearing this + single word, this first, terrible “monsieur!” But still it was at once a + reproach and a pardon, a hope and a despair, a question and an answer. + This word included them all; none but an actress could have thrown so much + eloquence, so many feelings into a single word. Truth is less complete in + its utterance; it does not put everything on the outside; it allows us to + see what is within. The Colonel was filled with remorse for his + suspicions, his demands, and his anger; he looked down not to betray his + agitation. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” repeated she, after an imperceptible pause, “I knew you at + once.” + </p> + <p> + “Rosine,” said the old soldier, “those words contain the only balm that + can help me to forget my misfortunes.” + </p> + <p> + Two large tears rolled hot on to his wife’s hands, which he pressed to + show his paternal affection. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” she went on, “could you not have guessed what it cost me to + appear before a stranger in a position so false as mine now is? If I have + to blush for it, at least let it be in the privacy of my family. Ought not + such a secret to remain buried in our hearts? You will forgive me, I hope, + for my apparent indifference to the woes of a Chabert in whose existence I + could not possibly believe. I received your letters,” she hastily added, + seeing in his face the objection it expressed, “but they did not reach me + till thirteen months after the battle of Eylau. They were opened, dirty, + the writing was unrecognizable; and after obtaining Napoleon’s signature + to my second marriage contract, I could not help believing that some + clever swindler wanted to make a fool of me. Therefore, to avoid + disturbing Monsieur Ferraud’s peace of mind, and disturbing family ties, I + was obliged to take precautions against a pretended Chabert. Was I not + right, I ask you?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, you were right. It was I who was the idiot, the owl, the dolt, not + to have calculated better what the consequences of such a position might + be.—But where are we going?” he asked, seeing that they had reached + the barrier of La Chapelle. + </p> + <p> + “To my country house near Groslay, in the valley of Montmorency. There, + monsieur, we will consider the steps to be taken. I know my duties. Though + I am yours by right, I am no longer yours in fact. Can you wish that we + should become the talk of Paris? We need not inform the public of a + situation, which for me has its ridiculous side, and let us preserve our + dignity. You still love me,” she said, with a sad, sweet gaze at the + Colonel, “but have not I been authorized to form other ties? In so strange + a position, a secret voice bids me trust to your kindness, which is so + well known to me. Can I be wrong in taking you as the sole arbiter of my + fate? Be at once judge and party to the suit. I trust in your noble + character; you will be generous enough to forgive me for the consequences + of faults committed in innocence. I may then confess to you: I love M. + Ferraud. I believed that I had a right to love him. I do not blush to make + this confession to you; even if it offends you, it does not disgrace us. I + cannot conceal the facts. When fate made me a widow, I was not a mother.” + </p> + <p> + The Colonel with a wave of his hand bid his wife be silent, and for a mile + and a half they sat without speaking a single word. Chabert could fancy he + saw the two little ones before him. + </p> + <p> + “Rosine.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur?” + </p> + <p> + “The dead are very wrong to come to life again.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, monsieur, no, no! Do not think me ungrateful. Only, you find me a + lover, a mother, while you left me merely a wife. Though it is no longer + in my power to love, I know how much I owe you, and I can still offer you + all the affection of a daughter.” + </p> + <p> + “Rosine,” said the old man in a softened tone, “I no longer feel any + resentment against you. We will forget anything,” he added, with one of + those smiles which always reflect a noble soul; “I have not so little + delicacy as to demand the mockery of love from a wife who no longer loves + me.” + </p> + <p> + The Countess gave him a flashing look full of such deep gratitude that + poor Chabert would have been glad to sink again into his grave at Eylau. + Some men have a soul strong enough for such self-devotion, of which the + whole reward consists in the assurance that they have made the person they + love happy. + </p> + <p> + “My dear friend, we will talk all this over later when our hearts have + rested,” said the Countess. + </p> + <p> + The conversation turned to other subjects, for it was impossible to dwell + very long on this one. Though the couple came back again and again to + their singular position, either by some allusion or of serious purpose, + they had a delightful drive, recalling the events of their former life + together and the times of the Empire. The Countess knew how to lend + peculiar charm to her reminiscences, and gave the conversation the tinge + of melancholy that was needed to keep it serious. She revived his love + without awakening his desires, and allowed her first husband to discern + the mental wealth she had acquired while trying to accustom him to + moderate his pleasure to that which a father may feel in the society of a + favorite daughter. + </p> + <p> + The Colonel had known the Countess of the Empire; he found her a Countess + of the Restoration. + </p> + <p> + At last, by a cross-road, they arrived at the entrance to a large park + lying in the little valley which divides the heights of Margency from the + pretty village of Groslay. The Countess had there a delightful house, + where the Colonel on arriving found everything in readiness for his stay + there, as well as for his wife’s. Misfortune is a kind of talisman whose + virtue consists in its power to confirm our original nature; in some men + it increases their distrust and malignancy, just as it improves the + goodness of those who have a kind heart. + </p> + <p> + Sorrow had made the Colonel even more helpful and good than he had always + been, and he could understand some secrets of womanly distress which are + unrevealed to most men. Nevertheless, in spite of his loyal trustfulness, + he could not help saying to his wife: + </p> + <p> + “Then you felt quite sure you would bring me here?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” replied she, “if I found Colonel Chabert in Derville’s client.” + </p> + <p> + The appearance of truth she contrived to give to this answer dissipated + the slight suspicions which the Colonel was ashamed to have felt. For + three days the Countess was quite charming to her first husband. By tender + attentions and unfailing sweetness she seemed anxious to wipe out the + memory of the sufferings he had endured, and to earn forgiveness for the + woes which, as she confessed, she had innocently caused him. She delighted + in displaying for him the charms she knew he took pleasure in, while at + the same time she assumed a kind of melancholy; for men are more + especially accessible to certain ways, certain graces of the heart or of + the mind which they cannot resist. She aimed at interesting him in her + position, and appealing to his feelings so far as to take possession of + his mind and control him despotically. + </p> + <p> + Ready for anything to attain her ends, she did not yet know what she was + to do with this man; but at any rate she meant to annihilate him socially. + On the evening of the third day she felt that in spite of her efforts she + could not conceal her uneasiness as to the results of her manoeuvres. To + give herself a minute’s reprieve she went up to her room, sat down before + her writing-table, and laid aside the mask of composure which she wore in + Chabert’s presence, like an actress who, returning to her dressing-room + after a fatiguing fifth act, drops half dead, leaving with the audience an + image of herself which she no longer resembles. She proceeded to finish a + letter she had begun to Delbecq, whom she desired to go in her name and + demand of Derville the deeds relating to Colonel Chabert, to copy them, + and to come to her at once to Groslay. She had hardly finished when she + heard the Colonel’s step in the passage; uneasy at her absence, he had + come to look for her. + </p> + <p> + “Alas!” she exclaimed, “I wish I were dead! My position is intolerable...” + </p> + <p> + “Why, what is the matter?” asked the good man. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, nothing!” she replied. + </p> + <p> + She rose, left the Colonel, and went down to speak privately to her maid, + whom she sent off to Paris, impressing on her that she was herself to + deliver to Delbecq the letter just written, and to bring it back to the + writer as soon as he had read it. Then the Countess went out to sit on a + bench sufficiently in sight for the Colonel to join her as soon as he + might choose. The Colonel, who was looking for her, hastened up and sat + down by her. + </p> + <p> + “Rosine,” said he, “what is the matter with you?” + </p> + <p> + She did not answer. + </p> + <p> + It was one of those glorious, calm evenings in the month of June, whose + secret harmonies infuse such sweetness into the sunset. The air was clear, + the stillness perfect, so that far away in the park they could hear the + voices of some children, which added a kind of melody to the sublimity of + the scene. + </p> + <p> + “You do not answer me?” the Colonel said to his wife. + </p> + <p> + “My husband——” said the Countess, who broke off, started a + little, and with a blush stopped to ask him, “What am I to say when I + speak of M. Ferraud?” + </p> + <p> + “Call him your husband, my poor child,” replied the Colonel, in a kind + voice. “Is he not the father of your children?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, then,” she said, “if he should ask what I came here for, if he + finds out that I came here, alone, with a stranger, what am I to say to + him? Listen, monsieur,” she went on, assuming a dignified attitude, + “decide my fate, I am resigned to anything—” + </p> + <p> + “My dear,” said the Colonel, taking possession of his wife’s hands, “I + have made up my mind to sacrifice myself entirely for your happiness—” + </p> + <p> + “That is impossible!” she exclaimed, with a sudden spasmodic movement. + “Remember that you would have to renounce your identity, and in an + authenticated form.” + </p> + <p> + “What?” said the Colonel. “Is not my word enough for you?” + </p> + <p> + The word “authenticated” fell on the old man’s heart, and roused + involuntary distrust. He looked at his wife in a way that made her color, + she cast down her eyes, and he feared that he might find himself compelled + to despise her. The Countess was afraid lest she had scared the shy + modesty, the stern honesty, of a man whose generous temper and primitive + virtues were known to her. Though these feelings had brought the clouds to + her brow, they immediately recovered their harmony. This was the way of + it. A child’s cry was heard in the distance. + </p> + <p> + “Jules, leave your sister in peace,” the Countess called out. + </p> + <p> + “What, are your children here?” said Chabert. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but I told them not to trouble you.” + </p> + <p> + The old soldier understood the delicacy, the womanly tact of so gracious a + precaution, and took the Countess’ hand to kiss it. + </p> + <p> + “But let them come,” said he. + </p> + <p> + The little girl ran up to complain of her brother. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma!” + </p> + <p> + “Mamma!” + </p> + <p> + “It was Jules—” + </p> + <p> + “It was her—” + </p> + <p> + Their little hands were held out to their mother, and the two childish + voices mingled; it was an unexpected and charming picture. + </p> + <p> + “Poor little things!” cried the Countess, no longer restraining her tears, + “I shall have to leave them. To whom will the law assign them? A mother’s + heart cannot be divided; I want them, I want them.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you making mamma cry?” said Jules, looking fiercely at the Colonel. + </p> + <p> + “Silence, Jules!” said the mother in a decided tone. + </p> + <p> + The two children stood speechless, examining their mother and the stranger + with a curiosity which it is impossible to express in words. + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes!” she cried. “If I am separated from the Count, only leave me my + children, and I will submit to anything...” + </p> + <p> + This was the decisive speech which gained all that she had hoped from it. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” exclaimed the Colonel, as if he were ending a sentence already + begun in his mind, “I must return underground again. I had told myself so + already.” + </p> + <p> + “Can I accept such a sacrifice?” replied his wife. “If some men have died + to save a mistress’ honor, they gave their life but once. But in this case + you would be giving your life every day. No, no. It is impossible. If it + were only your life, it would be nothing; but to sign a declaration that + you are not Colonel Chabert, to acknowledge yourself an imposter, to + sacrifice your honor, and live a lie every hour of the day! Human devotion + cannot go so far. Only think!—No. But for my poor children I would + have fled with you by this time to the other end of the world.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Chabert, “cannot I live here in your little lodge as one of + your relations? I am as worn out as a cracked cannon; I want nothing but a + little tobacco and the <i>Constitutionnel</i>.” + </p> + <p> + The Countess melted into tears. There was a contest of generosity between + the Comtesse Ferraud and Colonel Chabert, and the soldier came out + victorious. One evening, seeing this mother with her children, the soldier + was bewitched by the touching grace of a family picture in the country, in + the shade and the silence; he made a resolution to remain dead, and, + frightened no longer at the authentication of a deed, he asked what he + could do to secure beyond all risk the happiness of this family. + </p> + <p> + “Do exactly as you like,” said the Countess. “I declare to you that I will + have nothing to do with this affair. I ought not.” + </p> + <p> + Delbecq had arrived some days before, and in obedience to the Countess’ + verbal instructions, the intendant had succeeded in gaining the old + soldier’s confidence. So on the following morning Colonel Chabert went + with the erewhile attorney to Saint-Leu-Taverny, where Delbecq had caused + the notary to draw up an affidavit in such terms that, after hearing it + read, the Colonel started up and walked out of the office. + </p> + <p> + “Turf and thunder! What a fool you must think me! Why, I should make + myself out a swindler!” he exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, monsieur,” said Delbecq, “I should advise you not to sign in + haste. In your place I would get at least thirty thousand francs a year + out of the bargain. Madame would pay them.” + </p> + <p> + After annihilating this scoundrel <i>emeritus</i> by the lightning look of + an honest man insulted, the Colonel rushed off, carried away by a thousand + contrary emotions. He was suspicious, indignant, and calm again by turns. + </p> + <p> + Finally he made his way back into the park of Groslay by a gap in a fence, + and slowly walked on to sit down and rest, and meditate at his ease, in a + little room under a gazebo, from which the road to Saint-Leu could be + seen. The path being strewn with the yellowish sand which is used instead + of river-gravel, the Countess, who was sitting in the upper room of this + little summer-house, did not hear the Colonel’s approach, for she was too + much preoccupied with the success of her business to pay the smallest + attention to the slight noise made by her husband. Nor did the old man + notice that his wife was in the room over him. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Monsieur Delbecq, has he signed?” the Countess asked her secretary, + whom she saw alone on the road beyond the hedge of a haha. + </p> + <p> + “No, madame. I do not even know what has become of our man. The old horse + reared.” + </p> + <p> + “Then we shall be obliged to put him into Charenton,” said she, “since we + have got him.” + </p> + <p> + The Colonel, who recovered the elasticity of youth to leap the haha, in + the twinkling of an eye was standing in front of Delbecq, on whom he + bestowed the two finest slaps that ever a scoundrel’s cheeks received. + </p> + <p> + “And you may add that old horses can kick!” said he. + </p> + <p> + His rage spent, the Colonel no longer felt vigorous enough to leap the + ditch. He had seen the truth in all its nakedness. The Countess’ speech + and Delbecq’s reply had revealed the conspiracy of which he was to be the + victim. The care taken of him was but a bait to entrap him in a snare. + That speech was like a drop of subtle poison, bringing on in the old + soldier a return of all his sufferings, physical and moral. He came back + to the summer-house through the park gate, walking slowly like a broken + man. + </p> + <p> + Then for him there was to be neither peace nor truce. From this moment he + must begin the odious warfare with this woman of which Derville had + spoken, enter on a life of litigation, feed on gall, drink every morning + of the cup of bitterness. And then—fearful thought!—where was + he to find the money needful to pay the cost of the first proceedings? He + felt such disgust of life, that if there had been any water at hand he + would have thrown himself into it; that if he had had a pistol, he would + have blown out his brains. Then he relapsed into the indecision of mind + which, since his conversation with Derville at the dairyman’s had changed + his character. + </p> + <p> + At last, having reached the kiosque, he went up to the gazebo, where + little rose-windows afforded a view over each lovely landscape of the + valley, and where he found his wife seated on a chair. The Countess was + gazing at the distance, and preserved a calm countenance, showing that + impenetrable face which women can assume when resolved to do their worst. + She wiped her eyes as if she had been weeping, and played absently with + the pink ribbons of her sash. Nevertheless, in spite of her apparent + assurance, she could not help shuddering slightly when she saw before her + her venerable benefactor, standing with folded arms, his face pale, his + brow stern. + </p> + <p> + “Madame,” he said, after gazing at her fixedly for a moment and compelling + her to blush, “Madame, I do not curse you—I scorn you. I can now + thank the chance that has divided us. I do not feel even a desire for + revenge; I no longer love you. I want nothing from you. Live in peace on + the strength of my word; it is worth more than the scrawl of all the + notaries in Paris. I will never assert my claim to the name I perhaps have + made illustrious. I am henceforth but a poor devil named Hyacinthe, who + asks no more than his share of the sunshine.—Farewell!” + </p> + <p> + The Countess threw herself at his feet; she would have detained him by + taking his hands, but he pushed her away with disgust, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Do not touch me!” + </p> + <p> + The Countess’ expression when she heard her husband’s retreating steps is + quite indescribable. Then, with the deep perspicacity given only by utter + villainy, or by fierce worldly selfishness, she knew that she might live + in peace on the word and the contempt of this loyal veteran. + </p> + <p> + Chabert, in fact, disappeared. The dairyman failed in business, and became + a hackney-cab driver. The Colonel, perhaps, took up some similar industry + for a time. Perhaps, like a stone flung into a chasm, he went falling from + ledge to ledge, to be lost in the mire of rags that seethes through the + streets of Paris. + </p> + <p> + Six months after this event, Derville, hearing no more of Colonel Chabert + or the Comtesse Ferraud, supposed that they had no doubt come to a + compromise, which the Countess, out of revenge, had had arranged by some + other lawyer. So one morning he added up the sums he had advanced to the + said Chabert with the costs, and begged the Comtesse Ferraud to claim from + M. le Comte Chabert the amount of the bill, assuming that she would know + where to find her first husband. + </p> + <p> + The very next day Comte Ferraud’s man of business, lately appointed + President of the County Court in a town of some importance, wrote this + distressing note to Derville: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “MONSIEUR,— + + “Madame la Comtesse Ferraud desires me to inform you that your + client took complete advantage of your confidence, and that the + individual calling himself Comte Chabert has acknowledged that he + came forward under false pretences. +</pre> + <p> + “Yours, etc., DELBECQ.” + </p> + <p> + “One comes across people who are, on my honor, too stupid by half,” cried + Derville. “They don’t deserve to be Christians! Be humane, generous, + philanthropical, and a lawyer, and you are bound to be cheated! There is a + piece of business that will cost me two thousand-franc notes!” + </p> + <p> + Some time after receiving this letter, Derville went to the Palais de + Justice in search of a pleader to whom he wished to speak, and who was + employed in the Police Court. As chance would have it, Derville went into + Court Number 6 at the moment when the Presiding Magistrate was sentencing + one Hyacinthe to two months’ imprisonment as a vagabond, and subsequently + to be taken to the Mendicity House of Detention, a sentence which, by + magistrates’ law, is equivalent to perpetual imprisonment. On hearing the + name of Hyacinthe, Derville looked at the deliquent, sitting between two + <i>gendarmes</i> on the bench for the accused, and recognized in the + condemned man his false Colonel Chabert. + </p> + <p> + The old soldier was placid, motionless, almost absentminded. In spite of + his rags, in spite of the misery stamped on his countenance, it gave + evidence of noble pride. His eye had a stoical expression which no + magistrate ought to have misunderstood; but as soon as a man has fallen + into the hands of justice, he is no more than a moral entity, a matter of + law or of fact, just as to statists he has become a zero. + </p> + <p> + When the veteran was taken back to the lock-up, to be removed later with + the batch of vagabonds at that moment at the bar, Derville availed himself + of the privilege accorded to lawyers of going wherever they please in the + Courts, and followed him to the lock-up, where he stood scrutinizing him + for some minutes, as well as the curious crew of beggars among whom he + found himself. The passage to the lock-up at that moment afforded one of + those spectacles which, unfortunately, neither legislators, nor + philanthropists, nor painters, nor writers come to study. Like all the + laboratories of the law, this ante-room is a dark and malodorous place; + along the walls runs a wooden seat, blackened by the constant presence + there of the wretches who come to this meeting-place of every form of + social squalor, where not one of them is missing. + </p> + <p> + A poet might say that the day was ashamed to light up this dreadful sewer + through which so much misery flows! There is not a spot on that plank + where some crime has not sat, in embryo or matured; not a corner where a + man has never stood who, driven to despair by the blight which justice has + set upon him after his first fault, has not there begun a career, at the + end of which looms the guillotine or the pistol-snap of the suicide. All + who fall on the pavement of Paris rebound against these yellow-gray walls, + on which a philanthropist who was not a speculator might read a + justification of the numerous suicides complained of by hypocritical + writers who are incapable of taking a step to prevent them—for that + justification is written in that ante-room, like a preface to the dramas + of the Morgue, or to those enacted on the Place de la Greve. + </p> + <p> + At this moment Colonel Chabert was sitting among these men—men with + coarse faces, clothed in the horrible livery of misery, and silent at + intervals, or talking in a low tone, for three gendarmes on duty paced to + and fro, their sabres clattering on the floor. + </p> + <p> + “Do you recognize me?” said Derville to the old man, standing in front of + him. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir,” said Chabert, rising. + </p> + <p> + “If you are an honest man,” Derville went on in an undertone, “how could + you remain in my debt?” + </p> + <p> + The old soldier blushed as a young girl might when accused by her mother + of a clandestine love affair. + </p> + <p> + “What! Madame Ferraud has not paid you?” cried he in a loud voice. + </p> + <p> + “Paid me?” said Derville. “She wrote to me that you were a swindler.” + </p> + <p> + The Colonel cast up his eyes in a sublime impulse of horror and + imprecation, as if to call heaven to witness to this fresh subterfuge. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur,” said he, in a voice that was calm by sheer huskiness, “get the + gendarmes to allow me to go into the lock-up, and I will sign an order + which will certainly be honored.” + </p> + <p> + At a word from Derville to the sergeant he was allowed to take his client + into the room, where Hyacinthe wrote a few lines, and addressed them to + the Comtesse Ferraud. + </p> + <p> + “Send her that,” said the soldier, “and you will be paid your costs and + the money you advanced. Believe me, monsieur, if I have not shown you the + gratitude I owe you for your kind offices, it is not the less there,” and + he laid his hand on his heart. “Yes, it is there, deep and sincere. But + what can the unfortunate do? They live, and that is all.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” said Derville. “Did you not stipulate for an allowance?” + </p> + <p> + “Do not speak of it!” cried the old man. “You cannot conceive how deep my + contempt is for the outside life to which most men cling. I was suddenly + attacked by a sickness—disgust of humanity. When I think that + Napoleon is at Saint-Helena, everything on earth is a matter of + indifference to me. I can no longer be a soldier; that is my only real + grief. After all,” he added with a gesture of childish simplicity, “it is + better to enjoy luxury of feeling than of dress. For my part, I fear + nobody’s contempt.” + </p> + <p> + And the Colonel sat down on his bench again. + </p> + <p> + Derville went away. On returning to his office, he sent Godeschal, at that + time his second clerk, to the Comtesse Ferraud, who, on reading the note, + at once paid the sum due to Comte Chabert’s lawyer. + </p> + <p> + In 1840, towards the end of June, Godeschal, now himself an attorney, went + to Ris with Derville, to whom he had succeeded. When they reached the + avenue leading from the highroad to Bicetre, they saw, under one of the + elm-trees by the wayside, one of those old, broken, and hoary paupers who + have earned the Marshal’s staff among beggars by living on at Bicetre as + poor women live on at la Salpetriere. This man, one of the two thousand + poor creatures who are lodged in the infirmary for the aged, was seated on + a corner-stone, and seemed to have concentrated all his intelligence on an + operation well known to these pensioners, which consists in drying their + snuffy pocket-handkerchiefs in the sun, perhaps to save washing them. This + old man had an attractive countenance. He was dressed in a reddish cloth + wrapper-coat which the work-house affords to its inmates, a sort of + horrible livery. + </p> + <p> + “I say, Derville,” said Godeschal to his traveling companion, “look at + that old fellow. Isn’t he like those grotesque carved figures we get from + Germany? And it is alive, perhaps it is happy.” + </p> + <p> + Derville looked at the poor man through his eyeglass, and with a little + exclamation of surprise he said: + </p> + <p> + “That old man, my dear fellow, is a whole poem, or, as the romantics say, + a drama.—Did you ever meet the Comtesse Ferraud?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; she is a clever woman, and agreeable; but rather too pious,” said + Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + “That old Bicetre pauper is her lawful husband, Comte Chabert, the old + Colonel. She has had him sent here, no doubt. And if he is in this + workhouse instead of living in a mansion, it is solely because he reminded + the pretty Countess that he had taken her, like a hackney cab, on the + street. I can remember now the tiger’s glare she shot at him at that + moment.” + </p> + <p> + This opening having excited Godeschal’s curiosity, Derville related the + story here told. + </p> + <p> + Two days later, on Monday morning, as they returned to Paris, the two + friends looked again at Bicetre, and Derville proposed that they should + call on Colonel Chabert. Halfway up the avenue they found the old man + sitting on the trunk of a felled tree. With his stick in one hand, he was + amusing himself with drawing lines in the sand. On looking at him + narrowly, they perceived that he had been breakfasting elsewhere than at + Bicetre. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Colonel Chabert,” said Derville. + </p> + <p> + “Not Chabert! not Chabert! My name is Hyacinthe,” replied the veteran. “I + am no longer a man, I am No. 164, Room 7,” he added, looking at Derville + with timid anxiety, the fear of an old man and a child.—“Are you + going to visit the man condemned to death?” he asked after a moment’s + silence. “He is not married! He is very lucky!” + </p> + <p> + “Poor fellow!” said Godeschal. “Would you like something to buy snuff?” + </p> + <p> + With all the simplicity of a street Arab, the Colonel eagerly held out his + hand to the two strangers, who each gave him a twenty-franc piece; he + thanked them with a puzzled look, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Brave troopers!” + </p> + <p> + He ported arms, pretended to take aim at them, and shouted with a smile: + </p> + <p> + “Fire! both arms! <i>Vive Napoleon</i>!” And he drew a flourish in the air + with his stick. + </p> + <p> + “The nature of his wound has no doubt made him childish,” said Derville. + </p> + <p> + “Childish! he?” said another old pauper, who was looking on. “Why, there + are days when you had better not tread on his corns. He is an old rogue, + full of philosophy and imagination. But to-day, what can you expect! He + has had his Monday treat.—He was here, monsieur, so long ago as + 1820. At that time a Prussian officer, whose chaise was crawling up the + hill of Villejuif, came by on foot. We two were together, Hyacinthe and I, + by the roadside. The officer, as he walked, was talking to another, a + Russian, or some animal of the same species, and when the Prussian saw the + old boy, just to make fun, he said to him, ‘Here is an old cavalry man who + must have been at Rossbach.’—‘I was too young to be there,’ said + Hyacinthe. ‘But I was at Jena.’ And the Prussian made off pretty quick, + without asking any more questions.” + </p> + <p> + “What a destiny!” exclaimed Derville. “Taken out of the Foundling Hospital + to die in the Infirmary for the Aged, after helping Napoleon between + whiles to conquer Egypt and Europe.—Do you know, my dear fellow,” + Derville went on after a pause, “there are in modern society three men who + can never think well of the world—the priest, the doctor, and the + man of law? And they wear black robes, perhaps because they are in + mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most hapless of the + three is the lawyer. When a man comes in search of the priest, he is + prompted by repentance, by remorse, by beliefs which make him interesting, + which elevate him and comfort the soul of the intercessor whose task will + bring him a sort of gladness; he purifies, repairs and reconciles. But we + lawyers, we see the same evil feelings repeated again and again, nothing + can correct them; our offices are sewers which can never be cleansed. + </p> + <p> + “How many things have I learned in the exercise of my profession! I have + seen a father die in a garret, deserted by two daughters, to whom he had + given forty thousand francs a year! I have known wills burned; I have seen + mothers robbing their children, wives killing their husbands, and working + on the love they could inspire to make the men idiotic or mad, that they + might live in peace with a lover. I have seen women teaching the child of + their marriage such tastes as must bring it to the grave in order to + benefit the child of an illicit affection. I could not tell you all I have + seen, for I have seen crimes against which justice is impotent. In short, + all the horrors that romancers suppose they have invented are still below + the truth. You will know something of these pretty things; as for me, I am + going to live in the country with my wife. I have a horror of Paris.” + </p> + <p> + “I have seen plenty of them already in Desroches’ office,” replied + Godeschal. + </p> + <p> + PARIS, February-March 1832. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + ADDENDUM + </h2> + <h3> + The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + </h3> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Bonaparte, Napoleon + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Seamy Side of History + A Woman of Thirty + + Crottat, Alexandre + Cesar Birotteau + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + Cousin Pons + + Derville + Gobseck + A Start in Life + The Gondreville Mystery + Father Goriot + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + + Desroches (son) + A Bachelor’s Establishment + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Commission in Lunacy + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + + Ferraud, Comtesse + The Government Clerks + + Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + A Bachelor’s Establishment + A Start in Life + The Commission in Lunacy + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + Gobseck + + Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier + The Chouans + The Seamy Side of History + The Gondreville Mystery + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Ball at Sceaux + The Lily of the Valley + The Government Clerks + + Murat, Joachim, Prince + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Country Doctor + + Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor’s Establishment + The Muse of the Department + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Peasantry + Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + Cousin Betty + + Vergniaud, Louis + The Vendetta +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Chabert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1954-h.htm or 1954-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/5/1954/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Colonel Chabert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + +Release Date: November, 1999 [Etext #1954] +Posting Date: March 6, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +COLONEL CHABERT + + +By Honore De Balzac + + +Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + + + + + DEDICATION + + To Madame la Comtesse Ida de Bocarme nee du Chasteler. + + + + + + +COLONEL CHABERT + + +"HULLO! There is that old Box-coat again!" + +This exclamation was made by a lawyer's clerk of the class called in +French offices a gutter-jumper--a messenger in fact--who at this moment +was eating a piece of dry bread with a hearty appetite. He pulled off +a morsel of crumb to make into a bullet, and fired it gleefully through +the open pane of the window against which he was leaning. The pellet, +well aimed, rebounded almost as high as the window, after hitting the +hat of a stranger who was crossing the courtyard of a house in the Rue +Vivienne, where dwelt Maitre Derville, attorney-at-law. + +"Come, Simonnin, don't play tricks on people, or I will turn you out of +doors. However poor a client may be, he is still a man, hang it all!" +said the head clerk, pausing in the addition of a bill of costs. + +The lawyer's messenger is commonly, as was Simonnin, a lad of thirteen +or fourteen, who, in every office, is under the special jurisdiction of +the managing clerk, whose errands and _billets-doux_ keep him employed +on his way to carry writs to the bailiffs and petitions to the Courts. +He is akin to the street boy in his habits, and to the pettifogger +by fate. The boy is almost always ruthless, unbroken, unmanageable, a +ribald rhymester, impudent, greedy, and idle. And yet, almost all these +clerklings have an old mother lodging on some fifth floor with whom they +share their pittance of thirty or forty francs a month. + +"If he is a man, why do you call him old Box-coat?" asked Simonnin, with +the air of a schoolboy who has caught out his master. + +And he went on eating his bread and cheese, leaning his shoulder against +the window jamb; for he rested standing like a cab-horse, one of his +legs raised and propped against the other, on the toe of his shoe. + +"What trick can we play that cove?" said the third clerk, whose name was +Godeschal, in a low voice, pausing in the middle of a discourse he +was extemporizing in an appeal engrossed by the fourth clerk, of which +copies were being made by two neophytes from the provinces. + +Then he went on improvising: + +"_But, in his noble and beneficent wisdom, his Majesty, Louis the +Eighteenth_--(write it at full length, heh! Desroches the learned--you, +as you engross it!)--_when he resumed the reins of Government, +understood_--(what did that old nincompoop ever understand?)--_the high +mission to which he had been called by Divine Providence!_--(a note of +admiration and six stops. They are pious enough at the Courts to let us +put six)--_and his first thought, as is proved by the date of the order +hereinafter designated, was to repair the misfortunes caused by the +terrible and sad disasters of the revolutionary times, by restoring to +his numerous and faithful adherents_--('numerous' is flattering, and +ought to please the Bench)--_all their unsold estates, whether within +our realm, or in conquered or acquired territory, or in the endowments +of public institutions, for we are, and proclaim ourselves competent to +declare, that this is the spirit and meaning of the famous, truly loyal +order given in_--Stop," said Godeschal to the three copying clerks, +"that rascally sentence brings me to the end of my page.--Well," he went +on, wetting the back fold of the sheet with his tongue, so as to be able +to fold back the page of thick stamped paper, "well, if you want to play +him a trick, tell him that the master can only see his clients between +two and three in the morning; we shall see if he comes, the old +ruffian!" + +And Godeschal took up the sentence he was dictating--"_given in_--Are +you ready?" + +"Yes," cried the three writers. + +It all went all together, the appeal, the gossip, and the conspiracy. + +"_Given in_--Here, Daddy Boucard, what is the date of the order? We +must dot our _i_'s and cross our _t_'s, by Jingo! it helps to fill the +pages." + +"By Jingo!" repeated one of the copying clerks before Boucard, the head +clerk, could reply. + +"What! have you written _by Jingo_?" cried Godeschal, looking at one of +the novices, with an expression at once stern and humorous. + +"Why, yes," said Desroches, the fourth clerk, leaning across his +neighbor's copy, "he has written, '_We must dot our i's_' and spelt it +_by Gingo_!" + +All the clerks shouted with laughter. + +"Why! Monsieur Hure, you take 'By Jingo' for a law term, and you say you +come from Mortagne!" exclaimed Simonnin. + +"Scratch it cleanly out," said the head clerk. "If the judge, whose +business it is to tax the bill, were to see such things, he would say +you were laughing at the whole boiling. You would hear of it from the +chief! Come, no more of this nonsense, Monsieur Hure! A Norman ought not +to write out an appeal without thought. It is the 'Shoulder arms!' of +the law." + +"_Given in--in_?" asked Godeschal.--"Tell me when, Boucard." + +"June 1814," replied the head clerk, without looking up from his work. + +A knock at the office door interrupted the circumlocutions of the prolix +document. Five clerks with rows of hungry teeth, bright, mocking eyes, +and curly heads, lifted their noses towards the door, after crying all +together in a singing tone, "Come in!" + +Boucard kept his face buried in a pile of papers--_broutilles_ (odds and +ends) in French law jargon--and went on drawing out the bill of costs on +which he was busy. + +The office was a large room furnished with the traditional stool which +is to be seen in all these dens of law-quibbling. The stove-pipe crossed +the room diagonally to the chimney of a bricked-up fireplace; on the +marble chimney-piece were several chunks of bread, triangles of Brie +cheese, pork cutlets, glasses, bottles, and the head clerk's cup of +chocolate. The smell of these dainties blended so completely with that +of the immoderately overheated stove and the odor peculiar to offices +and old papers, that the trail of a fox would not have been perceptible. +The floor was covered with mud and snow, brought in by the clerks. Near +the window stood the desk with a revolving lid, where the head clerk +worked, and against the back of it was the second clerk's table. The +second clerk was at this moment in Court. It was between eight and nine +in the morning. + +The only decoration of the office consisted in huge yellow posters, +announcing seizures of real estate, sales, settlements under trust, +final or interim judgments,--all the glory of a lawyer's office. Behind +the head clerk was an enormous room, of which each division was crammed +with bundles of papers with an infinite number of tickets hanging from +them at the ends of red tape, which give a peculiar physiognomy to law +papers. The lower rows were filled with cardboard boxes, yellow with +use, on which might be read the names of the more important clients +whose cases were juicily stewing at this present time. The dirty +window-panes admitted but little daylight. Indeed, there are very few +offices in Paris where it is possible to write without lamplight before +ten in the morning in the month of February, for they are all left to +very natural neglect; every one comes and no one stays; no one has any +personal interest in a scene of mere routine--neither the attorney, nor +the counsel, nor the clerks, trouble themselves about the appearance +of a place which, to the youths, is a schoolroom; to the clients, a +passage; to the chief, a laboratory. The greasy furniture is handed down +to successive owners with such scrupulous care, that in some offices +may still be seen boxes of _remainders_, machines for twisting +parchment gut, and bags left by the prosecuting parties of the Chatelet +(abbreviated to _Chlet_)--a Court which, under the old order of things, +represented the present Court of First Instance (or County Court). + +So in this dark office, thick with dust, there was, as in all its +fellows, something repulsive to the clients--something which made it +one of the most hideous monstrosities of Paris. Nay, were it not for +the mouldy sacristies where prayers are weighed out and paid for like +groceries, and for the old-clothes shops, where flutter the rags that +blight all the illusions of life by showing us the last end of all our +festivities--an attorney's office would be, of all social marts, the +most loathsome. But we might say the same of the gambling-hell, of the +Law Court, of the lottery office, of the brothel. + +But why? In these places, perhaps, the drama being played in a man's +soul makes him indifferent to accessories, which would also account for +the single-mindedness of great thinkers and men of great ambitions. + +"Where is my penknife?" + +"I am eating my breakfast." + +"You go and be hanged! here is a blot on the copy." + +"Silence, gentlemen!" + +These various exclamations were uttered simultaneously at the moment +when the old client shut the door with the sort of humility which +disfigures the movements of a man down on his luck. The stranger tried +to smile, but the muscles of his face relaxed as he vainly looked for +some symptoms of amenity on the inexorably indifferent faces of the six +clerks. Accustomed, no doubt, to gauge men, he very politely addressed +the gutter-jumper, hoping to get a civil answer from this boy of all +work. + +"Monsieur, is your master at home?" + +The pert messenger made no reply, but patted his ear with the fingers of +his left hand, as much as to say, "I am deaf." + +"What do you want, sir?" asked Godeschal, swallowing as he spoke a +mouthful of bread big enough to charge a four-pounder, flourishing his +knife and crossing his legs, throwing up one foot in the air to the +level of his eyes. + +"This is the fifth time I have called," replied the victim. "I wish to +speak to M. Derville." + +"On business?" + +"Yes, but I can explain it to no one but--" + +"M. Derville is in bed; if you wish to consult him on some difficulty, +he does no serious work till midnight. But if you will lay the case +before us, we could help you just as well as he can to----" + +The stranger was unmoved; he looked timidly about him, like a dog who +has got into a strange kitchen and expects a kick. By grace of their +profession, lawyers' clerks have no fear of thieves; they did not +suspect the owner of the box-coat, and left him to study the place, +where he looked in vain for a chair to sit on, for he was evidently +tired. Attorneys, on principle, do not have many chairs in their +offices. The inferior client, being kept waiting on his feet, goes away +grumbling, but then he does not waste time, which, as an old lawyer once +said, is not allowed for when the bill is taxed. + +"Monsieur," said the old man, "as I have already told you, I cannot +explain my business to any one but M. Derville. I will wait till he is +up." + +Boucard had finished his bill. He smelt the fragrance of his chocolate, +rose from his cane armchair, went to the chimney-piece, looked the old +man from head to foot, stared at his coat, and made an indescribable +grimace. He probably reflected that whichever way his client might be +wrung, it would be impossible to squeeze out a centime, so he put in a +few brief words to rid the office of a bad customer. + +"It is the truth, monsieur. The chief only works at night. If your +business is important, I recommend you to return at one in the morning." +The stranger looked at the head clerk with a bewildered expression, and +remained motionless for a moment. The clerks, accustomed to every +change of countenance, and the odd whimsicalities to which indecision or +absence of mind gives rise in "parties," went on eating, making as much +noise with their jaws as horses over a manger, and paying no further +heed to the old man. + +"I will come again to-night," said the stranger at length, with the +tenacious desire, peculiar to the unfortunate, to catch humanity at +fault. + +The only irony allowed to poverty is to drive Justice and Benevolence to +unjust denials. When a poor wretch has convicted Society of falsehood, +he throws himself more eagerly on the mercy of God. + +"What do you think of that for a cracked pot?" said Simonnin, without +waiting till the old man had shut the door. + +"He looks as if he had been buried and dug up again," said a clerk. + +"He is some colonel who wants his arrears of pay," said the head clerk. + +"No, he is a retired concierge," said Godeschal. + +"I bet you he is a nobleman," cried Boucard. + +"I bet you he has been a porter," retorted Godeschal. "Only porters are +gifted by nature with shabby box-coats, as worn and greasy and frayed +as that old body's. And did you see his trodden-down boots that let the +water in, and his stock which serves for a shirt? He has slept in a dry +arch." + +"He may be of noble birth, and yet have pulled the doorlatch," cried +Desroches. "It has been known!" + +"No," Boucard insisted, in the midst of laughter, "I maintain that he +was a brewer in 1789, and a colonel in the time of the Republic." + +"I bet theatre tickets round that he never was a soldier," said +Godeschal. + +"Done with you," answered Boucard. + +"Monsieur! Monsieur!" shouted the little messenger, opening the window. + +"What are you at now, Simonnin?" asked Boucard. + +"I am calling him that you may ask him whether he is a colonel or a +porter; he must know." + +All the clerks laughed. As to the old man, he was already coming +upstairs again. + +"What can we say to him?" cried Godeschal. + +"Leave it to me," replied Boucard. + +The poor man came in nervously, his eyes cast down, perhaps not to +betray how hungry he was by looking too greedily at the eatables. + +"Monsieur," said Boucard, "will you have the kindness to leave your +name, so that M. Derville may know----" + +"Chabert." + +"The Colonel who was killed at Eylau?" asked Hure, who, having so far +said nothing, was jealous of adding a jest to all the others. + +"The same, monsieur," replied the good man, with antique simplicity. And +he went away. + +"Whew!" + +"Done brown!" + +"Poof!" + +"Oh!" + +"Ah!" + +"Boum!" + +"The old rogue!" + +"Ting-a-ring-ting!" + +"Sold again!" + +"Monsieur Desroches, you are going to the play without paying," said +Hure to the fourth clerk, giving him a slap on the shoulder that might +have killed a rhinoceros. + +There was a storm of cat-calls, cries, and exclamations, which all the +onomatopeia of the language would fail to represent. + +"Which theatre shall we go to?" + +"To the opera," cried the head clerk. + +"In the first place," said Godeschal, "I never mentioned which theatre. +I might, if I chose, take you to see Madame Saqui." + +"Madame Saqui is not the play." + +"What is a play?" replied Godeschal. "First, we must define the point +of fact. What did I bet, gentlemen? A play. What is a play? A spectacle. +What is a spectacle? Something to be seen--" + +"But on that principle you would pay your bet by taking us to see the +water run under the Pont Neuf!" cried Simonnin, interrupting him. + +"To be seen for money," Godeschal added. + +"But a great many things are to be seen for money that are not plays. +The definition is defective," said Desroches. + +"But do listen to me!" + +"You are talking nonsense, my dear boy," said Boucard. + +"Is Curtius' a play?" said Godeschal. + +"No," said the head clerk, "it is a collection of figures--but it is a +spectacle." + +"I bet you a hundred francs to a sou," Godeschal resumed, "that Curtius' +Waxworks forms such a show as might be called a play or theatre. It +contains a thing to be seen at various prices, according to the place +you choose to occupy." + +"And so on, and so forth!" said Simonnin. + +"You mind I don't box your ears!" said Godeschal. + +The clerk shrugged their shoulders. + +"Besides, it is not proved that that old ape was not making game of us," +he said, dropping his argument, which was drowned in the laughter of the +other clerks. "On my honor, Colonel Chabert is really and truly dead. +His wife is married again to Comte Ferraud, Councillor of State. Madame +Ferraud is one of our clients." + +"Come, the case is remanded till to-morrow," said Boucard. "To work, +gentlemen. The deuce is in it; we get nothing done here. Finish copying +that appeal; it must be handed in before the sitting of the Fourth +Chamber, judgment is to be given to-day. Come, on you go!" + +"If he really were Colonel Chabert, would not that impudent rascal +Simonnin have felt the leather of his boot in the right place when he +pretended to be deaf?" said Desroches, regarding this remark as more +conclusive than Godeschal's. + +"Since nothing is settled," said Boucard, "let us all agree to go to the +upper boxes of the Francais and see Talma in 'Nero.' Simonnin may go to +the pit." + +And thereupon the head clerk sat down at his table, and the others +followed his example. + +"_Given in June eighteen hundred and fourteen_ (in words)," said +Godeschal. "Ready?" + +"Yes," replied the two copying-clerks and the engrosser, whose pens +forthwith began to creak over the stamped paper, making as much noise +in the office as a hundred cockchafers imprisoned by schoolboys in paper +cages. + +"_And we hope that my lords on the Bench_," the extemporizing clerk went +on. "Stop! I must read my sentence through again. I do not understand it +myself." + +"Forty-six (that must often happen) and three forty-nines," said +Boucard. + +"_We hope_," Godeschal began again, after reading all through the +document, "_that my lords on the Bench will not be less magnanimous than +the august author of the decree, and that they will do justice against +the miserable claims of the acting committee of the chief Board of the +Legion of Honor by interpreting the law in the wide sense we have here +set forth_----" + +"Monsieur Godeschal, wouldn't you like a glass of water?" said the +little messenger. + +"That imp of a boy!" said Boucard. "Here, get on your double-soled +shanks-mare, take this packet, and spin off to the Invalides." + +"_Here set forth_," Godeschal went on. "Add _in the interest of Madame +la Vicomtesse_ (at full length) _de Grandlieu_." + +"What!" cried the chief, "are you thinking of drawing up an appeal in +the case of Vicomtesse de Grandlieu against the Legion of Honor--a case +for the office to stand or fall by? You are something like an ass! Have +the goodness to put aside your copies and your notes; you may keep all +that for the case of Navarreins against the Hospitals. It is late. +I will draw up a little petition myself, with a due allowance of +'inasmuch,' and go to the Courts myself." + +This scene is typical of the thousand delights which, when we look back +on our youth, make us say, "Those were good times." + + + +At about one in the morning Colonel Chabert, self-styled, knocked at the +door of Maitre Derville, attorney to the Court of First Instance in the +Department of the Seine. The porter told him that Monsieur Derville had +not yet come in. The old man said he had an appointment, and was +shown upstairs to the rooms occupied by the famous lawyer, who, +notwithstanding his youth, was considered to have one of the longest +heads in Paris. + +Having rung, the distrustful applicant was not a little astonished at +finding the head clerk busily arranging in a convenient order on his +master's dining-room table the papers relating to the cases to be tried +on the morrow. The clerk, not less astonished, bowed to the Colonel and +begged him to take a seat, which the client did. + +"On my word, monsieur, I thought you were joking yesterday when you +named such an hour for an interview," said the old man, with the forced +mirth of a ruined man, who does his best to smile. + +"The clerks were joking, but they were speaking the truth too," replied +the man, going on with his work. "M. Derville chooses this hour for +studying his cases, taking stock of their possibilities, arranging +how to conduct them, deciding on the line of defence. His prodigious +intellect is freer at this hour--the only time when he can have the +silence and quiet needed for the conception of good ideas. Since he +entered the profession, you are the third person to come to him for +a consultation at this midnight hour. After coming in the chief will +discuss each case, read everything, spend four or five hours perhaps +over the business, then he will ring for me and explain to me his +intentions. In the morning from ten to two he hears what his clients +have to say, then he spends the rest of his day in appointments. In the +evening he goes into society to keep up his connections. So he has only +the night for undermining his cases, ransacking the arsenal of the code, +and laying his plan of battle. He is determined never to lose a case; +he loves his art. He will not undertake every case, as his brethren do. +That is his life, an exceptionally active one. And he makes a great deal +of money." + +As he listened to this explanation, the old man sat silent, and his +strange face assumed an expression so bereft of intelligence, that the +clerk, after looking at him, thought no more about him. + +A few minutes later Derville came in, in evening dress; his head clerk +opened the door to him, and went back to finish arranging the papers. +The young lawyer paused for a moment in amazement on seeing in the +dim light the strange client who awaited him. Colonel Chabert was as +absolutely immovable as one of the wax figures in Curtius' collection to +which Godeschal had proposed to treat his fellow-clerks. This quiescence +would not have been a subject for astonishment if it had not completed +the supernatural aspect of the man's whole person. The old soldier was +dry and lean. His forehead, intentionally hidden under a smoothly +combed wig, gave him a look of mystery. His eyes seemed shrouded in a +transparent film; you would have compared them to dingy mother-of-pearl +with a blue iridescence changing in the gleam of the wax lights. His +face, pale, livid, and as thin as a knife, if I may use such a vulgar +expression, was as the face of the dead. Round his neck was a tight +black silk stock. + +Below the dark line of this rag the body was so completely hidden in +shadow that a man of imagination might have supposed the old head was +due to some chance play of light and shade, or have taken it for a +portrait by Rembrandt, without a frame. The brim of the hat which +covered the old man's brow cast a black line of shadow on the upper part +of the face. This grotesque effect, though natural, threw into relief by +contrast the white furrows, the cold wrinkles, the colorless tone of the +corpse-like countenance. And the absence of all movement in the +figure, of all fire in the eye, were in harmony with a certain look of +melancholy madness, and the deteriorating symptoms characteristic of +senility, giving the face an indescribably ill-starred look which no +human words could render. + +But an observer, especially a lawyer, could also have read in this +stricken man the signs of deep sorrow, the traces of grief which had +worn into this face, as drops of water from the sky falling on fine +marble at last destroy its beauty. A physician, an author, or a judge +might have discerned a whole drama at the sight of its sublime horror, +while the least charm was its resemblance to the grotesques which +artists amuse themselves by sketching on a corner of the lithographic +stone while chatting with a friend. + +On seeing the attorney, the stranger started, with the convulsive thrill +that comes over a poet when a sudden noise rouses him from a fruitful +reverie in silence and at night. The old man hastily removed his hat +and rose to bow to the young man; the leather lining of his hat was +doubtless very greasy; his wig stuck to it without his noticing it, +and left his head bare, showing his skull horribly disfigured by a +scar beginning at the nape of the neck and ending over the right eye, a +prominent seam all across his head. The sudden removal of the dirty +wig which the poor man wore to hide this gash gave the two lawyers no +inclination to laugh, so horrible to behold was this riven skull. +The first idea suggested by the sight of this old wound was, "His +intelligence must have escaped through that cut." + +"If this is not Colonel Chabert, he is some thorough-going trooper!" +thought Boucard. + +"Monsieur," said Derville, "to whom have I the honor of speaking?" + +"To Colonel Chabert." + +"Which?" + +"He who was killed at Eylau," replied the old man. + +On hearing this strange speech, the lawyer and his clerk glanced at each +other, as much as to say, "He is mad." + +"Monsieur," the Colonel went on, "I wish to confide to you the secret of +my position." + +A thing worthy of note is the natural intrepidity of lawyers. Whether +from the habit of receiving a great many persons, or from the deep sense +of the protection conferred on them by the law, or from confidence in +their missions, they enter everywhere, fearing nothing, like priests and +physicians. Derville signed to Boucard, who vanished. + +"During the day, sir," said the attorney, "I am not so miserly of my +time, but at night every minute is precious. So be brief and concise. Go +to the facts without digression. I will ask for any explanations I may +consider necessary. Speak." + +Having bid his strange client to be seated, the young man sat down at +the table; but while he gave his attention to the deceased Colonel, he +turned over the bundles of papers. + +"You know, perhaps," said the dead man, "that I commanded a cavalry +regiment at Eylau. I was of important service to the success of Murat's +famous charge which decided the victory. Unhappily for me, my death is +a historical fact, recorded in _Victoires et Conquetes_, where it is +related in full detail. We cut through the three Russian lines, which at +once closed up and formed again, so that we had to repeat the movement +back again. At the moment when we were nearing the Emperor, after +having scattered the Russians, I came against a squadron of the enemy's +cavalry. I rushed at the obstinate brutes. Two Russian officers, perfect +giants, attacked me both at once. One of them gave me a cut across the +head that crashed through everything, even a black silk cap I wore next +my head, and cut deep into the skull. I fell from my horse. Murat came +up to support me. He rode over my body, he and all his men, fifteen +hundred of them--there might have been more! My death was announced +to the Emperor, who as a precaution--for he was fond of me, was the +master--wished to know if there were no hope of saving the man he had +to thank for such a vigorous attack. He sent two surgeons to identify me +and bring me into Hospital, saying, perhaps too carelessly, for he +was very busy, 'Go and see whether by any chance poor Chabert is still +alive.' These rascally saw-bones, who had just seen me lying under +the hoofs of the horses of two regiments, no doubt did not trouble +themselves to feel my pulse, and reported that I was quite dead. The +certificate of death was probably made out in accordance with the rules +of military jurisprudence." + +As he heard his visitor express himself with complete lucidity, and +relate a story so probable though so strange, the young lawyer ceased +fingering the papers, rested his left elbow on the table, and with his +head on his hand looked steadily at the Colonel. + +"Do you know, monsieur, that I am lawyer to the Countess Ferraud," he +said, interrupting the speaker, "Colonel Chabert's widow?" + +"My wife--yes monsieur. Therefore, after a hundred fruitless attempts to +interest lawyers, who have all thought me mad, I made up my mind to come +to you. I will tell you of my misfortunes afterwards; for the present, +allow me to prove the facts, explaining rather how things must have +fallen out rather than how they did occur. Certain circumstances, known, +I suppose to no one but the Almighty, compel me to speak of some things +as hypothetical. The wounds I had received must presumably have produced +tetanus, or have thrown me into a state analogous to that of a disease +called, I believe, catalepsy. Otherwise how is it conceivable that I +should have been stripped, as is the custom in time of the war, and +thrown into the common grave by the men ordered to bury the dead? + +"Allow me here to refer to a detail of which I could know nothing till +after the event, which, after all, I must speak of as my death. At +Stuttgart, in 1814, I met an old quartermaster of my regiment. This dear +fellow, the only man who chose to recognize me, and of whom I will tell +you more later, explained the marvel of my preservation, by telling me +that my horse was shot in the flank at the moment when I was wounded. +Man and beast went down together, like a monk cut out of card-paper. As +I fell, to the right or to the left, I was no doubt covered by the body +of my horse, which protected me from being trampled to death or hit by a +ball. + +"When I came to myself, monsieur, I was in a position and an atmosphere +of which I could give you no idea if I talked till to-morrow. The little +air there was to breathe was foul. I wanted to move, and found no room. +I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. The most alarming circumstance +was the lack of air, and this enlightened me as to my situation. I +understood that no fresh air could penetrate to me, and that I must die. +This thought took off the sense of intolerable pain which had aroused +me. There was a violent singing in my ears. I heard--or I thought I +heard, I will assert nothing--groans from the world of dead among whom I +was lying. Some nights I still think I hear those stifled moans; +though the remembrance of that time is very obscure, and my memory very +indistinct, in spite of my impressions of far more acute suffering I was +fated to go through, and which have confused my ideas. + +"But there was something more awful than cries; there was a silence such +as I have never known elsewhere--literally, the silence of the grave. +At last, by raising my hands and feeling the dead, I discerned a vacant +space between my head and the human carrion above. I could thus measure +the space, granted by a chance of which I knew not the cause. It would +seem that, thanks to the carelessness and the haste with which we had +been pitched into the trench, two dead bodies had leaned across and +against each other, forming an angle like that made by two cards when a +child is building a card castle. Feeling about me at once, for there +was no time for play, I happily felt an arm lying detached, the arm of +a Hercules! A stout bone, to which I owed my rescue. But for this +unhoped-for help, I must have perished. But with a fury you may imagine, +I began to work my way through the bodies which separated me from the +layer of earth which had no doubt been thrown over us--I say us, as if +there had been others living! I worked with a will, monsieur, for here I +am! But to this day I do not know how I succeeded in getting through the +pile of flesh which formed a barrier between me and life. You will say I +had three arms. This crowbar, which I used cleverly enough, opened out +a little air between the bodies I moved, and I economized my breath. At +last I saw daylight, but through snow! + +"At that moment I perceived that my head was cut open. Happily my blood, +or that of my comrades, or perhaps the torn skin of my horse, who knows, +had in coagulating formed a sort of natural plaster. But, in spite +of it, I fainted away when my head came into contact with the snow. +However, the little warmth left in me melted the snow about me; and when +I recovered consciousness, I found myself in the middle of a round hole, +where I stood shouting as long as I could. But the sun was rising, so I +had very little chance of being heard. Was there any one in the fields +yet? I pulled myself up, using my feet as a spring, resting on one of +the dead, whose ribs were firm. You may suppose that this was not the +moment for saying, 'Respect courage in misfortune!' In short, monsieur, +after enduring the anguish, if the word is strong enough for my frenzy, +of seeing for a long time, yes, quite a long time, those cursed Germans +flying from a voice they heard where they could see no one, I was dug +out by a woman, who was brave or curious enough to come close to my +head, which must have looked as though it had sprouted from the ground +like a mushroom. This woman went to fetch her husband, and between them +they got me to their poor hovel. + +"It would seem that I must have again fallen into a catalepsy--allow me +to use the word to describe a state of which I have no idea, but which, +from the account given by my hosts, I suppose to have been the effect +of that malady. I remained for six months between life and death; not +speaking, or, if I spoke, talking in delirium. At last, my hosts got me +admitted to the hospital at Heilsberg. + +"You will understand, Monsieur, that I came out of the womb of the grave +as naked as I came from my mother's; so that six months afterwards, when +I remembered, one fine morning, that I had been Colonel Chabert, and +when, on recovering my wits, I tried to exact from my nurse rather more +respect than she paid to any poor devil, all my companions in the ward +began to laugh. Luckily for me, the surgeon, out of professional pride, +had answered for my cure, and was naturally interested in his patient. +When I told him coherently about my former life, this good man, named +Sparchmann, signed a deposition, drawn up in the legal form of his +country, giving an account of the miraculous way in which I had escaped +from the trench dug for the dead, the day and hour when I had been found +by my benefactress and her husband, the nature and exact spot of my +injuries, adding to these documents a description of my person. + +"Well, monsieur, I have neither these important pieces of evidence, +nor the declaration I made before a notary at Heilsberg, with a view +to establishing my identity. From the day when I was turned out of that +town by the events of the war, I have wandered about like a vagabond, +begging my bread, treated as a madman when I have told my story, without +ever having found or earned a sou to enable me to recover the deeds +which would prove my statements, and restore me to society. My +sufferings have often kept me for six months at a time in some little +town, where every care was taken of the invalid Frenchman, but where he +was laughed at to his face as soon as he said he was Colonel Chabert. +For a long time that laughter, those doubts, used to put me into rages +which did me harm, and which even led to my being locked up at Stuttgart +as a madman. And indeed, as you may judge from my story, there was ample +reason for shutting a man up. + +"At the end of two years' detention, which I was compelled to submit to, +after hearing my keepers say a thousand times, 'Here is a poor man who +thinks he is Colonel Chabert' to people who would reply, 'Poor fellow!' +I became convinced of the impossibility of my own adventure. I grew +melancholy, resigned, and quiet, and gave up calling myself Colonel +Chabert, in order to get out of my prison, and see France once more. Oh, +monsieur! To see Paris again was a delirium which I----" + +Without finishing his sentence, Colonel Chabert fell into a deep study, +which Derville respected. + +"One fine day," his visitor resumed, "one spring day, they gave me the +key of the fields, as we say, and ten thalers, admitting that I talked +quite sensibly on all subjects, and no longer called myself Colonel +Chabert. On my honor, at that time, and even to this day, sometimes I +hate my name. I wish I were not myself. The sense of my rights kills me. +If my illness had but deprived me of all memory of my past life, I could +be happy. I should have entered the service again under any name, +no matter what, and should, perhaps, have been made Field-Marshal in +Austria or Russia. Who knows?" + +"Monsieur," said the attorney, "you have upset all my ideas. I feel as +if I heard you in a dream. Pause for a moment, I beg of you." + +"You are the only person," said the Colonel, with a melancholy look, +"who ever listened to me so patiently. No lawyer has been willing to +lend me ten napoleons to enable me to procure from Germany the necessary +documents to begin my lawsuit--" + +"What lawsuit?" said the attorney, who had forgotten his client's +painful position in listening to the narrative of his past sufferings. + +"Why, monsieur, is not the Comtesse Ferraud my wife? She has thirty +thousand francs a year, which belong to me, and she will not give me a +son. When I tell lawyers these things--men of sense; when I propose--I, +a beggar--to bring action against a Count and Countess; when I--a +dead man--bring up as against a certificate of death a certificate of +marriage and registers of births, they show me out, either with the air +of cold politeness, which you all know how to assume to rid yourself of +a hapless wretch, or brutally, like men who think they have to deal with +a swindler or a madman--it depends on their nature. I have been buried +under the dead; but now I am buried under the living, under papers, +under facts, under the whole of society, which wants to shove me +underground again!" + +"Pray resume your narrative," said Derville. + +"'Pray resume it!'" cried the hapless old man, taking the young lawyer's +hand. "That is the first polite word I have heard since----" + +The Colonel wept. Gratitude choked his voice. The appealing and +unutterable eloquence that lies in the eyes, in a gesture, even in +silence, entirely convinced Derville, and touched him deeply. + +"Listen, monsieur," said he; "I have this evening won three hundred +francs at cards. I may very well lay out half that sum in making a man +happy. I will begin the inquiries and researches necessary to obtain the +documents of which you speak, and until they arrive I will give you five +francs a day. If you are Colonel Chabert, you will pardon the smallness +of the loan as it is coming from a young man who has his fortune to +make. Proceed." + +The Colonel, as he called himself, sat for a moment motionless and +bewildered; the depth of his woes had no doubt destroyed his powers of +belief. Though he was eager in pursuit of his military distinction, of +his fortune, of himself, perhaps it was in obedience to the inexplicable +feeling, the latent germ in every man's heart, to which we owe the +experiments of alchemists, the passion for glory, the discoveries of +astronomy and of physics, everything which prompts man to expand his +being by multiplying himself through deeds or ideas. In his mind the +_Ego_ was now but a secondary object, just as the vanity of success or +the pleasures of winning become dearer to the gambler than the object +he has at stake. The young lawyer's words were as a miracle to this man, +for ten years repudiated by his wife, by justice, by the whole social +creation. To find in a lawyer's office the ten gold pieces which had +so long been refused him by so many people, and in so many ways! The +colonel was like the lady who, having been ill of a fever for fifteen +years, fancied she had some fresh complaint when she was cured. There +are joys in which we have ceased to believe; they fall on us, it is like +a thunderbolt; they burn us. The poor man's gratitude was too great to +find utterance. To superficial observers he seemed cold, but Derville +saw complete honesty under this amazement. A swindler would have found +his voice. + +"Where was I?" said the Colonel, with the simplicity of a child or of +a soldier, for there is often something of the child in a true soldier, +and almost always something of the soldier in a child, especially in +France. + +"At Stuttgart. You were out of prison," said Derville. + +"You know my wife?" asked the Colonel. + +"Yes," said Derville, with a bow. + +"What is she like?" + +"Still quite charming." + +The old man held up his hand, and seemed to be swallowing down +some secret anguish with the grave and solemn resignation that is +characteristic of men who have stood the ordeal of blood and fire on the +battlefield. + +"Monsieur," said he, with a sort of cheerfulness--for he breathed again, +the poor Colonel; he had again risen from the grave; he had just melted +a covering of snow less easily thawed than that which had once before +frozen his head; and he drew a deep breath, as if he had just escaped +from a dungeon--"Monsieur, if I had been a handsome young fellow, none +of my misfortunes would have befallen me. Women believe in men when they +flavor their speeches with the word Love. They hurry then, they come, +they go, they are everywhere at once; they intrigue, they assert facts, +they play the very devil for a man who takes their fancy. But how could +I interest a woman? I had a face like a Requiem. I was dressed like a +_sans-culotte_. I was more like an Esquimaux than a Frenchman--I, who +had formerly been considered one of the smartest of fops in 1799!--I, +Chabert, Count of the Empire. + +"Well, on the very day when I was turned out into the streets like +a dog, I met the quartermaster of whom I just now spoke. This old +soldier's name was Boutin. The poor devil and I made the queerest pair +of broken-down hacks I ever set eyes on. I met him out walking; but +though I recognized him, he could not possibly guess who I was. We went +into a tavern together. In there, when I told him my name, Boutin's +mouth opened from ear to ear in a roar of laughter, like the bursting +of a mortar. That mirth, monsieur, was one of the keenest pangs I have +known. It told me without disguise how great were the changes in me! I +was, then, unrecognizable even to the humblest and most grateful of my +former friends! + +"I had once saved Boutin's life, but it was only the repayment of a debt +I owed him. I need not tell you how he did me this service; it was at +Ravenna, in Italy. The house where Boutin prevented my being stabbed was +not extremely respectable. At that time I was not a colonel, but, like +Boutin himself, a common trooper. Happily there were certain details of +this adventure which could be known only to us two, and when I recalled +them to his mind his incredulity diminished. I then told him the story +of my singular experiences. Although my eyes and my voice, he told +me, were strangely altered, although I had neither hair, teeth, nor +eyebrows, and was as colorless as an Albino, he at last recognized his +Colonel in the beggar, after a thousand questions, which I answered +triumphantly. + +"He related his adventures; they were not less extraordinary than my +own; he had lately come back from the frontiers of China, which he +had tried to cross after escaping from Siberia. He told me of the +catastrophe of the Russian campaign, and of Napoleon's first abdication. +That news was one of the things which caused me most anguish! + +"We were two curious derelicts, having been rolled over the globe as +pebbles are rolled by the ocean when storms bear them from shore to +shore. Between us we had seen Egypt, Syria, Spain, Russia, Holland, +Germany, Italy and Dalmatia, England, China, Tartary, Siberia; the only +thing wanting was that neither of us had been to America or the Indies. +Finally, Boutin, who still was more locomotive than I, undertook to go +to Paris as quickly as might be to inform my wife of the predicament in +which I was. I wrote a long letter full of details to Madame Chabert. +That, monsieur, was the fourth! If I had had any relations, perhaps +nothing of all this might have happened; but, to be frank with you, I +am but a workhouse child, a soldier, whose sole fortune was his courage, +whose sole family is mankind at large, whose country is France, whose +only protector is the Almighty.--Nay, I am wrong! I had a father--the +Emperor! Ah! if he were but here, the dear man! If he could see _his +Chabert_, as he used to call me, in the state in which I am now, he +would be in a rage! What is to be done? Our sun is set, and we are all +out in the cold now. After all, political events might account for my +wife's silence! + +"Boutin set out. He was a lucky fellow! He had two bears, admirably +trained, which brought him in a living. I could not go with him; the +pain I suffered forbade my walking long stages. I wept, monsieur, when +we parted, after I had gone as far as my state allowed in company with +him and his bears. At Carlsruhe I had an attack of neuralgia in the +head, and lay for six weeks on straw in an inn. I should never have +ended if I were to tell you all the distresses of my life as a beggar. +Moral suffering, before which physical suffering pales, nevertheless +excites less pity, because it is not seen. I remember shedding tears, as +I stood in front of a fine house in Strassburg where once I had given +an entertainment, and where nothing was given me, not even a piece of +bread. Having agreed with Boutin on the road I was to take, I went to +every post-office to ask if there were a letter or some money for me. +I arrived at Paris without having found either. What despair I had been +forced to endure! 'Boutin must be dead! I told myself, and in fact the +poor fellow was killed at Waterloo. I heard of his death later, and by +mere chance. His errand to my wife had, of course, been fruitless. + +"At last I entered Paris--with the Cossacks. To me this was grief on +grief. On seeing the Russians in France, I quite forgot that I had no +shoes on my feet nor money in my pocket. Yes, monsieur, my clothes were +in tatters. The evening before I reached Paris I was obliged to bivouac +in the woods of Claye. The chill of the night air no doubt brought on an +attack of some nameless complaint which seized me as I was crossing +the Faubourg Saint-Martin. I dropped almost senseless at the door of an +ironmonger's shop. When I recovered I was in a bed in the Hotel-Dieu. +There I stayed very contentedly for about a month. I was then turned +out; I had no money, but I was well, and my feet were on the good stones +of Paris. With what delight and haste did I make my way to the Rue du +Mont-Blanc, where my wife should be living in a house belonging to me! +Bah! the Rue du Mont-Blanc was now the Rue de la Chausee d'Antin; I +could not find my house; it had been sold and pulled down. Speculators +had built several houses over my gardens. Not knowing that my wife had +married M. Ferraud, I could obtain no information. + +"At last I went to the house of an old lawyer who had been in charge of +my affairs. This worthy man was dead, after selling his connection to +a younger man. This gentleman informed me, to my great surprise, of the +administration of my estate, the settlement of the moneys, of my wife's +marriage, and the birth of her two children. When I told him that I was +Colonel Chabert, he laughed so heartily that I left him without saying +another word. My detention at Stuttgart had suggested possibilities of +Charenton, and I determined to act with caution. Then, monsieur, +knowing where my wife lived, I went to her house, my heart high with +hope.--Well," said the Colonel, with a gesture of concentrated fury, +"when I called under an assumed name I was not admitted, and on the day +when I used my own I was turned out of doors. + +"To see the Countess come home from a ball or the play in the early +morning, I have sat whole nights through, crouching close to the wall of +her gateway. My eyes pierced the depths of the carriage, which flashed +past me with the swiftness of lightning, and I caught a glimpse of the +woman who is my wife and no longer mine. Oh, from that day I have +lived for vengeance!" cried the old man in a hollow voice, and suddenly +standing up in front of Derville. "She knows that I am alive; since my +return she has had two letters written with my own hand. She loves me +no more!--I--I know not whether I love or hate her. I long for her and +curse her by turns. To me she owes all her fortune, all her happiness; +well, she has not sent me the very smallest pittance. Sometimes I do not +know what will become of me!" + +With these words the veteran dropped on to his chair again and remained +motionless. Derville sat in silence, studying his client. + +"It is a serious business," he said at length, mechanically. "Even +granting the genuineness of the documents to be procured from Heilsberg, +it is not proved to me that we can at once win our case. It must go +before three tribunals in succession. I must think such a matter over +with a clear head; it is quite exceptional." + +"Oh," said the Colonel, coldly, with a haughty jerk of his head, "if I +fail, I can die--but not alone." + +The feeble old man had vanished. The eyes were those of a man of energy, +lighted up with the spark of desire and revenge. + +"We must perhaps compromise," said the lawyer. + +"Compromise!" echoed Colonel Chabert. "Am I dead, or am I alive?" + +"I hope, monsieur," the attorney went on, "that you will follow my +advice. Your cause is mine. You will soon perceive the interest I take +in your situation, almost unexampled in judicial records. For the moment +I will give you a letter to my notary, who will pay to your order fifty +francs every ten days. It would be unbecoming for you to come here to +receive alms. If you are Colonel Chabert, you ought to be at no man's +mercy. I shall record these advances as a loan; you have estates to +recover; you are rich." + +This delicate compassion brought tears to the old man's eyes. Derville +rose hastily, for it was perhaps not correct for a lawyer to show +emotion; he went into the adjoining room, and came back with an unsealed +letter, which he gave to the Colonel. When the poor man held it in his +hand, he felt through the paper two gold pieces. + +"Will you be good enough to describe the documents, and tell me the name +of the town, and in what kingdom?" said the lawyer. + +The Colonel dictated the information, and verified the spelling of the +names of places; then he took his hat in one hand, looked at Derville, +and held out the other--a horny hand, saying with much simplicity: + +"On my honor, sir, after the Emperor, you are the man to whom I shall +owe most. You are a splendid fellow!" + +The attorney clapped his hand into the Colonel's, saw him to the stairs, +and held a light for him. + +"Boucard," said Derville to his head clerk, "I have just listened to a +tale that may cost me five and twenty louis. If I am robbed, I shall not +regret the money, for I shall have seen the most consummate actor of the +day." + +When the Colonel was in the street and close to a lamp, he took the two +twenty-franc pieces out of the letter and looked at them for a moment +under the light. It was the first gold he had seen for nine years. + +"I may smoke cigars!" he said to himself. + + + +About three months after this interview, at night, in Derville's room, +the notary commissioned to advance the half-pay on Derville's account to +his eccentric client, came to consult the attorney on a serious matter, +and began by begging him to refund the six hundred francs that the old +soldier had received. + +"Are you amusing yourself with pensioning the old army?" said the +notary, laughing--a young man named Crottat, who had just bought up +the office in which he had been head clerk, his chief having fled in +consequence of a disastrous bankruptcy. + +"I have to thank you, my dear sir, for reminding me of that affair," +replied Derville. "My philanthropy will not carry me beyond twenty-five +louis; I have, I fear, already been the dupe of my patriotism." + +As Derville finished the sentence, he saw on his desk the papers his +head clerk had laid out for him. His eye was struck by the appearance +of the stamps--long, square, and triangular, in red and blue ink, which +distinguished a letter that had come through the Prussian, Austrian, +Bavarian, and French post-offices. + +"Ah ha!" said he with a laugh, "here is the last act of the comedy; now +we shall see if I have been taken in!" + +He took up the letter and opened it; but he could not read it; it was +written in German. + +"Boucard, go yourself and have this letter translated, and bring it back +immediately," said Derville, half opening his study door, and giving the +letter to the head clerk. + +The notary at Berlin, to whom the lawyer had written, informed him that +the documents he had been requested to forward would arrive within a +few days of this note announcing them. They were, he said, all perfectly +regular and duly witnessed, and legally stamped to serve as evidence +in law. He also informed him that almost all the witnesses to the facts +recorded under these affidavits were still to be found at Eylau, in +Prussia, and that the woman to whom M. le Comte Chabert owed his life +was still living in a suburb of Heilsberg. + +"This looks like business," cried Derville, when Boucard had given +him the substance of the letter. "But look here, my boy," he went on, +addressing the notary, "I shall want some information which ought to +exist in your office. Was it not that old rascal Roguin--?" + +"We will say that unfortunate, that ill-used Roguin," interrupted +Alexandre Crottat with a laugh. + +"Well, was it not that ill-used man who has just carried off eight +hundred thousand francs of his clients' money, and reduced several +families to despair, who effected the settlement of Chabert's estate? I +fancy I have seen that in the documents in our case of Ferraud." + +"Yes," said Crottat. "It was when I was third clerk; I copied the papers +and studied them thoroughly. Rose Chapotel, wife and widow of Hyacinthe, +called Chabert, Count of the Empire, grand officer of the Legion of +Honor. They had married without settlement; thus, they held all the +property in common. To the best of my recollections, the personalty was +about six hundred thousand francs. Before his marriage, Colonel Chabert +had made a will in favor of the hospitals of Paris, by which he left +them one-quarter of the fortune he might possess at the time of his +decease, the State to take the other quarter. The will was contested, +there was a forced sale, and then a division, for the attorneys went at +a pace. At the time of the settlement the monster who was then governing +France handed over to the widow, by special decree, the portion +bequeathed to the treasury." + +"So that Comte Chabert's personal fortune was no more than three hundred +thousand francs?" + +"Consequently so it was, old fellow!" said Crottat. "You lawyers +sometimes are very clear-headed, though you are accused of false +practices in pleading for one side or the other." + +Colonel Chabert, whose address was written at the bottom of the +first receipt he had given the notary, was lodging in the Faubourg +Saint-Marceau, Rue du Petit-Banquier, with an old quartermaster of the +Imperial Guard, now a cowkeeper, named Vergniaud. Having reached the +spot, Derville was obliged to go on foot in search of his client, for +his coachman declined to drive along an unpaved street, where the ruts +were rather too deep for cab wheels. Looking about him on all sides, +the lawyer at last discovered at the end of the street nearest to the +boulevard, between two walls built of bones and mud, two shabby stone +gate-posts, much knocked about by carts, in spite of two wooden stumps +that served as blocks. These posts supported a cross beam with a +penthouse coping of tiles, and on the beam, in red letters, were the +words, "Vergniaud, dairyman." To the right of this inscription were some +eggs, to the left a cow, all painted in white. The gate was open, and no +doubt remained open all day. Beyond a good-sized yard there was a house +facing the gate, if indeed the name of house may be applied to one of +the hovels built in the neighborhood of Paris, which are like nothing +else, not even the most wretched dwellings in the country, of which they +have all the poverty without their poetry. + +Indeed, in the midst of the fields, even a hovel may have a certain +grace derived from the pure air, the verdure, the open country--a hill, +a serpentine road, vineyards, quickset hedges, moss-grown thatch and +rural implements; but poverty in Paris gains dignity only by horror. +Though recently built, this house seemed ready to fall into ruins. None +of its materials had found a legitimate use; they had been collected +from the various demolitions which are going on every day in Paris. On +a shutter made of the boards of a shop-sign Derville read the words, +"Fancy Goods." The windows were all mismatched and grotesquely placed. +The ground floor, which seemed to be the habitable part, was on one +side raised above the soil, and on the other sunk in the rising ground. +Between the gate and the house lay a puddle full of stable litter, into +which flowed the rain-water and house waste. The back wall of this frail +construction, which seemed rather more solidly built than the rest, +supported a row of barred hutches, where rabbits bred their numerous +families. To the right of the gate was the cowhouse, with a loft above +for fodder; it communicated with the house through the dairy. To +the left was a poultry yard, with a stable and pig-styes, the roofs +finished, like that of the house, with rough deal boards nailed so as to +overlap, and shabbily thatched with rushes. + +Like most of the places where the elements of the huge meal daily +devoured by Paris are every day prepared, the yard Derville now entered +showed traces of the hurry that comes of the necessity for being +ready at a fixed hour. The large pot-bellied tin cans in which milk +is carried, and the little pots for cream, were flung pell-mell at the +dairy door, with their linen-covered stoppers. The rags that were used +to clean them, fluttered in the sunshine, riddled with holes, hanging +to strings fastened to poles. The placid horse, of a breed known only +to milk-women, had gone a few steps from the cart, and was standing in +front of the stable, the door being shut. A goat was munching the shoots +of a starved and dusty vine that clung to the cracked yellow wall of the +house. A cat, squatting on the cream jars, was licking them over. The +fowls, scared by Derville's approach, scuttered away screaming, and the +watch-dog barked. + +"And the man who decided the victory at Eylau is to be found here!" said +Derville to himself, as his eyes took in at a glance the general effect +of the squalid scene. + +The house had been left in charge of three little boys. One, who had +climbed to the top of the cart loaded with hay, was pitching stones into +the chimney of a neighboring house, in the hope that they might fall +into a saucepan; another was trying to get a pig into a cart, to hoist +it by making the whole thing tilt. When Derville asked them if M. +Chabert lived there, neither of them replied, but all three looked at +him with a sort of bright stupidity, if I may combine those two words. +Derville repeated his questions, but without success. Provoked by the +saucy cunning of these three imps, he abused them with the sort of +pleasantry which young men think they have the right to address to +little boys, and they broke the silence with a horse-laugh. Then +Derville was angry. + +The Colonel, hearing him, now came out of the little low room, close to +the dairy, and stood on the threshold of his doorway with indescribable +military coolness. He had in his mouth a very finely-colored pipe--a +technical phrase to a smoker--a humble, short clay pipe of the kind +called "_brule-queule_." He lifted the peak of a dreadfully greasy +cloth cap, saw Derville, and came straight across the midden to join his +benefactor the sooner, calling out in friendly tones to the boys: + +"Silence in the ranks!" + +The children at once kept a respectful silence, which showed the power +the old soldier had over them. + +"Why did you not write to me?" he said to Derville. "Go along by the +cowhouse! There--the path is paved there," he exclaimed, seeing the +lawyer's hesitancy, for he did not wish to wet his feet in the manure +heap. + +Jumping from one dry spot to another, Derville reached the door by which +the Colonel had come out. Chabert seemed but ill pleased at having to +receive him in the bed-room he occupied; and, in fact, Derville found +but one chair there. The Colonel's bed consisted of some trusses of +straw, over which his hostess had spread two or three of those old +fragments of carpet, picked up heaven knows where, which milk-women +use to cover the seats of their carts. The floor was simply the trodden +earth. The walls, sweating salt-petre, green with mould, and full of +cracks, were so excessively damp that on the side where the Colonel's +bed was a reed mat had been nailed. The famous box-coat hung on a nail. +Two pairs of old boots lay in a corner. There was not a sign of linen. +On the worm-eaten table the _Bulletins de la Grande Armee_, reprinted +by Plancher, lay open, and seemed to be the Colonel's reading; his +countenance was calm and serene in the midst of this squalor. His visit +to Derville seemed to have altered his features; the lawyer perceived in +them traces of a happy feeling, a particular gleam set there by hope. + +"Does the smell of the pipe annoy you?" he said, placing the dilapidated +straw-bottomed chair for his lawyer. + +"But, Colonel, you are dreadfully uncomfortable here!" + +The speech was wrung from Derville by the distrust natural to lawyers, +and the deplorable experience which they derive early in life from the +appalling and obscure tragedies at which they look on. + +"Here," said he to himself, "is a man who has of course spent my money +in satisfying a trooper's three theological virtues--play, wine, and +women!" + +"To be sure, monsieur, we are not distinguished for luxury here. It is +a camp lodging, tempered by friendship, but----" And the soldier shot a +deep glance at the man of law--"I have done no one wrong, I have never +turned my back on anybody, and I sleep in peace." + +Derville reflected that there would be some want of delicacy in asking +his client to account for the sums of money he had advanced, so he +merely said: + +"But why would you not come to Paris, where you might have lived as +cheaply as you do here, but where you would have been better lodged?" + +"Why," replied the Colonel, "the good folks with whom I am living had +taken me in and fed me _gratis_ for a year. How could I leave them just +when I had a little money? Besides, the father of those three pickles is +an old _Egyptian_--" + +"An Egyptian!" + +"We give that name to the troopers who came back from the expedition +into Egypt, of which I was one. Not merely are all who get back +brothers; Vergniaud was in my regiment. We have shared a draught of +water in the desert; and besides, I have not yet finished teaching his +brats to read." + +"He might have lodged you better for your money," said Derville. + +"Bah!" said the Colonel, "his children sleep on the straw as I do. He +and his wife have no better bed; they are very poor you see. They +have taken a bigger business than they can manage. But if I recover my +fortune... However, it does very well." + +"Colonel, to-morrow or the next day, I shall receive your papers from +Heilsberg. The woman who dug you out is still alive!" + +"Curse the money! To think I haven't got any!" he cried, flinging his +pipe on the ground. + +Now, a well-colored pipe is to a smoker a precious possession; but the +impulse was so natural, the emotion so generous, that every smoker, and +the excise office itself, would have pardoned this crime of treason to +tobacco. Perhaps the angels may have picked up the pieces. + +"Colonel, it is an exceedingly complicated business," said Derville as +they left the room to walk up and down in the sunshine. + +"To me," said the soldier, "it appears exceedingly simple. I was thought +to be dead, and here I am! Give me back my wife and my fortune; give me +the rank of General, to which I have a right, for I was made Colonel of +the Imperial Guard the day before the battle of Eylau." + +"Things are not done so in the legal world," said Derville. "Listen to +me. You are Colonel Chabert, I am glad to think it; but it has to be +proved judicially to persons whose interest it will be to deny it. +Hence, your papers will be disputed. That contention will give rise to +ten or twelve preliminary inquiries. Every question will be sent under +contradiction up to the supreme court, and give rise to so many costly +suits, which will hang on for a long time, however eagerly I may push +them. Your opponents will demand an inquiry, which we cannot refuse, and +which may necessitate the sending of a commission of investigation to +Prussia. But even if we hope for the best; supposing that justice should +at once recognize you as Colonel Chabert--can we know how the questions +will be settled that will arise out of the very innocent bigamy +committed by the Comtesse Ferraud? + +"In your case, the point of law is unknown to the Code, and can only be +decided as a point in equity, as a jury decides in the delicate cases +presented by the social eccentricities of some criminal prosecutions. +Now, you had no children by your marriage; M. le Comte Ferraud has two. +The judges might pronounce against the marriage where the family ties +are weakest, to the confirmation of that where they are stronger, since +it was contracted in perfect good faith. Would you be in a very becoming +moral position if you insisted, at your age, and in your present +circumstances, in resuming your rights over a woman who no longer loves +you? You will have both your wife and her husband against you, two +important persons who might influence the Bench. Thus, there are many +elements which would prolong the case; you will have time to grow old in +the bitterest regrets." + +"And my fortune?" + +"Do you suppose you had a fine fortune?" + +"Had I not thirty thousand francs a year?" + +"My dear Colonel, in 1799 you made a will before your marriage, leaving +one-quarter of your property to hospitals." + +"That is true." + +"Well, when you were reported dead, it was necessary to make a +valuation, and have a sale, to give this quarter away. Your wife was not +particular about honesty as to the poor. The valuation, in which she no +doubt took care not to include the ready money or jewelry, or too +much of the plate, and in which the furniture would be estimated at +two-thirds of its actual cost, either to benefit her, or to lighten the +succession duty, and also because a valuer can be held responsible +for the declared value--the valuation thus made stood at six hundred +thousand francs. Your wife had a right of half for her share. Everything +was sold and bought in by her; she got something out of it all, and the +hospitals got their seventy-five thousand francs. Then, as the remainder +went to the State, since you had made no mention of your wife in your +will, the Emperor restored to your widow by decree the residue which +would have reverted to the Exchequer. So, now, what can you claim? Three +hundred thousand francs, no more, and minus the costs." + +"And you call that justice!" said the Colonel, in dismay. + +"Why, certainly--" + +"A pretty kind of justice!" + +"So it is, my dear Colonel. You see, that what you thought so easy is +not so. Madame Ferraud might even choose to keep the sum given to her by +the Emperor." + +"But she was not a widow. The decree is utterly void----" + +"I agree with you. But every case can get a hearing. Listen to me. I +think that under these circumstances a compromise would be both for her +and for you the best solution of the question. You will gain by it a +more considerable sum than you can prove a right to." + +"That would be to sell my wife!" + +"With twenty-four thousand francs a year you could find a woman who, in +the position in which you are, would suit you better than your own wife, +and make you happier. I propose going this very day to see the Comtesse +Ferraud and sounding the ground; but I would not take such a step +without giving you due notice." + +"Let us go together." + +"What, just as you are?" said the lawyer. "No, my dear Colonel, no. You +might lose your case on the spot." + +"Can I possibly gain it?" + +"On every count," replied Derville. "But, my dear Colonel Chabert, you +overlook one thing. I am not rich; the price of my connection is not +wholly paid up. If the bench should allow you a maintenance, that is to +say, a sum advanced on your prospects, they will not do so till you +have proved that you are Comte Chabert, grand officer of the Legion of +Honor." + +"To be sure, I am a grand officer of the Legion of Honor; I had +forgotten that," said he simply. + +"Well, until then," Derville went on, "will you not have to engage +pleaders, to have documents copied, to keep the underlings of the +law going, and to support yourself? The expenses of the preliminary +inquiries will, at a rough guess, amount to ten or twelve thousand +francs. I have not so much to lend you--I am crushed as it is by the +enormous interest I have to pay on the money I borrowed to buy my +business; and you?--Where can you find it." + +Large tears gathered in the poor veteran's faded eyes, and rolled down +his withered cheeks. This outlook of difficulties discouraged him. The +social and the legal world weighed on his breast like a nightmare. + +"I will go to the foot of the Vendome column!" he cried. "I will call +out: 'I am Colonel Chabert who rode through the Russian square at +Eylau!'--The statue--he--he will know me." + +"And you will find yourself in Charenton." + +At this terrible name the soldier's transports collapsed. + +"And will there be no hope for me at the Ministry of War?" + +"The war office!" said Derville. "Well, go there; but take a formal +legal opinion with you, nullifying the certificate of your death. The +government offices would be only too glad if they could annihilate the +men of the Empire." + +The Colonel stood for a while, speechless, motionless, his eyes fixed, +but seeing nothing, sunk in bottomless despair. Military justice is +ready and swift; it decides with Turk-like finality, and almost always +rightly. This was the only justice known to Chabert. As he saw the +labyrinth of difficulties into which he must plunge, and how much money +would be required for the journey, the poor old soldier was mortally hit +in that power peculiar to man, and called the Will. He thought it would +be impossible to live as party to a lawsuit; it seemed a thousand times +simpler to remain poor and a beggar, or to enlist as a trooper if any +regiment would pass him. + +His physical and mental sufferings had already impaired his bodily +health in some of the most important organs. He was on the verge of one +of those maladies for which medicine has no name, and of which the seat +is in some degree variable, like the nervous system itself, the part +most frequently attacked of the whole human machine, a malady which may +be designated as the heart-sickness of the unfortunate. However serious +this invisible but real disorder might already be, it could still be +cured by a happy issue. But a fresh obstacle, an unexpected incident, +would be enough to wreck this vigorous constitution, to break the +weakened springs, and produce the hesitancy, the aimless, unfinished +movements, which physiologists know well in men undermined by grief. + +Derville, detecting in his client the symptoms of extreme dejection, +said to him: + +"Take courage; the end of the business cannot fail to be in your favor. +Only, consider whether you can give me your whole confidence and blindly +accept the result I may think best for your interests." + +"Do what you will," said Chabert. + +"Yes, but you surrender yourself to me like a man marching to his +death." + +"Must I not be left to live without a position, without a name? Is that +endurable?" + +"That is not my view of it," said the lawyer. "We will try a friendly +suit, to annul both your death certificate and your marriage, so as to +put you in possession of your rights. You may even, by Comte Ferraud's +intervention, have your name replaced on the army list as general, and +no doubt you will get a pension." + +"Well, proceed then," said Chabert. "I put myself entirely in your +hands." + +"I will send you a power of attorney to sign," said Derville. "Good-bye. +Keep up your courage. If you want money, rely on me." + +Chabert warmly wrung the lawyer's hand, and remained standing with his +back against the wall, not having the energy to follow him excepting +with his eyes. Like all men who know but little of legal matters, he was +frightened by this unforeseen struggle. + +During their interview, several times, the figure of a man posted in the +street had come forward from behind one of the gate-pillars, watching +for Derville to depart, and he now accosted the lawyer. He was an old +man, wearing a blue waistcoat and a white-pleated kilt, like a brewer's; +on his head was an otter-skin cap. His face was tanned, hollow-cheeked, +and wrinkled, but ruddy on the cheek-bones by hard work and exposure to +the open air. + +"Asking your pardon, sir," said he, taking Derville by the arm, "if I +take the liberty of speaking to you. But I fancied, from the look of +you, that you were a friend of our General's." + +"And what then?" replied Derville. "What concern have you with him?--But +who are you?" said the cautious lawyer. + +"I am Louis Vergniaud," he replied at once. "I have a few words to say +to you." + +"So you are the man who has lodged Comte Chabert as I have found him?" + +"Asking your pardon, sir, he has the best room. I would have given him +mine if I had had but one; I could have slept in the stable. A man +who has suffered as he has, who teaches my kids to read, a general, +an Egyptian, the first lieutenant I ever served under--What do you +think?--Of us all, he is best served. I shared what I had with him. +Unfortunately, it is not much to boast of--bread, milk, eggs. Well, +well; it's neighbors' fare, sir. And he is heartily welcome.--But he has +hurt our feelings." + +"He?" + +"Yes, sir, hurt our feelings. To be plain with you, I have taken a +larger business than I can manage, and he saw it. Well, it worried +him; he must needs mind the horse! I says to him, 'Really, General----' +'Bah!' says he, 'I am not going to eat my head off doing nothing. I +learned to rub a horse down many a year ago.'--I had some bills out for +the purchase money of my dairy--a fellow named Grados--Do you know him, +sir?" + +"But, my good man, I have not time to listen to your story. Only tell me +how the Colonel offended you." + +"He hurt our feelings, sir, as sure as my name is Louis Vergniaud, and +my wife cried about it. He heard from our neighbors that we had not a +sou to begin to meet the bills with. The old soldier, as he is, he saved +up all you gave him, he watched for the bill to come in, and he paid it. +Such a trick! While my wife and me, we knew he had no tobacco, poor old +boy, and went without.--Oh! now--yes, he has his cigar every morning! +I would sell my soul for it--No, we are hurt. Well, so I wanted to ask +you--for he said you were a good sort--to lend us a hundred crowns on +the stock, so that we may get him some clothes, and furnish his room. +He thought he was getting us out of debt, you see? Well, it's just +the other way; the old man is running us into debt--and hurt our +feelings!--He ought not to have stolen a march on us like that. And we +his friends, too!--On my word as an honest man, as sure as my name is +Louis Vergniaud, I would sooner sell up and enlist than fail to pay you +back your money----" + +Derville looked at the dairyman, and stepped back a few paces to glance +at the house, the yard, the manure-pool, the cowhouse, the rabbits, the +children. + +"On my honor, I believe it is characteristic of virtue to have nothing +to do with riches!" thought he. + +"All right, you shall have your hundred crowns, and more. But I shall +not give them to you; the Colonel will be rich enough to help, and I +will not deprive him of the pleasure." + +"And will that be soon?" + +"Why, yes." + +"Ah, dear God! how glad my wife will be!" and the cowkeeper's tanned +face seemed to expand. + +"Now," said Derville to himself, as he got into his cab again, "let us +call on our opponent. We must not show our hand, but try to see hers, +and win the game at one stroke. She must be frightened. She is a woman. +Now, what frightens women most? A woman is afraid of nothing but..." + +And he set to work to study the Countess' position, falling into one of +those brown studies to which great politicians give themselves up when +concocting their own plans and trying to guess the secrets of a hostile +Cabinet. Are not attorneys, in a way, statesmen in charge of private +affairs? + +But a brief survey of the situation in which the Comte Ferraud and +his wife now found themselves is necessary for a comprehension of the +lawyer's cleverness. + +Monsieur le Comte Ferraud was the only son of a former Councillor in the +old _Parlement_ of Paris, who had emigrated during the Reign of Terror, +and so, though he saved his head, lost his fortune. He came back under +the Consulate, and remained persistently faithful to the cause of Louis +XVIII., in whose circle his father had moved before the Revolution. +He thus was one of the party in the Faubourg Saint-Germain which nobly +stood out against Napoleon's blandishments. The reputation for capacity +gained by the young Count--then simply called Monsieur Ferraud--made him +the object of the Emperor's advances, for he was often as well pleased +at his conquests among the aristocracy as at gaining a battle. The Count +was promised the restitution of his title, of such of his estates as had +not been sold, and he was shown in perspective a place in the ministry +or as senator. + +The Emperor fell. + +At the time of Comte Chabert's death, M. Ferraud was a young man of +six-and-twenty, without a fortune, of pleasing appearance, who had had +his successes, and whom the Faubourg Saint-Germain had adopted as doing +it credit; but Madame la Comtesse Chabert had managed to turn her share +of her husband's fortune to such good account that, after eighteen +months of widowhood, she had about forty thousand francs a year. Her +marriage to the young Count was not regarded as news in the circles of +the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Napoleon, approving of this union, which +carried out his idea of fusion, restored to Madame Chabert the money +falling to the Exchequer under her husband's will; but Napoleon's hopes +were again disappointed. Madame Ferraud was not only in love with her +lover; she had also been fascinated by the notion of getting into +the haughty society which, in spite of its humiliation, was still +predominant at the Imperial Court. By this marriage all her vanities +were as much gratified as her passions. She was to become a real fine +lady. When the Faubourg Saint-Germain understood that the young Count's +marriage did not mean desertion, its drawing-rooms were thrown open to +his wife. + +Then came the Restoration. The Count's political advancement was not +rapid. He understood the exigencies of the situation in which Louis +XVIII. found himself; he was one of the inner circle who waited till the +"Gulf of Revolution should be closed"--for this phrase of the King's, at +which the Liberals laughed so heartily, had a political sense. The order +quoted in the long lawyer's preamble at the beginning of this story had, +however, put him in possession of two tracts of forest, and of an estate +which had considerably increased in value during its sequestration. At +the present moment, though Comte Ferraud was a Councillor of State, and +a Director-General, he regarded his position as merely the first step of +his political career. + +Wholly occupied as he was by the anxieties of consuming ambition, he had +attached to himself, as secretary, a ruined attorney named Delbecq, a +more than clever man, versed in all the resources of the law, to whom he +left the conduct of his private affairs. This shrewd practitioner had so +well understood his position with the Count as to be honest in his own +interest. He hoped to get some place by his master's influence, and he +made the Count's fortune his first care. His conduct so effectually gave +the lie to his former life, that he was regarded as a slandered man. The +Countess, with the tact and shrewdness of which most women have a share +more or less, understood the man's motives, watched him quietly, +and managed him so well, that she had made good use of him for the +augmentation of her private fortune. She had contrived to make Delbecq +believe that she ruled her husband, and had promised to get him +appointed President of an inferior court in some important provincial +town, if he devoted himself entirely to her interests. + +The promise of a place, not dependent on changes of ministry, which +would allow of his marrying advantageously, and rising subsequently to +a high political position, by being chosen Depute, made Delbecq the +Countess' abject slave. He had never allowed her to miss one of those +favorable chances which the fluctuations of the Bourse and the increased +value of property afforded to clever financiers in Paris during the +first three years after the Restoration. He had trebled his protectress' +capital, and all the more easily because the Countess had no scruples +as to the means which might make her an enormous fortune as quickly as +possible. The emoluments derived by the Count from the places he held +she spent on the housekeeping, so as to reinvest her dividends; and +Delbecq lent himself to these calculations of avarice without trying to +account for her motives. People of that sort never trouble themselves +about any secrets of which the discovery is not necessary to their own +interests. And, indeed, he naturally found the reason in the thirst for +money, which taints almost every Parisian woman; and as a fine fortune +was needed to support the pretensions of Comte Ferraud, the secretary +sometimes fancied that he saw in the Countess' greed a consequence of +her devotion to a husband with whom she still was in love. The Countess +buried the secrets of her conduct at the bottom of her heart. There lay +the secrets of life and death to her, there lay the turning-point of +this history. + +At the beginning of the year 1818 the Restoration was settled on +an apparently immovable foundation; its doctrines of government, as +understood by lofty minds, seemed calculated to bring to France an era +of renewed prosperity, and Parisian society changed its aspect. Madame +la Comtesse Ferraud found that by chance she had achieved for love a +marriage that had brought her fortune and gratified ambition. Still +young and handsome, Madame Ferraud played the part of a woman of +fashion, and lived in the atmosphere of the Court. Rich herself, with a +rich husband who was cried up as one of the ablest men of the royalist +party, and, as a friend of the King, certain to be made Minister, she +belonged to the aristocracy, and shared its magnificence. In the midst +of this triumph she was attacked by a moral canker. There are feelings +which women guess in spite of the care men take to bury them. On +the first return of the King, Comte Ferraud had begun to regret his +marriage. Colonel Chabert's widow had not been the means of allying him +to anybody; he was alone and unsupported in steering his way in a course +full of shoals and beset by enemies. Also, perhaps, when he came to +judge his wife coolly, he may have discerned in her certain vices of +education which made her unfit to second him in his schemes. + +A speech he made, _a propos_ of Talleyrand's marriage, enlightened the +Countess, to whom it proved that if he had still been a free man she +would never have been Madame Ferraud. What woman could forgive this +repentance? Does it not include the germs of every insult, every crime, +every form of repudiation? But what a wound must it have left in the +Countess' heart, supposing that she lived in the dread of her first +husband's return? She had known that he still lived, and she had ignored +him. Then during the time when she had heard no more of him, she had +chosen to believe that he had fallen at Waterloo with the Imperial +Eagle, at the same time as Boutin. She resolved, nevertheless, to bind +the Count to her by the strongest of all ties, by a chain of gold, and +vowed to be so rich that her fortune might make her second marriage +dissoluble, if by chance Colonel Chabert should ever reappear. And he +had reappeared; and she could not explain to herself why the struggle +she had dreaded had not already begun. Suffering, sickness, had perhaps +delivered her from that man. Perhaps he was half mad, and Charenton +might yet do her justice. She had not chosen to take either Delbecq or +the police into her confidence, for fear of putting herself in their +power, or of hastening the catastrophe. There are in Paris many women +who, like the Countess Ferraud, live with an unknown moral monster, or +on the brink of an abyss; a callus forms over the spot that tortures +them, and they can still laugh and enjoy themselves. + +"There is something very strange in Comte Ferraud's position," said +Derville to himself, on emerging from his long reverie, as his cab +stopped at the door of the Hotel Ferraud in the Rue de Varennes. "How is +it that he, so rich as he is, and such a favorite with the King, is not +yet a peer of France? It may, to be sure, be true that the King, as +Mme. de Grandlieu was telling me, desires to keep up the value of the +_pairie_ by not bestowing it right and left. And, after all, the son of +a Councillor of the _Parlement_ is not a Crillon nor a Rohan. A Comte +Ferraud can only get into the Upper Chamber surreptitiously. But if his +marriage were annulled, could he not get the dignity of some old peer +who has only daughters transferred to himself, to the King's great +satisfaction? At any rate this will be a good bogey to put forward and +frighten the Countess," thought he as he went up the steps. + +Derville had without knowing it laid his finger on the hidden wound, put +his hand on the canker that consumed Madame Ferraud. + +She received him in a pretty winter dining-room, where she was at +breakfast, while playing with a monkey tethered by a chain to a little +pole with climbing bars of iron. The Countess was in an elegant wrapper; +the curls of her hair, carelessly pinned up, escaped from a cap, giving +her an arch look. She was fresh and smiling. Silver, gilding, and +mother-of-pearl shone on the table, and all about the room were rare +plants growing in magnificent china jars. As he saw Colonel Chabert's +wife, rich with his spoil, in the lap of luxury and the height of +fashion, while he, poor wretch, was living with a poor dairyman among +the beasts, the lawyer said to himself: + +"The moral of all this is that a pretty woman will never acknowledge as +her husband, nor even as a lover, a man in an old box-coat, a tow wig, +and boots with holes in them." + +A mischievous and bitter smile expressed the feelings, half +philosophical and half satirical, which such a man was certain to +experience--a man well situated to know the truth of things in spite of +the lies behind which most families in Paris hide their mode of life. + +"Good-morning, Monsieur Derville," said she, giving the monkey some +coffee to drink. + +"Madame," said he, a little sharply, for the light tone in which she +spoke jarred on him. "I have come to speak with you on a very serious +matter." + +"I am so _grieved_, M. le Comte is away--" + +"I, madame, am delighted. It would be grievous if he could be present at +our interview. Besides, I am informed through M. Delbecq that you like +to manage your own business without troubling the Count." + +"Then I will send for Delbecq," said she. + +"He would be of no use to you, clever as he is," replied Derville. +"Listen to me, madame; one word will be enough to make you grave. +Colonel Chabert is alive!" + +"Is it by telling me such nonsense as that that you think you can make +me grave?" said she with a shout of laughter. But she was suddenly +quelled by the singular penetration of the fixed gaze which Derville +turned on her, seeming to read to the bottom of her soul. + +"Madame," he said with cold and piercing solemnity, "you know not the +extent of the danger that threatens you. I need say nothing of the +indisputable authenticity of the evidence nor of the fulness of proof +which testifies to the identity of Comte Chabert. I am not, as you know, +the man to take up a bad cause. If you resist our proceedings to show +that the certificate of death was false, you will lose that first case, +and that matter once settled, we shall gain every point." + +"What, then, do you wish to discuss with me?" + +"Neither the Colonel nor yourself. Nor need I allude to the briefs which +clever advocates may draw up when armed with the curious facts of this +case, or the advantage they may derive from the letters you received +from your first husband before your marriage to your second." + +"It is false," she cried, with the violence of a spoilt woman. "I never +had a letter from Comte Chabert; and if some one is pretending to be +the Colonel, it is some swindler, some returned convict, like Coignard +perhaps. It makes me shudder only to think of it. Can the Colonel rise +from the dead, monsieur? Bonaparte sent an aide-de-camp to inquire for +me on his death, and to this day I draw the pension of three thousand +francs granted to this widow by the Government. I have been perfectly in +the right to turn away all the Chaberts who have ever come, as I shall +all who may come." + +"Happily we are alone, madame. We can tell lies at our ease," said he +coolly, and finding it amusing to lash up the Countess' rage so as to +lead her to betray herself, by tactics familiar to lawyers, who are +accustomed to keep cool when their opponents or their clients are in +a passion. "Well, then, we must fight it out," thought he, instantly +hitting on a plan to entrap her and show her her weakness. + +"The proof that you received the first letter, madame, is that it +contained some securities--" + +"Oh, as to securities--that it certainly did not." + +"Then you received the letter," said Derville, smiling. "You are caught, +madame, in the first snare laid for you by an attorney, and you fancy +you could fight against Justice----" + +The Countess colored, and then turned pale, hiding her face in her +hands. Then she shook off her shame, and retorted with the natural +impertinence of such women, "Since you are the so-called Chabert's +attorney, be so good as to--" + +"Madame," said Derville, "I am at this moment as much your lawyer as I +am Colonel Chabert's. Do you suppose I want to lose so valuable a client +as you are?--But you are not listening." + +"Nay, speak on, monsieur," said she graciously. + +"Your fortune came to you from M. le Comte Chabert, and you cast him +off. Your fortune is immense, and you leave him to beg. An advocate +can be very eloquent when a cause is eloquent in itself; there are here +circumstances which might turn public opinion strongly against you." + +"But, monsieur," said the Comtesse, provoked by the way in which +Derville turned and laid her on the gridiron, "even if I grant that your +M. Chabert is living, the law will uphold my second marriage on account +of the children, and I shall get off with the restitution of two hundred +and twenty-five thousand francs to M. Chabert." + +"It is impossible to foresee what view the Bench may take of the +question. If on one side we have a mother and children, on the other we +have an old man crushed by sorrows, made old by your refusals to know +him. Where is he to find a wife? Can the judges contravene the law? Your +marriage with Colonel Chabert has priority on its side and every legal +right. But if you appear under disgraceful colors, you might have an +unlooked-for adversary. That, madame, is the danger against which I +would warn you." + +"And who is he?" + +"Comte Ferraud." + +"Monsieur Ferraud has too great an affection for me, too much respect +for the mother of his children--" + +"Do not talk of such absurd things," interrupted Derville, "to lawyers, +who are accustomed to read hearts to the bottom. At this instant +Monsieur Ferraud has not the slightest wish to annual your union, and I +am quite sure that he adores you; but if some one were to tell him that +his marriage is void, that his wife will be called before the bar of +public opinion as a criminal--" + +"He would defend me, monsieur." + +"No, madame." + +"What reason could he have for deserting me, monsieur?" + +"That he would be free to marry the only daughter of a peer of France, +whose title would be conferred on him by patent from the King." + +The Countess turned pale. + +"A hit!" said Derville to himself. "I have you on the hip; the poor +Colonel's case is won."--"Besides, madame," he went on aloud, "he would +feel all the less remorse because a man covered with glory--a +General, Count, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor--is not such a bad +alternative; and if that man insisted on his wife's returning to him--" + +"Enough, enough, monsieur!" she exclaimed. "I will never have any lawyer +but you. What is to be done?" + +"Compromise!" said Derville. + +"Does he still love me?" she said. + +"Well, I do not think he can do otherwise." + +The Countess raised her head at these words. A flash of hope shone in +her eyes; she thought perhaps that she could speculate on her first +husband's affection to gain her cause by some feminine cunning. + +"I shall await your orders, madame, to know whether I am to report our +proceedings to you, or if you will come to my office to agree to the +terms of a compromise," said Derville, taking leave. + + + +A week after Derville had paid these two visits, on a fine morning +in June, the husband and wife, who had been separated by an almost +supernatural chance, started from the opposite ends of Paris to meet in +the office of the lawyer who was engaged by both. The supplies liberally +advanced by Derville to Colonel Chabert had enabled him to dress as +suited his position in life, and the dead man arrived in a very decent +cab. He wore a wig suited to his face, was dressed in blue cloth with +white linen, and wore under his waistcoat the broad red ribbon of the +higher grade of the Legion of Honor. In resuming the habits of wealth he +had recovered his soldierly style. He held himself up; his face, grave +and mysterious-looking, reflected his happiness and all his hopes, and +seemed to have acquired youth and _impasto_, to borrow a picturesque +word from the painter's art. He was no more like the Chabert of the old +box-coat than a cartwheel double sou is like a newly coined forty-franc +piece. The passer-by, only to see him, would have recognized at once one +of the noble wrecks of our old army, one of the heroic men on whom +our national glory is reflected, as a splinter of ice on which the sun +shines seems to reflect every beam. These veterans are at once a picture +and a book. + +When the Count jumped out of his carriage to go into Derville's office, +he did it as lightly as a young man. Hardly had his cab moved off, +when a smart brougham drove up, splendid with coats-of-arms. Madame +la Comtesse Ferraud stepped out in a dress which, though simple, was +cleverly designed to show how youthful her figure was. She wore a pretty +drawn bonnet lined with pink, which framed her face to perfection, +softening its outlines and making it look younger. + +If the clients were rejuvenescent, the office was unaltered, and +presented the same picture as that described at the beginning of this +story. Simonnin was eating his breakfast, his shoulder leaning against +the window, which was then open, and he was staring up at the blue sky +in the opening of the courtyard enclosed by four gloomy houses. + +"Ah, ha!" cried the little clerk, "who will bet an evening at the play +that Colonel Chabert is a General, and wears a red ribbon?" + +"The chief is a great magician," said Godeschal. + +"Then there is no trick to play on him this time?" asked Desroches. + +"His wife has taken that in hand, the Comtesse Ferraud," said Boucard. + +"What next?" said Godeschal. "Is Comtesse Ferraud required to belong to +two men?" + +"Here she is," answered Simonnin. + +"So you are not deaf, you young rogue!" said Chabert, taking the +gutter-jumper by the ear and twisting it, to the delight of the other +clerks, who began to laugh, looking at the Colonel with the curious +attention due to so singular a personage. + +Comte Chabert was in Derville's private room at the moment when his wife +came in by the door of the office. + +"I say, Boucard, there is going to be a queer scene in the chief's room! +There is a woman who can spend her days alternately, the odd with Comte +Ferraud, and the even with Comte Chabert." + +"And in leap year," said Godeschal, "they must settle the _count_ +between them." + +"Silence, gentlemen, you can be heard!" said Boucard severely. "I never +was in an office where there was so much jesting as there is here over +the clients." + +Derville had made the Colonel retire to the bedroom when the Countess +was admitted. + +"Madame," he said, "not knowing whether it would be agreeable to you +to meet M. le Comte Chabert, I have placed you apart. If, however, you +should wish it--" + +"It is an attention for which I am obliged to you." + +"I have drawn up the memorandum of an agreement of which you and M. +Chabert can discuss the conditions, here, and now. I will go alternately +to him and to you, and explain your views respectively." + +"Let me see, monsieur," said the Countess impatiently. + +Derville read aloud: + +"'Between the undersigned: + +"'M. Hyacinthe Chabert, Count, Marechal de Camp, and Grand Officer of +the Legion of Honor, living in Paris, Rue du Petit-Banquier, on the one +part; + +"'And Madame Rose Chapotel, wife of the aforesaid M. le Comte Chabert, +_nee_--'" + +"Pass over the preliminaries," said she. "Come to the conditions." + +"Madame," said the lawyer, "the preamble briefly sets forth the position +in which you stand to each other. Then, by the first clause, you +acknowledge, in the presence of three witnesses, of whom two shall be +notaries, and one the dairyman with whom your husband has been lodging, +to all of whom your secret is known, and who will be absolutely +silent--you acknowledge, I say, that the individual designated in the +documents subjoined to the deed, and whose identity is to be further +proved by an act of recognition prepared by your notary, Alexandre +Crottat, is your first husband, Comte Chabert. By the second clause +Comte Chabert, to secure your happiness, will undertake to assert his +rights only under certain circumstances set forth in the deed.--And +these," said Derville, in a parenthesis, "are none other than a failure +to carry out the conditions of this secret agreement.--M. Chabert, on +his part, agrees to accept judgment on a friendly suit, by which his +certificate of death shall be annulled, and his marriage dissolved." + +"That will not suit me in the least," said the Countess with surprise. +"I will be a party to no suit; you know why." + +"By the third clause," Derville went on, with imperturbable coolness, +"you pledge yourself to secure to Hyacinthe Comte Chabert an income of +twenty-four thousand francs on government stock held in his name, to +revert to you at his death--" + +"But it is much too dear!" exclaimed the Countess. + +"Can you compromise the matter cheaper?" + +"Possibly." + +"But what do you want, madame?" + +"I want--I will not have a lawsuit. I want--" + +"You want him to remain dead?" said Derville, interrupting her hastily. + +"Monsieur," said the Countess, "if twenty-four thousand francs a year +are necessary, we will go to law--" + +"Yes, we will go to law," said the Colonel in a deep voice, as he opened +the door and stood before his wife, with one hand in his waistcoat and +the other hanging by his side--an attitude to which the recollection of +his adventure gave horrible significance. + +"It is he," said the Countess to herself. + +"Too dear!" the old soldier exclaimed. "I have given you near on a +million, and you are cheapening my misfortunes. Very well; now I will +have you--you and your fortune. Our goods are in common, our marriage is +not dissolved--" + +"But monsieur is not Colonel Chabert!" cried the Countess, in feigned +amazement. + +"Indeed!" said the old man, in a tone of intense irony. "Do you want +proofs? I found you in the Palais Royal----" + +The Countess turned pale. Seeing her grow white under her rouge, the old +soldier paused, touched by the acute suffering he was inflicting on the +woman he had once so ardently loved; but she shot such a venomous glance +at him that he abruptly went on: + +"You were with La--" + +"Allow me, Monsieur Derville," said the Countess to the lawyer. "You +must give me leave to retire. I did not come here to listen to such +dreadful things." + +She rose and went out. Derville rushed after her; but the Countess had +taken wings, and seemed to have flown from the place. + +On returning to his private room, he found the Colonel in a towering +rage, striding up and down. + +"In those times a man took his wife where he chose," said he. "But I was +foolish and chose badly; I trusted to appearances. She has no heart." + +"Well, Colonel, was I not right to beg you not to come?--I am now +positive of your identity; when you came in, the Countess gave a little +start, of which the meaning was unequivocal. But you have lost your +chances. Your wife knows that you are unrecognizable." + +"I will kill her!" + +"Madness! you will be caught and executed like any common wretch. +Besides you might miss! That would be unpardonable. A man must not miss +his shot when he wants to kill his wife.--Let me set things straight; +you are only a big child. Go now. Take care of yourself; she is capable +of setting some trap for you and shutting you up in Charenton. I will +notify her of our proceedings to protect you against a surprise." + +The unhappy Colonel obeyed his young benefactor, and went away, +stammering apologies. He slowly went down the dark staircase, lost in +gloomy thoughts, and crushed perhaps by the blow just dealt him--the +most cruel he could feel, the thrust that could most deeply pierce +his heart--when he heard the rustle of a woman's dress on the lowest +landing, and his wife stood before him. + +"Come, monsieur," said she, taking his arm with a gesture like those +familiar to him of old. Her action and the accent of her voice, which +had recovered its graciousness, were enough to allay the Colonel's +wrath, and he allowed himself to be led to the carriage. + +"Well, get in!" said she, when the footman had let down the step. + +And as if by magic, he found himself sitting by his wife in the +brougham. + +"Where to?" asked the servant. + +"To Groslay," said she. + +The horses started at once, and carried them all across Paris. + +"Monsieur," said the Countess, in a tone of voice which betrayed one of +those emotions which are rare in our lives, and which agitate every part +of our being. At such moments the heart, fibres, nerves, countenance, +soul, and body, everything, every pore even, feels a thrill. Life +no longer seems to be within us; it flows out, springs forth, is +communicated as if by contagion, transmitted by a look, a tone of voice, +a gesture, impressing our will on others. The old soldier started on +hearing this single word, this first, terrible "monsieur!" But still it +was at once a reproach and a pardon, a hope and a despair, a question +and an answer. This word included them all; none but an actress could +have thrown so much eloquence, so many feelings into a single word. +Truth is less complete in its utterance; it does not put everything on +the outside; it allows us to see what is within. The Colonel was filled +with remorse for his suspicions, his demands, and his anger; he looked +down not to betray his agitation. + +"Monsieur," repeated she, after an imperceptible pause, "I knew you at +once." + +"Rosine," said the old soldier, "those words contain the only balm that +can help me to forget my misfortunes." + +Two large tears rolled hot on to his wife's hands, which he pressed to +show his paternal affection. + +"Monsieur," she went on, "could you not have guessed what it cost me +to appear before a stranger in a position so false as mine now is? If +I have to blush for it, at least let it be in the privacy of my family. +Ought not such a secret to remain buried in our hearts? You will forgive +me, I hope, for my apparent indifference to the woes of a Chabert in +whose existence I could not possibly believe. I received your letters," +she hastily added, seeing in his face the objection it expressed, "but +they did not reach me till thirteen months after the battle of Eylau. +They were opened, dirty, the writing was unrecognizable; and after +obtaining Napoleon's signature to my second marriage contract, I could +not help believing that some clever swindler wanted to make a fool of +me. Therefore, to avoid disturbing Monsieur Ferraud's peace of mind, +and disturbing family ties, I was obliged to take precautions against a +pretended Chabert. Was I not right, I ask you?" + +"Yes, you were right. It was I who was the idiot, the owl, the dolt, not +to have calculated better what the consequences of such a position might +be.--But where are we going?" he asked, seeing that they had reached the +barrier of La Chapelle. + +"To my country house near Groslay, in the valley of Montmorency. There, +monsieur, we will consider the steps to be taken. I know my duties. +Though I am yours by right, I am no longer yours in fact. Can you wish +that we should become the talk of Paris? We need not inform the public +of a situation, which for me has its ridiculous side, and let us +preserve our dignity. You still love me," she said, with a sad, sweet +gaze at the Colonel, "but have not I been authorized to form other ties? +In so strange a position, a secret voice bids me trust to your kindness, +which is so well known to me. Can I be wrong in taking you as the sole +arbiter of my fate? Be at once judge and party to the suit. I trust in +your noble character; you will be generous enough to forgive me for the +consequences of faults committed in innocence. I may then confess to +you: I love M. Ferraud. I believed that I had a right to love him. I +do not blush to make this confession to you; even if it offends you, it +does not disgrace us. I cannot conceal the facts. When fate made me a +widow, I was not a mother." + +The Colonel with a wave of his hand bid his wife be silent, and for a +mile and a half they sat without speaking a single word. Chabert could +fancy he saw the two little ones before him. + +"Rosine." + +"Monsieur?" + +"The dead are very wrong to come to life again." + +"Oh, monsieur, no, no! Do not think me ungrateful. Only, you find me a +lover, a mother, while you left me merely a wife. Though it is no longer +in my power to love, I know how much I owe you, and I can still offer +you all the affection of a daughter." + +"Rosine," said the old man in a softened tone, "I no longer feel any +resentment against you. We will forget anything," he added, with one of +those smiles which always reflect a noble soul; "I have not so little +delicacy as to demand the mockery of love from a wife who no longer +loves me." + +The Countess gave him a flashing look full of such deep gratitude that +poor Chabert would have been glad to sink again into his grave at Eylau. +Some men have a soul strong enough for such self-devotion, of which the +whole reward consists in the assurance that they have made the person +they love happy. + +"My dear friend, we will talk all this over later when our hearts have +rested," said the Countess. + +The conversation turned to other subjects, for it was impossible to +dwell very long on this one. Though the couple came back again and +again to their singular position, either by some allusion or of serious +purpose, they had a delightful drive, recalling the events of their +former life together and the times of the Empire. The Countess knew how +to lend peculiar charm to her reminiscences, and gave the conversation +the tinge of melancholy that was needed to keep it serious. She revived +his love without awakening his desires, and allowed her first husband to +discern the mental wealth she had acquired while trying to accustom him +to moderate his pleasure to that which a father may feel in the society +of a favorite daughter. + +The Colonel had known the Countess of the Empire; he found her a +Countess of the Restoration. + +At last, by a cross-road, they arrived at the entrance to a large park +lying in the little valley which divides the heights of Margency from +the pretty village of Groslay. The Countess had there a delightful +house, where the Colonel on arriving found everything in readiness +for his stay there, as well as for his wife's. Misfortune is a kind +of talisman whose virtue consists in its power to confirm our original +nature; in some men it increases their distrust and malignancy, just as +it improves the goodness of those who have a kind heart. + +Sorrow had made the Colonel even more helpful and good than he had +always been, and he could understand some secrets of womanly distress +which are unrevealed to most men. Nevertheless, in spite of his loyal +trustfulness, he could not help saying to his wife: + +"Then you felt quite sure you would bring me here?" + +"Yes," replied she, "if I found Colonel Chabert in Derville's client." + +The appearance of truth she contrived to give to this answer dissipated +the slight suspicions which the Colonel was ashamed to have felt. For +three days the Countess was quite charming to her first husband. By +tender attentions and unfailing sweetness she seemed anxious to wipe out +the memory of the sufferings he had endured, and to earn forgiveness +for the woes which, as she confessed, she had innocently caused him. She +delighted in displaying for him the charms she knew he took pleasure +in, while at the same time she assumed a kind of melancholy; for men are +more especially accessible to certain ways, certain graces of the heart +or of the mind which they cannot resist. She aimed at interesting him in +her position, and appealing to his feelings so far as to take possession +of his mind and control him despotically. + +Ready for anything to attain her ends, she did not yet know what she +was to do with this man; but at any rate she meant to annihilate him +socially. On the evening of the third day she felt that in spite of her +efforts she could not conceal her uneasiness as to the results of her +manoeuvres. To give herself a minute's reprieve she went up to her room, +sat down before her writing-table, and laid aside the mask of composure +which she wore in Chabert's presence, like an actress who, returning to +her dressing-room after a fatiguing fifth act, drops half dead, leaving +with the audience an image of herself which she no longer resembles. She +proceeded to finish a letter she had begun to Delbecq, whom she desired +to go in her name and demand of Derville the deeds relating to Colonel +Chabert, to copy them, and to come to her at once to Groslay. She had +hardly finished when she heard the Colonel's step in the passage; uneasy +at her absence, he had come to look for her. + +"Alas!" she exclaimed, "I wish I were dead! My position is +intolerable..." + +"Why, what is the matter?" asked the good man. + +"Nothing, nothing!" she replied. + +She rose, left the Colonel, and went down to speak privately to her +maid, whom she sent off to Paris, impressing on her that she was herself +to deliver to Delbecq the letter just written, and to bring it back to +the writer as soon as he had read it. Then the Countess went out to sit +on a bench sufficiently in sight for the Colonel to join her as soon as +he might choose. The Colonel, who was looking for her, hastened up and +sat down by her. + +"Rosine," said he, "what is the matter with you?" + +She did not answer. + +It was one of those glorious, calm evenings in the month of June, whose +secret harmonies infuse such sweetness into the sunset. The air was +clear, the stillness perfect, so that far away in the park they could +hear the voices of some children, which added a kind of melody to the +sublimity of the scene. + +"You do not answer me?" the Colonel said to his wife. + +"My husband----" said the Countess, who broke off, started a little, and +with a blush stopped to ask him, "What am I to say when I speak of M. +Ferraud?" + +"Call him your husband, my poor child," replied the Colonel, in a kind +voice. "Is he not the father of your children?" + +"Well, then," she said, "if he should ask what I came here for, if he +finds out that I came here, alone, with a stranger, what am I to say +to him? Listen, monsieur," she went on, assuming a dignified attitude, +"decide my fate, I am resigned to anything--" + +"My dear," said the Colonel, taking possession of his wife's hands, "I +have made up my mind to sacrifice myself entirely for your happiness--" + +"That is impossible!" she exclaimed, with a sudden spasmodic movement. +"Remember that you would have to renounce your identity, and in an +authenticated form." + +"What?" said the Colonel. "Is not my word enough for you?" + +The word "authenticated" fell on the old man's heart, and roused +involuntary distrust. He looked at his wife in a way that made her +color, she cast down her eyes, and he feared that he might find himself +compelled to despise her. The Countess was afraid lest she had scared +the shy modesty, the stern honesty, of a man whose generous temper and +primitive virtues were known to her. Though these feelings had brought +the clouds to her brow, they immediately recovered their harmony. This +was the way of it. A child's cry was heard in the distance. + +"Jules, leave your sister in peace," the Countess called out. + +"What, are your children here?" said Chabert. + +"Yes, but I told them not to trouble you." + +The old soldier understood the delicacy, the womanly tact of so gracious +a precaution, and took the Countess' hand to kiss it. + +"But let them come," said he. + +The little girl ran up to complain of her brother. + +"Mamma!" + +"Mamma!" + +"It was Jules--" + +"It was her--" + +Their little hands were held out to their mother, and the two childish +voices mingled; it was an unexpected and charming picture. + +"Poor little things!" cried the Countess, no longer restraining her +tears, "I shall have to leave them. To whom will the law assign them? A +mother's heart cannot be divided; I want them, I want them." + +"Are you making mamma cry?" said Jules, looking fiercely at the Colonel. + +"Silence, Jules!" said the mother in a decided tone. + +The two children stood speechless, examining their mother and the +stranger with a curiosity which it is impossible to express in words. + +"Oh yes!" she cried. "If I am separated from the Count, only leave me my +children, and I will submit to anything..." + +This was the decisive speech which gained all that she had hoped from +it. + +"Yes," exclaimed the Colonel, as if he were ending a sentence already +begun in his mind, "I must return underground again. I had told myself +so already." + +"Can I accept such a sacrifice?" replied his wife. "If some men have +died to save a mistress' honor, they gave their life but once. But +in this case you would be giving your life every day. No, no. It is +impossible. If it were only your life, it would be nothing; but to sign +a declaration that you are not Colonel Chabert, to acknowledge yourself +an imposter, to sacrifice your honor, and live a lie every hour of the +day! Human devotion cannot go so far. Only think!--No. But for my poor +children I would have fled with you by this time to the other end of the +world." + +"But," said Chabert, "cannot I live here in your little lodge as one of +your relations? I am as worn out as a cracked cannon; I want nothing but +a little tobacco and the _Constitutionnel_." + +The Countess melted into tears. There was a contest of generosity +between the Comtesse Ferraud and Colonel Chabert, and the soldier came +out victorious. One evening, seeing this mother with her children, the +soldier was bewitched by the touching grace of a family picture in the +country, in the shade and the silence; he made a resolution to remain +dead, and, frightened no longer at the authentication of a deed, he +asked what he could do to secure beyond all risk the happiness of this +family. + +"Do exactly as you like," said the Countess. "I declare to you that I +will have nothing to do with this affair. I ought not." + +Delbecq had arrived some days before, and in obedience to the Countess' +verbal instructions, the intendant had succeeded in gaining the old +soldier's confidence. So on the following morning Colonel Chabert went +with the erewhile attorney to Saint-Leu-Taverny, where Delbecq had +caused the notary to draw up an affidavit in such terms that, after +hearing it read, the Colonel started up and walked out of the office. + +"Turf and thunder! What a fool you must think me! Why, I should make +myself out a swindler!" he exclaimed. + +"Indeed, monsieur," said Delbecq, "I should advise you not to sign in +haste. In your place I would get at least thirty thousand francs a year +out of the bargain. Madame would pay them." + +After annihilating this scoundrel _emeritus_ by the lightning look of an +honest man insulted, the Colonel rushed off, carried away by a thousand +contrary emotions. He was suspicious, indignant, and calm again by +turns. + +Finally he made his way back into the park of Groslay by a gap in a +fence, and slowly walked on to sit down and rest, and meditate at his +ease, in a little room under a gazebo, from which the road to Saint-Leu +could be seen. The path being strewn with the yellowish sand which is +used instead of river-gravel, the Countess, who was sitting in the upper +room of this little summer-house, did not hear the Colonel's approach, +for she was too much preoccupied with the success of her business to pay +the smallest attention to the slight noise made by her husband. Nor did +the old man notice that his wife was in the room over him. + +"Well, Monsieur Delbecq, has he signed?" the Countess asked her +secretary, whom she saw alone on the road beyond the hedge of a haha. + +"No, madame. I do not even know what has become of our man. The old +horse reared." + +"Then we shall be obliged to put him into Charenton," said she, "since +we have got him." + +The Colonel, who recovered the elasticity of youth to leap the haha, +in the twinkling of an eye was standing in front of Delbecq, on whom he +bestowed the two finest slaps that ever a scoundrel's cheeks received. + +"And you may add that old horses can kick!" said he. + +His rage spent, the Colonel no longer felt vigorous enough to leap the +ditch. He had seen the truth in all its nakedness. The Countess' speech +and Delbecq's reply had revealed the conspiracy of which he was to be +the victim. The care taken of him was but a bait to entrap him in a +snare. That speech was like a drop of subtle poison, bringing on in the +old soldier a return of all his sufferings, physical and moral. He came +back to the summer-house through the park gate, walking slowly like a +broken man. + +Then for him there was to be neither peace nor truce. From this moment +he must begin the odious warfare with this woman of which Derville had +spoken, enter on a life of litigation, feed on gall, drink every morning +of the cup of bitterness. And then--fearful thought!--where was he to +find the money needful to pay the cost of the first proceedings? He felt +such disgust of life, that if there had been any water at hand he would +have thrown himself into it; that if he had had a pistol, he would +have blown out his brains. Then he relapsed into the indecision of +mind which, since his conversation with Derville at the dairyman's had +changed his character. + +At last, having reached the kiosque, he went up to the gazebo, where +little rose-windows afforded a view over each lovely landscape of the +valley, and where he found his wife seated on a chair. The Countess was +gazing at the distance, and preserved a calm countenance, showing that +impenetrable face which women can assume when resolved to do their +worst. She wiped her eyes as if she had been weeping, and played +absently with the pink ribbons of her sash. Nevertheless, in spite of +her apparent assurance, she could not help shuddering slightly when she +saw before her her venerable benefactor, standing with folded arms, his +face pale, his brow stern. + +"Madame," he said, after gazing at her fixedly for a moment and +compelling her to blush, "Madame, I do not curse you--I scorn you. I can +now thank the chance that has divided us. I do not feel even a desire +for revenge; I no longer love you. I want nothing from you. Live in +peace on the strength of my word; it is worth more than the scrawl of +all the notaries in Paris. I will never assert my claim to the name I +perhaps have made illustrious. I am henceforth but a poor devil named +Hyacinthe, who asks no more than his share of the sunshine.--Farewell!" + +The Countess threw herself at his feet; she would have detained him by +taking his hands, but he pushed her away with disgust, saying: + +"Do not touch me!" + +The Countess' expression when she heard her husband's retreating steps +is quite indescribable. Then, with the deep perspicacity given only +by utter villainy, or by fierce worldly selfishness, she knew that she +might live in peace on the word and the contempt of this loyal veteran. + +Chabert, in fact, disappeared. The dairyman failed in business, and +became a hackney-cab driver. The Colonel, perhaps, took up some similar +industry for a time. Perhaps, like a stone flung into a chasm, he went +falling from ledge to ledge, to be lost in the mire of rags that seethes +through the streets of Paris. + +Six months after this event, Derville, hearing no more of Colonel +Chabert or the Comtesse Ferraud, supposed that they had no doubt come +to a compromise, which the Countess, out of revenge, had had arranged by +some other lawyer. So one morning he added up the sums he had advanced +to the said Chabert with the costs, and begged the Comtesse Ferraud to +claim from M. le Comte Chabert the amount of the bill, assuming that she +would know where to find her first husband. + +The very next day Comte Ferraud's man of business, lately appointed +President of the County Court in a town of some importance, wrote this +distressing note to Derville: + + "MONSIEUR,-- + + "Madame la Comtesse Ferraud desires me to inform you that your + client took complete advantage of your confidence, and that the + individual calling himself Comte Chabert has acknowledged that he + came forward under false pretences. + +"Yours, etc., DELBECQ." + + +"One comes across people who are, on my honor, too stupid by half," +cried Derville. "They don't deserve to be Christians! Be humane, +generous, philanthropical, and a lawyer, and you are bound to +be cheated! There is a piece of business that will cost me two +thousand-franc notes!" + + + +Some time after receiving this letter, Derville went to the Palais de +Justice in search of a pleader to whom he wished to speak, and who was +employed in the Police Court. As chance would have it, Derville went +into Court Number 6 at the moment when the Presiding Magistrate was +sentencing one Hyacinthe to two months' imprisonment as a vagabond, and +subsequently to be taken to the Mendicity House of Detention, a sentence +which, by magistrates' law, is equivalent to perpetual imprisonment. On +hearing the name of Hyacinthe, Derville looked at the deliquent, sitting +between two _gendarmes_ on the bench for the accused, and recognized in +the condemned man his false Colonel Chabert. + +The old soldier was placid, motionless, almost absentminded. In spite +of his rags, in spite of the misery stamped on his countenance, it +gave evidence of noble pride. His eye had a stoical expression which no +magistrate ought to have misunderstood; but as soon as a man has fallen +into the hands of justice, he is no more than a moral entity, a matter +of law or of fact, just as to statists he has become a zero. + +When the veteran was taken back to the lock-up, to be removed later +with the batch of vagabonds at that moment at the bar, Derville availed +himself of the privilege accorded to lawyers of going wherever they +please in the Courts, and followed him to the lock-up, where he stood +scrutinizing him for some minutes, as well as the curious crew of +beggars among whom he found himself. The passage to the lock-up at that +moment afforded one of those spectacles which, unfortunately, neither +legislators, nor philanthropists, nor painters, nor writers come to +study. Like all the laboratories of the law, this ante-room is a dark +and malodorous place; along the walls runs a wooden seat, blackened +by the constant presence there of the wretches who come to this +meeting-place of every form of social squalor, where not one of them is +missing. + +A poet might say that the day was ashamed to light up this dreadful +sewer through which so much misery flows! There is not a spot on that +plank where some crime has not sat, in embryo or matured; not a corner +where a man has never stood who, driven to despair by the blight which +justice has set upon him after his first fault, has not there begun a +career, at the end of which looms the guillotine or the pistol-snap of +the suicide. All who fall on the pavement of Paris rebound against these +yellow-gray walls, on which a philanthropist who was not a speculator +might read a justification of the numerous suicides complained of by +hypocritical writers who are incapable of taking a step to prevent +them--for that justification is written in that ante-room, like a +preface to the dramas of the Morgue, or to those enacted on the Place de +la Greve. + +At this moment Colonel Chabert was sitting among these men--men with +coarse faces, clothed in the horrible livery of misery, and silent at +intervals, or talking in a low tone, for three gendarmes on duty paced +to and fro, their sabres clattering on the floor. + +"Do you recognize me?" said Derville to the old man, standing in front +of him. + +"Yes, sir," said Chabert, rising. + +"If you are an honest man," Derville went on in an undertone, "how could +you remain in my debt?" + +The old soldier blushed as a young girl might when accused by her mother +of a clandestine love affair. + +"What! Madame Ferraud has not paid you?" cried he in a loud voice. + +"Paid me?" said Derville. "She wrote to me that you were a swindler." + +The Colonel cast up his eyes in a sublime impulse of horror and +imprecation, as if to call heaven to witness to this fresh subterfuge. + +"Monsieur," said he, in a voice that was calm by sheer huskiness, "get +the gendarmes to allow me to go into the lock-up, and I will sign an +order which will certainly be honored." + +At a word from Derville to the sergeant he was allowed to take his +client into the room, where Hyacinthe wrote a few lines, and addressed +them to the Comtesse Ferraud. + +"Send her that," said the soldier, "and you will be paid your costs and +the money you advanced. Believe me, monsieur, if I have not shown +you the gratitude I owe you for your kind offices, it is not the less +there," and he laid his hand on his heart. "Yes, it is there, deep and +sincere. But what can the unfortunate do? They live, and that is all." + +"What!" said Derville. "Did you not stipulate for an allowance?" + +"Do not speak of it!" cried the old man. "You cannot conceive how deep +my contempt is for the outside life to which most men cling. I was +suddenly attacked by a sickness--disgust of humanity. When I think +that Napoleon is at Saint-Helena, everything on earth is a matter of +indifference to me. I can no longer be a soldier; that is my only real +grief. After all," he added with a gesture of childish simplicity, "it +is better to enjoy luxury of feeling than of dress. For my part, I fear +nobody's contempt." + +And the Colonel sat down on his bench again. + +Derville went away. On returning to his office, he sent Godeschal, at +that time his second clerk, to the Comtesse Ferraud, who, on reading the +note, at once paid the sum due to Comte Chabert's lawyer. + + + +In 1840, towards the end of June, Godeschal, now himself an attorney, +went to Ris with Derville, to whom he had succeeded. When they reached +the avenue leading from the highroad to Bicetre, they saw, under one +of the elm-trees by the wayside, one of those old, broken, and hoary +paupers who have earned the Marshal's staff among beggars by living on +at Bicetre as poor women live on at la Salpetriere. This man, one of +the two thousand poor creatures who are lodged in the infirmary for the +aged, was seated on a corner-stone, and seemed to have concentrated all +his intelligence on an operation well known to these pensioners, which +consists in drying their snuffy pocket-handkerchiefs in the sun, perhaps +to save washing them. This old man had an attractive countenance. He was +dressed in a reddish cloth wrapper-coat which the work-house affords to +its inmates, a sort of horrible livery. + +"I say, Derville," said Godeschal to his traveling companion, "look at +that old fellow. Isn't he like those grotesque carved figures we get +from Germany? And it is alive, perhaps it is happy." + +Derville looked at the poor man through his eyeglass, and with a little +exclamation of surprise he said: + +"That old man, my dear fellow, is a whole poem, or, as the romantics +say, a drama.--Did you ever meet the Comtesse Ferraud?" + +"Yes; she is a clever woman, and agreeable; but rather too pious," said +Godeschal. + +"That old Bicetre pauper is her lawful husband, Comte Chabert, the +old Colonel. She has had him sent here, no doubt. And if he is in +this workhouse instead of living in a mansion, it is solely because he +reminded the pretty Countess that he had taken her, like a hackney cab, +on the street. I can remember now the tiger's glare she shot at him at +that moment." + +This opening having excited Godeschal's curiosity, Derville related the +story here told. + +Two days later, on Monday morning, as they returned to Paris, the two +friends looked again at Bicetre, and Derville proposed that they should +call on Colonel Chabert. Halfway up the avenue they found the old man +sitting on the trunk of a felled tree. With his stick in one hand, he +was amusing himself with drawing lines in the sand. On looking at him +narrowly, they perceived that he had been breakfasting elsewhere than at +Bicetre. + +"Good-morning, Colonel Chabert," said Derville. + +"Not Chabert! not Chabert! My name is Hyacinthe," replied the veteran. +"I am no longer a man, I am No. 164, Room 7," he added, looking at +Derville with timid anxiety, the fear of an old man and a child.--"Are +you going to visit the man condemned to death?" he asked after a +moment's silence. "He is not married! He is very lucky!" + +"Poor fellow!" said Godeschal. "Would you like something to buy snuff?" + +With all the simplicity of a street Arab, the Colonel eagerly held out +his hand to the two strangers, who each gave him a twenty-franc piece; +he thanked them with a puzzled look, saying: + +"Brave troopers!" + +He ported arms, pretended to take aim at them, and shouted with a smile: + +"Fire! both arms! _Vive Napoleon_!" And he drew a flourish in the air +with his stick. + +"The nature of his wound has no doubt made him childish," said Derville. + +"Childish! he?" said another old pauper, who was looking on. "Why, there +are days when you had better not tread on his corns. He is an old rogue, +full of philosophy and imagination. But to-day, what can you expect! He +has had his Monday treat.--He was here, monsieur, so long ago as 1820. +At that time a Prussian officer, whose chaise was crawling up the hill +of Villejuif, came by on foot. We two were together, Hyacinthe and I, +by the roadside. The officer, as he walked, was talking to another, a +Russian, or some animal of the same species, and when the Prussian saw +the old boy, just to make fun, he said to him, 'Here is an old cavalry +man who must have been at Rossbach.'--'I was too young to be there,' +said Hyacinthe. 'But I was at Jena.' And the Prussian made off pretty +quick, without asking any more questions." + +"What a destiny!" exclaimed Derville. "Taken out of the Foundling +Hospital to die in the Infirmary for the Aged, after helping Napoleon +between whiles to conquer Egypt and Europe.--Do you know, my dear +fellow," Derville went on after a pause, "there are in modern society +three men who can never think well of the world--the priest, the doctor, +and the man of law? And they wear black robes, perhaps because they are +in mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most hapless of +the three is the lawyer. When a man comes in search of the priest, he +is prompted by repentance, by remorse, by beliefs which make him +interesting, which elevate him and comfort the soul of the intercessor +whose task will bring him a sort of gladness; he purifies, repairs and +reconciles. But we lawyers, we see the same evil feelings repeated again +and again, nothing can correct them; our offices are sewers which can +never be cleansed. + +"How many things have I learned in the exercise of my profession! I have +seen a father die in a garret, deserted by two daughters, to whom he had +given forty thousand francs a year! I have known wills burned; I have +seen mothers robbing their children, wives killing their husbands, and +working on the love they could inspire to make the men idiotic or mad, +that they might live in peace with a lover. I have seen women teaching +the child of their marriage such tastes as must bring it to the grave in +order to benefit the child of an illicit affection. I could not tell +you all I have seen, for I have seen crimes against which justice is +impotent. In short, all the horrors that romancers suppose they have +invented are still below the truth. You will know something of these +pretty things; as for me, I am going to live in the country with my +wife. I have a horror of Paris." + +"I have seen plenty of them already in Desroches' office," replied +Godeschal. + + +PARIS, February-March 1832. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Bonaparte, Napoleon + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Seamy Side of History + A Woman of Thirty + + Crottat, Alexandre + Cesar Birotteau + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + Cousin Pons + + Derville + Gobseck + A Start in Life + The Gondreville Mystery + Father Goriot + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + + Desroches (son) + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Commission in Lunacy + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + + Ferraud, Comtesse + The Government Clerks + + Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + The Commission in Lunacy + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Gobseck + + Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier + The Chouans + The Seamy Side of History + The Gondreville Mystery + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Ball at Sceaux + The Lily of the Valley + The Government Clerks + + Murat, Joachim, Prince + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Country Doctor + + Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Muse of the Department + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Peasantry + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + Cousin Betty + + Vergniaud, Louis + The Vendetta + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Chabert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1954.txt or 1954.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/5/1954/ + +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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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0490485 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #1954 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1954) diff --git a/old/20040701-1954.txt b/old/20040701-1954.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ca35d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20040701-1954.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3203 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Chabert, 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: Colonel Chabert + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Release Date: July 1, 2004 [EBook #1954] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and John Bickers + + + + + COLONEL CHABERT + + BY + + HONORE DE BALZAC + + + Translated by + + Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + + + + + DEDICATION + + To Madame la Comtesse Ida de Bocarme nee du Chasteler. + + + + + + COLONEL CHABERT + + + +"HULLO! There is that old Box-coat again!" + +This exclamation was made by a lawyer's clerk of the class called in +French offices a gutter-jumper--a messenger in fact--who at this +moment was eating a piece of dry bread with a hearty appetite. He +pulled off a morsel of crumb to make into a bullet, and fired it +gleefully through the open pane of the window against which he was +leaning. The pellet, well aimed, rebounded almost as high as the +window, after hitting the hat of a stranger who was crossing the +courtyard of a house in the Rue Vivienne, where dwelt Maitre Derville, +attorney-at-law. + +"Come, Simonnin, don't play tricks on people, or I will turn you out +of doors. However poor a client may be, he is still a man, hang it +all!" said the head clerk, pausing in the addition of a bill of costs. + +The lawyer's messenger is commonly, as was Simonnin, a lad of thirteen +or fourteen, who, in every office, is under the special jurisdiction +of the managing clerk, whose errands and /billets-doux/ keep him +employed on his way to carry writs to the bailiffs and petitions to +the Courts. He is akin to the street boy in his habits, and to the +pettifogger by fate. The boy is almost always ruthless, unbroken, +unmanageable, a ribald rhymester, impudent, greedy, and idle. And yet, +almost all these clerklings have an old mother lodging on some fifth +floor with whom they share their pittance of thirty or forty francs a +month. + +"If he is a man, why do you call him old Box-coat?" asked Simonnin, +with the air of a schoolboy who has caught out his master. + +And he went on eating his bread and cheese, leaning his shoulder +against the window jamb; for he rested standing like a cab-horse, one +of his legs raised and propped against the other, on the toe of his +shoe. + +"What trick can we play that cove?" said the third clerk, whose name +was Godeschal, in a low voice, pausing in the middle of a discourse he +was extemporizing in an appeal engrossed by the fourth clerk, of which +copies were being made by two neophytes from the provinces. + +Then he went on improvising: + +"/But, in his noble and beneficent wisdom, his Majesty, Louis the +Eighteenth/--(write it at full length, heh! Desroches the learned +--you, as you engross it!)--/when he resumed the reins of Government, +understood/--(what did that old nincompoop ever understand?)--/the +high mission to which he had been called by Divine Providence!/--(a +note of admiration and six stops. They are pious enough at the Courts +to let us put six)--/and his first thought, as is proved by the date +of the order hereinafter designated, was to repair the misfortunes +caused by the terrible and sad disasters of the revolutionary times, +by restoring to his numerous and faithful adherents/--('numerous' is +flattering, and ought to please the Bench)--/all their unsold estates, +whether within our realm, or in conquered or acquired territory, or in +the endowments of public institutions, for we are, and proclaim +ourselves competent to declare, that this is the spirit and meaning of +the famous, truly loyal order given in/--Stop," said Godeschal to the +three copying clerks, "that rascally sentence brings me to the end of +my page.--Well," he went on, wetting the back fold of the sheet with +his tongue, so as to be able to fold back the page of thick stamped +paper, "well, if you want to play him a trick, tell him that the +master can only see his clients between two and three in the morning; +we shall see if he comes, the old ruffian!" + +And Godeschal took up the sentence he was dictating--"/given in/--Are +you ready?" + +"Yes," cried the three writers. + +It all went all together, the appeal, the gossip, and the conspiracy. + +"/Given in/--Here, Daddy Boucard, what is the date of the order? We +must dot our /i/'s and cross our /t/'s, by Jingo! it helps to fill the +pages." + +"By Jingo!" repeated one of the copying clerks before Boucard, the +head clerk, could reply. + +"What! have you written /by Jingo/?" cried Godeschal, looking at one +of the novices, with an expression at once stern and humorous. + +"Why, yes," said Desroches, the fourth clerk, leaning across his +neighbor's copy, "he has written, '/We must dot our i's/' and spelt it +/by Gingo/!" + +All the clerks shouted with laughter. + +"Why! Monsieur Hure, you take 'By Jingo' for a law term, and you say +you come from Mortagne!" exclaimed Simonnin. + +"Scratch it cleanly out," said the head clerk. "If the judge, whose +business it is to tax the bill, were to see such things, he would say +you were laughing at the whole boiling. You would hear of it from the +chief! Come, no more of this nonsense, Monsieur Hure! A Norman ought +not to write out an appeal without thought. It is the 'Shoulder arms!' +of the law." + +"/Given in--in/?" asked Godeschal.--"Tell me when, Boucard." + +"June 1814," replied the head clerk, without looking up from his work. + +A knock at the office door interrupted the circumlocutions of the +prolix document. Five clerks with rows of hungry teeth, bright, +mocking eyes, and curly heads, lifted their noses towards the door, +after crying all together in a singing tone, "Come in!" + +Boucard kept his face buried in a pile of papers--/broutilles/ (odds +and ends) in French law jargon--and went on drawing out the bill of +costs on which he was busy. + +The office was a large room furnished with the traditional stool which +is to be seen in all these dens of law-quibbling. The stove-pipe +crossed the room diagonally to the chimney of a bricked-up fireplace; +on the marble chimney-piece were several chunks of bread, triangles of +Brie cheese, pork cutlets, glasses, bottles, and the head clerk's cup +of chocolate. The smell of these dainties blended so completely with +that of the immoderately overheated stove and the odor peculiar to +offices and old papers, that the trail of a fox would not have been +perceptible. The floor was covered with mud and snow, brought in by +the clerks. Near the window stood the desk with a revolving lid, where +the head clerk worked, and against the back of it was the second +clerk's table. The second clerk was at this moment in Court. It was +between eight and nine in the morning. + +The only decoration of the office consisted in huge yellow posters, +announcing seizures of real estate, sales, settlements under trust, +final or interim judgments,--all the glory of a lawyer's office. +Behind the head clerk was an enormous room, of which each division was +crammed with bundles of papers with an infinite number of tickets +hanging from them at the ends of red tape, which give a peculiar +physiognomy to law papers. The lower rows were filled with cardboard +boxes, yellow with use, on which might be read the names of the more +important clients whose cases were juicily stewing at this present +time. The dirty window-panes admitted but little daylight. Indeed, +there are very few offices in Paris where it is possible to write +without lamplight before ten in the morning in the month of February, +for they are all left to very natural neglect; every one comes and no +one stays; no one has any personal interest in a scene of mere routine +--neither the attorney, nor the counsel, nor the clerks, trouble +themselves about the appearance of a place which, to the youths, is a +schoolroom; to the clients, a passage; to the chief, a laboratory. The +greasy furniture is handed down to successive owners with such +scrupulous care, that in some offices may still be seen boxes of +/remainders/, machines for twisting parchment gut, and bags left by +the prosecuting parties of the Chatelet (abbreviated to /Chlet/)--a +Court which, under the old order of things, represented the present +Court of First Instance (or County Court). + +So in this dark office, thick with dust, there was, as in all its +fellows, something repulsive to the clients--something which made it +one of the most hideous monstrosities of Paris. Nay, were it not for +the mouldy sacristies where prayers are weighed out and paid for like +groceries, and for the old-clothes shops, where flutter the rags that +blight all the illusions of life by showing us the last end of all our +festivities--an attorney's office would be, of all social marts, the +most loathsome. But we might say the same of the gambling-hell, of the +Law Court, of the lottery office, of the brothel. + +But why? In these places, perhaps, the drama being played in a man's +soul makes him indifferent to accessories, which would also account +for the single-mindedness of great thinkers and men of great +ambitions. + +"Where is my penknife?" + +"I am eating my breakfast." + +"You go and be hanged! here is a blot on the copy." + +"Silence, gentlemen!" + +These various exclamations were uttered simultaneously at the moment +when the old client shut the door with the sort of humility which +disfigures the movements of a man down on his luck. The stranger tried +to smile, but the muscles of his face relaxed as he vainly looked for +some symptoms of amenity on the inexorably indifferent faces of the +six clerks. Accustomed, no doubt, to gauge men, he very politely +addressed the gutter-jumper, hoping to get a civil answer from this +boy of all work. + +"Monsieur, is your master at home?" + +The pert messenger made no reply, but patted his ear with the fingers +of his left hand, as much as to say, "I am deaf." + +"What do you want, sir?" asked Godeschal, swallowing as he spoke a +mouthful of bread big enough to charge a four-pounder, flourishing his +knife and crossing his legs, throwing up one foot in the air to the +level of his eyes. + +"This is the fifth time I have called," replied the victim. "I wish to +speak to M. Derville." + +"On business?" + +"Yes, but I can explain it to no one but--" + +"M. Derville is in bed; if you wish to consult him on some difficulty, +he does no serious work till midnight. But if you will lay the case +before us, we could help you just as well as he can to----" + +The stranger was unmoved; he looked timidly about him, like a dog who +has got into a strange kitchen and expects a kick. By grace of their +profession, lawyers' clerks have no fear of thieves; they did not +suspect the owner of the box-coat, and left him to study the place, +where he looked in vain for a chair to sit on, for he was evidently +tired. Attorneys, on principle, do not have many chairs in their +offices. The inferior client, being kept waiting on his feet, goes +away grumbling, but then he does not waste time, which, as an old +lawyer once said, is not allowed for when the bill is taxed. + +"Monsieur," said the old man, "as I have already told you, I cannot +explain my business to any one but M. Derville. I will wait till he is +up." + +Boucard had finished his bill. He smelt the fragrance of his +chocolate, rose from his cane armchair, went to the chimney-piece, +looked the old man from head to foot, stared at his coat, and made an +indescribable grimace. He probably reflected that whichever way his +client might be wrung, it would be impossible to squeeze out a +centime, so he put in a few brief words to rid the office of a bad +customer. + +"It is the truth, monsieur. The chief only works at night. If your +business is important, I recommend you to return at one in the +morning." The stranger looked at the head clerk with a bewildered +expression, and remained motionless for a moment. The clerks, +accustomed to every change of countenance, and the odd whimsicalities +to which indecision or absence of mind gives rise in "parties," went +on eating, making as much noise with their jaws as horses over a +manger, and paying no further heed to the old man. + +"I will come again to-night," said the stranger at length, with the +tenacious desire, peculiar to the unfortunate, to catch humanity at +fault. + +The only irony allowed to poverty is to drive Justice and Benevolence +to unjust denials. When a poor wretch has convicted Society of +falsehood, he throws himself more eagerly on the mercy of God. + +"What do you think of that for a cracked pot?" said Simonnin, without +waiting till the old man had shut the door. + +"He looks as if he had been buried and dug up again," said a clerk. + +"He is some colonel who wants his arrears of pay," said the head +clerk. + +"No, he is a retired concierge," said Godeschal. + +"I bet you he is a nobleman," cried Boucard. + +"I bet you he has been a porter," retorted Godeschal. "Only porters +are gifted by nature with shabby box-coats, as worn and greasy and +frayed as that old body's. And did you see his trodden-down boots that +let the water in, and his stock which serves for a shirt? He has slept +in a dry arch." + +"He may be of noble birth, and yet have pulled the doorlatch," cried +Desroches. "It has been known!" + +"No," Boucard insisted, in the midst of laughter, "I maintain that he +was a brewer in 1789, and a colonel in the time of the Republic." + +"I bet theatre tickets round that he never was a soldier," said +Godeschal. + +"Done with you," answered Boucard. + +"Monsieur! Monsieur!" shouted the little messenger, opening the +window. + +"What are you at now, Simonnin?" asked Boucard. + +"I am calling him that you may ask him whether he is a colonel or a +porter; he must know." + +All the clerks laughed. As to the old man, he was already coming +upstairs again. + +"What can we say to him?" cried Godeschal. + +"Leave it to me," replied Boucard. + +The poor man came in nervously, his eyes cast down, perhaps not to +betray how hungry he was by looking too greedily at the eatables. + +"Monsieur," said Boucard, "will you have the kindness to leave your +name, so that M. Derville may know----" + +"Chabert." + +"The Colonel who was killed at Eylau?" asked Hure, who, having so far +said nothing, was jealous of adding a jest to all the others. + +"The same, monsieur," replied the good man, with antique simplicity. +And he went away. + +"Whew!" + +"Done brown!" + +"Poof!" + +"Oh!" + +"Ah!" + +"Boum!" + +"The old rogue!" + +"Ting-a-ring-ting!" + +"Sold again!" + +"Monsieur Desroches, you are going to the play without paying," said +Hure to the fourth clerk, giving him a slap on the shoulder that might +have killed a rhinoceros. + +There was a storm of cat-calls, cries, and exclamations, which all the +onomatopeia of the language would fail to represent. + +"Which theatre shall we go to?" + +"To the opera," cried the head clerk. + +"In the first place," said Godeschal, "I never mentioned which +theatre. I might, if I chose, take you to see Madame Saqui." + +"Madame Saqui is not the play." + +"What is a play?" replied Godeschal. "First, we must define the point +of fact. What did I bet, gentlemen? A play. What is a play? A +spectacle. What is a spectacle? Something to be seen--" + +"But on that principle you would pay your bet by taking us to see the +water run under the Pont Neuf!" cried Simonnin, interrupting him. + +"To be seen for money," Godeschal added. + +"But a great many things are to be seen for money that are not plays. +The definition is defective," said Desroches. + +"But do listen to me!" + +"You are talking nonsense, my dear boy," said Boucard. + +"Is Curtius' a play?" said Godeschal. + +"No," said the head clerk, "it is a collection of figures--but it is a +spectacle." + +"I bet you a hundred francs to a sou," Godeschal resumed, "that +Curtius' Waxworks forms such a show as might be called a play or +theatre. It contains a thing to be seen at various prices, according +to the place you choose to occupy." + +"And so on, and so forth!" said Simonnin. + +"You mind I don't box your ears!" said Godeschal. + +The clerk shrugged their shoulders. + +"Besides, it is not proved that that old ape was not making game of +us," he said, dropping his argument, which was drowned in the laughter +of the other clerks. "On my honor, Colonel Chabert is really and truly +dead. His wife is married again to Comte Ferraud, Councillor of State. +Madame Ferraud is one of our clients." + +"Come, the case is remanded till to-morrow," said Boucard. "To work, +gentlemen. The deuce is in it; we get nothing done here. Finish +copying that appeal; it must be handed in before the sitting of the +Fourth Chamber, judgment is to be given to-day. Come, on you go!" + +"If he really were Colonel Chabert, would not that impudent rascal +Simonnin have felt the leather of his boot in the right place when he +pretended to be deaf?" said Desroches, regarding this remark as more +conclusive than Godeschal's. + +"Since nothing is settled," said Boucard, "let us all agree to go to +the upper boxes of the Francais and see Talma in 'Nero.' Simonnin may +go to the pit." + +And thereupon the head clerk sat down at his table, and the others +followed his example. + +"/Given in June eighteen hundred and fourteen/ (in words)," said +Godeschal. "Ready?" + +"Yes," replied the two copying-clerks and the engrosser, whose pens +forthwith began to creak over the stamped paper, making as much noise +in the office as a hundred cockchafers imprisoned by schoolboys in +paper cages. + +"/And we hope that my lords on the Bench/," the extemporizing clerk +went on. "Stop! I must read my sentence through again. I do not +understand it myself." + +"Forty-six (that must often happen) and three forty-nines," said +Boucard. + +"/We hope/," Godeschal began again, after reading all through the +document, "/that my lords on the Bench will not be less magnanimous +than the august author of the decree, and that they will do justice +against the miserable claims of the acting committee of the chief +Board of the Legion of Honor by interpreting the law in the wide sense +we have here set forth/----" + +"Monsieur Godeschal, wouldn't you like a glass of water?" said the +little messenger. + +"That imp of a boy!" said Boucard. "Here, get on your double-soled +shanks-mare, take this packet, and spin off to the Invalides." + +"/Here set forth/," Godeschal went on. "Add /in the interest of Madame +la Vicomtesse/ (at full length) /de Grandlieu/." + +"What!" cried the chief, "are you thinking of drawing up an appeal in +the case of Vicomtesse de Grandlieu against the Legion of Honor--a +case for the office to stand or fall by? You are something like an +ass! Have the goodness to put aside your copies and your notes; you +may keep all that for the case of Navarreins against the Hospitals. It +is late. I will draw up a little petition myself, with a due allowance +of 'inasmuch,' and go to the Courts myself." + +This scene is typical of the thousand delights which, when we look +back on our youth, make us say, "Those were good times." + + + +At about one in the morning Colonel Chabert, self-styled, knocked at +the door of Maitre Derville, attorney to the Court of First Instance +in the Department of the Seine. The porter told him that Monsieur +Derville had not yet come in. The old man said he had an appointment, +and was shown upstairs to the rooms occupied by the famous lawyer, +who, notwithstanding his youth, was considered to have one of the +longest heads in Paris. + +Having rung, the distrustful applicant was not a little astonished at +finding the head clerk busily arranging in a convenient order on his +master's dining-room table the papers relating to the cases to be +tried on the morrow. The clerk, not less astonished, bowed to the +Colonel and begged him to take a seat, which the client did. + +"On my word, monsieur, I thought you were joking yesterday when you +named such an hour for an interview," said the old man, with the +forced mirth of a ruined man, who does his best to smile. + +"The clerks were joking, but they were speaking the truth too," +replied the man, going on with his work. "M. Derville chooses this +hour for studying his cases, taking stock of their possibilities, +arranging how to conduct them, deciding on the line of defence. His +prodigious intellect is freer at this hour--the only time when he can +have the silence and quiet needed for the conception of good ideas. +Since he entered the profession, you are the third person to come to +him for a consultation at this midnight hour. After coming in the +chief will discuss each case, read everything, spend four or five +hours perhaps over the business, then he will ring for me and explain +to me his intentions. In the morning from ten to two he hears what his +clients have to say, then he spends the rest of his day in +appointments. In the evening he goes into society to keep up his +connections. So he has only the night for undermining his cases, +ransacking the arsenal of the code, and laying his plan of battle. He +is determined never to lose a case; he loves his art. He will not +undertake every case, as his brethren do. That is his life, an +exceptionally active one. And he makes a great deal of money." + +As he listened to this explanation, the old man sat silent, and his +strange face assumed an expression so bereft of intelligence, that the +clerk, after looking at him, thought no more about him. + +A few minutes later Derville came in, in evening dress; his head clerk +opened the door to him, and went back to finish arranging the papers. +The young lawyer paused for a moment in amazement on seeing in the dim +light the strange client who awaited him. Colonel Chabert was as +absolutely immovable as one of the wax figures in Curtius' collection +to which Godeschal had proposed to treat his fellow-clerks. This +quiescence would not have been a subject for astonishment if it had +not completed the supernatural aspect of the man's whole person. The +old soldier was dry and lean. His forehead, intentionally hidden under +a smoothly combed wig, gave him a look of mystery. His eyes seemed +shrouded in a transparent film; you would have compared them to dingy +mother-of-pearl with a blue iridescence changing in the gleam of the +wax lights. His face, pale, livid, and as thin as a knife, if I may +use such a vulgar expression, was as the face of the dead. Round his +neck was a tight black silk stock. + +Below the dark line of this rag the body was so completely hidden in +shadow that a man of imagination might have supposed the old head was +due to some chance play of light and shade, or have taken it for a +portrait by Rembrandt, without a frame. The brim of the hat which +covered the old man's brow cast a black line of shadow on the upper +part of the face. This grotesque effect, though natural, threw into +relief by contrast the white furrows, the cold wrinkles, the colorless +tone of the corpse-like countenance. And the absence of all movement +in the figure, of all fire in the eye, were in harmony with a certain +look of melancholy madness, and the deteriorating symptoms +characteristic of senility, giving the face an indescribably +ill-starred look which no human words could render. + +But an observer, especially a lawyer, could also have read in this +stricken man the signs of deep sorrow, the traces of grief which had +worn into this face, as drops of water from the sky falling on fine +marble at last destroy its beauty. A physician, an author, or a judge +might have discerned a whole drama at the sight of its sublime horror, +while the least charm was its resemblance to the grotesques which +artists amuse themselves by sketching on a corner of the lithographic +stone while chatting with a friend. + +On seeing the attorney, the stranger started, with the convulsive +thrill that comes over a poet when a sudden noise rouses him from a +fruitful reverie in silence and at night. The old man hastily removed +his hat and rose to bow to the young man; the leather lining of his +hat was doubtless very greasy; his wig stuck to it without his +noticing it, and left his head bare, showing his skull horribly +disfigured by a scar beginning at the nape of the neck and ending over +the right eye, a prominent seam all across his head. The sudden +removal of the dirty wig which the poor man wore to hide this gash +gave the two lawyers no inclination to laugh, so horrible to behold +was this riven skull. The first idea suggested by the sight of this +old wound was, "His intelligence must have escaped through that cut." + +"If this is not Colonel Chabert, he is some thorough-going trooper!" +thought Boucard. + +"Monsieur," said Derville, "to whom have I the honor of speaking?" + +"To Colonel Chabert." + +"Which?" + +"He who was killed at Eylau," replied the old man. + +On hearing this strange speech, the lawyer and his clerk glanced at +each other, as much as to say, "He is mad." + +"Monsieur," the Colonel went on, "I wish to confide to you the secret +of my position." + +A thing worthy of note is the natural intrepidity of lawyers. Whether +from the habit of receiving a great many persons, or from the deep +sense of the protection conferred on them by the law, or from +confidence in their missions, they enter everywhere, fearing nothing, +like priests and physicians. Derville signed to Boucard, who vanished. + +"During the day, sir," said the attorney, "I am not so miserly of my +time, but at night every minute is precious. So be brief and concise. +Go to the facts without digression. I will ask for any explanations I +may consider necessary. Speak." + +Having bid his strange client to be seated, the young man sat down at +the table; but while he gave his attention to the deceased Colonel, he +turned over the bundles of papers. + +"You know, perhaps," said the dead man, "that I commanded a cavalry +regiment at Eylau. I was of important service to the success of +Murat's famous charge which decided the victory. Unhappily for me, my +death is a historical fact, recorded in /Victoires et Conquetes/, +where it is related in full detail. We cut through the three Russian +lines, which at once closed up and formed again, so that we had to +repeat the movement back again. At the moment when we were nearing the +Emperor, after having scattered the Russians, I came against a +squadron of the enemy's cavalry. I rushed at the obstinate brutes. Two +Russian officers, perfect giants, attacked me both at once. One of +them gave me a cut across the head that crashed through everything, +even a black silk cap I wore next my head, and cut deep into the +skull. I fell from my horse. Murat came up to support me. He rode over +my body, he and all his men, fifteen hundred of them--there might have +been more! My death was announced to the Emperor, who as a precaution +--for he was fond of me, was the master--wished to know if there were +no hope of saving the man he had to thank for such a vigorous attack. +He sent two surgeons to identify me and bring me into Hospital, +saying, perhaps too carelessly, for he was very busy, 'Go and see +whether by any chance poor Chabert is still alive.' These rascally +saw-bones, who had just seen me lying under the hoofs of the horses of +two regiments, no doubt did not trouble themselves to feel my pulse, +and reported that I was quite dead. The certificate of death was +probably made out in accordance with the rules of military +jurisprudence." + +As he heard his visitor express himself with complete lucidity, and +relate a story so probable though so strange, the young lawyer ceased +fingering the papers, rested his left elbow on the table, and with his +head on his hand looked steadily at the Colonel. + +"Do you know, monsieur, that I am lawyer to the Countess Ferraud," he +said, interrupting the speaker, "Colonel Chabert's widow?" + +"My wife--yes monsieur. Therefore, after a hundred fruitless attempts +to interest lawyers, who have all thought me mad, I made up my mind to +come to you. I will tell you of my misfortunes afterwards; for the +present, allow me to prove the facts, explaining rather how things +must have fallen out rather than how they did occur. Certain +circumstances, known, I suppose to no one but the Almighty, compel me +to speak of some things as hypothetical. The wounds I had received +must presumably have produced tetanus, or have thrown me into a state +analogous to that of a disease called, I believe, catalepsy. Otherwise +how is it conceivable that I should have been stripped, as is the +custom in time of the war, and thrown into the common grave by the men +ordered to bury the dead? + +"Allow me here to refer to a detail of which I could know nothing till +after the event, which, after all, I must speak of as my death. At +Stuttgart, in 1814, I met an old quartermaster of my regiment. This +dear fellow, the only man who chose to recognize me, and of whom I +will tell you more later, explained the marvel of my preservation, by +telling me that my horse was shot in the flank at the moment when I +was wounded. Man and beast went down together, like a monk cut out of +card-paper. As I fell, to the right or to the left, I was no doubt +covered by the body of my horse, which protected me from being +trampled to death or hit by a ball. + +"When I came to myself, monsieur, I was in a position and an +atmosphere of which I could give you no idea if I talked till +to-morrow. The little air there was to breathe was foul. I wanted to +move, and found no room. I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. The most +alarming circumstance was the lack of air, and this enlightened me as +to my situation. I understood that no fresh air could penetrate to me, +and that I must die. This thought took off the sense of intolerable +pain which had aroused me. There was a violent singing in my ears. I +heard--or I thought I heard, I will assert nothing--groans from the +world of dead among whom I was lying. Some nights I still think I hear +those stifled moans; though the remembrance of that time is very +obscure, and my memory very indistinct, in spite of my impressions of +far more acute suffering I was fated to go through, and which have +confused my ideas. + +"But there was something more awful than cries; there was a silence +such as I have never known elsewhere--literally, the silence of the +grave. At last, by raising my hands and feeling the dead, I discerned +a vacant space between my head and the human carrion above. I could +thus measure the space, granted by a chance of which I knew not the +cause. It would seem that, thanks to the carelessness and the haste +with which we had been pitched into the trench, two dead bodies had +leaned across and against each other, forming an angle like that made +by two cards when a child is building a card castle. Feeling about me +at once, for there was no time for play, I happily felt an arm lying +detached, the arm of a Hercules! A stout bone, to which I owed my +rescue. But for this unhoped-for help, I must have perished. But with +a fury you may imagine, I began to work my way through the bodies +which separated me from the layer of earth which had no doubt been +thrown over us--I say us, as if there had been others living! I worked +with a will, monsieur, for here I am! But to this day I do not know +how I succeeded in getting through the pile of flesh which formed a +barrier between me and life. You will say I had three arms. This +crowbar, which I used cleverly enough, opened out a little air between +the bodies I moved, and I economized my breath. At last I saw +daylight, but through snow! + +"At that moment I perceived that my head was cut open. Happily my +blood, or that of my comrades, or perhaps the torn skin of my horse, +who knows, had in coagulating formed a sort of natural plaster. But, +in spite of it, I fainted away when my head came into contact with the +snow. However, the little warmth left in me melted the snow about me; +and when I recovered consciousness, I found myself in the middle of a +round hole, where I stood shouting as long as I could. But the sun was +rising, so I had very little chance of being heard. Was there any one +in the fields yet? I pulled myself up, using my feet as a spring, +resting on one of the dead, whose ribs were firm. You may suppose that +this was not the moment for saying, 'Respect courage in misfortune!' +In short, monsieur, after enduring the anguish, if the word is strong +enough for my frenzy, of seeing for a long time, yes, quite a long +time, those cursed Germans flying from a voice they heard where they +could see no one, I was dug out by a woman, who was brave or curious +enough to come close to my head, which must have looked as though it +had sprouted from the ground like a mushroom. This woman went to fetch +her husband, and between them they got me to their poor hovel. + +"It would seem that I must have again fallen into a catalepsy--allow +me to use the word to describe a state of which I have no idea, but +which, from the account given by my hosts, I suppose to have been the +effect of that malady. I remained for six months between life and +death; not speaking, or, if I spoke, talking in delirium. At last, my +hosts got me admitted to the hospital at Heilsberg. + +"You will understand, Monsieur, that I came out of the womb of the +grave as naked as I came from my mother's; so that six months +afterwards, when I remembered, one fine morning, that I had been +Colonel Chabert, and when, on recovering my wits, I tried to exact +from my nurse rather more respect than she paid to any poor devil, all +my companions in the ward began to laugh. Luckily for me, the surgeon, +out of professional pride, had answered for my cure, and was naturally +interested in his patient. When I told him coherently about my former +life, this good man, named Sparchmann, signed a deposition, drawn up +in the legal form of his country, giving an account of the miraculous +way in which I had escaped from the trench dug for the dead, the day +and hour when I had been found by my benefactress and her husband, the +nature and exact spot of my injuries, adding to these documents a +description of my person. + +"Well, monsieur, I have neither these important pieces of evidence, +nor the declaration I made before a notary at Heilsberg, with a view +to establishing my identity. From the day when I was turned out of +that town by the events of the war, I have wandered about like a +vagabond, begging my bread, treated as a madman when I have told my +story, without ever having found or earned a sou to enable me to +recover the deeds which would prove my statements, and restore me to +society. My sufferings have often kept me for six months at a time in +some little town, where every care was taken of the invalid Frenchman, +but where he was laughed at to his face as soon as he said he was +Colonel Chabert. For a long time that laughter, those doubts, used to +put me into rages which did me harm, and which even led to my being +locked up at Stuttgart as a madman. And indeed, as you may judge from +my story, there was ample reason for shutting a man up. + +"At the end of two years' detention, which I was compelled to submit +to, after hearing my keepers say a thousand times, 'Here is a poor man +who thinks he is Colonel Chabert' to people who would reply, 'Poor +fellow!' I became convinced of the impossibility of my own adventure. +I grew melancholy, resigned, and quiet, and gave up calling myself +Colonel Chabert, in order to get out of my prison, and see France once +more. Oh, monsieur! To see Paris again was a delirium which I----" + +Without finishing his sentence, Colonel Chabert fell into a deep +study, which Derville respected. + +"One fine day," his visitor resumed, "one spring day, they gave me the +key of the fields, as we say, and ten thalers, admitting that I talked +quite sensibly on all subjects, and no longer called myself Colonel +Chabert. On my honor, at that time, and even to this day, sometimes I +hate my name. I wish I were not myself. The sense of my rights kills +me. If my illness had but deprived me of all memory of my past life, I +could be happy. I should have entered the service again under any +name, no matter what, and should, perhaps, have been made +Field-Marshal in Austria or Russia. Who knows?" + +"Monsieur," said the attorney, "you have upset all my ideas. I feel as +if I heard you in a dream. Pause for a moment, I beg of you." + +"You are the only person," said the Colonel, with a melancholy look, +"who ever listened to me so patiently. No lawyer has been willing to +lend me ten napoleons to enable me to procure from Germany the +necessary documents to begin my lawsuit--" + +"What lawsuit?" said the attorney, who had forgotten his client's +painful position in listening to the narrative of his past sufferings. + +"Why, monsieur, is not the Comtesse Ferraud my wife? She has thirty +thousand francs a year, which belong to me, and she will not give me a +son. When I tell lawyers these things--men of sense; when I propose +--I, a beggar--to bring action against a Count and Countess; when I--a +dead man--bring up as against a certificate of death a certificate of +marriage and registers of births, they show me out, either with the +air of cold politeness, which you all know how to assume to rid +yourself of a hapless wretch, or brutally, like men who think they +have to deal with a swindler or a madman--it depends on their nature. +I have been buried under the dead; but now I am buried under the +living, under papers, under facts, under the whole of society, which +wants to shove me underground again!" + +"Pray resume your narrative," said Derville. + +"'Pray resume it!'" cried the hapless old man, taking the young +lawyer's hand. "That is the first polite word I have heard since----" + +The Colonel wept. Gratitude choked his voice. The appealing and +unutterable eloquence that lies in the eyes, in a gesture, even in +silence, entirely convinced Derville, and touched him deeply. + +"Listen, monsieur," said he; "I have this evening won three hundred +francs at cards. I may very well lay out half that sum in making a man +happy. I will begin the inquiries and researches necessary to obtain +the documents of which you speak, and until they arrive I will give +you five francs a day. If you are Colonel Chabert, you will pardon the +smallness of the loan as it is coming from a young man who has his +fortune to make. Proceed." + +The Colonel, as he called himself, sat for a moment motionless and +bewildered; the depth of his woes had no doubt destroyed his powers of +belief. Though he was eager in pursuit of his military distinction, of +his fortune, of himself, perhaps it was in obedience to the +inexplicable feeling, the latent germ in every man's heart, to which +we owe the experiments of alchemists, the passion for glory, the +discoveries of astronomy and of physics, everything which prompts man +to expand his being by multiplying himself through deeds or ideas. In +his mind the /Ego/ was now but a secondary object, just as the vanity +of success or the pleasures of winning become dearer to the gambler +than the object he has at stake. The young lawyer's words were as a +miracle to this man, for ten years repudiated by his wife, by justice, +by the whole social creation. To find in a lawyer's office the ten +gold pieces which had so long been refused him by so many people, and +in so many ways! The colonel was like the lady who, having been ill of +a fever for fifteen years, fancied she had some fresh complaint when +she was cured. There are joys in which we have ceased to believe; they +fall on us, it is like a thunderbolt; they burn us. The poor man's +gratitude was too great to find utterance. To superficial observers he +seemed cold, but Derville saw complete honesty under this amazement. A +swindler would have found his voice. + +"Where was I?" said the Colonel, with the simplicity of a child or of +a soldier, for there is often something of the child in a true +soldier, and almost always something of the soldier in a child, +especially in France. + +"At Stuttgart. You were out of prison," said Derville. + +"You know my wife?" asked the Colonel. + +"Yes," said Derville, with a bow. + +"What is she like?" + +"Still quite charming." + +The old man held up his hand, and seemed to be swallowing down some +secret anguish with the grave and solemn resignation that is +characteristic of men who have stood the ordeal of blood and fire on +the battlefield. + +"Monsieur," said he, with a sort of cheerfulness--for he breathed +again, the poor Colonel; he had again risen from the grave; he had +just melted a covering of snow less easily thawed than that which had +once before frozen his head; and he drew a deep breath, as if he had +just escaped from a dungeon--"Monsieur, if I had been a handsome young +fellow, none of my misfortunes would have befallen me. Women believe +in men when they flavor their speeches with the word Love. They hurry +then, they come, they go, they are everywhere at once; they intrigue, +they assert facts, they play the very devil for a man who takes their +fancy. But how could I interest a woman? I had a face like a Requiem. +I was dressed like a /sans-culotte/. I was more like an Esquimaux than +a Frenchman--I, who had formerly been considered one of the smartest +of fops in 1799!--I, Chabert, Count of the Empire. + +"Well, on the very day when I was turned out into the streets like a +dog, I met the quartermaster of whom I just now spoke. This old +soldier's name was Boutin. The poor devil and I made the queerest pair +of broken-down hacks I ever set eyes on. I met him out walking; but +though I recognized him, he could not possibly guess who I was. We +went into a tavern together. In there, when I told him my name, +Boutin's mouth opened from ear to ear in a roar of laughter, like the +bursting of a mortar. That mirth, monsieur, was one of the keenest +pangs I have known. It told me without disguise how great were the +changes in me! I was, then, unrecognizable even to the humblest and +most grateful of my former friends! + +"I had once saved Boutin's life, but it was only the repayment of a +debt I owed him. I need not tell you how he did me this service; it +was at Ravenna, in Italy. The house where Boutin prevented my being +stabbed was not extremely respectable. At that time I was not a +colonel, but, like Boutin himself, a common trooper. Happily there +were certain details of this adventure which could be known only to us +two, and when I recalled them to his mind his incredulity diminished. +I then told him the story of my singular experiences. Although my eyes +and my voice, he told me, were strangely altered, although I had +neither hair, teeth, nor eyebrows, and was as colorless as an Albino, +he at last recognized his Colonel in the beggar, after a thousand +questions, which I answered triumphantly. + +"He related his adventures; they were not less extraordinary than my +own; he had lately come back from the frontiers of China, which he had +tried to cross after escaping from Siberia. He told me of the +catastrophe of the Russian campaign, and of Napoleon's first +abdication. That news was one of the things which caused me most +anguish! + +"We were two curious derelicts, having been rolled over the globe as +pebbles are rolled by the ocean when storms bear them from shore to +shore. Between us we had seen Egypt, Syria, Spain, Russia, Holland, +Germany, Italy and Dalmatia, England, China, Tartary, Siberia; the +only thing wanting was that neither of us had been to America or the +Indies. Finally, Boutin, who still was more locomotive than I, +undertook to go to Paris as quickly as might be to inform my wife of +the predicament in which I was. I wrote a long letter full of details +to Madame Chabert. That, monsieur, was the fourth! If I had had any +relations, perhaps nothing of all this might have happened; but, to be +frank with you, I am but a workhouse child, a soldier, whose sole +fortune was his courage, whose sole family is mankind at large, whose +country is France, whose only protector is the Almighty.--Nay, I am +wrong! I had a father--the Emperor! Ah! if he were but here, the dear +man! If he could see /his Chabert/, as he used to call me, in the +state in which I am now, he would be in a rage! What is to be done? +Our sun is set, and we are all out in the cold now. After all, +political events might account for my wife's silence! + +"Boutin set out. He was a lucky fellow! He had two bears, admirably +trained, which brought him in a living. I could not go with him; the +pain I suffered forbade my walking long stages. I wept, monsieur, when +we parted, after I had gone as far as my state allowed in company with +him and his bears. At Carlsruhe I had an attack of neuralgia in the +head, and lay for six weeks on straw in an inn. I should never have +ended if I were to tell you all the distresses of my life as a beggar. +Moral suffering, before which physical suffering pales, nevertheless +excites less pity, because it is not seen. I remember shedding tears, +as I stood in front of a fine house in Strassburg where once I had +given an entertainment, and where nothing was given me, not even a +piece of bread. Having agreed with Boutin on the road I was to take, I +went to every post-office to ask if there were a letter or some money +for me. I arrived at Paris without having found either. What despair I +had been forced to endure! 'Boutin must be dead! I told myself, and in +fact the poor fellow was killed at Waterloo. I heard of his death +later, and by mere chance. His errand to my wife had, of course, been +fruitless. + +"At last I entered Paris--with the Cossacks. To me this was grief on +grief. On seeing the Russians in France, I quite forgot that I had no +shoes on my feet nor money in my pocket. Yes, monsieur, my clothes +were in tatters. The evening before I reached Paris I was obliged to +bivouac in the woods of Claye. The chill of the night air no doubt +brought on an attack of some nameless complaint which seized me as I +was crossing the Faubourg Saint-Martin. I dropped almost senseless at +the door of an ironmonger's shop. When I recovered I was in a bed in +the Hotel-Dieu. There I stayed very contentedly for about a month. I +was then turned out; I had no money, but I was well, and my feet were +on the good stones of Paris. With what delight and haste did I make my +way to the Rue du Mont-Blanc, where my wife should be living in a +house belonging to me! Bah! the Rue du Mont-Blanc was now the Rue de +la Chausee d'Antin; I could not find my house; it had been sold and +pulled down. Speculators had built several houses over my gardens. Not +knowing that my wife had married M. Ferraud, I could obtain no +information. + +"At last I went to the house of an old lawyer who had been in charge +of my affairs. This worthy man was dead, after selling his connection +to a younger man. This gentleman informed me, to my great surprise, of +the administration of my estate, the settlement of the moneys, of my +wife's marriage, and the birth of her two children. When I told him +that I was Colonel Chabert, he laughed so heartily that I left him +without saying another word. My detention at Stuttgart had suggested +possibilities of Charenton, and I determined to act with caution. +Then, monsieur, knowing where my wife lived, I went to her house, my +heart high with hope.--Well," said the Colonel, with a gesture of +concentrated fury, "when I called under an assumed name I was not +admitted, and on the day when I used my own I was turned out of doors. + +"To see the Countess come home from a ball or the play in the early +morning, I have sat whole nights through, crouching close to the wall +of her gateway. My eyes pierced the depths of the carriage, which +flashed past me with the swiftness of lightning, and I caught a +glimpse of the woman who is my wife and no longer mine. Oh, from that +day I have lived for vengeance!" cried the old man in a hollow voice, +and suddenly standing up in front of Derville. "She knows that I am +alive; since my return she has had two letters written with my own +hand. She loves me no more!--I--I know not whether I love or hate her. +I long for her and curse her by turns. To me she owes all her fortune, +all her happiness; well, she has not sent me the very smallest +pittance. Sometimes I do not know what will become of me!" + +With these words the veteran dropped on to his chair again and +remained motionless. Derville sat in silence, studying his client. + +"It is a serious business," he said at length, mechanically. "Even +granting the genuineness of the documents to be procured from +Heilsberg, it is not proved to me that we can at once win our case. It +must go before three tribunals in succession. I must think such a +matter over with a clear head; it is quite exceptional." + +"Oh," said the Colonel, coldly, with a haughty jerk of his head, "if I +fail, I can die--but not alone." + +The feeble old man had vanished. The eyes were those of a man of +energy, lighted up with the spark of desire and revenge. + +"We must perhaps compromise," said the lawyer. + +"Compromise!" echoed Colonel Chabert. "Am I dead, or am I alive?" + +"I hope, monsieur," the attorney went on, "that you will follow my +advice. Your cause is mine. You will soon perceive the interest I take +in your situation, almost unexampled in judicial records. For the +moment I will give you a letter to my notary, who will pay to your +order fifty francs every ten days. It would be unbecoming for you to +come here to receive alms. If you are Colonel Chabert, you ought to be +at no man's mercy. I shall record these advances as a loan; you have +estates to recover; you are rich." + +This delicate compassion brought tears to the old man's eyes. Derville +rose hastily, for it was perhaps not correct for a lawyer to show +emotion; he went into the adjoining room, and came back with an +unsealed letter, which he gave to the Colonel. When the poor man held +it in his hand, he felt through the paper two gold pieces. + +"Will you be good enough to describe the documents, and tell me the +name of the town, and in what kingdom?" said the lawyer. + +The Colonel dictated the information, and verified the spelling of the +names of places; then he took his hat in one hand, looked at Derville, +and held out the other--a horny hand, saying with much simplicity: + +"On my honor, sir, after the Emperor, you are the man to whom I shall +owe most. You are a splendid fellow!" + +The attorney clapped his hand into the Colonel's, saw him to the +stairs, and held a light for him. + +"Boucard," said Derville to his head clerk, "I have just listened to a +tale that may cost me five and twenty louis. If I am robbed, I shall +not regret the money, for I shall have seen the most consummate actor +of the day." + +When the Colonel was in the street and close to a lamp, he took the +two twenty-franc pieces out of the letter and looked at them for a +moment under the light. It was the first gold he had seen for nine +years. + +"I may smoke cigars!" he said to himself. + + + +About three months after this interview, at night, in Derville's room, +the notary commissioned to advance the half-pay on Derville's account +to his eccentric client, came to consult the attorney on a serious +matter, and began by begging him to refund the six hundred francs that +the old soldier had received. + +"Are you amusing yourself with pensioning the old army?" said the +notary, laughing--a young man named Crottat, who had just bought up +the office in which he had been head clerk, his chief having fled in +consequence of a disastrous bankruptcy. + +"I have to thank you, my dear sir, for reminding me of that affair," +replied Derville. "My philanthropy will not carry me beyond +twenty-five louis; I have, I fear, already been the dupe of my patriotism." + +As Derville finished the sentence, he saw on his desk the papers his +head clerk had laid out for him. His eye was struck by the appearance +of the stamps--long, square, and triangular, in red and blue ink, +which distinguished a letter that had come through the Prussian, +Austrian, Bavarian, and French post-offices. + +"Ah ha!" said he with a laugh, "here is the last act of the comedy; +now we shall see if I have been taken in!" + +He took up the letter and opened it; but he could not read it; it was +written in German. + +"Boucard, go yourself and have this letter translated, and bring it +back immediately," said Derville, half opening his study door, and +giving the letter to the head clerk. + +The notary at Berlin, to whom the lawyer had written, informed him +that the documents he had been requested to forward would arrive +within a few days of this note announcing them. They were, he said, +all perfectly regular and duly witnessed, and legally stamped to serve +as evidence in law. He also informed him that almost all the witnesses +to the facts recorded under these affidavits were still to be found at +Eylau, in Prussia, and that the woman to whom M. le Comte Chabert owed +his life was still living in a suburb of Heilsberg. + +"This looks like business," cried Derville, when Boucard had given him +the substance of the letter. "But look here, my boy," he went on, +addressing the notary, "I shall want some information which ought to +exist in your office. Was it not that old rascal Roguin--?" + +"We will say that unfortunate, that ill-used Roguin," interrupted +Alexandre Crottat with a laugh. + +"Well, was it not that ill-used man who has just carried off eight +hundred thousand francs of his clients' money, and reduced several +families to despair, who effected the settlement of Chabert's estate? +I fancy I have seen that in the documents in our case of Ferraud." + +"Yes," said Crottat. "It was when I was third clerk; I copied the +papers and studied them thoroughly. Rose Chapotel, wife and widow of +Hyacinthe, called Chabert, Count of the Empire, grand officer of the +Legion of Honor. They had married without settlement; thus, they held +all the property in common. To the best of my recollections, the +personalty was about six hundred thousand francs. Before his marriage, +Colonel Chabert had made a will in favor of the hospitals of Paris, by +which he left them one-quarter of the fortune he might possess at the +time of his decease, the State to take the other quarter. The will was +contested, there was a forced sale, and then a division, for the +attorneys went at a pace. At the time of the settlement the monster +who was then governing France handed over to the widow, by special +decree, the portion bequeathed to the treasury." + +"So that Comte Chabert's personal fortune was no more than three +hundred thousand francs?" + +"Consequently so it was, old fellow!" said Crottat. "You lawyers +sometimes are very clear-headed, though you are accused of false +practices in pleading for one side or the other." + +Colonel Chabert, whose address was written at the bottom of the first +receipt he had given the notary, was lodging in the Faubourg +Saint-Marceau, Rue du Petit-Banquier, with an old quartermaster of the +Imperial Guard, now a cowkeeper, named Vergniaud. Having reached the +spot, Derville was obliged to go on foot in search of his client, for +his coachman declined to drive along an unpaved street, where the ruts +were rather too deep for cab wheels. Looking about him on all sides, +the lawyer at last discovered at the end of the street nearest to the +boulevard, between two walls built of bones and mud, two shabby stone +gate-posts, much knocked about by carts, in spite of two wooden stumps +that served as blocks. These posts supported a cross beam with a +penthouse coping of tiles, and on the beam, in red letters, were the +words, "Vergniaud, dairyman." To the right of this inscription were +some eggs, to the left a cow, all painted in white. The gate was open, +and no doubt remained open all day. Beyond a good-sized yard there was +a house facing the gate, if indeed the name of house may be applied to +one of the hovels built in the neighborhood of Paris, which are like +nothing else, not even the most wretched dwellings in the country, of +which they have all the poverty without their poetry. + +Indeed, in the midst of the fields, even a hovel may have a certain +grace derived from the pure air, the verdure, the open country--a +hill, a serpentine road, vineyards, quickset hedges, moss-grown thatch +and rural implements; but poverty in Paris gains dignity only by +horror. Though recently built, this house seemed ready to fall into +ruins. None of its materials had found a legitimate use; they had been +collected from the various demolitions which are going on every day in +Paris. On a shutter made of the boards of a shop-sign Derville read +the words, "Fancy Goods." The windows were all mismatched and +grotesquely placed. The ground floor, which seemed to be the habitable +part, was on one side raised above the soil, and on the other sunk in +the rising ground. Between the gate and the house lay a puddle full of +stable litter, into which flowed the rain-water and house waste. The +back wall of this frail construction, which seemed rather more solidly +built than the rest, supported a row of barred hutches, where rabbits +bred their numerous families. To the right of the gate was the +cowhouse, with a loft above for fodder; it communicated with the house +through the dairy. To the left was a poultry yard, with a stable and +pig-styes, the roofs finished, like that of the house, with rough deal +boards nailed so as to overlap, and shabbily thatched with rushes. + +Like most of the places where the elements of the huge meal daily +devoured by Paris are every day prepared, the yard Derville now +entered showed traces of the hurry that comes of the necessity for +being ready at a fixed hour. The large pot-bellied tin cans in which +milk is carried, and the little pots for cream, were flung pell-mell +at the dairy door, with their linen-covered stoppers. The rags that +were used to clean them, fluttered in the sunshine, riddled with +holes, hanging to strings fastened to poles. The placid horse, of a +breed known only to milk-women, had gone a few steps from the cart, +and was standing in front of the stable, the door being shut. A goat +was munching the shoots of a starved and dusty vine that clung to the +cracked yellow wall of the house. A cat, squatting on the cream jars, +was licking them over. The fowls, scared by Derville's approach, +scuttered away screaming, and the watch-dog barked. + +"And the man who decided the victory at Eylau is to be found here!" +said Derville to himself, as his eyes took in at a glance the general +effect of the squalid scene. + +The house had been left in charge of three little boys. One, who had +climbed to the top of the cart loaded with hay, was pitching stones +into the chimney of a neighboring house, in the hope that they might +fall into a saucepan; another was trying to get a pig into a cart, to +hoist it by making the whole thing tilt. When Derville asked them if +M. Chabert lived there, neither of them replied, but all three looked +at him with a sort of bright stupidity, if I may combine those two +words. Derville repeated his questions, but without success. Provoked +by the saucy cunning of these three imps, he abused them with the sort +of pleasantry which young men think they have the right to address to +little boys, and they broke the silence with a horse-laugh. Then +Derville was angry. + +The Colonel, hearing him, now came out of the little low room, close +to the dairy, and stood on the threshold of his doorway with +indescribable military coolness. He had in his mouth a very +finely-colored pipe--a technical phrase to a smoker--a humble, short +clay pipe of the kind called "/brule-queule/." He lifted the peak of +a dreadfully greasy cloth cap, saw Derville, and came straight across +the midden to join his benefactor the sooner, calling out in friendly +tones to the boys: + +"Silence in the ranks!" + +The children at once kept a respectful silence, which showed the power +the old soldier had over them. + +"Why did you not write to me?" he said to Derville. "Go along by the +cowhouse! There--the path is paved there," he exclaimed, seeing the +lawyer's hesitancy, for he did not wish to wet his feet in the manure +heap. + +Jumping from one dry spot to another, Derville reached the door by +which the Colonel had come out. Chabert seemed but ill pleased at +having to receive him in the bed-room he occupied; and, in fact, +Derville found but one chair there. The Colonel's bed consisted of +some trusses of straw, over which his hostess had spread two or three +of those old fragments of carpet, picked up heaven knows where, which +milk-women use to cover the seats of their carts. The floor was simply +the trodden earth. The walls, sweating salt-petre, green with mould, +and full of cracks, were so excessively damp that on the side where +the Colonel's bed was a reed mat had been nailed. The famous box-coat +hung on a nail. Two pairs of old boots lay in a corner. There was not +a sign of linen. On the worm-eaten table the /Bulletins de la Grande +Armee/, reprinted by Plancher, lay open, and seemed to be the +Colonel's reading; his countenance was calm and serene in the midst of +this squalor. His visit to Derville seemed to have altered his +features; the lawyer perceived in them traces of a happy feeling, a +particular gleam set there by hope. + +"Does the smell of the pipe annoy you?" he said, placing the +dilapidated straw-bottomed chair for his lawyer. + +"But, Colonel, you are dreadfully uncomfortable here!" + +The speech was wrung from Derville by the distrust natural to lawyers, +and the deplorable experience which they derive early in life from the +appalling and obscure tragedies at which they look on. + +"Here," said he to himself, "is a man who has of course spent my money +in satisfying a trooper's three theological virtues--play, wine, and +women!" + +"To be sure, monsieur, we are not distinguished for luxury here. It is +a camp lodging, tempered by friendship, but----" And the soldier shot +a deep glance at the man of law--"I have done no one wrong, I have +never turned my back on anybody, and I sleep in peace." + +Derville reflected that there would be some want of delicacy in asking +his client to account for the sums of money he had advanced, so he +merely said: + +"But why would you not come to Paris, where you might have lived as +cheaply as you do here, but where you would have been better lodged?" + +"Why," replied the Colonel, "the good folks with whom I am living had +taken me in and fed me /gratis/ for a year. How could I leave them +just when I had a little money? Besides, the father of those three +pickles is an old /Egyptian/--" + +"An Egyptian!" + +"We give that name to the troopers who came back from the expedition +into Egypt, of which I was one. Not merely are all who get back +brothers; Vergniaud was in my regiment. We have shared a draught of +water in the desert; and besides, I have not yet finished teaching his +brats to read." + +"He might have lodged you better for your money," said Derville. + +"Bah!" said the Colonel, "his children sleep on the straw as I do. He +and his wife have no better bed; they are very poor you see. They have +taken a bigger business than they can manage. But if I recover my +fortune . . . However, it does very well." + +"Colonel, to-morrow or the next day, I shall receive your papers from +Heilsberg. The woman who dug you out is still alive!" + +"Curse the money! To think I haven't got any!" he cried, flinging his +pipe on the ground. + +Now, a well-colored pipe is to a smoker a precious possession; but the +impulse was so natural, the emotion so generous, that every smoker, +and the excise office itself, would have pardoned this crime of +treason to tobacco. Perhaps the angels may have picked up the pieces. + +"Colonel, it is an exceedingly complicated business," said Derville as +they left the room to walk up and down in the sunshine. + +"To me," said the soldier, "it appears exceedingly simple. I was +thought to be dead, and here I am! Give me back my wife and my +fortune; give me the rank of General, to which I have a right, for I +was made Colonel of the Imperial Guard the day before the battle of +Eylau." + +"Things are not done so in the legal world," said Derville. "Listen to +me. You are Colonel Chabert, I am glad to think it; but it has to be +proved judicially to persons whose interest it will be to deny it. +Hence, your papers will be disputed. That contention will give rise to +ten or twelve preliminary inquiries. Every question will be sent under +contradiction up to the supreme court, and give rise to so many costly +suits, which will hang on for a long time, however eagerly I may push +them. Your opponents will demand an inquiry, which we cannot refuse, +and which may necessitate the sending of a commission of investigation +to Prussia. But even if we hope for the best; supposing that justice +should at once recognize you as Colonel Chabert--can we know how the +questions will be settled that will arise out of the very innocent +bigamy committed by the Comtesse Ferraud? + +"In your case, the point of law is unknown to the Code, and can only +be decided as a point in equity, as a jury decides in the delicate +cases presented by the social eccentricities of some criminal +prosecutions. Now, you had no children by your marriage; M. le Comte +Ferraud has two. The judges might pronounce against the marriage where +the family ties are weakest, to the confirmation of that where they +are stronger, since it was contracted in perfect good faith. Would you +be in a very becoming moral position if you insisted, at your age, and +in your present circumstances, in resuming your rights over a woman +who no longer loves you? You will have both your wife and her husband +against you, two important persons who might influence the Bench. +Thus, there are many elements which would prolong the case; you will +have time to grow old in the bitterest regrets." + +"And my fortune?" + +"Do you suppose you had a fine fortune?" + +"Had I not thirty thousand francs a year?" + +"My dear Colonel, in 1799 you made a will before your marriage, +leaving one-quarter of your property to hospitals." + +"That is true." + +"Well, when you were reported dead, it was necessary to make a +valuation, and have a sale, to give this quarter away. Your wife was +not particular about honesty as to the poor. The valuation, in which +she no doubt took care not to include the ready money or jewelry, or +too much of the plate, and in which the furniture would be estimated +at two-thirds of its actual cost, either to benefit her, or to lighten +the succession duty, and also because a valuer can be held responsible +for the declared value--the valuation thus made stood at six hundred +thousand francs. Your wife had a right of half for her share. +Everything was sold and bought in by her; she got something out of it +all, and the hospitals got their seventy-five thousand francs. Then, +as the remainder went to the State, since you had made no mention of +your wife in your will, the Emperor restored to your widow by decree +the residue which would have reverted to the Exchequer. So, now, what +can you claim? Three hundred thousand francs, no more, and minus the +costs." + +"And you call that justice!" said the Colonel, in dismay. + +"Why, certainly--" + +"A pretty kind of justice!" + +"So it is, my dear Colonel. You see, that what you thought so easy is +not so. Madame Ferraud might even choose to keep the sum given to her +by the Emperor." + +"But she was not a widow. The decree is utterly void----" + +"I agree with you. But every case can get a hearing. Listen to me. I +think that under these circumstances a compromise would be both for +her and for you the best solution of the question. You will gain by it +a more considerable sum than you can prove a right to." + +"That would be to sell my wife!" + +"With twenty-four thousand francs a year you could find a woman who, +in the position in which you are, would suit you better than your own +wife, and make you happier. I propose going this very day to see the +Comtesse Ferraud and sounding the ground; but I would not take such a +step without giving you due notice." + +"Let us go together." + +"What, just as you are?" said the lawyer. "No, my dear Colonel, no. +You might lose your case on the spot." + +"Can I possibly gain it?" + +"On every count," replied Derville. "But, my dear Colonel Chabert, you +overlook one thing. I am not rich; the price of my connection is not +wholly paid up. If the bench should allow you a maintenance, that is +to say, a sum advanced on your prospects, they will not do so till you +have proved that you are Comte Chabert, grand officer of the Legion of +Honor." + +"To be sure, I am a grand officer of the Legion of Honor; I had +forgotten that," said he simply. + +"Well, until then," Derville went on, "will you not have to engage +pleaders, to have documents copied, to keep the underlings of the law +going, and to support yourself? The expenses of the preliminary +inquiries will, at a rough guess, amount to ten or twelve thousand +francs. I have not so much to lend you--I am crushed as it is by the +enormous interest I have to pay on the money I borrowed to buy my +business; and you?--Where can you find it." + +Large tears gathered in the poor veteran's faded eyes, and rolled down +his withered cheeks. This outlook of difficulties discouraged him. The +social and the legal world weighed on his breast like a nightmare. + +"I will go to the foot of the Vendome column!" he cried. "I will call +out: 'I am Colonel Chabert who rode through the Russian square at +Eylau!'--The statue--he--he will know me." + +"And you will find yourself in Charenton." + +At this terrible name the soldier's transports collapsed. + +"And will there be no hope for me at the Ministry of War?" + +"The war office!" said Derville. "Well, go there; but take a formal +legal opinion with you, nullifying the certificate of your death. The +government offices would be only too glad if they could annihilate the +men of the Empire." + +The Colonel stood for a while, speechless, motionless, his eyes fixed, +but seeing nothing, sunk in bottomless despair. Military justice is +ready and swift; it decides with Turk-like finality, and almost always +rightly. This was the only justice known to Chabert. As he saw the +labyrinth of difficulties into which he must plunge, and how much +money would be required for the journey, the poor old soldier was +mortally hit in that power peculiar to man, and called the Will. He +thought it would be impossible to live as party to a lawsuit; it +seemed a thousand times simpler to remain poor and a beggar, or to +enlist as a trooper if any regiment would pass him. + +His physical and mental sufferings had already impaired his bodily +health in some of the most important organs. He was on the verge of +one of those maladies for which medicine has no name, and of which the +seat is in some degree variable, like the nervous system itself, the +part most frequently attacked of the whole human machine, a malady +which may be designated as the heart-sickness of the unfortunate. +However serious this invisible but real disorder might already be, it +could still be cured by a happy issue. But a fresh obstacle, an +unexpected incident, would be enough to wreck this vigorous +constitution, to break the weakened springs, and produce the +hesitancy, the aimless, unfinished movements, which physiologists know +well in men undermined by grief. + +Derville, detecting in his client the symptoms of extreme dejection, +said to him: + +"Take courage; the end of the business cannot fail to be in your +favor. Only, consider whether you can give me your whole confidence +and blindly accept the result I may think best for your interests." + +"Do what you will," said Chabert. + +"Yes, but you surrender yourself to me like a man marching to his +death." + +"Must I not be left to live without a position, without a name? Is +that endurable?" + +"That is not my view of it," said the lawyer. "We will try a friendly +suit, to annul both your death certificate and your marriage, so as to +put you in possession of your rights. You may even, by Comte Ferraud's +intervention, have your name replaced on the army list as general, and +no doubt you will get a pension." + +"Well, proceed then," said Chabert. "I put myself entirely in your +hands." + +"I will send you a power of attorney to sign," said Derville. +"Good-bye. Keep up your courage. If you want money, rely on me." + +Chabert warmly wrung the lawyer's hand, and remained standing with his +back against the wall, not having the energy to follow him excepting +with his eyes. Like all men who know but little of legal matters, he +was frightened by this unforeseen struggle. + +During their interview, several times, the figure of a man posted in +the street had come forward from behind one of the gate-pillars, +watching for Derville to depart, and he now accosted the lawyer. He +was an old man, wearing a blue waistcoat and a white-pleated kilt, +like a brewer's; on his head was an otter-skin cap. His face was +tanned, hollow-cheeked, and wrinkled, but ruddy on the cheek-bones by +hard work and exposure to the open air. + +"Asking your pardon, sir," said he, taking Derville by the arm, "if I +take the liberty of speaking to you. But I fancied, from the look of +you, that you were a friend of our General's." + +"And what then?" replied Derville. "What concern have you with him? +--But who are you?" said the cautious lawyer. + +"I am Louis Vergniaud," he replied at once. "I have a few words to say +to you." + +"So you are the man who has lodged Comte Chabert as I have found him?" + +"Asking your pardon, sir, he has the best room. I would have given him +mine if I had had but one; I could have slept in the stable. A man who +has suffered as he has, who teaches my kids to read, a general, an +Egyptian, the first lieutenant I ever served under--What do you think? +--Of us all, he is best served. I shared what I had with him. +Unfortunately, it is not much to boast of--bread, milk, eggs. Well, +well; it's neighbors' fare, sir. And he is heartily welcome.--But he +has hurt our feelings." + +"He?" + +"Yes, sir, hurt our feelings. To be plain with you, I have taken a +larger business than I can manage, and he saw it. Well, it worried +him; he must needs mind the horse! I says to him, 'Really, +General----' 'Bah!' says he, 'I am not going to eat my head off doing +nothing. I learned to rub a horse down many a year ago.'--I had some +bills out for the purchase money of my dairy--a fellow named Grados +--Do you know him, sir?" + +"But, my good man, I have not time to listen to your story. Only tell +me how the Colonel offended you." + +"He hurt our feelings, sir, as sure as my name is Louis Vergniaud, and +my wife cried about it. He heard from our neighbors that we had not a +sou to begin to meet the bills with. The old soldier, as he is, he +saved up all you gave him, he watched for the bill to come in, and he +paid it. Such a trick! While my wife and me, we knew he had no +tobacco, poor old boy, and went without.--Oh! now--yes, he has his +cigar every morning! I would sell my soul for it--No, we are hurt. +Well, so I wanted to ask you--for he said you were a good sort--to +lend us a hundred crowns on the stock, so that we may get him some +clothes, and furnish his room. He thought he was getting us out of +debt, you see? Well, it's just the other way; the old man is running +us into debt--and hurt our feelings!--He ought not to have stolen a +march on us like that. And we his friends, too!--On my word as an +honest man, as sure as my name is Louis Vergniaud, I would sooner sell +up and enlist than fail to pay you back your money----" + +Derville looked at the dairyman, and stepped back a few paces to +glance at the house, the yard, the manure-pool, the cowhouse, the +rabbits, the children. + +"On my honor, I believe it is characteristic of virtue to have nothing +to do with riches!" thought he. + +"All right, you shall have your hundred crowns, and more. But I shall +not give them to you; the Colonel will be rich enough to help, and I +will not deprive him of the pleasure." + +"And will that be soon?" + +"Why, yes." + +"Ah, dear God! how glad my wife will be!" and the cowkeeper's tanned +face seemed to expand. + +"Now," said Derville to himself, as he got into his cab again, "let us +call on our opponent. We must not show our hand, but try to see hers, +and win the game at one stroke. She must be frightened. She is a +woman. Now, what frightens women most? A woman is afraid of nothing +but . . ." + +And he set to work to study the Countess' position, falling into one +of those brown studies to which great politicians give themselves up +when concocting their own plans and trying to guess the secrets of a +hostile Cabinet. Are not attorneys, in a way, statesmen in charge of +private affairs? + +But a brief survey of the situation in which the Comte Ferraud and his +wife now found themselves is necessary for a comprehension of the +lawyer's cleverness. + +Monsieur le Comte Ferraud was the only son of a former Councillor in +the old /Parlement/ of Paris, who had emigrated during the Reign of +Terror, and so, though he saved his head, lost his fortune. He came +back under the Consulate, and remained persistently faithful to the +cause of Louis XVIII., in whose circle his father had moved before the +Revolution. He thus was one of the party in the Faubourg Saint-Germain +which nobly stood out against Napoleon's blandishments. The reputation +for capacity gained by the young Count--then simply called Monsieur +Ferraud--made him the object of the Emperor's advances, for he was +often as well pleased at his conquests among the aristocracy as at +gaining a battle. The Count was promised the restitution of his title, +of such of his estates as had not been sold, and he was shown in +perspective a place in the ministry or as senator. + +The Emperor fell. + +At the time of Comte Chabert's death, M. Ferraud was a young man of +six-and-twenty, without a fortune, of pleasing appearance, who had had +his successes, and whom the Faubourg Saint-Germain had adopted as +doing it credit; but Madame la Comtesse Chabert had managed to turn +her share of her husband's fortune to such good account that, after +eighteen months of widowhood, she had about forty thousand francs a +year. Her marriage to the young Count was not regarded as news in the +circles of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Napoleon, approving of this +union, which carried out his idea of fusion, restored to Madame +Chabert the money falling to the Exchequer under her husband's will; +but Napoleon's hopes were again disappointed. Madame Ferraud was not +only in love with her lover; she had also been fascinated by the +notion of getting into the haughty society which, in spite of its +humiliation, was still predominant at the Imperial Court. By this +marriage all her vanities were as much gratified as her passions. She +was to become a real fine lady. When the Faubourg Saint-Germain +understood that the young Count's marriage did not mean desertion, its +drawing-rooms were thrown open to his wife. + +Then came the Restoration. The Count's political advancement was not +rapid. He understood the exigencies of the situation in which Louis +XVIII. found himself; he was one of the inner circle who waited till +the "Gulf of Revolution should be closed"--for this phrase of the +King's, at which the Liberals laughed so heartily, had a political +sense. The order quoted in the long lawyer's preamble at the beginning +of this story had, however, put him in possession of two tracts of +forest, and of an estate which had considerably increased in value +during its sequestration. At the present moment, though Comte Ferraud +was a Councillor of State, and a Director-General, he regarded his +position as merely the first step of his political career. + +Wholly occupied as he was by the anxieties of consuming ambition, he +had attached to himself, as secretary, a ruined attorney named +Delbecq, a more than clever man, versed in all the resources of the +law, to whom he left the conduct of his private affairs. This shrewd +practitioner had so well understood his position with the Count as to +be honest in his own interest. He hoped to get some place by his +master's influence, and he made the Count's fortune his first care. +His conduct so effectually gave the lie to his former life, that he +was regarded as a slandered man. The Countess, with the tact and +shrewdness of which most women have a share more or less, understood +the man's motives, watched him quietly, and managed him so well, that +she had made good use of him for the augmentation of her private +fortune. She had contrived to make Delbecq believe that she ruled her +husband, and had promised to get him appointed President of an +inferior court in some important provincial town, if he devoted +himself entirely to her interests. + +The promise of a place, not dependent on changes of ministry, which +would allow of his marrying advantageously, and rising subsequently to +a high political position, by being chosen Depute, made Delbecq the +Countess' abject slave. He had never allowed her to miss one of those +favorable chances which the fluctuations of the Bourse and the +increased value of property afforded to clever financiers in Paris +during the first three years after the Restoration. He had trebled his +protectress' capital, and all the more easily because the Countess had +no scruples as to the means which might make her an enormous fortune +as quickly as possible. The emoluments derived by the Count from the +places he held she spent on the housekeeping, so as to reinvest her +dividends; and Delbecq lent himself to these calculations of avarice +without trying to account for her motives. People of that sort never +trouble themselves about any secrets of which the discovery is not +necessary to their own interests. And, indeed, he naturally found the +reason in the thirst for money, which taints almost every Parisian +woman; and as a fine fortune was needed to support the pretensions of +Comte Ferraud, the secretary sometimes fancied that he saw in the +Countess' greed a consequence of her devotion to a husband with whom +she still was in love. The Countess buried the secrets of her conduct +at the bottom of her heart. There lay the secrets of life and death to +her, there lay the turning-point of this history. + +At the beginning of the year 1818 the Restoration was settled on an +apparently immovable foundation; its doctrines of government, as +understood by lofty minds, seemed calculated to bring to France an era +of renewed prosperity, and Parisian society changed its aspect. Madame +la Comtesse Ferraud found that by chance she had achieved for love a +marriage that had brought her fortune and gratified ambition. Still +young and handsome, Madame Ferraud played the part of a woman of +fashion, and lived in the atmosphere of the Court. Rich herself, with +a rich husband who was cried up as one of the ablest men of the +royalist party, and, as a friend of the King, certain to be made +Minister, she belonged to the aristocracy, and shared its +magnificence. In the midst of this triumph she was attacked by a moral +canker. There are feelings which women guess in spite of the care men +take to bury them. On the first return of the King, Comte Ferraud had +begun to regret his marriage. Colonel Chabert's widow had not been the +means of allying him to anybody; he was alone and unsupported in +steering his way in a course full of shoals and beset by enemies. +Also, perhaps, when he came to judge his wife coolly, he may have +discerned in her certain vices of education which made her unfit to +second him in his schemes. + +A speech he made, /a propos/ of Talleyrand's marriage, enlightened the +Countess, to whom it proved that if he had still been a free man she +would never have been Madame Ferraud. What woman could forgive this +repentance? Does it not include the germs of every insult, every +crime, every form of repudiation? But what a wound must it have left +in the Countess' heart, supposing that she lived in the dread of her +first husband's return? She had known that he still lived, and she had +ignored him. Then during the time when she had heard no more of him, +she had chosen to believe that he had fallen at Waterloo with the +Imperial Eagle, at the same time as Boutin. She resolved, +nevertheless, to bind the Count to her by the strongest of all ties, +by a chain of gold, and vowed to be so rich that her fortune might +make her second marriage dissoluble, if by chance Colonel Chabert +should ever reappear. And he had reappeared; and she could not explain +to herself why the struggle she had dreaded had not already begun. +Suffering, sickness, had perhaps delivered her from that man. Perhaps +he was half mad, and Charenton might yet do her justice. She had not +chosen to take either Delbecq or the police into her confidence, for +fear of putting herself in their power, or of hastening the +catastrophe. There are in Paris many women who, like the Countess +Ferraud, live with an unknown moral monster, or on the brink of an +abyss; a callus forms over the spot that tortures them, and they can +still laugh and enjoy themselves. + +"There is something very strange in Comte Ferraud's position," said +Derville to himself, on emerging from his long reverie, as his cab +stopped at the door of the Hotel Ferraud in the Rue de Varennes. "How +is it that he, so rich as he is, and such a favorite with the King, is +not yet a peer of France? It may, to be sure, be true that the King, +as Mme. de Grandlieu was telling me, desires to keep up the value of +the /pairie/ by not bestowing it right and left. And, after all, the +son of a Councillor of the /Parlement/ is not a Crillon nor a Rohan. A +Comte Ferraud can only get into the Upper Chamber surreptitiously. But +if his marriage were annulled, could he not get the dignity of some +old peer who has only daughters transferred to himself, to the King's +great satisfaction? At any rate this will be a good bogey to put +forward and frighten the Countess," thought he as he went up the +steps. + +Derville had without knowing it laid his finger on the hidden wound, +put his hand on the canker that consumed Madame Ferraud. + +She received him in a pretty winter dining-room, where she was at +breakfast, while playing with a monkey tethered by a chain to a little +pole with climbing bars of iron. The Countess was in an elegant +wrapper; the curls of her hair, carelessly pinned up, escaped from a +cap, giving her an arch look. She was fresh and smiling. Silver, +gilding, and mother-of-pearl shone on the table, and all about the +room were rare plants growing in magnificent china jars. As he saw +Colonel Chabert's wife, rich with his spoil, in the lap of luxury and +the height of fashion, while he, poor wretch, was living with a poor +dairyman among the beasts, the lawyer said to himself: + +"The moral of all this is that a pretty woman will never acknowledge +as her husband, nor even as a lover, a man in an old box-coat, a tow +wig, and boots with holes in them." + +A mischievous and bitter smile expressed the feelings, half +philosophical and half satirical, which such a man was certain to +experience--a man well situated to know the truth of things in spite +of the lies behind which most families in Paris hide their mode of +life. + +"Good-morning, Monsieur Derville," said she, giving the monkey some +coffee to drink. + +"Madame," said he, a little sharply, for the light tone in which she +spoke jarred on him. "I have come to speak with you on a very serious +matter." + +"I am so /grieved/, M. le Comte is away--" + +"I, madame, am delighted. It would be grievous if he could be present +at our interview. Besides, I am informed through M. Delbecq that you +like to manage your own business without troubling the Count." + +"Then I will send for Delbecq," said she. + +"He would be of no use to you, clever as he is," replied Derville. +"Listen to me, madame; one word will be enough to make you grave. +Colonel Chabert is alive!" + +"Is it by telling me such nonsense as that that you think you can make +me grave?" said she with a shout of laughter. But she was suddenly +quelled by the singular penetration of the fixed gaze which Derville +turned on her, seeming to read to the bottom of her soul. + +"Madame," he said with cold and piercing solemnity, "you know not the +extent of the danger that threatens you. I need say nothing of the +indisputable authenticity of the evidence nor of the fulness of proof +which testifies to the identity of Comte Chabert. I am not, as you +know, the man to take up a bad cause. If you resist our proceedings to +show that the certificate of death was false, you will lose that first +case, and that matter once settled, we shall gain every point." + +"What, then, do you wish to discuss with me?" + +"Neither the Colonel nor yourself. Nor need I allude to the briefs +which clever advocates may draw up when armed with the curious facts +of this case, or the advantage they may derive from the letters you +received from your first husband before your marriage to your second." + +"It is false," she cried, with the violence of a spoilt woman. "I +never had a letter from Comte Chabert; and if some one is pretending +to be the Colonel, it is some swindler, some returned convict, like +Coignard perhaps. It makes me shudder only to think of it. Can the +Colonel rise from the dead, monsieur? Bonaparte sent an aide-de-camp +to inquire for me on his death, and to this day I draw the pension of +three thousand francs granted to this widow by the Government. I have +been perfectly in the right to turn away all the Chaberts who have +ever come, as I shall all who may come." + +"Happily we are alone, madame. We can tell lies at our ease," said he +coolly, and finding it amusing to lash up the Countess' rage so as to +lead her to betray herself, by tactics familiar to lawyers, who are +accustomed to keep cool when their opponents or their clients are in a +passion. "Well, then, we must fight it out," thought he, instantly +hitting on a plan to entrap her and show her her weakness. + +"The proof that you received the first letter, madame, is that it +contained some securities--" + +"Oh, as to securities--that it certainly did not." + +"Then you received the letter," said Derville, smiling. "You are +caught, madame, in the first snare laid for you by an attorney, and +you fancy you could fight against Justice----" + +The Countess colored, and then turned pale, hiding her face in her +hands. Then she shook off her shame, and retorted with the natural +impertinence of such women, "Since you are the so-called Chabert's +attorney, be so good as to--" + +"Madame," said Derville, "I am at this moment as much your lawyer as I +am Colonel Chabert's. Do you suppose I want to lose so valuable a +client as you are?--But you are not listening." + +"Nay, speak on, monsieur," said she graciously. + +"Your fortune came to you from M. le Comte Chabert, and you cast him +off. Your fortune is immense, and you leave him to beg. An advocate +can be very eloquent when a cause is eloquent in itself; there are +here circumstances which might turn public opinion strongly against +you." + +"But, monsieur," said the Comtesse, provoked by the way in which +Derville turned and laid her on the gridiron, "even if I grant that +your M. Chabert is living, the law will uphold my second marriage on +account of the children, and I shall get off with the restitution of +two hundred and twenty-five thousand francs to M. Chabert." + +"It is impossible to foresee what view the Bench may take of the +question. If on one side we have a mother and children, on the other +we have an old man crushed by sorrows, made old by your refusals to +know him. Where is he to find a wife? Can the judges contravene the +law? Your marriage with Colonel Chabert has priority on its side and +every legal right. But if you appear under disgraceful colors, you +might have an unlooked-for adversary. That, madame, is the danger +against which I would warn you." + +"And who is he?" + +"Comte Ferraud." + +"Monsieur Ferraud has too great an affection for me, too much respect +for the mother of his children--" + +"Do not talk of such absurd things," interrupted Derville, "to +lawyers, who are accustomed to read hearts to the bottom. At this +instant Monsieur Ferraud has not the slightest wish to annual your +union, and I am quite sure that he adores you; but if some one were to +tell him that his marriage is void, that his wife will be called +before the bar of public opinion as a criminal--" + +"He would defend me, monsieur." + +"No, madame." + +"What reason could he have for deserting me, monsieur?" + +"That he would be free to marry the only daughter of a peer of France, +whose title would be conferred on him by patent from the King." + +The Countess turned pale. + +"A hit!" said Derville to himself. "I have you on the hip; the poor +Colonel's case is won."--"Besides, madame," he went on aloud, "he +would feel all the less remorse because a man covered with glory--a +General, Count, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor--is not such a bad +alternative; and if that man insisted on his wife's returning to +him--" + +"Enough, enough, monsieur!" she exclaimed. "I will never have any +lawyer but you. What is to be done?" + +"Compromise!" said Derville. + +"Does he still love me?" she said. + +"Well, I do not think he can do otherwise." + +The Countess raised her head at these words. A flash of hope shone in +her eyes; she thought perhaps that she could speculate on her first +husband's affection to gain her cause by some feminine cunning. + +"I shall await your orders, madame, to know whether I am to report our +proceedings to you, or if you will come to my office to agree to the +terms of a compromise," said Derville, taking leave. + + + +A week after Derville had paid these two visits, on a fine morning in +June, the husband and wife, who had been separated by an almost +supernatural chance, started from the opposite ends of Paris to meet +in the office of the lawyer who was engaged by both. The supplies +liberally advanced by Derville to Colonel Chabert had enabled him to +dress as suited his position in life, and the dead man arrived in a +very decent cab. He wore a wig suited to his face, was dressed in blue +cloth with white linen, and wore under his waistcoat the broad red +ribbon of the higher grade of the Legion of Honor. In resuming the +habits of wealth he had recovered his soldierly style. He held himself +up; his face, grave and mysterious-looking, reflected his happiness +and all his hopes, and seemed to have acquired youth and /impasto/, to +borrow a picturesque word from the painter's art. He was no more like +the Chabert of the old box-coat than a cartwheel double sou is like a +newly coined forty-franc piece. The passer-by, only to see him, would +have recognized at once one of the noble wrecks of our old army, one +of the heroic men on whom our national glory is reflected, as a +splinter of ice on which the sun shines seems to reflect every beam. +These veterans are at once a picture and a book. + +When the Count jumped out of his carriage to go into Derville's +office, he did it as lightly as a young man. Hardly had his cab moved +off, when a smart brougham drove up, splendid with coats-of-arms. +Madame la Comtesse Ferraud stepped out in a dress which, though +simple, was cleverly designed to show how youthful her figure was. She +wore a pretty drawn bonnet lined with pink, which framed her face to +perfection, softening its outlines and making it look younger. + +If the clients were rejuvenescent, the office was unaltered, and +presented the same picture as that described at the beginning of this +story. Simonnin was eating his breakfast, his shoulder leaning against +the window, which was then open, and he was staring up at the blue sky +in the opening of the courtyard enclosed by four gloomy houses. + +"Ah, ha!" cried the little clerk, "who will bet an evening at the play +that Colonel Chabert is a General, and wears a red ribbon?" + +"The chief is a great magician," said Godeschal. + +"Then there is no trick to play on him this time?" asked Desroches. + +"His wife has taken that in hand, the Comtesse Ferraud," said Boucard. + +"What next?" said Godeschal. "Is Comtesse Ferraud required to belong +to two men?" + +"Here she is," answered Simonnin. + +"So you are not deaf, you young rogue!" said Chabert, taking the +gutter-jumper by the ear and twisting it, to the delight of the other +clerks, who began to laugh, looking at the Colonel with the curious +attention due to so singular a personage. + +Comte Chabert was in Derville's private room at the moment when his +wife came in by the door of the office. + +"I say, Boucard, there is going to be a queer scene in the chief's +room! There is a woman who can spend her days alternately, the odd +with Comte Ferraud, and the even with Comte Chabert." + +"And in leap year," said Godeschal, "they must settle the /count/ +between them." + +"Silence, gentlemen, you can be heard!" said Boucard severely. "I +never was in an office where there was so much jesting as there is +here over the clients." + +Derville had made the Colonel retire to the bedroom when the Countess +was admitted. + +"Madame," he said, "not knowing whether it would be agreeable to you +to meet M. le Comte Chabert, I have placed you apart. If, however, you +should wish it--" + +"It is an attention for which I am obliged to you." + +"I have drawn up the memorandum of an agreement of which you and M. +Chabert can discuss the conditions, here, and now. I will go +alternately to him and to you, and explain your views respectively." + +"Let me see, monsieur," said the Countess impatiently. + +Derville read aloud: + +"'Between the undersigned: + +"'M. Hyacinthe Chabert, Count, Marechal de Camp, and Grand Officer of +the Legion of Honor, living in Paris, Rue du Petit-Banquier, on the +one part; + +"'And Madame Rose Chapotel, wife of the aforesaid M. le Comte +Chabert, /nee/--'" + +"Pass over the preliminaries," said she. "Come to the conditions." + +"Madame," said the lawyer, "the preamble briefly sets forth the +position in which you stand to each other. Then, by the first clause, +you acknowledge, in the presence of three witnesses, of whom two shall +be notaries, and one the dairyman with whom your husband has been +lodging, to all of whom your secret is known, and who will be +absolutely silent--you acknowledge, I say, that the individual +designated in the documents subjoined to the deed, and whose identity +is to be further proved by an act of recognition prepared by your +notary, Alexandre Crottat, is your first husband, Comte Chabert. By +the second clause Comte Chabert, to secure your happiness, will +undertake to assert his rights only under certain circumstances set +forth in the deed.--And these," said Derville, in a parenthesis, "are +none other than a failure to carry out the conditions of this secret +agreement.--M. Chabert, on his part, agrees to accept judgment on a +friendly suit, by which his certificate of death shall be annulled, +and his marriage dissolved." + +"That will not suit me in the least," said the Countess with surprise. +"I will be a party to no suit; you know why." + +"By the third clause," Derville went on, with imperturbable coolness, +"you pledge yourself to secure to Hyacinthe Comte Chabert an income of +twenty-four thousand francs on government stock held in his name, to +revert to you at his death--" + +"But it is much too dear!" exclaimed the Countess. + +"Can you compromise the matter cheaper?" + +"Possibly." + +"But what do you want, madame?" + +"I want--I will not have a lawsuit. I want--" + +"You want him to remain dead?" said Derville, interrupting her +hastily. + +"Monsieur," said the Countess, "if twenty-four thousand francs a year +are necessary, we will go to law--" + +"Yes, we will go to law," said the Colonel in a deep voice, as he +opened the door and stood before his wife, with one hand in his +waistcoat and the other hanging by his side--an attitude to which the +recollection of his adventure gave horrible significance. + +"It is he," said the Countess to herself. + +"Too dear!" the old soldier exclaimed. "I have given you near on a +million, and you are cheapening my misfortunes. Very well; now I will +have you--you and your fortune. Our goods are in common, our marriage +is not dissolved--" + +"But monsieur is not Colonel Chabert!" cried the Countess, in feigned +amazement. + +"Indeed!" said the old man, in a tone of intense irony. "Do you want +proofs? I found you in the Palais Royal----" + +The Countess turned pale. Seeing her grow white under her rouge, the +old soldier paused, touched by the acute suffering he was inflicting +on the woman he had once so ardently loved; but she shot such a +venomous glance at him that he abruptly went on: + +"You were with La--" + +"Allow me, Monsieur Derville," said the Countess to the lawyer. "You +must give me leave to retire. I did not come here to listen to such +dreadful things." + +She rose and went out. Derville rushed after her; but the Countess had +taken wings, and seemed to have flown from the place. + +On returning to his private room, he found the Colonel in a towering +rage, striding up and down. + +"In those times a man took his wife where he chose," said he. "But I +was foolish and chose badly; I trusted to appearances. She has no +heart." + +"Well, Colonel, was I not right to beg you not to come?--I am now +positive of your identity; when you came in, the Countess gave a +little start, of which the meaning was unequivocal. But you have lost +your chances. Your wife knows that you are unrecognizable." + +"I will kill her!" + +"Madness! you will be caught and executed like any common wretch. +Besides you might miss! That would be unpardonable. A man must not +miss his shot when he wants to kill his wife.--Let me set things +straight; you are only a big child. Go now. Take care of yourself; she +is capable of setting some trap for you and shutting you up in +Charenton. I will notify her of our proceedings to protect you against +a surprise." + +The unhappy Colonel obeyed his young benefactor, and went away, +stammering apologies. He slowly went down the dark staircase, lost in +gloomy thoughts, and crushed perhaps by the blow just dealt him--the +most cruel he could feel, the thrust that could most deeply pierce his +heart--when he heard the rustle of a woman's dress on the lowest +landing, and his wife stood before him. + +"Come, monsieur," said she, taking his arm with a gesture like those +familiar to him of old. Her action and the accent of her voice, which +had recovered its graciousness, were enough to allay the Colonel's +wrath, and he allowed himself to be led to the carriage. + +"Well, get in!" said she, when the footman had let down the step. + +And as if by magic, he found himself sitting by his wife in the +brougham. + +"Where to?" asked the servant. + +"To Groslay," said she. + +The horses started at once, and carried them all across Paris. + +"Monsieur," said the Countess, in a tone of voice which betrayed one +of those emotions which are rare in our lives, and which agitate every +part of our being. At such moments the heart, fibres, nerves, +countenance, soul, and body, everything, every pore even, feels a +thrill. Life no longer seems to be within us; it flows out, springs +forth, is communicated as if by contagion, transmitted by a look, a +tone of voice, a gesture, impressing our will on others. The old +soldier started on hearing this single word, this first, terrible +"monsieur!" But still it was at once a reproach and a pardon, a hope +and a despair, a question and an answer. This word included them all; +none but an actress could have thrown so much eloquence, so many +feelings into a single word. Truth is less complete in its utterance; +it does not put everything on the outside; it allows us to see what is +within. The Colonel was filled with remorse for his suspicions, his +demands, and his anger; he looked down not to betray his agitation. + +"Monsieur," repeated she, after an imperceptible pause, "I knew you at +once." + +"Rosine," said the old soldier, "those words contain the only balm +that can help me to forget my misfortunes." + +Two large tears rolled hot on to his wife's hands, which he pressed to +show his paternal affection. + +"Monsieur," she went on, "could you not have guessed what it cost me +to appear before a stranger in a position so false as mine now is? If +I have to blush for it, at least let it be in the privacy of my +family. Ought not such a secret to remain buried in our hearts? You +will forgive me, I hope, for my apparent indifference to the woes of a +Chabert in whose existence I could not possibly believe. I received +your letters," she hastily added, seeing in his face the objection it +expressed, "but they did not reach me till thirteen months after the +battle of Eylau. They were opened, dirty, the writing was +unrecognizable; and after obtaining Napoleon's signature to my second +marriage contract, I could not help believing that some clever +swindler wanted to make a fool of me. Therefore, to avoid disturbing +Monsieur Ferraud's peace of mind, and disturbing family ties, I was +obliged to take precautions against a pretended Chabert. Was I not +right, I ask you?" + +"Yes, you were right. It was I who was the idiot, the owl, the dolt, +not to have calculated better what the consequences of such a position +might be.--But where are we going?" he asked, seeing that they had +reached the barrier of La Chapelle. + +"To my country house near Groslay, in the valley of Montmorency. +There, monsieur, we will consider the steps to be taken. I know my +duties. Though I am yours by right, I am no longer yours in fact. Can +you wish that we should become the talk of Paris? We need not inform +the public of a situation, which for me has its ridiculous side, and +let us preserve our dignity. You still love me," she said, with a sad, +sweet gaze at the Colonel, "but have not I been authorized to form +other ties? In so strange a position, a secret voice bids me trust to +your kindness, which is so well known to me. Can I be wrong in taking +you as the sole arbiter of my fate? Be at once judge and party to the +suit. I trust in your noble character; you will be generous enough to +forgive me for the consequences of faults committed in innocence. I +may then confess to you: I love M. Ferraud. I believed that I had a +right to love him. I do not blush to make this confession to you; even +if it offends you, it does not disgrace us. I cannot conceal the +facts. When fate made me a widow, I was not a mother." + +The Colonel with a wave of his hand bid his wife be silent, and for a +mile and a half they sat without speaking a single word. Chabert could +fancy he saw the two little ones before him. + +"Rosine." + +"Monsieur?" + +"The dead are very wrong to come to life again." + +"Oh, monsieur, no, no! Do not think me ungrateful. Only, you find me a +lover, a mother, while you left me merely a wife. Though it is no +longer in my power to love, I know how much I owe you, and I can still +offer you all the affection of a daughter." + +"Rosine," said the old man in a softened tone, "I no longer feel any +resentment against you. We will forget anything," he added, with one +of those smiles which always reflect a noble soul; "I have not so +little delicacy as to demand the mockery of love from a wife who no +longer loves me." + +The Countess gave him a flashing look full of such deep gratitude that +poor Chabert would have been glad to sink again into his grave at +Eylau. Some men have a soul strong enough for such self-devotion, of +which the whole reward consists in the assurance that they have made +the person they love happy. + +"My dear friend, we will talk all this over later when our hearts have +rested," said the Countess. + +The conversation turned to other subjects, for it was impossible to +dwell very long on this one. Though the couple came back again and +again to their singular position, either by some allusion or of +serious purpose, they had a delightful drive, recalling the events of +their former life together and the times of the Empire. The Countess +knew how to lend peculiar charm to her reminiscences, and gave the +conversation the tinge of melancholy that was needed to keep it +serious. She revived his love without awakening his desires, and +allowed her first husband to discern the mental wealth she had +acquired while trying to accustom him to moderate his pleasure to that +which a father may feel in the society of a favorite daughter. + +The Colonel had known the Countess of the Empire; he found her a +Countess of the Restoration. + +At last, by a cross-road, they arrived at the entrance to a large park +lying in the little valley which divides the heights of Margency from +the pretty village of Groslay. The Countess had there a delightful +house, where the Colonel on arriving found everything in readiness for +his stay there, as well as for his wife's. Misfortune is a kind of +talisman whose virtue consists in its power to confirm our original +nature; in some men it increases their distrust and malignancy, just +as it improves the goodness of those who have a kind heart. + +Sorrow had made the Colonel even more helpful and good than he had +always been, and he could understand some secrets of womanly distress +which are unrevealed to most men. Nevertheless, in spite of his loyal +trustfulness, he could not help saying to his wife: + +"Then you felt quite sure you would bring me here?" + +"Yes," replied she, "if I found Colonel Chabert in Derville's client." + +The appearance of truth she contrived to give to this answer +dissipated the slight suspicions which the Colonel was ashamed to have +felt. For three days the Countess was quite charming to her first +husband. By tender attentions and unfailing sweetness she seemed +anxious to wipe out the memory of the sufferings he had endured, and +to earn forgiveness for the woes which, as she confessed, she had +innocently caused him. She delighted in displaying for him the charms +she knew he took pleasure in, while at the same time she assumed a +kind of melancholy; for men are more especially accessible to certain +ways, certain graces of the heart or of the mind which they cannot +resist. She aimed at interesting him in her position, and appealing to +his feelings so far as to take possession of his mind and control him +despotically. + +Ready for anything to attain her ends, she did not yet know what she +was to do with this man; but at any rate she meant to annihilate him +socially. On the evening of the third day she felt that in spite of +her efforts she could not conceal her uneasiness as to the results of +her manoeuvres. To give herself a minute's reprieve she went up to her +room, sat down before her writing-table, and laid aside the mask of +composure which she wore in Chabert's presence, like an actress who, +returning to her dressing-room after a fatiguing fifth act, drops half +dead, leaving with the audience an image of herself which she no +longer resembles. She proceeded to finish a letter she had begun to +Delbecq, whom she desired to go in her name and demand of Derville the +deeds relating to Colonel Chabert, to copy them, and to come to her at +once to Groslay. She had hardly finished when she heard the Colonel's +step in the passage; uneasy at her absence, he had come to look for +her. + +"Alas!" she exclaimed, "I wish I were dead! My position is +intolerable . . ." + +"Why, what is the matter?" asked the good man. + +"Nothing, nothing!" she replied. + +She rose, left the Colonel, and went down to speak privately to her +maid, whom she sent off to Paris, impressing on her that she was +herself to deliver to Delbecq the letter just written, and to bring it +back to the writer as soon as he had read it. Then the Countess went +out to sit on a bench sufficiently in sight for the Colonel to join +her as soon as he might choose. The Colonel, who was looking for her, +hastened up and sat down by her. + +"Rosine," said he, "what is the matter with you?" + +She did not answer. + +It was one of those glorious, calm evenings in the month of June, +whose secret harmonies infuse such sweetness into the sunset. The air +was clear, the stillness perfect, so that far away in the park they +could hear the voices of some children, which added a kind of melody +to the sublimity of the scene. + +"You do not answer me?" the Colonel said to his wife. + +"My husband----" said the Countess, who broke off, started a little, +and with a blush stopped to ask him, "What am I to say when I speak of +M. Ferraud?" + +"Call him your husband, my poor child," replied the Colonel, in a kind +voice. "Is he not the father of your children?" + +"Well, then," she said, "if he should ask what I came here for, if he +finds out that I came here, alone, with a stranger, what am I to say +to him? Listen, monsieur," she went on, assuming a dignified attitude, +"decide my fate, I am resigned to anything--" + +"My dear," said the Colonel, taking possession of his wife's hands, "I +have made up my mind to sacrifice myself entirely for your +happiness--" + +"That is impossible!" she exclaimed, with a sudden spasmodic movement. +"Remember that you would have to renounce your identity, and in an +authenticated form." + +"What?" said the Colonel. "Is not my word enough for you?" + +The word "authenticated" fell on the old man's heart, and roused +involuntary distrust. He looked at his wife in a way that made her +color, she cast down her eyes, and he feared that he might find +himself compelled to despise her. The Countess was afraid lest she had +scared the shy modesty, the stern honesty, of a man whose generous +temper and primitive virtues were known to her. Though these feelings +had brought the clouds to her brow, they immediately recovered their +harmony. This was the way of it. A child's cry was heard in the +distance. + +"Jules, leave your sister in peace," the Countess called out. + +"What, are your children here?" said Chabert. + +"Yes, but I told them not to trouble you." + +The old soldier understood the delicacy, the womanly tact of so +gracious a precaution, and took the Countess' hand to kiss it. + +"But let them come," said he. + +The little girl ran up to complain of her brother. + +"Mamma!" + +"Mamma!" + +"It was Jules--" + +"It was her--" + +Their little hands were held out to their mother, and the two childish +voices mingled; it was an unexpected and charming picture. + +"Poor little things!" cried the Countess, no longer restraining her +tears, "I shall have to leave them. To whom will the law assign them? +A mother's heart cannot be divided; I want them, I want them." + +"Are you making mamma cry?" said Jules, looking fiercely at the +Colonel. + +"Silence, Jules!" said the mother in a decided tone. + +The two children stood speechless, examining their mother and the +stranger with a curiosity which it is impossible to express in words. + +"Oh yes!" she cried. "If I am separated from the Count, only leave me +my children, and I will submit to anything . . ." + +This was the decisive speech which gained all that she had hoped from +it. + +"Yes," exclaimed the Colonel, as if he were ending a sentence already +begun in his mind, "I must return underground again. I had told myself +so already." + +"Can I accept such a sacrifice?" replied his wife. "If some men have +died to save a mistress' honor, they gave their life but once. But in +this case you would be giving your life every day. No, no. It is +impossible. If it were only your life, it would be nothing; but to +sign a declaration that you are not Colonel Chabert, to acknowledge +yourself an imposter, to sacrifice your honor, and live a lie every +hour of the day! Human devotion cannot go so far. Only think!--No. But +for my poor children I would have fled with you by this time to the +other end of the world." + +"But," said Chabert, "cannot I live here in your little lodge as one +of your relations? I am as worn out as a cracked cannon; I want +nothing but a little tobacco and the /Constitutionnel/." + +The Countess melted into tears. There was a contest of generosity +between the Comtesse Ferraud and Colonel Chabert, and the soldier came +out victorious. One evening, seeing this mother with her children, the +soldier was bewitched by the touching grace of a family picture in the +country, in the shade and the silence; he made a resolution to remain +dead, and, frightened no longer at the authentication of a deed, he +asked what he could do to secure beyond all risk the happiness of this +family. + +"Do exactly as you like," said the Countess. "I declare to you that I +will have nothing to do with this affair. I ought not." + +Delbecq had arrived some days before, and in obedience to the +Countess' verbal instructions, the intendant had succeeded in gaining +the old soldier's confidence. So on the following morning Colonel +Chabert went with the erewhile attorney to Saint-Leu-Taverny, where +Delbecq had caused the notary to draw up an affidavit in such terms +that, after hearing it read, the Colonel started up and walked out of +the office. + +"Turf and thunder! What a fool you must think me! Why, I should make +myself out a swindler!" he exclaimed. + +"Indeed, monsieur," said Delbecq, "I should advise you not to sign in +haste. In your place I would get at least thirty thousand francs a +year out of the bargain. Madame would pay them." + +After annihilating this scoundrel /emeritus/ by the lightning look of +an honest man insulted, the Colonel rushed off, carried away by a +thousand contrary emotions. He was suspicious, indignant, and calm +again by turns. + +Finally he made his way back into the park of Groslay by a gap in a +fence, and slowly walked on to sit down and rest, and meditate at his +ease, in a little room under a gazebo, from which the road to +Saint-Leu could be seen. The path being strewn with the yellowish sand +which is used instead of river-gravel, the Countess, who was sitting in +the upper room of this little summer-house, did not hear the Colonel's +approach, for she was too much preoccupied with the success of her +business to pay the smallest attention to the slight noise made by her +husband. Nor did the old man notice that his wife was in the room over +him. + +"Well, Monsieur Delbecq, has he signed?" the Countess asked her +secretary, whom she saw alone on the road beyond the hedge of a haha. + +"No, madame. I do not even know what has become of our man. The old +horse reared." + +"Then we shall be obliged to put him into Charenton," said she, "since +we have got him." + +The Colonel, who recovered the elasticity of youth to leap the haha, +in the twinkling of an eye was standing in front of Delbecq, on whom +he bestowed the two finest slaps that ever a scoundrel's cheeks +received. + +"And you may add that old horses can kick!" said he. + +His rage spent, the Colonel no longer felt vigorous enough to leap the +ditch. He had seen the truth in all its nakedness. The Countess' +speech and Delbecq's reply had revealed the conspiracy of which he was +to be the victim. The care taken of him was but a bait to entrap him +in a snare. That speech was like a drop of subtle poison, bringing on +in the old soldier a return of all his sufferings, physical and moral. +He came back to the summer-house through the park gate, walking slowly +like a broken man. + +Then for him there was to be neither peace nor truce. From this moment +he must begin the odious warfare with this woman of which Derville had +spoken, enter on a life of litigation, feed on gall, drink every +morning of the cup of bitterness. And then--fearful thought!--where +was he to find the money needful to pay the cost of the first +proceedings? He felt such disgust of life, that if there had been any +water at hand he would have thrown himself into it; that if he had had +a pistol, he would have blown out his brains. Then he relapsed into +the indecision of mind which, since his conversation with Derville at +the dairyman's had changed his character. + +At last, having reached the kiosque, he went up to the gazebo, where +little rose-windows afforded a view over each lovely landscape of the +valley, and where he found his wife seated on a chair. The Countess +was gazing at the distance, and preserved a calm countenance, showing +that impenetrable face which women can assume when resolved to do +their worst. She wiped her eyes as if she had been weeping, and played +absently with the pink ribbons of her sash. Nevertheless, in spite of +her apparent assurance, she could not help shuddering slightly when +she saw before her her venerable benefactor, standing with folded +arms, his face pale, his brow stern. + +"Madame," he said, after gazing at her fixedly for a moment and +compelling her to blush, "Madame, I do not curse you--I scorn you. I +can now thank the chance that has divided us. I do not feel even a +desire for revenge; I no longer love you. I want nothing from you. +Live in peace on the strength of my word; it is worth more than the +scrawl of all the notaries in Paris. I will never assert my claim to +the name I perhaps have made illustrious. I am henceforth but a poor +devil named Hyacinthe, who asks no more than his share of the +sunshine.--Farewell!" + +The Countess threw herself at his feet; she would have detained him by +taking his hands, but he pushed her away with disgust, saying: + +"Do not touch me!" + +The Countess' expression when she heard her husband's retreating steps +is quite indescribable. Then, with the deep perspicacity given only by +utter villainy, or by fierce worldly selfishness, she knew that she +might live in peace on the word and the contempt of this loyal +veteran. + +Chabert, in fact, disappeared. The dairyman failed in business, and +became a hackney-cab driver. The Colonel, perhaps, took up some +similar industry for a time. Perhaps, like a stone flung into a chasm, +he went falling from ledge to ledge, to be lost in the mire of rags +that seethes through the streets of Paris. + +Six months after this event, Derville, hearing no more of Colonel +Chabert or the Comtesse Ferraud, supposed that they had no doubt come +to a compromise, which the Countess, out of revenge, had had arranged +by some other lawyer. So one morning he added up the sums he had +advanced to the said Chabert with the costs, and begged the Comtesse +Ferraud to claim from M. le Comte Chabert the amount of the bill, +assuming that she would know where to find her first husband. + +The very next day Comte Ferraud's man of business, lately appointed +President of the County Court in a town of some importance, wrote this +distressing note to Derville: + + "MONSIEUR,-- + + "Madame la Comtesse Ferraud desires me to inform you that your + client took complete advantage of your confidence, and that the + individual calling himself Comte Chabert has acknowledged that he + came forward under false pretences. + +"Yours, etc., DELBECQ." + + +"One comes across people who are, on my honor, too stupid by half," +cried Derville. "They don't deserve to be Christians! Be humane, +generous, philanthropical, and a lawyer, and you are bound to be +cheated! There is a piece of business that will cost me two +thousand-franc notes!" + + + +Some time after receiving this letter, Derville went to the Palais de +Justice in search of a pleader to whom he wished to speak, and who was +employed in the Police Court. As chance would have it, Derville went +into Court Number 6 at the moment when the Presiding Magistrate was +sentencing one Hyacinthe to two months' imprisonment as a vagabond, +and subsequently to be taken to the Mendicity House of Detention, a +sentence which, by magistrates' law, is equivalent to perpetual +imprisonment. On hearing the name of Hyacinthe, Derville looked at the +deliquent, sitting between two /gendarmes/ on the bench for the +accused, and recognized in the condemned man his false Colonel +Chabert. + +The old soldier was placid, motionless, almost absentminded. In spite +of his rags, in spite of the misery stamped on his countenance, it +gave evidence of noble pride. His eye had a stoical expression which +no magistrate ought to have misunderstood; but as soon as a man has +fallen into the hands of justice, he is no more than a moral entity, a +matter of law or of fact, just as to statists he has become a zero. + +When the veteran was taken back to the lock-up, to be removed later +with the batch of vagabonds at that moment at the bar, Derville +availed himself of the privilege accorded to lawyers of going wherever +they please in the Courts, and followed him to the lock-up, where he +stood scrutinizing him for some minutes, as well as the curious crew +of beggars among whom he found himself. The passage to the lock-up at +that moment afforded one of those spectacles which, unfortunately, +neither legislators, nor philanthropists, nor painters, nor writers +come to study. Like all the laboratories of the law, this ante-room is +a dark and malodorous place; along the walls runs a wooden seat, +blackened by the constant presence there of the wretches who come to +this meeting-place of every form of social squalor, where not one of +them is missing. + +A poet might say that the day was ashamed to light up this dreadful +sewer through which so much misery flows! There is not a spot on that +plank where some crime has not sat, in embryo or matured; not a corner +where a man has never stood who, driven to despair by the blight which +justice has set upon him after his first fault, has not there begun a +career, at the end of which looms the guillotine or the pistol-snap of +the suicide. All who fall on the pavement of Paris rebound against +these yellow-gray walls, on which a philanthropist who was not a +speculator might read a justification of the numerous suicides +complained of by hypocritical writers who are incapable of taking a +step to prevent them--for that justification is written in that +ante-room, like a preface to the dramas of the Morgue, or to those +enacted on the Place de la Greve. + +At this moment Colonel Chabert was sitting among these men--men with +coarse faces, clothed in the horrible livery of misery, and silent at +intervals, or talking in a low tone, for three gendarmes on duty paced +to and fro, their sabres clattering on the floor. + +"Do you recognize me?" said Derville to the old man, standing in front +of him. + +"Yes, sir," said Chabert, rising. + +"If you are an honest man," Derville went on in an undertone, "how +could you remain in my debt?" + +The old soldier blushed as a young girl might when accused by her +mother of a clandestine love affair. + +"What! Madame Ferraud has not paid you?" cried he in a loud voice. + +"Paid me?" said Derville. "She wrote to me that you were a swindler." + +The Colonel cast up his eyes in a sublime impulse of horror and +imprecation, as if to call heaven to witness to this fresh subterfuge. + +"Monsieur," said he, in a voice that was calm by sheer huskiness, "get +the gendarmes to allow me to go into the lock-up, and I will sign an +order which will certainly be honored." + +At a word from Derville to the sergeant he was allowed to take his +client into the room, where Hyacinthe wrote a few lines, and addressed +them to the Comtesse Ferraud. + +"Send her that," said the soldier, "and you will be paid your costs +and the money you advanced. Believe me, monsieur, if I have not shown +you the gratitude I owe you for your kind offices, it is not the less +there," and he laid his hand on his heart. "Yes, it is there, deep and +sincere. But what can the unfortunate do? They live, and that is all." + +"What!" said Derville. "Did you not stipulate for an allowance?" + +"Do not speak of it!" cried the old man. "You cannot conceive how deep +my contempt is for the outside life to which most men cling. I was +suddenly attacked by a sickness--disgust of humanity. When I think +that Napoleon is at Saint-Helena, everything on earth is a matter of +indifference to me. I can no longer be a soldier; that is my only real +grief. After all," he added with a gesture of childish simplicity, "it +is better to enjoy luxury of feeling than of dress. For my part, I +fear nobody's contempt." + +And the Colonel sat down on his bench again. + +Derville went away. On returning to his office, he sent Godeschal, at +that time his second clerk, to the Comtesse Ferraud, who, on reading +the note, at once paid the sum due to Comte Chabert's lawyer. + + + +In 1840, towards the end of June, Godeschal, now himself an attorney, +went to Ris with Derville, to whom he had succeeded. When they reached +the avenue leading from the highroad to Bicetre, they saw, under one +of the elm-trees by the wayside, one of those old, broken, and hoary +paupers who have earned the Marshal's staff among beggars by living on +at Bicetre as poor women live on at la Salpetriere. This man, one of +the two thousand poor creatures who are lodged in the infirmary for +the aged, was seated on a corner-stone, and seemed to have +concentrated all his intelligence on an operation well known to these +pensioners, which consists in drying their snuffy pocket-handkerchiefs +in the sun, perhaps to save washing them. This old man had an +attractive countenance. He was dressed in a reddish cloth wrapper-coat +which the work-house affords to its inmates, a sort of horrible +livery. + +"I say, Derville," said Godeschal to his traveling companion, "look at +that old fellow. Isn't he like those grotesque carved figures we get +from Germany? And it is alive, perhaps it is happy." + +Derville looked at the poor man through his eyeglass, and with a +little exclamation of surprise he said: + +"That old man, my dear fellow, is a whole poem, or, as the romantics +say, a drama.--Did you ever meet the Comtesse Ferraud?" + +"Yes; she is a clever woman, and agreeable; but rather too pious," +said Godeschal. + +"That old Bicetre pauper is her lawful husband, Comte Chabert, the old +Colonel. She has had him sent here, no doubt. And if he is in this +workhouse instead of living in a mansion, it is solely because he +reminded the pretty Countess that he had taken her, like a hackney +cab, on the street. I can remember now the tiger's glare she shot at +him at that moment." + +This opening having excited Godeschal's curiosity, Derville related +the story here told. + +Two days later, on Monday morning, as they returned to Paris, the two +friends looked again at Bicetre, and Derville proposed that they +should call on Colonel Chabert. Halfway up the avenue they found the +old man sitting on the trunk of a felled tree. With his stick in one +hand, he was amusing himself with drawing lines in the sand. On +looking at him narrowly, they perceived that he had been breakfasting +elsewhere than at Bicetre. + +"Good-morning, Colonel Chabert," said Derville. + +"Not Chabert! not Chabert! My name is Hyacinthe," replied the veteran. +"I am no longer a man, I am No. 164, Room 7," he added, looking at +Derville with timid anxiety, the fear of an old man and a child.--"Are +you going to visit the man condemned to death?" he asked after a +moment's silence. "He is not married! He is very lucky!" + +"Poor fellow!" said Godeschal. "Would you like something to buy +snuff?" + +With all the simplicity of a street Arab, the Colonel eagerly held out +his hand to the two strangers, who each gave him a twenty-franc piece; +he thanked them with a puzzled look, saying: + +"Brave troopers!" + +He ported arms, pretended to take aim at them, and shouted with a +smile: + +"Fire! both arms! /Vive Napoleon/!" And he drew a flourish in the air +with his stick. + +"The nature of his wound has no doubt made him childish," said +Derville. + +"Childish! he?" said another old pauper, who was looking on. "Why, +there are days when you had better not tread on his corns. He is an +old rogue, full of philosophy and imagination. But to-day, what can +you expect! He has had his Monday treat.--He was here, monsieur, so +long ago as 1820. At that time a Prussian officer, whose chaise was +crawling up the hill of Villejuif, came by on foot. We two were +together, Hyacinthe and I, by the roadside. The officer, as he walked, +was talking to another, a Russian, or some animal of the same species, +and when the Prussian saw the old boy, just to make fun, he said to +him, 'Here is an old cavalry man who must have been at Rossbach.'--'I +was too young to be there,' said Hyacinthe. 'But I was at Jena.' And +the Prussian made off pretty quick, without asking any more +questions." + +"What a destiny!" exclaimed Derville. "Taken out of the Foundling +Hospital to die in the Infirmary for the Aged, after helping Napoleon +between whiles to conquer Egypt and Europe.--Do you know, my dear +fellow," Derville went on after a pause, "there are in modern society +three men who can never think well of the world--the priest, the +doctor, and the man of law? And they wear black robes, perhaps because +they are in mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most +hapless of the three is the lawyer. When a man comes in search of the +priest, he is prompted by repentance, by remorse, by beliefs which +make him interesting, which elevate him and comfort the soul of the +intercessor whose task will bring him a sort of gladness; he purifies, +repairs and reconciles. But we lawyers, we see the same evil feelings +repeated again and again, nothing can correct them; our offices are +sewers which can never be cleansed. + +"How many things have I learned in the exercise of my profession! I +have seen a father die in a garret, deserted by two daughters, to whom +he had given forty thousand francs a year! I have known wills burned; +I have seen mothers robbing their children, wives killing their +husbands, and working on the love they could inspire to make the men +idiotic or mad, that they might live in peace with a lover. I have +seen women teaching the child of their marriage such tastes as must +bring it to the grave in order to benefit the child of an illicit +affection. I could not tell you all I have seen, for I have seen +crimes against which justice is impotent. In short, all the horrors +that romancers suppose they have invented are still below the truth. +You will know something of these pretty things; as for me, I am going +to live in the country with my wife. I have a horror of Paris." + +"I have seen plenty of them already in Desroches' office," replied +Godeschal. + + + +PARIS, February-March 1832. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Bonaparte, Napoleon + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Seamy Side of History + A Woman of Thirty + +Crottat, Alexandre + Cesar Birotteau + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + Cousin Pons + +Derville + Gobseck + A Start in Life + The Gondreville Mystery + Father Goriot + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + +Desroches (son) + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Commission in Lunacy + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + +Ferraud, Comtesse + The Government Clerks + +Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + The Commission in Lunacy + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + +Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Gobseck + +Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier + The Chouans + The Seamy Side of History + The Gondreville Mystery + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Ball at Sceaux + The Lily of the Valley + The Government Clerks + +Murat, Joachim, Prince + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Country Doctor + +Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Muse of the Department + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Peasantry + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + Cousin Betty + +Vergniaud, Louis + The Vendetta + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Chabert, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CHABERT *** + +***** This file should be named 1954.txt or 1954.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/1/9/5/1954/ + +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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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz + + + + + +Colonel Chabert + +by Honore de Balzac + +Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + + + + +DEDICATION + +To Madame la Comtesse Ida de Bocarme nee du Chasteler. + + + + + +COLONEL CHABERT + + + +"HULLO! There is that old Box-coat again!" + +This exclamation was made by a lawyer's clerk of the class called in +French offices a gutter-jumper--a messenger in fact--who at this +moment was eating a piece of dry bread with a hearty appetite. He +pulled off a morsel of crumb to make into a bullet, and fired it +gleefully through the open pane of the window against which he was +leaning. The pellet, well aimed, rebounded almost as high as the +window, after hitting the hat of a stranger who was crossing the +courtyard of a house in the Rue Vivienne, where dwelt Maitre Derville, +attorney-at-law. + +"Come, Simonnin, don't play tricks on people, or I will turn you out +of doors. However poor a client may be, he is still a man, hang it +all!" said the head clerk, pausing in the addition of a bill of costs. + +The lawyer's messenger is commonly, as was Simonnin, a lad of thirteen +or fourteen, who, in every office, is under the special jurisdiction +of the managing clerk, whose errands and /billets-doux/ keep him +employed on his way to carry writs to the bailiffs and petitions to +the Courts. He is akin to the street boy in his habits, and to the +pettifogger by fate. The boy is almost always ruthless, unbroken, +unmanageable, a ribald rhymester, impudent, greedy, and idle. And yet, +almost all these clerklings have an old mother lodging on some fifth +floor with whom they share their pittance of thirty or forty francs a +month. + +"If he is a man, why do you call him old Box-coat?" asked Simonnin, +with the air of a schoolboy who has caught out his master. + +And he went on eating his bread and cheese, leaning his shoulder +against the window jamb; for he rested standing like a cab-horse, one +of his legs raised and propped against the other, on the toe of his +shoe. + +"What trick can we play that cove?" said the third clerk, whose name +was Godeschal, in a low voice, pausing in the middle of a discourse he +was extemporizing in an appeal engrossed by the fourth clerk, of which +copies were being made by two neophytes from the provinces. + +Then he went on improvising: + +"/But, in his noble and beneficent wisdom, his Majesty, Louis the +Eighteenth/--(write it at full length, heh! Desroches the learned-- +you, as you engross it!)--/when he resumed the reins of Government, +understood/--(what did that old nincompoop ever understand?)--/the +high mission to which he had been called by Divine Providence!/--(a +note of admiration and six stops. They are pious enough at the Courts +to let us put six)--/and his first thought, as is proved by the date +of the order hereinafter designated, was to repair the misfortunes +caused by the terrible and sad disasters of the revolutionary times, +by restoring to his numerous and faithful adherents/--('numerous' is +flattering, and ought to please the Bench)--/all their unsold estates, +whether within our realm, or in conquered or acquired territory, or in +the endowments of public institutions, for we are, and proclaim +ourselves competent to declare, that this is the spirit and meaning of +the famous, truly loyal order given in/--Stop," said Godeschal to the +three copying clerks, "that rascally sentence brings me to the end of +my page.--Well," he went on, wetting the back fold of the sheet with +his tongue, so as to be able to fold back the page of thick stamped +paper, "well, if you want to play him a trick, tell him that the +master can only see his clients between two and three in the morning; +we shall see if he comes, the old ruffian!" + +And Godeschal took up the sentence he was dictating--"/given in/--Are +you ready?" + +"Yes," cried the three writers. + +It all went all together, the appeal, the gossip, and the conspiracy. + +"/Given in/--Here, Daddy Boucard, what is the date of the order? We +must dot our /i/'s and cross our /t/'s, by Jingo! it helps to fill the +pages." + +"By Jingo!" repeated one of the copying clerks before Boucard, the +head clerk, could reply. + +"What! have you written /by Jingo/?" cried Godeschal, looking at one +of the novices, with an expression at once stern and humorous. + +"Why, yes," said Desroches, the fourth clerk, leaning across his +neighbor's copy, "he has written, '/We must dot our i's/' and spelt it +/by Gingo/!" + +All the clerks shouted with laughter. + +"Why! Monsieur Hure, you take 'By Jingo' for a law term, and you say +you come from Mortagne!" exclaimed Simonnin. + +"Scratch it cleanly out," said the head clerk. "If the judge, whose +business it is to tax the bill, were to see such things, he would say +you were laughing at the whole boiling. You would hear of it from the +chief! Come, no more of this nonsense, Monsieur Hure! A Norman ought +not to write out an appeal without thought. It is the 'Shoulder arms!' +of the law." + +"/Given in--in/?" asked Godeschal.--"Tell me when, Boucard." + +"June 1814," replied the head clerk, without looking up from his work. + +A knock at the office door interrupted the circumlocutions of the +prolix document. Five clerks with rows of hungry teeth, bright, +mocking eyes, and curly heads, lifted their noses towards the door, +after crying all together in a singing tone, "Come in!" + +Boucard kept his face buried in a pile of papers--/broutilles/ (odds +and ends) in French law jargon--and went on drawing out the bill of +costs on which he was busy. + +The office was a large room furnished with the traditional stool which +is to be seen in all these dens of law-quibbling. The stove-pipe +crossed the room diagonally to the chimney of a bricked-up fireplace; +on the marble chimney-piece were several chunks of bread, triangles of +Brie cheese, pork cutlets, glasses, bottles, and the head clerk's cup +of chocolate. The smell of these dainties blended so completely with +that of the immoderately overheated stove and the odor peculiar to +offices and old papers, that the trail of a fox would not have been +perceptible. The floor was covered with mud and snow, brought in by +the clerks. Near the window stood the desk with a revolving lid, where +the head clerk worked, and against the back of it was the second +clerk's table. The second clerk was at this moment in Court. It was +between eight and nine in the morning. + +The only decoration of the office consisted in huge yellow posters, +announcing seizures of real estate, sales, settlements under trust, +final or interim judgments,--all the glory of a lawyer's office. +Behind the head clerk was an enormous room, of which each division was +crammed with bundles of papers with an infinite number of tickets +hanging from them at the ends of red tape, which give a peculiar +physiognomy to law papers. The lower rows were filled with cardboard +boxes, yellow with use, on which might be read the names of the more +important clients whose cases were juicily stewing at this present +time. The dirty window-panes admitted but little daylight. Indeed, +there are very few offices in Paris where it is possible to write +without lamplight before ten in the morning in the month of February, +for they are all left to very natural neglect; every one comes and no +one stays; no one has any personal interest in a scene of mere routine +--neither the attorney, nor the counsel, nor the clerks, trouble +themselves about the appearance of a place which, to the youths, is a +schoolroom; to the clients, a passage; to the chief, a laboratory. The +greasy furniture is handed down to successive owners with such +scrupulous care, that in some offices may still be seen boxes of +/remainders/, machines for twisting parchment gut, and bags left by +the prosecuting parties of the Chatelet (abbreviated to /Chlet/)--a +Court which, under the old order of things, represented the present +Court of First Instance (or County Court). + +So in this dark office, thick with dust, there was, as in all its +fellows, something repulsive to the clients--something which made it +one of the most hideous monstrosities of Paris. Nay, were it not for +the mouldy sacristies where prayers are weighed out and paid for like +groceries, and for the old-clothes shops, where flutter the rags that +blight all the illusions of life by showing us the last end of all our +festivities--an attorney's office would be, of all social marts, the +most loathsome. But we might say the same of the gambling-hell, of the +Law Court, of the lottery office, of the brothel. + +But why? In these places, perhaps, the drama being played in a man's +soul makes him indifferent to accessories, which would also account +for the single-mindedness of great thinkers and men of great +ambitions. + +"Where is my penknife?" + +"I am eating my breakfast." + +"You go and be hanged! here is a blot on the copy." + +"Silence, gentlemen!" + +These various exclamations were uttered simultaneously at the moment +when the old client shut the door with the sort of humility which +disfigures the movements of a man down on his luck. The stranger tried +to smile, but the muscles of his face relaxed as he vainly looked for +some symptoms of amenity on the inexorably indifferent faces of the +six clerks. Accustomed, no doubt, to gauge men, he very politely +addressed the gutter-jumper, hoping to get a civil answer from this +boy of all work. + +"Monsieur, is your master at home?" + +The pert messenger made no reply, but patted his ear with the fingers +of his left hand, as much as to say, "I am deaf." + +"What do you want, sir?" asked Godeschal, swallowing as he spoke a +mouthful of bread big enough to charge a four-pounder, flourishing his +knife and crossing his legs, throwing up one foot in the air to the +level of his eyes. + +"This is the fifth time I have called," replied the victim. "I wish to +speak to M. Derville." + +"On business?" + +"Yes, but I can explain it to no one but--" + +"M. Derville is in bed; if you wish to consult him on some difficulty, +he does no serious work till midnight. But if you will lay the case +before us, we could help you just as well as he can to----" + +The stranger was unmoved; he looked timidly about him, like a dog who +has got into a strange kitchen and expects a kick. By grace of their +profession, lawyers' clerks have no fear of thieves; they did not +suspect the owner of the box-coat, and left him to study the place, +where he looked in vain for a chair to sit on, for he was evidently +tired. Attorneys, on principle, do not have many chairs in their +offices. The inferior client, being kept waiting on his feet, goes +away grumbling, but then he does not waste time, which, as an old +lawyer once said, is not allowed for when the bill is taxed. + +"Monsieur," said the old man, "as I have already told you, I cannot +explain my business to any one but M. Derville. I will wait till he is +up." + +Boucard had finished his bill. He smelt the fragrance of his +chocolate, rose from his cane armchair, went to the chimney-piece, +looked the old man from head to foot, stared at his coat, and made an +indescribable grimace. He probably reflected that whichever way his +client might be wrung, it would be impossible to squeeze out a +centime, so he put in a few brief words to rid the office of a bad +customer. + +"It is the truth, monsieur. The chief only works at night. If your +business is important, I recommend you to return at one in the +morning." The stranger looked at the head clerk with a bewildered +expression, and remained motionless for a moment. The clerks, +accustomed to every change of countenance, and the odd whimsicalities +to which indecision or absence of mind gives rise in "parties," went +on eating, making as much noise with their jaws as horses over a +manger, and paying no further heed to the old man. + +"I will come again to-night," said the stranger at length, with the +tenacious desire, peculiar to the unfortunate, to catch humanity at +fault. + +The only irony allowed to poverty is to drive Justice and Benevolence +to unjust denials. When a poor wretch has convicted Society of +falsehood, he throws himself more eagerly on the mercy of God. + +"What do you think of that for a cracked pot?" said Simonnin, without +waiting till the old man had shut the door. + +"He looks as if he had been buried and dug up again," said a clerk. + +"He is some colonel who wants his arrears of pay," said the head +clerk. + +"No, he is a retired concierge," said Godeschal. + +"I bet you he is a nobleman," cried Boucard. + +"I bet you he has been a porter," retorted Godeschal. "Only porters +are gifted by nature with shabby box-coats, as worn and greasy and +frayed as that old body's. And did you see his trodden-down boots that +let the water in, and his stock which serves for a shirt? He has slept +in a dry arch." + +"He may be of noble birth, and yet have pulled the doorlatch," cried +Desroches. "It has been known!" + +"No," Boucard insisted, in the midst of laughter, "I maintain that he +was a brewer in 1789, and a colonel in the time of the Republic." + +"I bet theatre tickets round that he never was a soldier," said +Godeschal. + +"Done with you," answered Boucard. + +"Monsieur! Monsieur!" shouted the little messenger, opening the +window. + +"What are you at now, Simonnin?" asked Boucard. + +"I am calling him that you may ask him whether he is a colonel or a +porter; he must know." + +All the clerks laughed. As to the old man, he was already coming +upstairs again. + +"What can we say to him?" cried Godeschal. + +"Leave it to me," replied Boucard. + +The poor man came in nervously, his eyes cast down, perhaps not to +betray how hungry he was by looking too greedily at the eatables. + +"Monsieur," said Boucard, "will you have the kindness to leave your +name, so that M. Derville may know----" + +"Chabert." + +"The Colonel who was killed at Eylau?" asked Hure, who, having so far +said nothing, was jealous of adding a jest to all the others. + +"The same, monsieur," replied the good man, with antique simplicity. +And he went away. + +"Whew!" + +"Done brown!" + +"Poof!" + +"Oh!" + +"Ah!" + +"Boum!" + +"The old rogue!" + +"Ting-a-ring-ting!" + +"Sold again!" + +"Monsieur Desroches, you are going to the play without paying," said +Hure to the fourth clerk, giving him a slap on the shoulder that might +have killed a rhinoceros. + +There was a storm of cat-calls, cries, and exclamations, which all the +onomatopeia of the language would fail to represent. + +"Which theatre shall we go to?" + +"To the opera," cried the head clerk. + +"In the first place," said Godeschal, "I never mentioned which +theatre. I might, if I chose, take you to see Madame Saqui." + +"Madame Saqui is not the play." + +"What is a play?" replied Godeschal. "First, we must define the point +of fact. What did I bet, gentlemen? A play. What is a play? A +spectacle. What is a spectacle? Something to be seen--" + +"But on that principle you would pay your bet by taking us to see the +water run under the Pont Neuf!" cried Simonnin, interrupting him. + +"To be seen for money," Godeschal added. + +"But a great many things are to be seen for money that are not plays. +The definition is defective," said Desroches. + +"But do listen to me!" + +"You are talking nonsense, my dear boy," said Boucard. + +"Is Curtius' a play?" said Godeschal. + +"No," said the head clerk, "it is a collection of figures--but it is a +spectacle." + +"I bet you a hundred francs to a sou," Godeschal resumed, "that +Curtius' Waxworks forms such a show as might be called a play or +theatre. It contains a thing to be seen at various prices, according +to the place you choose to occupy." + +"And so on, and so forth!" said Simonnin. + +"You mind I don't box your ears!" said Godeschal. + +The clerk shrugged their shoulders. + +"Besides, it is not proved that that old ape was not making game of +us," he said, dropping his argument, which was drowned in the laughter +of the other clerks. "On my honor, Colonel Chabert is really and truly +dead. His wife is married again to Comte Ferraud, Councillor of State. +Madame Ferraud is one of our clients." + +"Come, the case is remanded till to-morrow," said Boucard. "To work, +gentlemen. The deuce is in it; we get nothing done here. Finish +copying that appeal; it must be handed in before the sitting of the +Fourth Chamber, judgment is to be given to-day. Come, on you go!" + +"If he really were Colonel Chabert, would not that impudent rascal +Simonnin have felt the leather of his boot in the right place when he +pretended to be deaf?" said Desroches, regarding this remark as more +conclusive than Godeschal's. + +"Since nothing is settled," said Boucard, "let us all agree to go to +the upper boxes of the Francais and see Talma in 'Nero.' Simonnin may +go to the pit." + +And thereupon the head clerk sat down at his table, and the others +followed his example. + +"/Given in June eighteen hundred and fourteen/ (in words)," said +Godeschal. "Ready?" + +"Yes," replied the two copying-clerks and the engrosser, whose pens +forthwith began to creak over the stamped paper, making as much noise +in the office as a hundred cockchafers imprisoned by schoolboys in +paper cages. + +"/And we hope that my lords on the Bench/," the extemporizing clerk +went on. "Stop! I must read my sentence through again. I do not +understand it myself." + +"Forty-six (that must often happen) and three forty-nines," said +Boucard. + +"/We hope/," Godeschal began again, after reading all through the +document, "/that my lords on the Bench will not be less magnanimous +than the august author of the decree, and that they will do justice +against the miserable claims of the acting committee of the chief +Board of the Legion of Honor by interpreting the law in the wide sense +we have here set forth/----" + +"Monsieur Godeschal, wouldn't you like a glass of water?" said the +little messenger. + +"That imp of a boy!" said Boucard. "Here, get on your double-soled +shanks-mare, take this packet, and spin off to the Invalides." + +"/Here set forth/," Godeschal went on. "Add /in the interest of Madame +la Vicomtesse/ (at full length) /de Grandlieu/." + +"What!" cried the chief, "are you thinking of drawing up an appeal in +the case of Vicomtesse de Grandlieu against the Legion of Honor--a +case for the office to stand or fall by? You are something like an +ass! Have the goodness to put aside your copies and your notes; you +may keep all that for the case of Navarreins against the Hospitals. It +is late. I will draw up a little petition myself, with a due allowance +of 'inasmuch,' and go to the Courts myself." + +This scene is typical of the thousand delights which, when we look +back on our youth, make us say, "Those were good times." + + + +At about one in the morning Colonel Chabert, self-styled, knocked at +the door of Maitre Derville, attorney to the Court of First Instance +in the Department of the Seine. The porter told him that Monsieur +Derville had not yet come in. The old man said he had an appointment, +and was shown upstairs to the rooms occupied by the famous lawyer, +who, notwithstanding his youth, was considered to have one of the +longest heads in Paris. + +Having rung, the distrustful applicant was not a little astonished at +finding the head clerk busily arranging in a convenient order on his +master's dining-room table the papers relating to the cases to be +tried on the morrow. The clerk, not less astonished, bowed to the +Colonel and begged him to take a seat, which the client did. + +"On my word, monsieur, I thought you were joking yesterday when you +named such an hour for an interview," said the old man, with the +forced mirth of a ruined man, who does his best to smile. + +"The clerks were joking, but they were speaking the truth too," +replied the man, going on with his work. "M. Derville chooses this +hour for studying his cases, taking stock of their possibilities, +arranging how to conduct them, deciding on the line of defence. His +prodigious intellect is freer at this hour--the only time when he can +have the silence and quiet needed for the conception of good ideas. +Since he entered the profession, you are the third person to come to +him for a consultation at this midnight hour. After coming in the +chief will discuss each case, read everything, spend four or five +hours perhaps over the business, then he will ring for me and explain +to me his intentions. In the morning from ten to two he hears what his +clients have to say, then he spends the rest of his day in +appointments. In the evening he goes into society to keep up his +connections. So he has only the night for undermining his cases, +ransacking the arsenal of the code, and laying his plan of battle. He +is determined never to lose a case; he loves his art. He will not +undertake every case, as his brethren do. That is his life, an +exceptionally active one. And he makes a great deal of money." + +As he listened to this explanation, the old man sat silent, and his +strange face assumed an expression so bereft of intelligence, that the +clerk, after looking at him, thought no more about him. + +A few minutes later Derville came in, in evening dress; his head clerk +opened the door to him, and went back to finish arranging the papers. +The young lawyer paused for a moment in amazement on seeing in the dim +light the strange client who awaited him. Colonel Chabert was as +absolutely immovable as one of the wax figures in Curtius' collection +to which Godeschal had proposed to treat his fellow-clerks. This +quiescence would not have been a subject for astonishment if it had +not completed the supernatural aspect of the man's whole person. The +old soldier was dry and lean. His forehead, intentionally hidden under +a smoothly combed wig, gave him a look of mystery. His eyes seemed +shrouded in a transparent film; you would have compared them to dingy +mother-of-pearl with a blue iridescence changing in the gleam of the +wax lights. His face, pale, livid, and as thin as a knife, if I may +use such a vulgar expression, was as the face of the dead. Round his +neck was a tight black silk stock. + +Below the dark line of this rag the body was so completely hidden in +shadow that a man of imagination might have supposed the old head was +due to some chance play of light and shade, or have taken it for a +portrait by Rembrandt, without a frame. The brim of the hat which +covered the old man's brow cast a black line of shadow on the upper +part of the face. This grotesque effect, though natural, threw into +relief by contrast the white furrows, the cold wrinkles, the colorless +tone of the corpse-like countenance. And the absence of all movement +in the figure, of all fire in the eye, were in harmony with a certain +look of melancholy madness, and the deteriorating symptoms +characteristic of senility, giving the face an indescribably ill- +starred look which no human words could render. + +But an observer, especially a lawyer, could also have read in this +stricken man the signs of deep sorrow, the traces of grief which had +worn into this face, as drops of water from the sky falling on fine +marble at last destroy its beauty. A physician, an author, or a judge +might have discerned a whole drama at the sight of its sublime horror, +while the least charm was its resemblance to the grotesques which +artists amuse themselves by sketching on a corner of the lithographic +stone while chatting with a friend. + +On seeing the attorney, the stranger started, with the convulsive +thrill that comes over a poet when a sudden noise rouses him from a +fruitful reverie in silence and at night. The old man hastily removed +his hat and rose to bow to the young man; the leather lining of his +hat was doubtless very greasy; his wig stuck to it without his +noticing it, and left his head bare, showing his skull horribly +disfigured by a scar beginning at the nape of the neck and ending over +the right eye, a prominent seam all across his head. The sudden +removal of the dirty wig which the poor man wore to hide this gash +gave the two lawyers no inclination to laugh, so horrible to behold +was this riven skull. The first idea suggested by the sight of this +old wound was, "His intelligence must have escaped through that cut." + +"If this is not Colonel Chabert, he is some thorough-going trooper!" +thought Boucard. + +"Monsieur," said Derville, "to whom have I the honor of speaking?" + +"To Colonel Chabert." + +"Which?" + +"He who was killed at Eylau," replied the old man. + +On hearing this strange speech, the lawyer and his clerk glanced at +each other, as much as to say, "He is mad." + +"Monsieur," the Colonel went on, "I wish to confide to you the secret +of my position." + +A thing worthy of note is the natural intrepidity of lawyers. Whether +from the habit of receiving a great many persons, or from the deep +sense of the protection conferred on them by the law, or from +confidence in their missions, they enter everywhere, fearing nothing, +like priests and physicians. Derville signed to Boucard, who vanished. + +"During the day, sir," said the attorney, "I am not so miserly of my +time, but at night every minute is precious. So be brief and concise. +Go to the facts without digression. I will ask for any explanations I +may consider necessary. Speak." + +Having bid his strange client to be seated, the young man sat down at +the table; but while he gave his attention to the deceased Colonel, he +turned over the bundles of papers. + +"You know, perhaps," said the dead man, "that I commanded a cavalry +regiment at Eylau. I was of important service to the success of +Murat's famous charge which decided the victory. Unhappily for me, my +death is a historical fact, recorded in /Victoires et Conquetes/, +where it is related in full detail. We cut through the three Russian +lines, which at once closed up and formed again, so that we had to +repeat the movement back again. At the moment when we were nearing the +Emperor, after having scattered the Russians, I came against a +squadron of the enemy's cavalry. I rushed at the obstinate brutes. Two +Russian officers, perfect giants, attacked me both at once. One of +them gave me a cut across the head that crashed through everything, +even a black silk cap I wore next my head, and cut deep into the +skull. I fell from my horse. Murat came up to support me. He rode over +my body, he and all his men, fifteen hundred of them--there might have +been more! My death was announced to the Emperor, who as a precaution +--for he was fond of me, was the master--wished to know if there were +no hope of saving the man he had to thank for such a vigorous attack. +He sent two surgeons to identify me and bring me into Hospital, +saying, perhaps too carelessly, for he was very busy, 'Go and see +whether by any chance poor Chabert is still alive.' These rascally +saw-bones, who had just seen me lying under the hoofs of the horses of +two regiments, no doubt did not trouble themselves to feel my pulse, +and reported that I was quite dead. The certificate of death was +probably made out in accordance with the rules of military +jurisprudence." + +As he heard his visitor express himself with complete lucidity, and +relate a story so probable though so strange, the young lawyer ceased +fingering the papers, rested his left elbow on the table, and with his +head on his hand looked steadily at the Colonel. + +"Do you know, monsieur, that I am lawyer to the Countess Ferraud," he +said, interrupting the speaker, "Colonel Chabert's widow?" + +"My wife--yes monsieur. Therefore, after a hundred fruitless attempts +to interest lawyers, who have all thought me mad, I made up my mind to +come to you. I will tell you of my misfortunes afterwards; for the +present, allow me to prove the facts, explaining rather how things +must have fallen out rather than how they did occur. Certain +circumstances, known, I suppose to no one but the Almighty, compel me +to speak of some things as hypothetical. The wounds I had received +must presumably have produced tetanus, or have thrown me into a state +analogous to that of a disease called, I believe, catalepsy. Otherwise +how is it conceivable that I should have been stripped, as is the +custom in time of the war, and thrown into the common grave by the men +ordered to bury the dead? + +"Allow me here to refer to a detail of which I could know nothing till +after the event, which, after all, I must speak of as my death. At +Stuttgart, in 1814, I met an old quartermaster of my regiment. This +dear fellow, the only man who chose to recognize me, and of whom I +will tell you more later, explained the marvel of my preservation, by +telling me that my horse was shot in the flank at the moment when I +was wounded. Man and beast went down together, like a monk cut out of +card-paper. As I fell, to the right or to the left, I was no doubt +covered by the body of my horse, which protected me from being +trampled to death or hit by a ball. + +"When I came to myself, monsieur, I was in a position and an +atmosphere of which I could give you no idea if I talked till +to-morrow. the little air there was to breathe was foul. I wanted to +move, and found no room. I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. The most +alarming circumstance was the lack of air, and this enlightened me as +to my situation. I understood that no fresh air could penetrate to me, +and that I must die. This thought took off the sense of intolerable +pain which had aroused me. There was a violent singing in my ears. I +heard--or I thought I heard, I will assert nothing--groans from the +world of dead among whom I was lying. Some nights I still think I hear +those stifled moans; though the remembrance of that time is very +obscure, and my memory very indistinct, in spite of my impressions of +far more acute suffering I was fated to go through, and which have +confused my ideas. + +"But there was something more awful than cries; there was a silence +such as I have never known elsewhere--literally, the silence of the +grave. At last, by raising my hands and feeling the dead, I discerned +a vacant space between my head and the human carrion above. I could +thus measure the space, granted by a chance of which I knew not the +cause. It would seem that, thanks to the carelessness and the haste +with which we had been pitched into the trench, two dead bodies had +leaned across and against each other, forming an angle like that made +by two cards when a child is building a card castle. Feeling about me +at once, for there was no time for play, I happily felt an arm lying +detached, the arm of a Hercules! A stout bone, to which I owed my +rescue. But for this unhoped-for help, I must have perished. But with +a fury you may imagine, I began to work my way through the bodies +which separated me from the layer of earth which had no doubt been +thrown over us--I say us, as if there had been others living! I worked +with a will, monsieur, for here I am! But to this day I do not know +how I succeeded in getting through the pile of flesh which formed a +barrier between me and life. You will say I had three arms. This +crowbar, which I used cleverly enough, opened out a little air between +the bodies I moved, and I economized my breath. At last I saw +daylight, but through snow! + +"At that moment I perceived that my head was cut open. Happily my +blood, or that of my comrades, or perhaps the torn skin of my horse, +who knows, had in coagulating formed a sort of natural plaster. But, +in spite of it, I fainted away when my head came into contact with the +snow. However, the little warmth left in me melted the snow about me; +and when I recovered consciousness, I found myself in the middle of a +round hole, where I stood shouting as long as I could. But the sun was +rising, so I had very little chance of being heard. Was there any one +in the fields yet? I pulled myself up, using my feet as a spring, +resting on one of the dead, whose ribs were firm. You may suppose that +this was not the moment for saying, 'Respect courage in misfortune!' +In short, monsieur, after enduring the anguish, if the word is strong +enough for my frenzy, of seeing for a long time, yes, quite a long +time, those cursed Germans flying from a voice they heard where they +could see no one, I was dug out by a woman, who was brave or curious +enough to come close to my head, which must have looked as though it +had sprouted from the ground like a mushroom. This woman went to fetch +her husband, and between them they got me to their poor hovel. + +"It would seem that I must have again fallen into a catalepsy--allow +me to use the word to describe a state of which I have no idea, but +which, from the account given by my hosts, I suppose to have been the +effect of that malady. I remained for six months between life and +death; not speaking, or, if I spoke, talking in delirium. At last, my +hosts got me admitted to the hospital at Heilsberg. + +"You will understand, Monsieur, that I came out of the womb of the +grave as naked as I came from my mother's; so that six months +afterwards, when I remembered, one fine morning, that I had been +Colonel Chabert, and when, on recovering my wits, I tried to exact +from my nurse rather more respect than she paid to any poor devil, all +my companions in the ward began to laugh. Luckily for me, the surgeon, +out of professional pride, had answered for my cure, and was naturally +interested in his patient. When I told him coherently about my former +life, this good man, named Sparchmann, signed a deposition, drawn up +in the legal form of his country, giving an account of the miraculous +way in which I had escaped from the trench dug for the dead, the day +and hour when I had been found by my benefactress and her husband, the +nature and exact spot of my injuries, adding to these documents a +description of my person. + +"Well, monsieur, I have neither these important pieces of evidence, +nor the declaration I made before a notary at Heilsberg, with a view +to establishing my identity. From the day when I was turned out of +that town by the events of the war, I have wandered about like a +vagabond, begging my bread, treated as a madman when I have told my +story, without ever having found or earned a sou to enable me to +recover the deeds which would prove my statements, and restore me to +society. My sufferings have often kept me for six months at a time in +some little town, where every care was taken of the invalid Frenchman, +but where he was laughed at to his face as soon as he said he was +Colonel Chabert. For a long time that laughter, those doubts, used to +put me into rages which did me harm, and which even led to my being +locked up at Stuttgart as a madman. And indeed, as you may judge from +my story, there was ample reason for shutting a man up. + +"At the end of two years' detention, which I was compelled to submit +to, after hearing my keepers say a thousand times, 'Here is a poor man +who thinks he is Colonel Chabert' to people who would reply, 'Poor +fellow!' I became convinced of the impossibility of my own adventure. +I grew melancholy, resigned, and quiet, and gave up calling myself +Colonel Chabert, in order to get out of my prison, and see France once +more. Oh, monsieur! To see Paris again was a delirium which I----" + +Without finishing his sentence, Colonel Chabert fell into a deep +study, which Derville respected. + +"One fine day," his visitor resumed, "one spring day, they gave me the +key of the fields, as we say, and ten thalers, admitting that I talked +quite sensibly on all subjects, and no longer called myself Colonel +Chabert. On my honor, at that time, and even to this day, sometimes I +hate my name. I wish I were not myself. The sense of my rights kills +me. If my illness had but deprived me of all memory of my past life, I +could be happy. I should have entered the service again under any +name, no matter what, and should, perhaps, have been made Field- +Marshal in Austria or Russia. Who knows?" + +"Monsieur," said the attorney, "you have upset all my ideas. I feel as +if I heard you in a dream. Pause for a moment, I beg of you." + +"You are the only person," said the Colonel, with a melancholy look, +"who ever listened to me so patiently. No lawyer has been willing to +lend me ten napoleons to enable me to procure from Germany the +necessary documents to begin my lawsuit--" + +"What lawsuit?" said the attorney, who had forgotten his client's +painful position in listening to the narrative of his past sufferings. + +"Why, monsieur, is not the Comtesse Ferraud my wife? She has thirty +thousand francs a year, which belong to me, and she will not give me a +son. When I tell lawyers these things--men of sense; when I propose-- +I, a beggar--to bring action against a Count and Countess; when I--a +dead man--bring up as against a certificate of death a certificate of +marriage and registers of births, they show me out, either with the +air of cold politeness, which you all know how to assume to rid +yourself of a hapless wretch, or brutally, like men who think they +have to deal with a swindler or a madman--it depends on their nature. +I have been buried under the dead; but now I am buried under the +living, under papers, under facts, under the whole of society, which +wants to shove me underground again!" + +"Pray resume your narrative," said Derville. + +" 'Pray resume it!' " cried the hapless old man, taking the young +lawyer's hand. "That is the first polite word I have heard since----" + +The Colonel wept. Gratitude choked his voice. The appealing and +unutterable eloquence that lies in the eyes, in a gesture, even in +silence, entirely convinced Derville, and touched him deeply. + +"Listen, monsieur," said he; "I have this evening won three hundred +francs at cards. I may very well lay out half that sum in making a man +happy. I will begin the inquiries and researches necessary to obtain +the documents of which you speak, and until they arrive I will give +you five francs a day. If you are Colonel Chabert, you will pardon the +smallness of the loan as it is coming from a young man who has his +fortune to make. Proceed." + +The Colonel, as he called himself, sat for a moment motionless and +bewildered; the depth of his woes had no doubt destroyed his powers of +belief. Though he was eager in pursuit of his military distinction, of +his fortune, of himself, perhaps it was in obedience to the +inexplicable feeling, the latent germ in every man's heart, to which +we owe the experiments of alchemists, the passion for glory, the +discoveries of astronomy and of physics, everything which prompts man +to expand his being by multiplying himself through deeds or ideas. In +his mind the /Ego/ was now but a secondary object, just as the vanity +of success or the pleasures of winning become dearer to the gambler +than the object he has at stake. The young lawyer's words were as a +miracle to this man, for ten years repudiated by his wife, by justice, +by the whole social creation. To find in a lawyer's office the ten +gold pieces which had so long been refused him by so many people, and +in so many ways! The colonel was like the lady who, having been ill of +a fever for fifteen years, fancied she had some fresh complaint when +she was cured. There are joys in which we have ceased to believe; they +fall on us, it is like a thunderbolt; they burn us. The poor man's +gratitude was too great to find utterance. To superficial observers he +seemed cold, but Derville saw complete honesty under this amazement. A +swindler would have found his voice. + +"Where was I?" said the Colonel, with the simplicity of a child or of +a soldier, for there is often something of the child in a true +soldier, and almost always something of the soldier in a child, +especially in France. + +"At Stuttgart. You were out of prison," said Derville. + +"You know my wife?" asked the Colonel. + +"Yes," said Derville, with a bow. + +"What is she like?" + +"Still quite charming." + +The old man held up his hand, and seemed to be swallowing down some +secret anguish with the grave and solemn resignation that is +characteristic of men who have stood the ordeal of blood and fire on +the battlefield. + +"Monsieur," said he, with a sort of cheerfulness--for he breathed +again, the poor Colonel; he had again risen from the grave; he had +just melted a covering of snow less easily thawed than that which had +once before frozen his head; and he drew a deep breath, as if he had +just escaped from a dungeon--"Monsieur, if I had been a handsome young +fellow, none of my misfortunes would have befallen me. Women believe +in men when they flavor their speeches with the word Love. They hurry +then, they come, they go, they are everywhere at once; they intrigue, +they assert facts, they play the very devil for a man who takes their +fancy. But how could I interest a woman? I had a face like a Requiem. +I was dressed like a /sans-culotte/. I was more like an Esquimaux than +a Frenchman--I, who had formerly been considered one of the smartest +of fops in 1799!--I, Chabert, Count of the Empire. + +"Well, on the very day when I was turned out into the streets like a +dog, I met the quartermaster of whom I just now spoke. This old +soldier's name was Boutin. The poor devil and I made the queerest pair +of broken-down hacks I ever set eyes on. I met him out walking; but +though I recognized him, he could not possibly guess who I was. We +went into a tavern together. In there, when I told him my name, +Boutin's mouth opened from ear to ear in a roar of laughter, like the +bursting of a mortar. That mirth, monsieur, was one of the keenest +pangs I have known. It told me without disguise how great were the +changes in me! I was, then, unrecognizable even to the humblest and +most grateful of my former friends! + +"I had once saved Boutin's life, but it was only the repayment of a +debt I owed him. I need not tell you how he did me this service; it +was at Ravenna, in Italy. The house where Boutin prevented my being +stabbed was not extremely respectable. At that time I was not a +colonel, but, like Boutin himself, a common trooper. Happily there +were certain details of this adventure which could be known only to us +two, and when I recalled them to his mind his incredulity diminished. +I then told him the story of my singular experiences. Although my eyes +and my voice, he told me, were strangely altered, although I had +neither hair, teeth, nor eyebrows, and was as colorless as an Albino, +he at last recognized his Colonel in the beggar, after a thousand +questions, which I answered triumphantly. + +"He related his adventures; they were not less extraordinary than my +own; he had lately come back from the frontiers of China, which he had +tried to cross after escaping from Siberia. He told me of the +catastrophe of the Russian campaign, and of Napoleon's first +abdication. That news was one of the things which caused me most +anguish! + +"We were two curious derelicts, having been rolled over the globe as +pebbles are rolled by the ocean when storms bear them from shore to +shore. Between us we had seen Egypt, Syria, Spain, Russia, Holland, +Germany, Italy and Dalmatia, England, China, Tartary, Siberia; the +only thing wanting was that neither of us had been to America or the +Indies. Finally, Boutin, who still was more locomotive than I, +undertook to go to Paris as quickly as might be to inform my wife of +the predicament in which I was. I wrote a long letter full of details +to Madame Chabert. That, monsieur, was the fourth! If I had had any +relations, perhaps nothing of all this might have happened; but, to be +frank with you, I am but a workhouse child, a soldier, whose sole +fortune was his courage, whose sole family is mankind at large, whose +country is France, whose only protector is the Almighty.--Nay, I am +wrong! I had a father--the Emperor! Ah! if he were but here, the dear +man! If he could see /his Chabert/, as he used to call me, in the +state in which I am now, he would be in a rage! What is to be done? +Our sun is set, and we are all out in the cold now. After all, +political events might account for my wife's silence! + +"Boutin set out. He was a lucky fellow! He had two bears, admirably +trained, which brought him in a living. I could not go with him; the +pain I suffered forbade my walking long stages. I wept, monsieur, when +we parted, after I had gone as far as my state allowed in company with +him and his bears. At Carlsruhe I had an attack of neuralgia in the +head, and lay for six weeks on straw in an inn. I should never have +ended if I were to tell you all the distresses of my life as a beggar. +Moral suffering, before which physical suffering pales, nevertheless +excites less pity, because it is not seen. I remember shedding tears, +as I stood in front of a fine house in Strassburg where once I had +given an entertainment, and where nothing was given me, not even a +piece of bread. Having agreed with Boutin on the road I was to take, I +went to every post-office to ask if there were a letter or some money +for me. I arrived at Paris without having found either. What despair I +had been forced to endure! 'Boutin must be dead! I told myself, and in +fact the poor fellow was killed at Waterloo. I heard of his death +later, and by mere chance. His errand to my wife had, of course, been +fruitless. + +"At last I entered Paris--with the Cossacks. To me this was grief on +grief. On seeing the Russians in France, I quite forgot that I had no +shoes on my feet nor money in my pocket. Yes, monsieur, my clothes +were in tatters. The evening before I reached Paris I was obliged to +bivouac in the woods of Claye. The chill of the night air no doubt +brought on an attack of some nameless complaint which seized me as I +was crossing the Faubourg Saint-Martin. I dropped almost senseless at +the door of an ironmonger's shop. When I recovered I was in a bed in +the Hotel-Dieu. There I stayed very contentedly for about a month. I +was then turned out; I had no money, but I was well, and my feet were +on the good stones of Paris. With what delight and haste did I make my +way to the Rue du Mont-Blanc, where my wife should be living in a +house belonging to me! Bah! the Rue du Mont-Blanc was now the Rue de +la Chausee d'Antin; I could not find my house; it had been sold and +pulled down. Speculators had built several houses over my gardens. Not +knowing that my wife had married M. Ferraud, I could obtain no +information. + +"At last I went to the house of an old lawyer who had been in charge +of my affairs. This worthy man was dead, after selling his connection +to a younger man. This gentleman informed me, to my great surprise, of +the administration of my estate, the settlement of the moneys, of my +wife's marriage, and the birth of her two children. When I told him +that I was Colonel Chabert, he laughed so heartily that I left him +without saying another word. My detention at Stuttgart had suggested +possibilities of Charenton, and I determined to act with caution. +Then, monsieur, knowing where my wife lived, I went to her house, my +heart high with hope.--Well," said the Colonel, with a gesture of +concentrated fury, "when I called under an assumed name I was not +admitted, and on the day when I used my own I was turned out of doors. + +"To see the Countess come home from a ball or the play in the early +morning, I have sat whole nights through, crouching close to the wall +of her gateway. My eyes pierced the depths of the carriage, which +flashed past me with the swiftness of lightning, and I caught a +glimpse of the woman who is my wife and no longer mine. Oh, from that +day I have lived for vengeance!" cried the old man in a hollow voice, +and suddenly standing up in front of Derville. "She knows that I am +alive; since my return she has had two letters written with my own +hand. She loves me no more!--I--I know not whether I love or hate her. +I long for her and curse her by turns. To me she owes all her fortune, +all her happiness; well, she has not sent me the very smallest +pittance. Sometimes I do not know what will become of me!" + +With these words the veteran dropped on to his chair again and +remained motionless. Derville sat in silence, studying his client. + +"It is a serious business," he said at length, mechanically. "Even +granting the genuineness of the documents to be procured from +Heilsberg, it is not proved to me that we can at once win our case. It +must go before three tribunals in succession. I must think such a +matter over with a clear head; it is quite exceptional." + +"Oh," said the Colonel, coldly, with a haughty jerk of his head, "if I +fail, I can die--but not alone." + +The feeble old man had vanished. The eyes were those of a man of +energy, lighted up with the spark of desire and revenge. + +"We must perhaps compromise," said the lawyer. + +"Compromise!" echoed Colonel Chabert. "Am I dead, or am I alive?" + +"I hope, monsieur," the attorney went on, "that you will follow my +advice. Your cause is mine. You will soon perceive the interest I take +in your situation, almost unexampled in judicial records. For the +moment I will give you a letter to my notary, who will pay to your +order fifty francs every ten days. It would be unbecoming for you to +come here to receive alms. If you are Colonel Chabert, you ought to be +at no man's mercy. I shall record these advances as a loan; you have +estates to recover; you are rich." + +This delicate compassion brought tears to the old man's eyes. Derville +rose hastily, for it was perhaps not correct for a lawyer to show +emotion; he went into the adjoining room, and came back with an +unsealed letter, which he gave to the Colonel. When the poor man held +it in his hand, he felt through the paper two gold pieces. + +"Will you be good enough to describe the documents, and tell me the +name of the town, and in what kingdom?" said the lawyer. + +The Colonel dictated the information, and verified the spelling of the +names of places; then he took his hat in one hand, looked at Derville, +and held out the other--a horny hand, saying with much simplicity: + +"On my honor, sir, after the Emperor, you are the man to whom I shall +owe most. You are a splendid fellow!" + +The attorney clapped his hand into the Colonel's, saw him to the +stairs, and held a light for him. + +"Boucard," said Derville to his head clerk, "I have just listened to a +tale that may cost me five and twenty louis. If I am robbed, I shall +not regret the money, for I shall have seen the most consummate actor +of the day." + +When the Colonel was in the street and close to a lamp, he took the +two twenty-franc pieces out of the letter and looked at them for a +moment under the light. It was the first gold he had seen for nine +years. + +"I may smoke cigars!" he said to himself. + + + +About three months after this interview, at night, in Derville's room, +the notary commissioned to advance the half-pay on Derville's account +to his eccentric client, came to consult the attorney on a serious +matter, and began by begging him to refund the six hundred francs that +the old soldier had received. + +"Are you amusing yourself with pensioning the old army?" said the +notary, laughing--a young man named Crottat, who had just bought up +the office in which he had been head clerk, his chief having fled in +consequence of a disastrous bankruptcy. + +"I have to thank you, my dear sir, for reminding me of that affair," +replied Derville. "My philanthropy will not carry me beyond twenty- +five louis; I have, I fear, already been the dupe of my patriotism." + +As Derville finished the sentence, he saw on his desk the papers his +head clerk had laid out for him. His eye was struck by the appearance +of the stamps--long, square, and triangular, in red and blue ink, +which distinguished a letter that had come through the Prussian, +Austrian, Bavarian, and French post-offices. + +"Ah ha!" said he with a laugh, "here is the last act of the comedy; +now we shall see if I have been taken in!" + +He took up the letter and opened it; but he could not read it; it was +written in German. + +"Boucard, go yourself and have this letter translated, and bring it +back immediately," said Derville, half opening his study door, and +giving the letter to the head clerk. + +The notary at Berlin, to whom the lawyer had written, informed him +that the documents he had been requested to forward would arrive +within a few days of this note announcing them. They were, he said, +all perfectly regular and duly witnessed, and legally stamped to serve +as evidence in law. He also informed him that almost all the witnesses +to the facts recorded under these affidavits were still to be found at +Eylau, in Prussia, and that the woman to whom M. le Comte Chabert owed +his life was still living in a suburb of Heilsberg. + +"This looks like business," cried Derville, when Boucard had given him +the substance of the letter. "But look here, my boy," he went on, +addressing the notary, "I shall want some information which ought to +exist in your office. Was it not that old rascal Roguin--?" + +"We will say that unfortunate, that ill-used Roguin," interrupted +Alexandre Crottat with a laugh. + +"Well, was it not that ill-used man who has just carried off eight +hundred thousand francs of his clients' money, and reduced several +families to despair, who effected the settlement of Chabert's estate? +I fancy I have seen that in the documents in our case of Ferraud." + +"Yes," said Crottat. "It was when I was third clerk; I copied the +papers and studied them thoroughly. Rose Chapotel, wife and widow of +Hyacinthe, called Chabert, Count of the Empire, grand officer of the +Legion of Honor. They had married without settlement; thus, they held +all the property in common. To the best of my recollections, the +personalty was about six hundred thousand francs. Before his marriage, +Colonel Chabert had made a will in favor of the hospitals of Paris, by +which he left them one-quarter of the fortune he might possess at the +time of his decease, the State to take the other quarter. The will was +contested, there was a forced sale, and then a division, for the +attorneys went at a pace. At the time of the settlement the monster +who was then governing France handed over to the widow, by special +decree, the portion bequeathed to the treasury." + +"So that Comte Chabert's personal fortune was no more than three +hundred thousand francs?" + +"Consequently so it was, old fellow!" said Crottat. "You lawyers +sometimes are very clear-headed, though you are accused of false +practices in pleading for one side or the other." + +Colonel Chabert, whose address was written at the bottom of the first +receipt he had given the notary, was lodging in the Faubourg Saint- +Marceau, Rue du Petit-Banquier, with an old quartermaster of the +Imperial Guard, now a cowkeeper, named Vergniaud. Having reached the +spot, Derville was obliged to go on foot in search of his client, for +his coachman declined to drive along an unpaved street, where the ruts +were rather too deep for cab wheels. Looking about him on all sides, +the lawyer at last discovered at the end of the street nearest to the +boulevard, between two walls built of bones and mud, two shabby stone +gate-posts, much knocked about by carts, in spite of two wooden stumps +that served as blocks. These posts supported a cross beam with a +penthouse coping of tiles, and on the beam, in red letters, were the +words, "Vergniaud, dairyman." To the right of this inscription were +some eggs, to the left a cow, all painted in white. The gate was open, +and no doubt remained open all day. Beyond a good-sized yard there was +a house facing the gate, if indeed the name of house may be applied to +one of the hovels built in the neighborhood of Paris, which are like +nothing else, not even the most wretched dwellings in the country, of +which they have all the poverty without their poetry. + +Indeed, in the midst of the fields, even a hovel may have a certain +grace derived from the pure air, the verdure, the open country--a +hill, a serpentine road, vineyards, quickset hedges, moss-grown thatch +and rural implements; but poverty in Paris gains dignity only by +horror. Though recently built, this house seemed ready to fall into +ruins. None of its materials had found a legitimate use; they had been +collected from the various demolitions which are going on every day in +Paris. On a shutter made of the boards of a shop-sign Derville read +the words, "Fancy Goods." The windows were all mismatched and +grotesquely placed. The ground floor, which seemed to be the habitable +part, was on one side raised above the soil, and on the other sunk in +the rising ground. Between the gate and the house lay a puddle full of +stable litter, into which flowed the rain-water and house waste. The +back wall of this frail construction, which seemed rather more solidly +built than the rest, supported a row of barred hutches, where rabbits +bred their numerous families. To the right of the gate was the +cowhouse, with a loft above for fodder; it communicated with the house +through the dairy. To the left was a poultry yard, with a stable and +pig-styes, the roofs finished, like that of the house, with rough deal +boards nailed so as to overlap, and shabbily thatched with rushes. + +Like most of the places where the elements of the huge meal daily +devoured by Paris are every day prepared, the yard Derville now +entered showed traces of the hurry that comes of the necessity for +being ready at a fixed hour. The large pot-bellied tin cans in which +milk is carried, and the little pots for cream, were flung pell-mell +at the dairy door, with their linen-covered stoppers. The rags that +were used to clean them, fluttered in the sunshine, riddled with +holes, hanging to strings fastened to poles. The placid horse, of a +breed known only to milk-women, had gone a few steps from the cart, +and was standing in front of the stable, the door being shut. A goat +was munching the shoots of a starved and dusty vine that clung to the +cracked yellow wall of the house. A cat, squatting on the cream jars, +was licking them over. The fowls, scared by Derville's approach, +scuttered away screaming, and the watch-dog barked. + +"And the man who decided the victory at Eylau is to be found here!" +said Derville to himself, as his eyes took in at a glance the general +effect of the squalid scene. + +The house had been left in charge of three little boys. One, who had +climbed to the top of the cart loaded with hay, was pitching stones +into the chimney of a neighboring house, in the hope that they might +fall into a saucepan; another was trying to get a pig into a cart, to +hoist it by making the whole thing tilt. When Derville asked them if +M. Chabert lived there, neither of them replied, but all three looked +at him with a sort of bright stupidity, if I may combine those two +words. Derville repeated his questions, but without success. Provoked +by the saucy cunning of these three imps, he abused them with the sort +of pleasantry which young men think they have the right to address to +little boys, and they broke the silence with a horse-laugh. Then +Derville was angry. + +The Colonel, hearing him, now came out of the little low room, close +to the dairy, and stood on the threshold of his doorway with +indescribable military coolness. He had in his mouth a very finely- +colored pipe--a technical phrase to a smoker--a humble, short clay +pipe of the kind called "/brule-queule/." He lifted the peak of a +dreadfully greasy cloth cap, saw Derville, and came straight across +the midden to join his benefactor the sooner, calling out in friendly +tones to the boys: + +"Silence in the ranks!" + +The children at once kept a respectful silence, which showed the power +the old soldier had over them. + +"Why did you not write to me?" he said to Derville. "Go along by the +cowhouse! There--the path is paved there," he exclaimed, seeing the +lawyer's hesitancy, for he did not wish to wet his feet in the manure +heap. + +Jumping from one dry spot to another, Derville reached the door by +which the Colonel had come out. Chabert seemed but ill pleased at +having to receive him in the bed-room he occupied; and, in fact, +Derville found but one chair there. The Colonel's bed consisted of +some trusses of straw, over which his hostess had spread two or three +of those old fragments of carpet, picked up heaven knows where, which +milk-women use to cover the seats of their carts. The floor was simply +the trodden earth. The walls, sweating salt-petre, green with mould, +and full of cracks, were so excessively damp that on the side where +the Colonel's bed was a reed mat had been nailed. The famous box-coat +hung on a nail. Two pairs of old boots lay in a corner. There was not +a sign of linen. On the worm-eaten table the /Bulletins de la Grande +Armee/, reprinted by Plancher, lay open, and seemed to be the +Colonel's reading; his countenance was calm and serene in the midst of +this squalor. His visit to Derville seemed to have altered his +features; the lawyer perceived in them traces of a happy feeling, a +particular gleam set there by hope. + +"Does the smell of the pipe annoy you?" he said, placing the +dilapidated straw-bottomed chair for his lawyer. + +"But, Colonel, you are dreadfully uncomfortable here!" + +The speech was wrung from Derville by the distrust natural to lawyers, +and the deplorable experience which they derive early in life from the +appalling and obscure tragedies at which they look on. + +"Here," said he to himself, "is a man who has of course spent my money +in satisfying a trooper's three theological virtues--play, wine, and +women!" + +"To be sure, monsieur, we are not distinguished for luxury here. It is +a camp lodging, tempered by friendship, but----" And the soldier shot +a deep glance at the man of law--"I have done no one wrong, I have +never turned my back on anybody, and I sleep in peace." + +Derville reflected that there would be some want of delicacy in asking +his client to account for the sums of money he had advanced, so he +merely said: + +"But why would you not come to Paris, where you might have lived as +cheaply as you do here, but where you would have been better lodged?" + +"Why," replied the Colonel, "the good folks with whom I am living had +taken me in and fed me /gratis/ for a year. How could I leave them +just when I had a little money? Besides, the father of those three +pickles is an old /Egyptian/--" + +"An Egyptian!" + +"We give that name to the troopers who came back from the expedition +into Egypt, of which I was one. Not merely are all who get back +brothers; Vergniaud was in my regiment. We have shared a draught of +water in the desert; and besides, I have not yet finished teaching his +brats to read." + +"He might have lodged you better for your money," said Derville. + +"Bah!" said the Colonel, "his children sleep on the straw as I do. He +and his wife have no better bed; they are very poor you see. They have +taken a bigger business than they can manage. But if I recover my +fortune . . . However, it does very well." + +"Colonel, to-morrow or the next day, I shall receive your papers from +Heilsberg. The woman who dug you out is still alive!" + +"Curse the money! To think I haven't got any!" he cried, flinging his +pipe on the ground. + +Now, a well-colored pipe is to a smoker a precious possession; but the +impulse was so natural, the emotion so generous, that every smoker, +and the excise office itself, would have pardoned this crime of +treason to tobacco. Perhaps the angels may have picked up the pieces. + +"Colonel, it is an exceedingly complicated business," said Derville as +they left the room to walk up and down in the sunshine. + +"To me," said the soldier, "it appears exceedingly simple. I was +thought to be dead, and here I am! Give me back my wife and my +fortune; give me the rank of General, to which I have a right, for I +was made Colonel of the Imperial Guard the day before the battle of +Eylau." + +"Things are not done so in the legal world," said Derville. "Listen to +me. You are Colonel Chabert, I am glad to think it; but it has to be +proved judicially to persons whose interest it will be to deny it. +Hence, your papers will be disputed. That contention will give rise to +ten or twelve preliminary inquiries. Every question will be sent under +contradiction up to the supreme court, and give rise to so many costly +suits, which will hang on for a long time, however eagerly I may push +them. Your opponents will demand an inquiry, which we cannot refuse, +and which may necessitate the sending of a commission of investigation +to Prussia. But even if we hope for the best; supposing that justice +should at once recognize you as Colonel Chabert--can we know how the +questions will be settled that will arise out of the very innocent +bigamy committed by the Comtesse Ferraud? + +"In your case, the point of law is unknown to the Code, and can only +be decided as a point in equity, as a jury decides in the delicate +cases presented by the social eccentricities of some criminal +prosecutions. Now, you had no children by your marriage; M. le Comte +Ferraud has two. The judges might pronounce against the marriage where +the family ties are weakest, to the confirmation of that where they +are stronger, since it was contracted in perfect good faith. Would you +be in a very becoming moral position if you insisted, at your age, and +in your present circumstances, in resuming your rights over a woman +who no longer loves you? You will have both your wife and her husband +against you, two important persons who might influence the Bench. +Thus, there are many elements which would prolong the case; you will +have time to grow old in the bitterest regrets." + +"And my fortune?" + +"Do you suppose you had a fine fortune?" + +"Had I not thirty thousand francs a year?" + +"My dear Colonel, in 1799 you made a will before your marriage, +leaving one-quarter of your property to hospitals." + +"That is true." + +"Well, when you were reported dead, it was necessary to make a +valuation, and have a sale, to give this quarter away. Your wife was +not particular about honesty as to the poor. The valuation, in which +she no doubt took care not to include the ready money or jewelry, or +too much of the plate, and in which the furniture would be estimated +at two-thirds of its actual cost, either to benefit her, or to lighten +the succession duty, and also because a valuer can be held responsible +for the declared value--the valuation thus made stood at six hundred +thousand francs. Your wife had a right of half for her share. +Everything was sold and bought in by her; she got something out of it +all, and the hospitals got their seventy-five thousand francs. Then, +as the remainder went to the State, since you had made no mention of +your wife in your will, the Emperor restored to your widow by decree +the residue which would have reverted to the Exchequer. So, now, what +can you claim? Three hundred thousand francs, no more, and minus the +costs." + +"And you call that justice!" said the Colonel, in dismay. + +"Why, certainly--" + +"A pretty kind of justice!" + +"So it is, my dear Colonel. You see, that what you thought so easy is +not so. Madame Ferraud might even choose to keep the sum given to her +by the Emperor." + +"But she was not a widow. The decree is utterly void----" + +"I agree with you. But every case can get a hearing. Listen to me. I +think that under these circumstances a compromise would be both for +her and for you the best solution of the question. You will gain by it +a more considerable sum than you can prove a right to." + +"That would be to sell my wife!" + +"With twenty-four thousand francs a year you could find a woman who, +in the position in which you are, would suit you better than your own +wife, and make you happier. I propose going this very day to see the +Comtesse Ferraud and sounding the ground; but I would not take such a +step without giving you due notice." + +"Let us go together." + +"What, just as you are?" said the lawyer. "No, my dear Colonel, no. +You might lose your case on the spot." + +"Can I possibly gain it?" + +"On every count," replied Derville. "But, my dear Colonel Chabert, you +overlook one thing. I am not rich; the price of my connection is not +wholly paid up. If the bench should allow you a maintenance, that is +to say, a sum advanced on your prospects, they will not do so till you +have proved that you are Comte Chabert, grand officer of the Legion of +Honor." + +"To be sure, I am a grand officer of the Legion of Honor; I had +forgotten that," said he simply. + +"Well, until then," Derville went on, "will you not have to engage +pleaders, to have documents copied, to keep the underlings of the law +going, and to support yourself? The expenses of the preliminary +inquiries will, at a rough guess, amount to ten or twelve thousand +francs. I have not so much to lend you--I am crushed as it is by the +enormous interest I have to pay on the money I borrowed to buy my +business; and you?--Where can you find it." + +Large tears gathered in the poor veteran's faded eyes, and rolled down +his withered cheeks. This outlook of difficulties discouraged him. The +social and the legal world weighed on his breast like a nightmare. + +"I will go to the foot of the Vendome column!" he cried. "I will call +out: 'I am Colonel Chabert who rode through the Russian square at +Eylau!'--The statue--he--he will know me." + +"And you will find yourself in Charenton." + +At this terrible name the soldier's transports collapsed. + +"And will there be no hope for me at the Ministry of War?" + +"The war office!" said Derville. "Well, go there; but take a formal +legal opinion with you, nullifying the certificate of your death. The +government offices would be only too glad if they could annihilate the +men of the Empire." + +The Colonel stood for a while, speechless, motionless, his eyes fixed, +but seeing nothing, sunk in bottomless despair. Military justice is +ready and swift; it decides with Turk-like finality, and almost always +rightly. This was the only justice known to Chabert. As he saw the +labyrinth of difficulties into which he must plunge, and how much +money would be required for the journey, the poor old soldier was +mortally hit in that power peculiar to man, and called the Will. He +thought it would be impossible to live as party to a lawsuit; it +seemed a thousand times simpler to remain poor and a beggar, or to +enlist as a trooper if any regiment would pass him. + +His physical and mental sufferings had already impaired his bodily +health in some of the most important organs. He was on the verge of +one of those maladies for which medicine has no name, and of which the +seat is in some degree variable, like the nervous system itself, the +part most frequently attacked of the whole human machine, a malady +which may be designated as the heart-sickness of the unfortunate. +However serious this invisible but real disorder might already be, it +could still be cured by a happy issue. But a fresh obstacle, an +unexpected incident, would be enough to wreck this vigorous +constitution, to break the weakened springs, and produce the +hesitancy, the aimless, unfinished movements, which physiologists know +well in men undermined by grief. + +Derville, detecting in his client the symptoms of extreme dejection, +said to him: + +"Take courage; the end of the business cannot fail to be in your +favor. Only, consider whether you can give me your whole confidence +and blindly accept the result I may think best for your interests." + +"Do what you will," said Chabert. + +"Yes, but you surrender yourself to me like a man marching to his +death." + +"Must I not be left to live without a position, without a name? Is +that endurable?" + +"That is not my view of it," said the lawyer. "We will try a friendly +suit, to annul both your death certificate and your marriage, so as to +put you in possession of your rights. You may even, by Comte Ferraud's +intervention, have your name replaced on the army list as general, and +no doubt you will get a pension." + +"Well, proceed then," said Chabert. "I put myself entirely in your +hands." + +"I will send you a power of attorney to sign," said Derville. "Good- +bye. Keep up your courage. If you want money, rely on me." + +Chabert warmly wrung the lawyer's hand, and remained standing with his +back against the wall, not having the energy to follow him excepting +with his eyes. Like all men who know but little of legal matters, he +was frightened by this unforeseen struggle. + +During their interview, several times, the figure of a man posted in +the street had come forward from behind one of the gate-pillars, +watching for Derville to depart, and he now accosted the lawyer. He +was an old man, wearing a blue waistcoat and a white-pleated kilt, +like a brewer's; on his head was an otter-skin cap. His face was +tanned, hollow-cheeked, and wrinkled, but ruddy on the cheek-bones by +hard work and exposure to the open air. + +"Asking your pardon, sir," said he, taking Derville by the arm, "if I +take the liberty of speaking to you. But I fancied, from the look of +you, that you were a friend of our General's." + +"And what then?" replied Derville. "What concern have you with him?-- +But who are you?" said the cautious lawyer. + +"I am Louis Vergniaud," he replied at once. "I have a few words to say +to you." + +"So you are the man who has lodged Comte Chabert as I have found him?" + +"Asking your pardon, sir, he has the best room. I would have given him +mine if I had had but one; I could have slept in the stable. A man who +has suffered as he has, who teaches my kids to read, a general, an +Egyptian, the first lieutenant I ever served under--What do you think? +--Of us all, he is best served. I shared what I had with him. +Unfortunately, it is not much to boast of--bread, milk, eggs. Well, +well; it's neighbors' fare, sir. And he is heartily welcome.--But he +has hurt our feelings." + +"He?" + +"Yes, sir, hurt our feelings. To be plain with you, I have taken a +larger business than I can manage, and he saw it. Well, it worried +him; he must needs mind the horse! I says to him, 'Really, +General----' 'Bah!' says he, 'I am not going to eat my head off doing +nothing. I learned to rub a horse down many a year ago.'--I had some +bills out for the purchase money of my dairy--a fellow named Grados-- +Do you know him, sir?" + +"But, my good man, I have not time to listen to your story. Only tell +me how the Colonel offended you." + +"He hurt our feelings, sir, as sure as my name is Louis Vergniaud, and +my wife cried about it. He heard from our neighbors that we had not a +sou to begin to meet the bills with. The old soldier, as he is, he +saved up all you gave him, he watched for the bill to come in, and he +paid it. Such a trick! While my wife and me, we knew he had no +tobacco, poor old boy, and went without.--Oh! now--yes, he has his +cigar every morning! I would sell my soul for it--No, we are hurt. +Well, so I wanted to ask you--for he said you were a good sort--to +lend us a hundred crowns on the stock, so that we may get him some +clothes, and furnish his room. He thought he was getting us out of +debt, you see? Well, it's just the other way; the old man is running +us into debt--and hurt our feelings!--He ought not to have stolen a +march on us like that. And we his friends, too!--On my word as an +honest man, as sure as my name is Louis Vergniaud, I would sooner sell +up and enlist than fail to pay you back your money----" + +Derville looked at the dairyman, and stepped back a few paces to +glance at the house, the yard, the manure-pool, the cowhouse, the +rabbits, the children. + +"On my honor, I believe it is characteristic of virtue to have nothing +to do with riches!" thought he. + +"All right, you shall have your hundred crowns, and more. But I shall +not give them to you; the Colonel will be rich enough to help, and I +will not deprive him of the pleasure." + +"And will that be soon?" + +"Why, yes." + +"Ah, dear God! how glad my wife will be!" and the cowkeeper's tanned +face seemed to expand. + +"Now," said Derville to himself, as he got into his cab again, "let us +call on our opponent. We must not show our hand, but try to see hers, +and win the game at one stroke. She must be frightened. She is a +woman. Now, what frightens women most? A woman is afraid of nothing +but . . ." + +And he set to work to study the Countess' position, falling into one +of those brown studies to which great politicians give themselves up +when concocting their own plans and trying to guess the secrets of a +hostile Cabinet. Are not attorneys, in a way, statesmen in charge of +private affairs? + +But a brief survey of the situation in which the Comte Ferraud and his +wife now found themselves is necessary for a comprehension of the +lawyer's cleverness. + +Monsieur le Comte Ferraud was the only son of a former Councillor in +the old /Parlement/ of Paris, who had emigrated during the Reign of +Terror, and so, though he saved his head, lost his fortune. He came +back under the Consulate, and remained persistently faithful to the +cause of Louis XVIII., in whose circle his father had moved before the +Revolution. He thus was one of the party in the Faubourg Saint-Germain +which nobly stood out against Napoleon's blandishments. The reputation +for capacity gained by the young Count--then simply called Monsieur +Ferraud--made him the object of the Emperor's advances, for he was +often as well pleased at his conquests among the aristocracy as at +gaining a battle. The Count was promised the restitution of his title, +of such of his estates as had not been sold, and he was shown in +perspective a place in the ministry or as senator. + +The Emperor fell. + +At the time of Comte Chabert's death, M. Ferraud was a young man of +six-and-twenty, without a fortune, of pleasing appearance, who had had +his successes, and whom the Faubourg Saint-Germain had adopted as +doing it credit; but Madame la Comtesse Chabert had managed to turn +her share of her husband's fortune to such good account that, after +eighteen months of widowhood, she had about forty thousand francs a +year. Her marriage to the young Count was not regarded as news in the +circles of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Napoleon, approving of this +union, which carried out his idea of fusion, restored to Madame +Chabert the money falling to the Exchequer under her husband's will; +but Napoleon's hopes were again disappointed. Madame Ferraud was not +only in love with her lover; she had also been fascinated by the +notion of getting into the haughty society which, in spite of its +humiliation, was still predominant at the Imperial Court. By this +marriage all her vanities were as much gratified as her passions. She +was to become a real fine lady. When the Faubourg Saint-Germain +understood that the young Count's marriage did not mean desertion, its +drawing-rooms were thrown open to his wife. + +Then came the Restoration. The Count's political advancement was not +rapid. He understood the exigencies of the situation in which Louis +XVIII. found himself; he was one of the inner circle who waited till +the "Gulf of Revolution should be closed"--for this phrase of the +King's, at which the Liberals laughed so heartily, had a political +sense. The order quoted in the long lawyer's preamble at the beginning +of this story had, however, put him in possession of two tracts of +forest, and of an estate which had considerably increased in value +during its sequestration. At the present moment, though Comte Ferraud +was a Councillor of State, and a Director-General, he regarded his +position as merely the first step of his political career. + +Wholly occupied as he was by the anxieties of consuming ambition, he +had attached to himself, as secretary, a ruined attorney named +Delbecq, a more than clever man, versed in all the resources of the +law, to whom he left the conduct of his private affairs. This shrewd +practitioner had so well understood his position with the Count as to +be honest in his own interest. He hoped to get some place by his +master's influence, and he made the Count's fortune his first care. +His conduct so effectually gave the lie to his former life, that he +was regarded as a slandered man. The Countess, with the tact and +shrewdness of which most women have a share more or less, understood +the man's motives, watched him quietly, and managed him so well, that +she had made good use of him for the augmentation of her private +fortune. She had contrived to make Delbecq believe that she ruled her +husband, and had promised to get him appointed President of an +inferior court in some important provincial town, if he devoted +himself entirely to her interests. + +The promise of a place, not dependent on changes of ministry, which +would allow of his marrying advantageously, and rising subsequently to +a high political position, by being chosen Depute, made Delbecq the +Countess' abject slave. He had never allowed her to miss one of those +favorable chances which the fluctuations of the Bourse and the +increased value of property afforded to clever financiers in Paris +during the first three years after the Restoration. He had trebled his +protectress' capital, and all the more easily because the Countess had +no scruples as to the means which might make her an enormous fortune +as quickly as possible. The emoluments derived by the Count from the +places he held she spent on the housekeeping, so as to reinvest her +dividends; and Delbecq lent himself to these calculations of avarice +without trying to account for her motives. People of that sort never +trouble themselves about any secrets of which the discovery is not +necessary to their own interests. And, indeed, he naturally found the +reason in the thirst for money, which taints almost every Parisian +woman; and as a fine fortune was needed to support the pretensions of +Comte Ferraud, the secretary sometimes fancied that he saw in the +Countess' greed a consequence of her devotion to a husband with whom +she still was in love. The Countess buried the secrets of her conduct +at the bottom of her heart. There lay the secrets of life and death to +her, there lay the turning-point of this history. + +At the beginning of the year 1818 the Restoration was settled on an +apparently immovable foundation; its doctrines of government, as +understood by lofty minds, seemed calculated to bring to France an era +of renewed prosperity, and Parisian society changed its aspect. Madame +la Comtesse Ferraud found that by chance she had achieved for love a +marriage that had brought her fortune and gratified ambition. Still +young and handsome, Madame Ferraud played the part of a woman of +fashion, and lived in the atmosphere of the Court. Rich herself, with +a rich husband who was cried up as one of the ablest men of the +royalist party, and, as a friend of the King, certain to be made +Minister, she belonged to the aristocracy, and shared its +magnificence. In the midst of this triumph she was attacked by a moral +canker. There are feelings which women guess in spite of the care men +take to bury them. On the first return of the King, Comte Ferraud had +begun to regret his marriage. Colonel Chabert's widow had not been the +means of allying him to anybody; he was alone and unsupported in +steering his way in a course full of shoals and beset by enemies. +Also, perhaps, when he came to judge his wife coolly, he may have +discerned in her certain vices of education which made her unfit to +second him in his schemes. + +A speech he made, /a propos/ of Talleyrand's marriage, enlightened the +Countess, to whom it proved that if he had still been a free man she +would never have been Madame Ferraud. What woman could forgive this +repentance? Does it not include the germs of every insult, every +crime, every form of repudiation? But what a wound must it have left +in the Countess' heart, supposing that she lived in the dread of her +first husband's return? She had known that he still lived, and she had +ignored him. Then during the time when she had heard no more of him, +she had chosen to believe that he had fallen at Waterloo with the +Imperial Eagle, at the same time as Boutin. She resolved, +nevertheless, to bind the Count to her by the strongest of all ties, +by a chain of gold, and vowed to be so rich that her fortune might +make her second marriage dissoluble, if by chance Colonel Chabert +should ever reappear. And he had reappeared; and she could not explain +to herself why the struggle she had dreaded had not already begun. +Suffering, sickness, had perhaps delivered her from that man. Perhaps +he was half mad, and Charenton might yet do her justice. She had not +chosen to take either Delbecq or the police into her confidence, for +fear of putting herself in their power, or of hastening the +catastrophe. There are in Paris many women who, like the Countess +Ferraud, live with an unknown moral monster, or on the brink of an +abyss; a callus forms over the spot that tortures them, and they can +still laugh and enjoy themselves. + +"There is something very strange in Comte Ferraud's position," said +Derville to himself, on emerging from his long reverie, as his cab +stopped at the door of the Hotel Ferraud in the Rue de Varennes. "How +is it that he, so rich as he is, and such a favorite with the King, is +not yet a peer of France? It may, to be sure, be true that the King, +as Mme. de Grandlieu was telling me, desires to keep up the value of +the /pairie/ by not bestowing it right and left. And, after all, the +son of a Councillor of the /Parlement/ is not a Crillon nor a Rohan. A +Comte Ferraud can only get into the Upper Chamber surreptitiously. But +if his marriage were annulled, could he not get the dignity of some +old peer who has only daughters transferred to himself, to the King's +great satisfaction? At any rate this will be a good bogey to put +forward and frighten the Countess," thought he as he went up the +steps. + +Derville had without knowing it laid his finger on the hidden wound, +put his hand on the canker that consumed Madame Ferraud. + +She received him in a pretty winter dining-room, where she was at +breakfast, while playing with a monkey tethered by a chain to a little +pole with climbing bars of iron. The Countess was in an elegant +wrapper; the curls of her hair, carelessly pinned up, escaped from a +cap, giving her an arch look. She was fresh and smiling. Silver, +gilding, and mother-of-pearl shone on the table, and all about the +room were rare plants growing in magnificent china jars. As he saw +Colonel Chabert's wife, rich with his spoil, in the lap of luxury and +the height of fashion, while he, poor wretch, was living with a poor +dairyman among the beasts, the lawyer said to himself: + +"The moral of all this is that a pretty woman will never acknowledge +as her husband, nor even as a lover, a man in an old box-coat, a tow +wig, and boots with holes in them." + +A mischievous and bitter smile expressed the feelings, half +philosophical and half satirical, which such a man was certain to +experience--a man well situated to know the truth of things in spite +of the lies behind which most families in Paris hide their mode of +life. + +"Good-morning, Monsieur Derville," said she, giving the monkey some +coffee to drink. + +"Madame," said he, a little sharply, for the light tone in which she +spoke jarred on him. "I have come to speak with you on a very serious +matter." + +"I am so /grieved/, M. le Comte is away--" + +"I, madame, am delighted. It would be grievous if he could be present +at our interview. Besides, I am informed through M. Delbecq that you +like to manage your own business without troubling the Count." + +"Then I will send for Delbecq," said she. + +"He would be of no use to you, clever as he is," replied Derville. +"Listen to me, madame; one word will be enough to make you grave. +Colonel Chabert is alive!" + +"Is it by telling me such nonsense as that that you think you can make +me grave?" said she with a shout of laughter. But she was suddenly +quelled by the singular penetration of the fixed gaze which Derville +turned on her, seeming to read to the bottom of her soul. + +"Madame," he said with cold and piercing solemnity, "you know not the +extent of the danger that threatens you. I need say nothing of the +indisputable authenticity of the evidence nor of the fulness of proof +which testifies to the identity of Comte Chabert. I am not, as you +know, the man to take up a bad cause. If you resist our proceedings to +show that the certificate of death was false, you will lose that first +case, and that matter once settled, we shall gain every point." + +"What, then, do you wish to discuss with me?" + +"Neither the Colonel nor yourself. Nor need I allude to the briefs +which clever advocates may draw up when armed with the curious facts +of this case, or the advantage they may derive from the letters you +received from your first husband before your marriage to your second." + +"It is false," she cried, with the violence of a spoilt woman. "I +never had a letter from Comte Chabert; and if some one is pretending +to be the Colonel, it is some swindler, some returned convict, like +Coignard perhaps. It makes me shudder only to think of it. Can the +Colonel rise from the dead, monsieur? Bonaparte sent an aide-de-camp +to inquire for me on his death, and to this day I draw the pension of +three thousand francs granted to this widow by the Government. I have +been perfectly in the right to turn away all the Chaberts who have +ever come, as I shall all who may come." + +"Happily we are alone, madame. We can tell lies at our ease," said he +coolly, and finding it amusing to lash up the Countess' rage so as to +lead her to betray herself, by tactics familiar to lawyers, who are +accustomed to keep cool when their opponents or their clients are in a +passion. "Well, then, we must fight it out," thought he, instantly +hitting on a plan to entrap her and show her her weakness. + +"The proof that you received the first letter, madame, is that it +contained some securities--" + +"Oh, as to securities--that it certainly did not." + +"Then you received the letter," said Derville, smiling. "You are +caught, madame, in the first snare laid for you by an attorney, and +you fancy you could fight against Justice----" + +The Countess colored, and then turned pale, hiding her face in her +hands. Then she shook off her shame, and retorted with the natural +impertinence of such women, "Since you are the so-called Chabert's +attorney, be so good as to--" + +"Madame," said Derville, "I am at this moment as much your lawyer as I +am Colonel Chabert's. Do you suppose I want to lose so valuable a +client as you are?--But you are not listening." + +"Nay, speak on, monsieur," said she graciously. + +"Your fortune came to you from M. le Comte Chabert, and you cast him +off. Your fortune is immense, and you leave him to beg. An advocate +can be very eloquent when a cause is eloquent in itself; there are +here circumstances which might turn public opinion strongly against +you." + +"But, monsieur," said the Comtesse, provoked by the way in which +Derville turned and laid her on the gridiron, "even if I grant that +your M. Chabert is living, the law will uphold my second marriage on +account of the children, and I shall get off with the restitution of +two hundred and twenty-five thousand francs to M. Chabert." + +"It is impossible to foresee what view the Bench may take of the +question. If on one side we have a mother and children, on the other +we have an old man crushed by sorrows, made old by your refusals to +know him. Where is he to find a wife? Can the judges contravene the +law? Your marriage with Colonel Chabert has priority on its side and +every legal right. But if you appear under disgraceful colors, you +might have an unlooked-for adversary. That, madame, is the danger +against which I would warn you." + +"And who is he?" + +"Comte Ferraud." + +"Monsieur Ferraud has too great an affection for me, too much respect +for the mother of his children--" + +"Do not talk of such absurd things," interrupted Derville, "to +lawyers, who are accustomed to read hearts to the bottom. At this +instant Monsieur Ferraud has not the slightest wish to annual your +union, and I am quite sure that he adores you; but if some one were to +tell him that his marriage is void, that his wife will be called +before the bar of public opinion as a criminal--" + +"He would defend me, monsieur." + +"No, madame." + +"What reason could he have for deserting me, monsieur?" + +"That he would be free to marry the only daughter of a peer of France, +whose title would be conferred on him by patent from the King." + +The Countess turned pale. + +"A hit!" said Derville to himself. "I have you on the hip; the poor +Colonel's case is won."--"Besides, madame," he went on aloud, "he +would feel all the less remorse because a man covered with glory--a +General, Count, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor--is not such a bad +alternative; and if that man insisted on his wife's returning to +him--" + +"Enough, enough, monsieur!" she exclaimed. "I will never have any +lawyer but you. What is to be done?" + +"Compromise!" said Derville. + +"Does he still love me?" she said. + +"Well, I do not think he can do otherwise." + +The Countess raised her head at these words. A flash of hope shone in +her eyes; she thought perhaps that she could speculate on her first +husband's affection to gain her cause by some feminine cunning. + +"I shall await your orders, madame, to know whether I am to report our +proceedings to you, or if you will come to my office to agree to the +terms of a compromise," said Derville, taking leave. + + + +A week after Derville had paid these two visits, on a fine morning in +June, the husband and wife, who had been separated by an almost +supernatural chance, started from the opposite ends of Paris to meet +in the office of the lawyer who was engaged by both. The supplies +liberally advanced by Derville to Colonel Chabert had enabled him to +dress as suited his position in life, and the dead man arrived in a +very decent cab. He wore a wig suited to his face, was dressed in blue +cloth with white linen, and wore under his waistcoat the broad red +ribbon of the higher grade of the Legion of Honor. In resuming the +habits of wealth he had recovered his soldierly style. He held himself +up; his face, grave and mysterious-looking, reflected his happiness +and all his hopes, and seemed to have acquired youth and /impasto/, to +borrow a picturesque word from the painter's art. He was no more like +the Chabert of the old box-coat than a cartwheel double sou is like a +newly coined forty-franc piece. The passer-by, only to see him, would +have recognized at once one of the noble wrecks of our old army, one +of the heroic men on whom our national glory is reflected, as a +splinter of ice on which the sun shines seems to reflect every beam. +These veterans are at once a picture and a book. + +When the Count jumped out of his carriage to go into Derville's +office, he did it as lightly as a young man. Hardly had his cab moved +off, when a smart brougham drove up, splendid with coats-of-arms. +Madame la Comtesse Ferraud stepped out in a dress which, though +simple, was cleverly designed to show how youthful her figure was. She +wore a pretty drawn bonnet lined with pink, which framed her face to +perfection, softening its outlines and making it look younger. + +If the clients were rejuvenescent, the office was unaltered, and +presented the same picture as that described at the beginning of this +story. Simonnin was eating his breakfast, his shoulder leaning against +the window, which was then open, and he was staring up at the blue sky +in the opening of the courtyard enclosed by four gloomy houses. + +"Ah, ha!" cried the little clerk, "who will bet an evening at the play +that Colonel Chabert is a General, and wears a red ribbon?" + +"The chief is a great magician," said Godeschal. + +"Then there is no trick to play on him this time?" asked Desroches. + +"His wife has taken that in hand, the Comtesse Ferraud," said Boucard. + +"What next?" said Godeschal. "Is Comtesse Ferraud required to belong +to two men?" + +"Here she is," answered Simonnin. + +"So you are not deaf, you young rogue!" said Chabert, taking the +gutter-jumper by the ear and twisting it, to the delight of the other +clerks, who began to laugh, looking at the Colonel with the curious +attention due to so singular a personage. + +Comte Chabert was in Derville's private room at the moment when his +wife came in by the door of the office. + +"I say, Boucard, there is going to be a queer scene in the chief's +room! There is a woman who can spend her days alternately, the odd +with Comte Ferraud, and the even with Comte Chabert." + +"And in leap year," said Godeschal, "they must settle the /count/ +between them." + +"Silence, gentlemen, you can be heard!" said Boucard severely. "I +never was in an office where there was so much jesting as there is +here over the clients." + +Derville had made the Colonel retire to the bedroom when the Countess +was admitted. + +"Madame," he said, "not knowing whether it would be agreeable to you +to meet M. le Comte Chabert, I have placed you apart. If, however, you +should wish it--" + +"It is an attention for which I am obliged to you." + +"I have drawn up the memorandum of an agreement of which you and M. +Chabert can discuss the conditions, here, and now. I will go +alternately to him and to you, and explain your views respectively." + +"Let me see, monsieur," said the Countess impatiently. + +Derville read aloud: + +" 'Between the undersigned: + +" 'M. Hyacinthe Chabert, Count, Marechal de Camp, and Grand Officer of +the Legion of Honor, living in Paris, Rue du Petit-Banquier, on the +one part; + +" 'And Madame Rose Chapotel, wife of the aforesaid M. le Comte +Chabert, /nee/--' " + +"Pass over the preliminaries," said she. "Come to the conditions." + +"Madame," said the lawyer, "the preamble briefly sets forth the +position in which you stand to each other. Then, by the first clause, +you acknowledge, in the presence of three witnesses, of whom two shall +be notaries, and one the dairyman with whom your husband has been +lodging, to all of whom your secret is known, and who will be +absolutely silent--you acknowledge, I say, that the individual +designated in the documents subjoined to the deed, and whose identity +is to be further proved by an act of recognition prepared by your +notary, Alexandre Crottat, is your first husband, Comte Chabert. By +the second clause Comte Chabert, to secure your happiness, will +undertake to assert his rights only under certain circumstances set +forth in the deed.--And these," said Derville, in a parenthesis, "are +none other than a failure to carry out the conditions of this secret +agreement.--M. Chabert, on his part, agrees to accept judgment on a +friendly suit, by which his certificate of death shall be annulled, +and his marriage dissolved." + +"That will not suit me in the least," said the Countess with surprise. +"I will be a party to no suit; you know why." + +"By the third clause," Derville went on, with imperturbable coolness, +"you pledge yourself to secure to Hyacinthe Comte Chabert an income of +twenty-four thousand francs on government stock held in his name, to +revert to you at his death--" + +"But it is much too dear!" exclaimed the Countess. + +"Can you compromise the matter cheaper?" + +"Possibly." + +"But what do you want, madame?" + +"I want--I will not have a lawsuit. I want--" + +"You want him to remain dead?" said Derville, interrupting her +hastily. + +"Monsieur," said the Countess, "if twenty-four thousand francs a year +are necessary, we will go to law--" + +"Yes, we will go to law," said the Colonel in a deep voice, as he +opened the door and stood before his wife, with one hand in his +waistcoat and the other hanging by his side--an attitude to which the +recollection of his adventure gave horrible significance. + +"It is he," said the Countess to herself. + +"Too dear!" the old soldier exclaimed. "I have given you near on a +million, and you are cheapening my misfortunes. Very well; now I will +have you--you and your fortune. Our goods are in common, our marriage +is not dissolved--" + +"But monsieur is not Colonel Chabert!" cried the Countess, in feigned +amazement. + +"Indeed!" said the old man, in a tone of intense irony. "Do you want +proofs? I found you in the Palais Royal----" + +The Countess turned pale. Seeing her grow white under her rouge, the +old soldier paused, touched by the acute suffering he was inflicting +on the woman he had once so ardently loved; but she shot such a +venomous glance at him that he abruptly went on: + +"You were with La--" + +"Allow me, Monsieur Derville," said the Countess to the lawyer. "You +must give me leave to retire. I did not come here to listen to such +dreadful things." + +She rose and went out. Derville rushed after her; but the Countess had +taken wings, and seemed to have flown from the place. + +On returning to his private room, he found the Colonel in a towering +rage, striding up and down. + +"In those times a man took his wife where he chose," said he. "But I +was foolish and chose badly; I trusted to appearances. She has no +heart." + +"Well, Colonel, was I not right to beg you not to come?--I am now +positive of your identity; when you came in, the Countess gave a +little start, of which the meaning was unequivocal. But you have lost +your chances. Your wife knows that you are unrecognizable." + +"I will kill her!" + +"Madness! you will be caught and executed like any common wretch. +Besides you might miss! That would be unpardonable. A man must not +miss his shot when he wants to kill his wife.--Let me set things +straight; you are only a big child. Go now. Take care of yourself; she +is capable of setting some trap for you and shutting you up in +Charenton. I will notify her of our proceedings to protect you against +a surprise." + +The unhappy Colonel obeyed his young benefactor, and went away, +stammering apologies. He slowly went down the dark staircase, lost in +gloomy thoughts, and crushed perhaps by the blow just dealt him--the +most cruel he could feel, the thrust that could most deeply pierce his +heart--when he heard the rustle of a woman's dress on the lowest +landing, and his wife stood before him. + +"Come, monsieur," said she, taking his arm with a gesture like those +familiar to him of old. Her action and the accent of her voice, which +had recovered its graciousness, were enough to allay the Colonel's +wrath, and he allowed himself to be led to the carriage. + +"Well, get in!" said she, when the footman had let down the step. + +And as if by magic, he found himself sitting by his wife in the +brougham. + +"Where to?" asked the servant. + +"To Groslay," said she. + +The horses started at once, and carried them all across Paris. + +"Monsieur," said the Countess, in a tone of voice which betrayed one +of those emotions which are rare in our lives, and which agitate every +part of our being. At such moments the heart, fibres, nerves, +countenance, soul, and body, everything, every pore even, feels a +thrill. Life no longer seems to be within us; it flows out, springs +forth, is communicated as if by contagion, transmitted by a look, a +tone of voice, a gesture, impressing our will on others. The old +soldier started on hearing this single word, this first, terrible +"monsieur!" But still it was at once a reproach and a pardon, a hope +and a despair, a question and an answer. This word included them all; +none but an actress could have thrown so much eloquence, so many +feelings into a single word. Truth is less complete in its utterance; +it does not put everything on the outside; it allows us to see what is +within. The Colonel was filled with remorse for his suspicions, his +demands, and his anger; he looked down not to betray his agitation. + +"Monsieur," repeated she, after an imperceptible pause, "I knew you at +once." + +"Rosine," said the old soldier, "those words contain the only balm +that can help me to forget my misfortunes." + +Two large tears rolled hot on to his wife's hands, which he pressed to +show his paternal affection. + +"Monsieur," she went on, "could you not have guessed what it cost me +to appear before a stranger in a position so false as mine now is? If +I have to blush for it, at least let it be in the privacy of my +family. Ought not such a secret to remain buried in our hearts? You +will forgive me, I hope, for my apparent indifference to the woes of a +Chabert in whose existence I could not possibly believe. I received +your letters," she hastily added, seeing in his face the objection it +expressed, "but they did not reach me till thirteen months after the +battle of Eylau. They were opened, dirty, the writing was +unrecognizable; and after obtaining Napoleon's signature to my second +marriage contract, I could not help believing that some clever +swindler wanted to make a fool of me. Therefore, to avoid disturbing +Monsieur Ferraud's peace of mind, and disturbing family ties, I was +obliged to take precautions against a pretended Chabert. Was I not +right, I ask you?" + +"Yes, you were right. It was I who was the idiot, the owl, the dolt, +not to have calculated better what the consequences of such a position +might be.--But where are we going?" he asked, seeing that they had +reached the barrier of La Chapelle. + +"To my country house near Groslay, in the valley of Montmorency. +There, monsieur, we will consider the steps to be taken. I know my +duties. Though I am yours by right, I am no longer yours in fact. Can +you wish that we should become the talk of Paris? We need not inform +the public of a situation, which for me has its ridiculous side, and +let us preserve our dignity. You still love me," she said, with a sad, +sweet gaze at the Colonel, "but have not I been authorized to form +other ties? In so strange a position, a secret voice bids me trust to +your kindness, which is so well known to me. Can I be wrong in taking +you as the sole arbiter of my fate? Be at once judge and party to the +suit. I trust in your noble character; you will be generous enough to +forgive me for the consequences of faults committed in innocence. I +may then confess to you: I love M. Ferraud. I believed that I had a +right to love him. I do not blush to make this confession to you; even +if it offends you, it does not disgrace us. I cannot conceal the +facts. When fate made me a widow, I was not a mother." + +The Colonel with a wave of his hand bid his wife be silent, and for a +mile and a half they sat without speaking a single word. Chabert could +fancy he saw the two little ones before him. + +"Rosine." + +"Monsieur?" + +"The dead are very wrong to come to life again." + +"Oh, monsieur, no, no! Do not think me ungrateful. Only, you find me a +lover, a mother, while you left me merely a wife. Though it is no +longer in my power to love, I know how much I owe you, and I can still +offer you all the affection of a daughter." + +"Rosine," said the old man in a softened tone, "I no longer feel any +resentment against you. We will forget anything," he added, with one +of those smiles which always reflect a noble soul; "I have not so +little delicacy as to demand the mockery of love from a wife who no +longer loves me." + +The Countess gave him a flashing look full of such deep gratitude that +poor Chabert would have been glad to sink again into his grave at +Eylau. Some men have a soul strong enough for such self-devotion, of +which the whole reward consists in the assurance that they have made +the person they love happy. + +"My dear friend, we will talk all this over later when our hearts have +rested," said the Countess. + +The conversation turned to other subjects, for it was impossible to +dwell very long on this one. Though the couple came back again and +again to their singular position, either by some allusion or of +serious purpose, they had a delightful drive, recalling the events of +their former life together and the times of the Empire. The Countess +knew how to lend peculiar charm to her reminiscences, and gave the +conversation the tinge of melancholy that was needed to keep it +serious. She revived his love without awakening his desires, and +allowed her first husband to discern the mental wealth she had +acquired while trying to accustom him to moderate his pleasure to that +which a father may feel in the society of a favorite daughter. + +The Colonel had known the Countess of the Empire; he found her a +Countess of the Restoration. + +At last, by a cross-road, they arrived at the entrance to a large park +lying in the little valley which divides the heights of Margency from +the pretty village of Groslay. The Countess had there a delightful +house, where the Colonel on arriving found everything in readiness for +his stay there, as well as for his wife's. Misfortune is a kind of +talisman whose virtue consists in its power to confirm our original +nature; in some men it increases their distrust and malignancy, just +as it improves the goodness of those who have a kind heart. + +Sorrow had made the Colonel even more helpful and good than he had +always been, and he could understand some secrets of womanly distress +which are unrevealed to most men. Nevertheless, in spite of his loyal +trustfulness, he could not help saying to his wife: + +"Then you felt quite sure you would bring me here?" + +"Yes," replied she, "if I found Colonel Chabert in Derville's client." + +The appearance of truth she contrived to give to this answer +dissipated the slight suspicions which the Colonel was ashamed to have +felt. For three days the Countess was quite charming to her first +husband. By tender attentions and unfailing sweetness she seemed +anxious to wipe out the memory of the sufferings he had endured, and +to earn forgiveness for the woes which, as she confessed, she had +innocently caused him. She delighted in displaying for him the charms +she knew he took pleasure in, while at the same time she assumed a +kind of melancholy; for men are more especially accessible to certain +ways, certain graces of the heart or of the mind which they cannot +resist. She aimed at interesting him in her position, and appealing to +his feelings so far as to take possession of his mind and control him +despotically. + +Ready for anything to attain her ends, she did not yet know what she +was to do with this man; but at any rate she meant to annihilate him +socially. On the evening of the third day she felt that in spite of +her efforts she could not conceal her uneasiness as to the results of +her manoeuvres. To give herself a minute's reprieve she went up to her +room, sat down before her writing-table, and laid aside the mask of +composure which she wore in Chabert's presence, like an actress who, +returning to her dressing-room after a fatiguing fifth act, drops half +dead, leaving with the audience an image of herself which she no +longer resembles. She proceeded to finish a letter she had begun to +Delbecq, whom she desired to go in her name and demand of Derville the +deeds relating to Colonel Chabert, to copy them, and to come to her at +once to Groslay. She had hardly finished when she heard the Colonel's +step in the passage; uneasy at her absence, he had come to look for +her. + +"Alas!" she exclaimed, "I wish I were dead! My position is +intolerable . . ." + +"Why, what is the matter?" asked the good man. + +"Nothing, nothing!" she replied. + +She rose, left the Colonel, and went down to speak privately to her +maid, whom she sent off to Paris, impressing on her that she was +herself to deliver to Delbecq the letter just written, and to bring it +back to the writer as soon as he had read it. Then the Countess went +out to sit on a bench sufficiently in sight for the Colonel to join +her as soon as he might choose. The Colonel, who was looking for her, +hastened up and sat down by her. + +"Rosine," said he, "what is the matter with you?" + +She did not answer. + +It was one of those glorious, calm evenings in the month of June, +whose secret harmonies infuse such sweetness into the sunset. The air +was clear, the stillness perfect, so that far away in the park they +could hear the voices of some children, which added a kind of melody +to the sublimity of the scene. + +"You do not answer me?" the Colonel said to his wife. + +"My husband----" said the Countess, who broke off, started a little, +and with a blush stopped to ask him, "What am I to say when I speak of +M. Ferraud?" + +"Call him your husband, my poor child," replied the Colonel, in a kind +voice. "Is he not the father of your children?" + +"Well, then," she said, "if he should ask what I came here for, if he +finds out that I came here, alone, with a stranger, what am I to say +to him? Listen, monsieur," she went on, assuming a dignified attitude, +"decide my fate, I am resigned to anything--" + +"My dear," said the Colonel, taking possession of his wife's hands, "I +have made up my mind to sacrifice myself entirely for your +happiness--" + +"That is impossible!" she exclaimed, with a sudden spasmodic movement. +"Remember that you would have to renounce your identity, and in an +authenticated form." + +"What?" said the Colonel. "Is not my word enough for you?" + +The word "authenticated" fell on the old man's heart, and roused +involuntary distrust. He looked at his wife in a way that made her +color, she cast down her eyes, and he feared that he might find +himself compelled to despise her. The Countess was afraid lest she had +scared the shy modesty, the stern honesty, of a man whose generous +temper and primitive virtues were known to her. Though these feelings +had brought the clouds to her brow, they immediately recovered their +harmony. This was the way of it. A child's cry was heard in the +distance. + +"Jules, leave your sister in peace," the Countess called out. + +"What, are your children here?" said Chabert. + +"Yes, but I told them not to trouble you." + +The old soldier understood the delicacy, the womanly tact of so +gracious a precaution, and took the Countess' hand to kiss it. + +"But let them come," said he. + +The little girl ran up to complain of her brother. + +"Mamma!" + +"Mamma!" + +"It was Jules--" + +"It was her--" + +Their little hands were held out to their mother, and the two childish +voices mingled; it was an unexpected and charming picture. + +"Poor little things!" cried the Countess, no longer restraining her +tears, "I shall have to leave them. To whom will the law assign them? +A mother's heart cannot be divided; I want them, I want them." + +"Are you making mamma cry?" said Jules, looking fiercely at the +Colonel. + +"Silence, Jules!" said the mother in a decided tone. + +The two children stood speechless, examining their mother and the +stranger with a curiosity which it is impossible to express in words. + +"Oh yes!" she cried. "If I am separated from the Count, only leave me +my children, and I will submit to anything . . ." + +This was the decisive speech which gained all that she had hoped from +it. + +"Yes," exclaimed the Colonel, as if he were ending a sentence already +begun in his mind, "I must return underground again. I had told myself +so already." + +"Can I accept such a sacrifice?" replied his wife. "If some men have +died to save a mistress' honor, they gave their life but once. But in +this case you would be giving your life every day. No, no. It is +impossible. If it were only your life, it would be nothing; but to +sign a declaration that you are not Colonel Chabert, to acknowledge +yourself an imposter, to sacrifice your honor, and live a lie every +hour of the day! Human devotion cannot go so far. Only think!--No. But +for my poor children I would have fled with you by this time to the +other end of the world." + +"But," said Chabert, "cannot I live here in your little lodge as one +of your relations? I am as worn out as a cracked cannon; I want +nothing but a little tobacco and the /Constitutionnel/." + +The Countess melted into tears. There was a contest of generosity +between the Comtesse Ferraud and Colonel Chabert, and the soldier came +out victorious. One evening, seeing this mother with her children, the +soldier was bewitched by the touching grace of a family picture in the +country, in the shade and the silence; he made a resolution to remain +dead, and, frightened no longer at the authentication of a deed, he +asked what he could do to secure beyond all risk the happiness of this +family. + +"Do exactly as you like," said the Countess. "I declare to you that I +will have nothing to do with this affair. I ought not." + +Delbecq had arrived some days before, and in obedience to the +Countess' verbal instructions, the intendant had succeeded in gaining +the old soldier's confidence. So on the following morning Colonel +Chabert went with the erewhile attorney to Saint-Leu-Taverny, where +Delbecq had caused the notary to draw up an affidavit in such terms +that, after hearing it read, the Colonel started up and walked out of +the office. + +"Turf and thunder! What a fool you must think me! Why, I should make +myself out a swindler!" he exclaimed. + +"Indeed, monsieur," said Delbecq, "I should advise you not to sign in +haste. In your place I would get at least thirty thousand francs a +year out of the bargain. Madame would pay them." + +After annihilating this scoundrel /emeritus/ by the lightning look of +an honest man insulted, the Colonel rushed off, carried away by a +thousand contrary emotions. He was suspicious, indignant, and calm +again by turns. + +Finally he made his way back into the park of Groslay by a gap in a +fence, and slowly walked on to sit down and rest, and meditate at his +ease, in a little room under a gazebo, from which the road to Saint- +Leu could be seen. The path being strewn with the yellowish sand which +is used instead of river-gravel, the Countess, who was sitting in the +upper room of this little summer-house, did not hear the Colonel's +approach, for she was too much preoccupied with the success of her +business to pay the smallest attention to the slight noise made by her +husband. Nor did the old man notice that his wife was in the room over +him. + +"Well, Monsieur Delbecq, has he signed?" the Countess asked her +secretary, whom she saw alone on the road beyond the hedge of a haha. + +"No, madame. I do not even know what has become of our man. The old +horse reared." + +"Then we shall be obliged to put him into Charenton," said she, "since +we have got him." + +The Colonel, who recovered the elasticity of youth to leap the haha, +in the twinkling of an eye was standing in front of Delbecq, on whom +he bestowed the two finest slaps that ever a scoundrel's cheeks +received. + +"And you may add that old horses can kick!" said he. + +His rage spent, the Colonel no longer felt vigorous enough to leap the +ditch. He had seen the truth in all its nakedness. The Countess' +speech and Delbecq's reply had revealed the conspiracy of which he was +to be the victim. The care taken of him was but a bait to entrap him +in a snare. That speech was like a drop of subtle poison, bringing on +in the old soldier a return of all his sufferings, physical and moral. +He came back to the summer-house through the park gate, walking slowly +like a broken man. + +Then for him there was to be neither peace nor truce. From this moment +he must begin the odious warfare with this woman of which Derville had +spoken, enter on a life of litigation, feed on gall, drink every +morning of the cup of bitterness. And then--fearful thought!--where +was he to find the money needful to pay the cost of the first +proceedings? He felt such disgust of life, that if there had been any +water at hand he would have thrown himself into it; that if he had had +a pistol, he would have blown out his brains. Then he relapsed into +the indecision of mind which, since his conversation with Derville at +the dairyman's had changed his character. + +At last, having reached the kiosque, he went up to the gazebo, where +little rose-windows afforded a view over each lovely landscape of the +valley, and where he found his wife seated on a chair. The Countess +was gazing at the distance, and preserved a calm countenance, showing +that impenetrable face which women can assume when resolved to do +their worst. She wiped her eyes as if she had been weeping, and played +absently with the pink ribbons of her sash. Nevertheless, in spite of +her apparent assurance, she could not help shuddering slightly when +she saw before her her venerable benefactor, standing with folded +arms, his face pale, his brow stern. + +"Madame," he said, after gazing at her fixedly for a moment and +compelling her to blush, "Madame, I do not curse you--I scorn you. I +can now thank the chance that has divided us. I do not feel even a +desire for revenge; I no longer love you. I want nothing from you. +Live in peace on the strength of my word; it is worth more than the +scrawl of all the notaries in Paris. I will never assert my claim to +the name I perhaps have made illustrious. I am henceforth but a poor +devil named Hyacinthe, who asks no more than his share of the +sunshine.--Farewell!" + +The Countess threw herself at his feet; she would have detained him by +taking his hands, but he pushed her away with disgust, saying: + +"Do not touch me!" + +The Countess' expression when she heard her husband's retreating steps +is quite indescribable. Then, with the deep perspicacity given only by +utter villainy, or by fierce worldly selfishness, she knew that she +might live in peace on the word and the contempt of this loyal +veteran. + +Chabert, in fact, disappeared. The dairyman failed in business, and +became a hackney-cab driver. The Colonel, perhaps, took up some +similar industry for a time. Perhaps, like a stone flung into a chasm, +he went falling from ledge to ledge, to be lost in the mire of rags +that seethes through the streets of Paris. + +Six months after this event, Derville, hearing no more of Colonel +Chabert or the Comtesse Ferraud, supposed that they had no doubt come +to a compromise, which the Countess, out of revenge, had had arranged +by some other lawyer. So one morning he added up the sums he had +advanced to the said Chabert with the costs, and begged the Comtesse +Ferraud to claim from M. le Comte Chabert the amount of the bill, +assuming that she would know where to find her first husband. + +The very next day Comte Ferraud's man of business, lately appointed +President of the County Court in a town of some importance, wrote this +distressing note to Derville: + + "MONSIEUR,-- + + "Madame la Comtesse Ferraud desires me to inform you that your + client took complete advantage of your confidence, and that the + individual calling himself Comte Chabert has acknowledged that he + came forward under false pretences. +"Yours, etc., DELBECQ." + + +"One comes across people who are, on my honor, too stupid by half," +cried Derville. "They don't deserve to be Christians! Be humane, +generous, philanthropical, and a lawyer, and you are bound to be +cheated! There is a piece of business that will cost me two thousand- +franc notes!" + + + +Some time after receiving this letter, Derville went to the Palais de +Justice in search of a pleader to whom he wished to speak, and who was +employed in the Police Court. As chance would have it, Derville went +into Court Number 6 at the moment when the Presiding Magistrate was +sentencing one Hyacinthe to two months' imprisonment as a vagabond, +and subsequently to be taken to the Mendicity House of Detention, a +sentence which, by magistrates' law, is equivalent to perpetual +imprisonment. On hearing the name of Hyacinthe, Derville looked at the +deliquent, sitting between two /gendarmes/ on the bench for the +accused, and recognized in the condemned man his false Colonel +Chabert. + +The old soldier was placid, motionless, almost absentminded. In spite +of his rags, in spite of the misery stamped on his countenance, it +gave evidence of noble pride. His eye had a stoical expression which +no magistrate ought to have misunderstood; but as soon as a man has +fallen into the hands of justice, he is no more than a moral entity, a +matter of law or of fact, just as to statists he has become a zero. + +When the veteran was taken back to the lock-up, to be removed later +with the batch of vagabonds at that moment at the bar, Derville +availed himself of the privilege accorded to lawyers of going wherever +they please in the Courts, and followed him to the lock-up, where he +stood scrutinizing him for some minutes, as well as the curious crew +of beggars among whom he found himself. The passage to the lock-up at +that moment afforded one of those spectacles which, unfortunately, +neither legislators, nor philanthropists, nor painters, nor writers +come to study. Like all the laboratories of the law, this ante-room is +a dark and malodorous place; along the walls runs a wooden seat, +blackened by the constant presence there of the wretches who come to +this meeting-place of every form of social squalor, where not one of +them is missing. + +A poet might say that the day was ashamed to light up this dreadful +sewer through which so much misery flows! There is not a spot on that +plank where some crime has not sat, in embryo or matured; not a corner +where a man has never stood who, driven to despair by the blight which +justice has set upon him after his first fault, has not there begun a +career, at the end of which looms the guillotine or the pistol-snap of +the suicide. All who fall on the pavement of Paris rebound against +these yellow-gray walls, on which a philanthropist who was not a +speculator might read a justification of the numerous suicides +complained of by hypocritical writers who are incapable of taking a +step to prevent them--for that justification is written in that ante- +room, like a preface to the dramas of the Morgue, or to those enacted +on the Place de la Greve. + +At this moment Colonel Chabert was sitting among these men--men with +coarse faces, clothed in the horrible livery of misery, and silent at +intervals, or talking in a low tone, for three gendarmes on duty paced +to and fro, their sabres clattering on the floor. + +"Do you recognize me?" said Derville to the old man, standing in front +of him. + +"Yes, sir," said Chabert, rising. + +"If you are an honest man," Derville went on in an undertone, "how +could you remain in my debt?" + +The old soldier blushed as a young girl might when accused by her +mother of a clandestine love affair. + +"What! Madame Ferraud has not paid you?" cried he in a loud voice. + +"Paid me?" said Derville. "She wrote to me that you were a swindler." + +The Colonel cast up his eyes in a sublime impulse of horror and +imprecation, as if to call heaven to witness to this fresh subterfuge. + +"Monsieur," said he, in a voice that was calm by sheer huskiness, "get +the gendarmes to allow me to go into the lock-up, and I will sign an +order which will certainly be honored." + +At a word from Derville to the sergeant he was allowed to take his +client into the room, where Hyacinthe wrote a few lines, and addressed +them to the Comtesse Ferraud. + +"Send her that," said the soldier, "and you will be paid your costs +and the money you advanced. Believe me, monsieur, if I have not shown +you the gratitude I owe you for your kind offices, it is not the less +there," and he laid his hand on his heart. "Yes, it is there, deep and +sincere. But what can the unfortunate do? They live, and that is all." + +"What!" said Derville. "Did you not stipulate for an allowance?" + +"Do not speak of it!" cried the old man. "You cannot conceive how deep +my contempt is for the outside life to which most men cling. I was +suddenly attacked by a sickness--disgust of humanity. When I think +that Napoleon is at Saint-Helena, everything on earth is a matter of +indifference to me. I can no longer be a soldier; that is my only real +grief. After all," he added with a gesture of childish simplicity, "it +is better to enjoy luxury of feeling than of dress. For my part, I +fear nobody's contempt." + +And the Colonel sat down on his bench again. + +Derville went away. On returning to his office, he sent Godeschal, at +that time his second clerk, to the Comtesse Ferraud, who, on reading +the note, at once paid the sum due to Comte Chabert's lawyer. + + + +In 1840, towards the end of June, Godeschal, now himself an attorney, +went to Ris with Derville, to whom he had succeeded. When they reached +the avenue leading from the highroad to Bicetre, they saw, under one +of the elm-trees by the wayside, one of those old, broken, and hoary +paupers who have earned the Marshal's staff among beggars by living on +at Bicetre as poor women live on at la Salpetriere. This man, one of +the two thousand poor creatures who are lodged in the infirmary for +the aged, was seated on a corner-stone, and seemed to have +concentrated all his intelligence on an operation well known to these +pensioners, which consists in drying their snuffy pocket-handkerchiefs +in the sun, perhaps to save washing them. This old man had an +attractive countenance. He was dressed in a reddish cloth wrapper-coat +which the work-house affords to its inmates, a sort of horrible +livery. + +"I say, Derville," said Godeschal to his traveling companion, "look at +that old fellow. Isn't he like those grotesque carved figures we get +from Germany? And it is alive, perhaps it is happy." + +Derville looked at the poor man through his eyeglass, and with a +little exclamation of surprise he said: + +"That old man, my dear fellow, is a whole poem, or, as the romantics +say, a drama.--Did you ever meet the Comtesse Ferraud?" + +"Yes; she is a clever woman, and agreeable; but rather too pious," +said Godeschal. + +"That old Bicetre pauper is her lawful husband, Comte Chabert, the old +Colonel. She has had him sent here, no doubt. And if he is in this +workhouse instead of living in a mansion, it is solely because he +reminded the pretty Countess that he had taken her, like a hackney +cab, on the street. I can remember now the tiger's glare she shot at +him at that moment." + +This opening having excited Godeschal's curiosity, Derville related +the story here told. + +Two days later, on Monday morning, as they returned to Paris, the two +friends looked again at Bicetre, and Derville proposed that they +should call on Colonel Chabert. Halfway up the avenue they found the +old man sitting on the trunk of a felled tree. With his stick in one +hand, he was amusing himself with drawing lines in the sand. On +looking at him narrowly, they perceived that he had been breakfasting +elsewhere than at Bicetre. + +"Good-morning, Colonel Chabert," said Derville. + +"Not Chabert! not Chabert! My name is Hyacinthe," replied the veteran. +"I am no longer a man, I am No. 164, Room 7," he added, looking at +Derville with timid anxiety, the fear of an old man and a child.--"Are +you going to visit the man condemned to death?" he asked after a +moment's silence. "He is not married! He is very lucky!" + +"Poor fellow!" said Godeschal. "Would you like something to buy +snuff?" + +With all the simplicity of a street Arab, the Colonel eagerly held out +his hand to the two strangers, who each gave him a twenty-franc piece; +he thanked them with a puzzled look, saying: + +"Brave troopers!" + +He ported arms, pretended to take aim at them, and shouted with a +smile: + +"Fire! both arms! /Vive Napoleon/!" And he drew a flourish in the air +with his stick. + +"The nature of his wound has no doubt made him childish," said +Derville. + +"Childish! he?" said another old pauper, who was looking on. "Why, +there are days when you had better not tread on his corns. He is an +old rogue, full of philosophy and imagination. But to-day, what can +you expect! He has had his Monday treat.--He was here, monsieur, so +long ago as 1820. At that time a Prussian officer, whose chaise was +crawling up the hill of Villejuif, came by on foot. We two were +together, Hyacinthe and I, by the roadside. The officer, as he walked, +was talking to another, a Russian, or some animal of the same species, +and when the Prussian saw the old boy, just to make fun, he said to +him, 'Here is an old cavalry man who must have been at Rossbach.'--'I +was too young to be there,' said Hyacinthe. 'But I was at Jena.' And +the Prussian made off pretty quick, without asking any more +questions." + +"What a destiny!" exclaimed Derville. "Taken out of the Foundling +Hospital to die in the Infirmary for the Aged, after helping Napoleon +between whiles to conquer Egypt and Europe.--Do you know, my dear +fellow," Derville went on after a pause, "there are in modern society +three men who can never think well of the world--the priest, the +doctor, and the man of law? And they wear black robes, perhaps because +they are in mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most +hapless of the three is the lawyer. When a man comes in search of the +priest, he is prompted by repentance, by remorse, by beliefs which +make him interesting, which elevate him and comfort the soul of the +intercessor whose task will bring him a sort of gladness; he purifies, +repairs and reconciles. But we lawyers, we see the same evil feelings +repeated again and again, nothing can correct them; our offices are +sewers which can never be cleansed. + +"How many things have I learned in the exercise of my profession! I +have seen a father die in a garret, deserted by two daughters, to whom +he had given forty thousand francs a year! I have known wills burned; +I have seen mothers robbing their children, wives killing their +husbands, and working on the love they could inspire to make the men +idiotic or mad, that they might live in peace with a lover. I have +seen women teaching the child of their marriage such tastes as must +bring it to the grave in order to benefit the child of an illicit +affection. I could not tell you all I have seen, for I have seen +crimes against which justice is impotent. In short, all the horrors +that romancers suppose they have invented are still below the truth. +You will know something of these pretty things; as for me, I am going +to live in the country with my wife. I have a horror of Paris." + +"I have seen plenty of them already in Desroches' office," replied +Godeschal. + + + +PARIS, February-March 1832. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Bonaparte, Napoleon + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Seamy Side of History + A Woman of Thirty + +Crottat, Alexandre + Cesar Birotteau + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + Cousin Pons + +Derville + Gobseck + A Start in Life + The Gondreville Mystery + Father Goriot + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + +Desroches (son) + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + A Woman of Thirty + The Commission in Lunacy + The Government Clerks + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + +Ferraud, Comtesse + The Government Clerks + +Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Start in Life + The Commission in Lunacy + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + +Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Gobseck + +Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier + The Chouans + The Seamy Side of History + The Gondreville Mystery + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Ball at Sceaux + The Lily of the Valley + The Government Clerks + +Murat, Joachim, Prince + The Vendetta + The Gondreville Mystery + Domestic Peace + The Country Doctor + +Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Muse of the Department + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Peasantry + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + Cousin Betty + +Vergniaud, Louis + The Vendetta + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext Colonel Chabert, by Honore de Balzac + diff --git a/old/chbrt10.zip b/old/chbrt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fb69c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/chbrt10.zip |