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diff --git a/2077.txt b/2077.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..96bf18f --- /dev/null +++ b/2077.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15860 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nabob, by Alphonse Daudet + +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: The Nabob + +Author: Alphonse Daudet + +Translator: W. Blaydes + +Release Date: March 21, 2006 [EBook #2077] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NABOB *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; and John Bickers + + + + + +THE NABOB + +by Alphonse Daudet + + +Translated By W. Blaydes + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Daudet once remarked that England was the last of foreign countries to +welcome his novels, and that he was surprised at the fact, since for +him, as for the typical Englishman, the intimacy of home life had great +significance. However long he may have taken to win Anglo-Saxon hearts, +there is no question that he finally won them more completely than any +other contemporary French novelist was able to do, and that when but +a few years since the news came that death had released him from his +sufferings, thousands of men and women, both in England and in America, +felt that they had lost a real friend. Just at the present moment one +does not hear or read a great deal about him, but a similar lull in +criticism follows the deaths of most celebrities of whatever kind, and +it can scarcely be doubted that Daudet is every day making new friends, +while it is as sure as anything of the sort can be that it is death, not +estrangement, that has lessened the number of his former admirers. + +"Admirers"? The word is much too cold. "Lovers" would serve better, but +is perhaps too expansive to be used of a self-contained race. "Friends" +is more appropriate because heartier, for hearty the relations between +Daudet and his Anglo-Saxon readers certainly were. Whether it was that +some of us saw in him that hitherto unguessed-at phenomenon, a French +Dickens--not an imitator, indeed, but a kindred spirit--or that others +found in him a refined, a volatilized "Mark Twain," with a flavour of +Cervantes, or that still others welcomed him as a writer of naturalistic +fiction that did not revolt, or finally that most of us enjoyed him +because whatever he wrote was as steeped in the radiance of his own +exquisitely charming personality as a picture of Corot's is in the light +of the sun itself--whatever may have been the reason, Alphonse Daudet +could count before he died thousands of genuine friends in England and +America who were loyal to him in spite of the declining power shown in +his latest books, in spite even of the strain which _Sapho_ laid upon +their Puritan consciences. + +It is likely that a majority of these friends were won by the two great +Tartarin books and by the chief novels, _Fromont_, _Jack_, _The Nabob_, +_Kings in Exile_, and _Numa_, aided by the artistic sketches and short +stories contained in _Letters from my Mill_ and _Monday Tales (Contes +du Lundi)_. The strong but overwrought _Evangelist_, _Sapho_--which of +course belongs with the chief novels from the Continental but not from +the insular point of view--and the books of Daudet's decadence, _The +Immortal_, and the rest, cost him few friendships, but scarcely gained +him many. His delightful essays in autobiography, whether in fiction, +_Le Petit Chose (Little What's-his-Name)_, or in _Thirty Years of Paris_ +and _Souvenirs of a Man of Letters_, doubtless sealed more friendships +than they made; but they can be almost as safely recommended as the more +notable novels to readers who have yet to make Daudet's acquaintance. + +For the man and his career are as unaffectedly charming as his style, +and more of a piece than his elaborate works of fiction. A sunny +Provencal childhood is clouded by family misfortunes; then comes a year +of wretched slavery as usher in a provincial school; then the inevitable +journey to Paris with a brain full of verses and dreams, and the +beginning of a life of Bohemian nonchalance, to which we Anglo-Saxons +have little that is comparable outside the career of Oliver Goldsmith. +But poor Goldsmith had his pride wounded by the editorial tyranny of a +Mrs. Griffiths. Daudet, by a merely pretty poem about a youth and +maiden making love under a plum-tree, won the protection of the Empress +Eugenie, and through her of the Duke de Morny, the prop of the Second +Empire. His life now reads like a fairy-tale inserted by some jocular +elf into that book of dolors entitled _The Lives of Men of Genius_. +A _protege_ of a potentate not usually lavish of his favours, and a +valetudinarian, he is allowed to flit to Algiers and Corsica, to enjoy +his beloved Provence in company with Mistral, to write for the theatres, +and to continue to play the Bohemian. Then the death of Morny seems to +turn the idyl into a tragedy, but only for a moment. Daudet's delicate, +nervous beauty made his friend Zola think of an Arabian horse, but +the poet had also the spirit of such a high-bred steed. Years of +conscientious literary labour followed, cheered by marriage with a woman +of genius capable of supplementing him in his weakest points, and then +the war with Prussia and its attendant horrors gave him the larger and +deeper view of life and the intensified patriotism--in short, the final +stimulus he needed. From the date of his first great success--_Fromont, +Jr., and Risler, Sr._--glory and wealth flowed in upon him, while +envy scarcely touched him, so unspoiled was he and so continuously and +eminently lovable. One seemed to see in his career a reflection of his +luminous nature, a revised myth of the golden touch, a new version of +the fairy-tale of the fair mouth dropping pearls. Then, as though grown +weary of the idyllic romance she was composing, Fortune donned the +tragic robes of Nemesis. Years of pain followed, which could not abate +the spirits or disturb the geniality of the sufferer, but did somewhat +abate the power and disturb the serenity of his work. Then came the +inevitable end of all life dramas, whether comic or romantic or tragic, +and friends who had known him stood round his grave and listened sadly +to the touching words in which Emile Zola expressed not merely his own +grief but that of many thousands throughout the civilized world. Here +was a life more winsome, more appealing, more complete than any creation +of the genius of the man that lived it--a life which, whether we know it +in detail or not, explains in part the fascination Daudet exerts upon us +and the conviction we cherish that, whatever ravages time may make among +his books, the memory of their writer will not fade from the hearts of +men. Many Frenchmen have conquered the world's mind by the power or +the subtlety of their genius; few have won its heart through the +catholicity, the broad sympathy of their genius. Daudet is one of these +few; indeed, he is almost if not quite the only European writer who has +of late achieved such a triumph, for Tolstoi has stern critics as well +as steadfast devotees, and has won most of his disciples as moralist and +reformer. But we must turn from Daudet the man to Daudet the author of +_The Nabob_ and other memorable novels. + +If this were a general essay and not an introduction, it would be proper +to say something of Daudet's early attempts as poet and dramatist. Here +it need only be remarked that it is almost a commonplace to insist that +even in his later novels he never entirely ceased to see the outer world +with the eyes of a poet, to delight in colour and movement, to seize +every opportunity to indulge in vivid description couched in a style +more swift and brilliant than normal prose aspires to. This bent +for description, together with the tendency to episodic rather than +sustained composition and the comparative weakness of his character +drawing--features of his work shortly to be discussed--partly explains +his failure, save in one or two instances, to score a real triumph +with his plays, but does not explain his singular lack of sympathy with +actors. Nor was he able to win great success with his first book +of importance, _Le Petit Chose_, delightful as that mixture of +autobiography and romance must prove to any sympathetic reader. He was +essentially a romanticist and a poet cast upon an age of naturalism +and prose, and he needed years of training and such experience as the +Prussian invasion gave him to adjust himself to his life-work. Such +adjustment was not needed for _Tartarin de Tarascon_, begun shortly +after _Le Petit Chose_, because subtle humour of the kind lavished in +that inimitable creation and in its sequels, while implying observation, +does not necessarily imply any marked departure from the romantic and +poetic points of view. + +The training Daudet required for his novels he got from the sketches +and short stories that occupied him during the late sixties and early +seventies. Here again little in the way of comment need be given, and +that little can express the general verdict that the art displayed +in these miniature productions is not far short of perfect. The two +principal collections, _Lettres de mon Moulin_ and _Contes du Lundi_, +together with _Artists' Wives (Les Femmes d'Artistes)_ and parts at +least of _Robert Helmont_, would almost of themselves suffice to put +Daudet high in the ranks of the writers who charm without leaving upon +one's mind the slightest suspicion that they are weak. It is true +that Daudet's stories do not attain the tremendous impressiveness that +Balzac's occasionally do, as, for example, in _La Grande Breteche_, +nor has his clear-cut art the almost disconcerting firmness, the +surgeon-like quality of Maupassant's; but the author of the ironical +_Elixir of Father Gaucher_ and of the pathetic _Last Class_, to name no +others, could certainly claim with Musset that his glass was his own, +and had no reason to concede its smallness. + +As we have seen, the production of _Fromont jeune et Risler aine_ +marked the beginning of Daudet's more than twenty years of successful +novel-writing. His first elaborate study of Parisian life, while it +indicated no advance of the art of fiction, deserved its popularity +because, in spite of the many criticisms to which it was open, it was a +thoroughly readable and often a moving book. One character, Delobelle, +the played-out actor who is still a hero to his pathetic wife and +daughter, was constructed on effective lines--was a personage worthy of +Dickens. The vile heroine, Sidonie, was bad enough to excite disgusted +interest, but, as Mr. Henry James pointed out later, she was not +effective to the extent her creator doubtless hoped. She paled beside +Valerie Marneffe, though, to be sure, Daudet knew better than to attempt +to depict any such queen of vice. Yet, after all, it is mainly the +compelling power of vile heroines that makes them tolerable, and neither +Sidonie nor the web of intrigue she wove can fairly be said to be +characterized by extraordinary strength. But the public was and is +interested greatly by the novel, and Daudet deserved the fame and money +it brought him. His next book, _Jack_, was not so popular. Still, it +showed artistic improvement, although, as in its predecessor, that bias +towards the sentimental, which was to be Daudet's besetting weakness, +was too plainly visible. Its author took to his heart a book which the +general reader found too long and perhaps overpathetic. Some of us, +while recognising its faults, will share in part Daudet's predilection +for it--not so much because of the strong and early study made of the +artisan class, or of the mordantly satirical exposure of D'Argenton +and his literary "dead-beats" (_rates_), or of any other of the special +features of a story that is crowded with them, as because the ill-fated +hero, the product of genuine emotions on Daudet's part, excites cognate +and equally genuine emotions in us. We cannot watch the throbbing +engines of a great steamship without seeing Jack at work among them. But +the fine, pathetic _Jack_ brings us to the finer, more pathetic _Nabob_. + +Whether _The Nabob_ is Daudet's greatest novel is a question that may be +postponed, but it may be safely asserted that there are good reasons why +it should have been chosen to represent Daudet in the present series. +It has been immensely popular, and thus does not illustrate merely the +taste of an inner circle of its author's admirers. It is not so subtle +a study of character as _Numa Roumestan_, nor is it a drama the scene of +which is set somewhat in a corner removed from the world's scrutiny and +full comprehension, as is more or less the case with _Kings in Exile_. +It is comparatively unamenable to the moral, or, if one will, the +puritanical, objections so naturally brought against _Sapho_. It +obviously represents Daudet's powers better than any novel written after +his health was permanently wrecked, and as obviously represents fiction +more adequately than either of the Tartarin masterpieces, which belong +rather to the literature of humour. Besides, it is probably the most +broadly effective of all Daudet's novels; it is fuller of striking +scenes; and as a picture of life in the picturesque Second Empire it is +of unique importance. + +Perhaps to many readers this last reason will seem the best of all. +However much we may moralize about its baseness and hollowness, whether +with the Hugo of _Les Chatiments_ we scorn and vituperate its charlatan +head or pity him profoundly as we see him ill and helpless in Zola's +_Debacle_, most of us, if we are candid, will confess that the Second +Empire, especially the Paris of Morny and Hausmann, of cynicism and +splendour, of frivolity and chicane, of servile obsequiousness and +haughty pretension, the France and the Paris that drew to themselves the +eyes of all Europe and particularly the eyes of the watchful Bismarck, +have for us a fascination almost as great as they had for the gay and +audacious men and women who in them courted fortune and chased pleasure +from the morrow of the _Coup d'Etat_ to the eve of Sedan. A nearly +equal fascination is exerted upon us by a book which is the best sort of +historical novel, since it is the product of its author's observation, +not of his reading--a story that sets vividly before us the political +corruption, the financial recklessness, the social turmoil, the public +ostentation, the private squalor, that led to the downfall of an empire +and almost to that of a people. + +Daudet drew on his experiences, and on the notes he was always +accumulating, more strenuously than he should have done. He assures +us that he laboured over _The Nabob_ for eight months, mainly in his +bed-room, sometimes working eighteen consecutive hours, often waking +from restless sleep with a sentence on his lips. Yet, such is the irony +of literary history, the novel is loosely enough put together to have +been written, one might suppose, in bursts of inspiration or else more +or less methodically--almost with the intention, as Mr. James has noted, +of including every striking phase of Parisian life. For it is a series +of brilliant, effective episodes and scenes, not a closely knit drama. +Jenkins's visit to Monpavon at his toilet, the _dejeuner_ at the +Nabob's, the inspection of the OEuvre de Bethleem--which would have +delighted Dickens--the collapse of the fetes of the Bey, the Nabob's +thrashing Moessard, the death of Mora, Felicia's attempt to escape the +funeral of the duke, the interview between the Nabob and Hemerlingue, +the baiting in the Chamber, the suicide of that supreme man of tone, +Monpavon, the Nabob's apoplectic seizure in the theatre--these and many +other scenes and episodes, together with descriptions and touches, stand +out in our memories more distinctly and impressively than the characters +do--perhaps more so than does the central motive, the outrageous +exploitation of the naive hero. For from the beginning of his career to +the end Daudet's eye, like that of a genuine but not supereminent poet, +was chiefly attracted by colour, movement, effective pose--in other +words, by the surfaces of things. One may almost say that he was more of +a landscape engineer than of an architect and builder, although one must +at once add that he could and did erect solid structures. But the +reader at least helps greatly to lay the foundations, for, to drop the +metaphor, Daudet relied largely on suggestion, contenting himself with +the belief that a capable imagination could fill up the gaps he left +in plot and character analysis. Thus, for example, he indicated and +suggested rather than detailed the way in which Hemerlingue finally +triumphed over the Nabob, Jansoulet. To use another figure, he drew the +spider, the fly, and a few strands of the web. The Balzac whose bust +looked satirically down upon the two adventurers in Pere la Chaise would +probably have given us the whole web. This is not quite to say that +Daudet is plausible, Balzac inevitable; but rather that we stroll +with the former master and follow submissively in the footsteps of the +latter. Yet a caveat is needed, for the intense interest we take in the +characters of a novel like _The Nabob_ scarcely suggests strolling. + +For although Daudet, in spite of his abounding sympathy, which is one +reason of his great attractiveness, cannot fairly be said to be a great +character creator, he had sufficient flexibility and force of genius to +set in action interesting personages. Part of the early success of _The +Nabob_ was due to this fact, although the brilliant description of the +Second Empire and the introduction of exotic elements, the Tunisian and +Corsican episodes and characters, counted, probably, for not a little. +Readers insisted upon seeing in the book this person and that more or +less thinly disguised. The Irish adventurer-physician, Jenkins, was +supposed to be modelled upon a popular Dr. Olliffe; the arsenic pills +were derived from another source, as was also the goat's-milk hospital +for infants. Felicia Ruys was thought by some to be Sarah Bernhardt, +and originals were easily provided for Monpavon and the other leading +figures. But Daudet confessed to only two important originals, and if +one does not take an author's word in such matters one soon finds one's +self in a maze of conjectures and contradictions. + +The two characters drawn from life in a special sense--for Daudet, like +most other writers of fiction, had human life in general constantly +before him--are Jansoulet and Mora, precisely the most effective +personages in the book, and scarcely surpassed in the whole range of +Daudet's fiction. The Nabob was Francois Bravay, who rose from poverty +to wealth by devious transactions in the Orient, and came to grief in +Paris, much as Jansoulet did. He survived the Empire, and his relatives +are said to have been incensed at the treatment given him in the novel, +an attitude on their part which is explicable but scarcely justifiable, +since Daudet's sympathy for his hero could not well have been greater, +and since the adventurer had already attained a notoriety that was not +likely to be completely forgotten. Whether Daudet was as much at liberty +to make free with the character of his benefactor Morny is another +matter. He himself thought that he was, and he was a man of delicate +sensitiveness. Probably he was right in claiming that the natural son +of Queen Hortense, the intrepid soldier, the author of the _Coup +d'Etat_ that set his weaker half-brother on the throne, the dandy, the +libertine, the leader of fashion, the cynical statesman--in short, the +"Richelieu-Brummel" who drew the eyes of all Europe upon himself, +would not have been in the least disconcerted could he have known that +thirteen years after his death the public would be discussing him as the +prototype of the Mora of his young _protege's_ masterpiece. In fact, +it is easy to agree with those critics who think that Daudet's kindly +nature caused him to soften many features of Morny's unlovely character. +Mora does not, indeed, win our love or our esteem, but we confess him to +have been in every respect an exceptional man, and there is not a page +in which he appears that is not intensely interesting. He must be an +unimpressionable reader who soon forgets the death-room scenes, the +destruction of the compromising letters, the spectacular funeral. + +Of the other characters there is little space to speak here. Nearly all +have their good points, as might be expected of the creator of his two +fellow Provencals, Numa and Tartarin, the latter being probably the +only really cosmopolitan figure in recent literature; but some, like the +Hemerlingues, verge upon mere sketches; others, like Jansoulet's obese +wife, upon caricatures. The old mother is excellently done, however, and +Monpavon, especially in his suicide, is nothing short of a triumph of +art. It is the more or less romantic or sentimental personages that give +the critic most qualms. Daudet seems to have introduced them--De Gery, +the Joyeuse family, and the rest--as a concession to popular taste, and +on this score was probably justified. A fair case may also be made +out for the use of idyllic scenes as a foil to the tragical, for +the Shakespearian critics have no monopoly of the overworked plea, +"justification by contrast." Nor could a French analogue of Dickens +easily resist the temptation to give us a fatuous Passajon, an +ebullient Pere Joyeuse--who seems to have been partly modelled on a +real person--an exemplary "Bonne Maman," a struggling but eventually +triumphant Andre Maranne. The home-lover Daudet also felt the necessity +of showing that Paris could set the Joyeuse household, sunny in its +poverty, over against the stately elegance of the Mora palace, the walls +of which listened at one and the same moment to the music of a ball and +the death-rattle of its haughty owner. But when all is said, it remains +clear that _The Nabob_ is open to the charge that applies to all the +greater novels save _Sapho_--the charge that it exhibits a somewhat +inharmonious mixture of sentimentalism and naturalism. Against this +charge, which perhaps applies most forcibly to that otherwise almost +perfect work of art, _Numa Roumestan_, Daudet defended himself, +but rather weakly. Nor does Mr. Henry James, who in the case of the +last-named novel comes to his help against Zola, much mend matters. But +the fault, if fault it be, is venial, especially in a friend, though not +strictly a coworker, of Zola's. + +Naturally an elaborate novel like _The Nabob_ lends itself indefinitely +to minute comment, but we must be sparing of it. Still it is worth while +to call attention to the skill with which, from the opening page, the +interest of the reader is controlled; indeed, to the remarkable art +displayed in the whole first chapter devoted to the morning rounds of +Dr. Jenkins. The note of romantic extravagance is on the whole avoided +until the Nabob brings out his check-book, when the money flies with +a speed for which, one fancies, Daudet could have found little +justification this side of Timon of Athens. In the description of the +_Caisse Territoriale_ given by Passajon this note is relieved by a +delicate irony, but seems still somewhat incongruous. One turns more +willingly to the description of Jansoulet's sitting down to play +_ecarte_ with Mora, to the story of how he gorged himself with the +duke's putative mushrooms, and to similar episodes and touches. In the +matter of effective and ironically turned situations few novels +can compare with this; indeed, it almost seems as if Daudet made an +inordinate use of them. Think of the poor Nabob reading the announcement +of the cross bestowed on Jenkins, and of the absurd populace mistaking +him for the ungrateful Bey! As for great dramatic moments, there is at +least one that no reader can forget--the moment when Jansoulet, in the +midst of the speech on which his fate depends, catches sight of his old +mother's face and forbears to clear himself of calumny at the expense of +his wretched elder brother. The situation may not bear close analysis, +but who wishes to analyze? Or who, indeed, wishes to indulge in further +comment after the scene has risen to his mind? + +_The Nabob_ was followed by _Kings in Exile_; then came _Numa Roumestan_ +and _The Evangelist_; then, on the eve of Daudet's breakdown, _Sapho_; +and the greatest of his humorous masterpieces, _Tartarin in the Alps_. +It is not yet certain what rank is to be given to these books. Perhaps +the adventures of the mountain-climbing hero of the Midi, combined +with his previous exploits as a slayer of lions--his experiences as a +colonist in _Port-Tarascon_ need scarcely be considered--will prove, in +the lapse of years, to be the most solid foundation of that fame which +even envious Time will hardly begrudge Daudet. As for _Kings in Exile_, +it is difficult to see how even the art with which the tragedy of Queen +Frederique's life is unfolded or the growing power of characterization +displayed in her, in the loyal Merault, in the facile, decadent +Christian, can make up for the lack of broadly human appeal in the +general subject-matter of a book which was so sympathetically written +as to appeal alike to Legitimists and to Republicans. Good as _Kings +in Exile_ is, it is not so effective a book as _The Nabob_, nor such +a unique and marvellous work of art as _Numa Roumestan_, due allowance +being made for the intrusion of sentimentality into the latter. Daudet +thought _Numa_ the "least incomplete" of his works; it is certainly +inclusive enough, since some critics are struck by the tragic relations +subsisting between the virtuous discreet Northern wife and the peccable, +expansive Southern husband, while others see in the latter the hero of +a comedy of manners almost worthy of Moliere. If _Numa_ represents the +highest achievement of Daudet in dramatic fiction or else in the art +of characterization, _The Evangelist_ proved that his genius was not +at home in those fields. Instead of marking an ordered advance, this +overwrought study of Protestant bigotry marked not so much a halt, or a +retreat, as a violent swerving to one side. Yet in a way this swerving +into the devious orbit of the novel of intense purpose helped Daudet in +his progress towards naturalism, and imparted something of stability to +his methods of work. _Sapho_, which appeared next, was the first of his +novels that left little to be desired in the way of artistic unity and +cumulative power. If such a study of the _femme collante_, the mistress +who cannot be shaken off--or rather of the man whom she ruins, for it +is Gaussin, not Sapho, that is the main subject of Daudet's acute +analysis--was to be written at all, it had to be written with a resolute +art such as Daudet applied to it. It is not then surprising that +Continental critics rank _Sapho_ as its author's greatest production; it +is more in order to wonder what Daudet might not have done in this line +of work had his health remained unimpaired. The later novels, in which +he came near to joining forces with the naturalists and hence to losing +some of the vogue his eclecticism gave him, need not detain us. + +And now, in conclusion, how can we best characterize briefly this +fascinating, versatile genius, the most delightful humorist of his time, +one of the most artistic story-tellers, one of the greatest novelists? +It is impossible to classify him, for he was more than a humorist, he +nearly outgrew romance, he never accepted unreservedly the canons of +naturalism. He obviously does not belong to the small class of the +supreme writers of fiction, for he has no consistent or at least +profound philosophy of life. He is a true poet, yet for the main he has +expressed himself not in verse, but in prose, and in a form of prose +that is being so extensively cultivated that its permanence is daily +brought more and more into question. What is Daudet, and what will he +be to posterity? Some admirers have already answered the first question, +perhaps as satisfactorily as it can be answered, by saying, "Daudet is +simply Daudet." As for the second question, a whole school of critics is +inclined to answer it and all similar queries with the curt statement, +"That concerns posterity, not us." If, however, less evasive answers are +insisted upon, let the following utterance, which might conceivably be +more indefinite and oracular, suffice: Alphonse Daudet is one of +those rare writers who combine greatness with a charm so intimate and +appealing that some of us would not, if we could, have their greatness +increased. + +W. P. TRENT. + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Alphonse Daudet was born at Nimes on the 13th of May, 1840. He was the +younger son of a rich and enthusiastically Royalist silk-manufacturer +of that town, the novelist, Ernest Daudet (born 1837), being his elder +brother. In their childhood, the father, Vincent Daudet, suffered +reverses, and had to settle with his family, in reduced circumstances, +at Lyons. Alphonse, in 1856, obtained a post as usher in a school at +Alais, in the Gard, where he was extremely unhappy. All these painful +early experiences are told very pathetically in "Le Petit Chose." On +the 1st of November, 1857, Alphonse fled from the horrors of his life at +Alais, and joined his brother Ernest, who had just secured a post in the +service of the Duc de Morny in Paris. Alphonse determined to live by +his pen, and presently obtained introductions to the "Figaro." His early +volumes of verse, "Les Amoureuses" of 1858 and "La Double Conversion" +of 1861, attracted some favourable notice. In this latter year his +difficulties ceased, for he had the good fortune to become one of the +secretaries of the Duc de Morny, a post which he held for four years, +until the popularity of his writings rendered him independent. To the +generosity of his patron, moreover, he owed the opportunity of visiting +Italy and the East. His first novel, "Le Chaperon Rouge," 1863, was not +very remarkable, and Daudet turned to the stage. His principal dramatic +efforts of this period were "Le Dernier Idole," 1862, and "L'OEillet +Blanc," 1865. Alphonse Daudet's earliest important work, however, was +"Le Petit Chose," 1868, a very pathetic autobiography of the first +eighteen years of his life, over which he cast a thin veil of romance. +After the death of the Duc de Morny, Daudet retired to Provence, leasing +a ruined mill at Fortvielle, in the valley of the Rhone; from this +romantic solitude, among the pines and green oaks, he sent forth those +exquisite studies of Provencal life, the "Lettres de mon Moulin." After +the war, Daudet reappeared in Paris, greatly strengthened and ripened +by his hermit-existence in the heart of Provence. He produced one +masterpiece after another. He had studied with laughter and joy the +mirthful side of southern exaggeration, and he created a figure in which +its peculiar qualities should be displayed, as it were, in excelsis. +This study resulted, in 1872, in "The Prodigious Feats of Tartarin of +Tarascon," one of the most purely delightful works of humour in the +French language. Alphonse Daudet now, armed with his cahiers, his little +green-backed books of notes, set out to be a great historian of +French manners in the second half of the nineteenth century. His first +important novel, "Fromont Jeune et Risler Aine," 1874, enjoyed a notable +success; it was followed in 1876 by "Jack," in 1878 by "Le Nabob," in +1879 by "Les Rois en Exil," in 1881 by "Numa Roumestan," in 1883 by +"L'Evangeliste," and in 1884 by "Sapho." These are the seven great +romances of modern French life on which the reputation of Alphonse +Daudet as a novelist is mainly built. They placed him, for the moment at +all events, near the head of contemporary European literature. By this +time, however, a physical malady, which Charcot was the first to locate +in the spinal cord, had begun to exhaust the novelist's powers. This +disease, which took the form of what was supposed to be neuralgia in +1881, racked him with pain during the sixteen remaining years of his +life, and gradually destroyed his powers of locomotion. It spared +the functions of the brain, but it cannot be denied that after 1884 +something of force and spontaneous charm was lacking in Daudet's books. +He continued, however, the adventures of Tartarin, first with unabated +gusto in the Alps, then less happily as a colonist in the South Seas. He +wrote, in the form of a novel, a bitter satire on the French Academy, +of which he was never a member; this was "L'Immortel" of 1888. He wrote +romances, of little power, the best being "Rose et Ninette" of 1892, but +his imaginative work steadily declined in value. He published in 1887 +his reminiscences, "Trente Ans de Paris," and later on his "Souvenirs +d'un Homme de Lettres." He suffered more and more from his complaint, +from the insomnia it caused, and from the abuse of chloral. He was +able, however, to the last, to enjoy the summer at his country-house, at +Champrosay, and even to travel in an invalid's chair; in 1896 he visited +for the first time London and Oxford, and saw Mr. George Meredith. In +Paris he had long occupied rooms in the Rue de Bellechasse, where Madame +Alphonse Daudet was accustomed to entertain a brilliant company. But in +1897 it became impossible for him to mount five flights of stairs any +longer, and he moved to the first floor of No. 41 Rue de l'Universite. +Here on the 16th of December, 1897, as he was chatting gaily at the +dinner-table, he uttered a cry, fell back in his chair, and was dead. +The personal appearance of Alphonse Daudet, in his prime, was very +striking; he had clearly cut features, large brilliant eyes, and an +amazing exuberance of curled hair and forked beard. + +EDMUND GOSSE, LL.D. + + + + +CONTENTS + + Introduction, William Peterfield Trent + + Life of Alphonse Daudet, Edmund Gosse + + + THE NABOB: + + Dr. Jenkins's patients + A luncheon in the Place Vendome + Memoirs of an office porter--A mere glance at the Territorial Bank + A debut in society + The Joyeuse family + Felicia Ruys + Jansoulet at home + The Bethlehem Society + Bonne Maman + Memoirs of an office porter--Servants + The festivities in honour of the Bey + A Corsican election + A day of spleen + The Exhibition + Memoirs of an office porter--In the antechamber + A public man + The apparition + The Jenkins pearls + The funeral + La Baronne Hemerlingue + The sitting + Dramas of Paris + Memoirs of an office porter--The last leaves + At Bordighera + The first night of "Revolt" + + + + +THE NABOB + +by Alphonse Daudet + + + + +DOCTOR JENKIN'S PATIENTS + +Standing on the steps of his little town-house in the Rue de Lisbonne, +freshly shaven, with sparkling eyes, and lips parted in easy enjoyment, +his long hair slightly gray flowing over a huge coat collar, square +shouldered, strong as an oak, the famous Irish doctor, Robert Jenkins, +Knight of the Medjidjieh and of the distinguished order of Charles III +of Spain, President and Founder of the Bethlehem Society. Jenkins in a +word, the Jenkins of the Jenkins Pills with an arsenical base--that +is to say, the fashionable doctor of the year 1864, the busiest man in +Paris, was preparing to step into his carriage when a casement opened +on the first floor looking over the inner court-yard of the house, and a +woman's voice asked timidly: + +"Shall you be home for luncheon, Robert?" + +Oh, how good and loyal was the smile that suddenly illumined the +fine apostle-like head with its air of learning, and in the tender +"good-morning" which his eyes threw up towards the warm, white +dressing-gown visible behind the raised curtains; how easy it was to +divine one of those conjugal passions, tranquil and sure, which habit +re-enforces and with supple and stable bonds binds closer. + +"No, Mrs. Jenkins." He was fond of thus bestowing upon her publicly +her title as his lawful wife, as if he found in it an intimate +gratification, a sort of acquittal of conscience towards the woman who +made life so bright for him. "No, do not expect me this morning. I lunch +in the Place Vendome." + +"Ah! yes, the Nabob," said the handsome Mrs. Jenkins with a very marked +note of respect for this personage out of the _Thousand and One Nights_ +of whom all Paris had been talking for the last month; then, after a +little hesitation, very tenderly, in a quite low voice, from between the +heavy tapestries, she whispered for the ears of the doctor only: + +"Be sure you do not forget what you promised me." + +Apparently it was something very difficult to fulfil, for at the +reminder of this promise the eyebrows of the apostle contracted into +a frown, his smile became petrified, his whole visage assumed an +expression of incredible hardness; but it was only for an instant. At +the bedside of their patients the physiognomies of these fashionable +doctors become expert in lying. In his most tender, most cordial manner, +he replied, disclosing a row of dazzling white teeth: + +"What I promised shall be done, Mrs. Jenkins. And now, go in quickly and +shut your window. The fog is cold this morning." + +Yes, the fog was cold, but white as snow mist; and, filling the air +outside the glasses of the large brougham, it brightened with soft +gleams the unfolded newspaper in the doctor's hands. Over yonder, in the +populous quarters, confined and gloomy, in the Paris of tradesman +and mechanic, that charming morning haze which lingers in the great +thoroughfares is not known. The bustle of awakening, the going and +coming of the market-carts, of the omnibuses, of the heavy trucks +rattling their old iron, have early and quickly cut it up, unravelled +and scattered it. Every passer-by carries away a little of it in a +threadbare overcoat, a muffler which shows the woof, and coarse gloves +rubbed one against the other. It soaks through the thin blouses, and +the mackintoshes thrown over the working skirts; it melts away at every +breath that is drawn, warm from sleeplessness or alcohol; it is engulfed +in the depths of empty stomachs, dispersed in the shops as they are +opened, and the dark courts, or even to the fireless attics. That is +the reason why there remains so little of it out of doors. But in that +spacious and grandiose region of Paris, which was inhabited by Jenkins's +clients, on those wide boulevards planted with trees, and those deserted +quays, the fog hovered without a stain, like so many sheets, with +waverings and cotton wool-like flakes. The effect was of a place +inclosed, secret, almost sumptuous, as the sun after his slothful +rising began to diffuse softly crimsoned tints, which gave to the mist +enshrouding the rows of houses to their summits the appearance of white +muslin thrown over some scarlet material. One might have fancied it a +great curtain beneath which nothing could be heard save the cautious +closing of some court-yard gate, the tin measuring-cans of the milkmen, +the little bells of a herd of she-asses passing at a quick trot followed +by the short and panting breath of their shepherd, and the dull rumble +of Jenkins's brougham commencing its daily round. + +First, to Mora House. This was a magnificent palace on the Quai d'Orsay, +next door to the Spanish embassy, whose long terraces succeeded its own, +having its principal entrance in the Rue de Lille, and a door upon the +side next the river. Between two lofty walls overgrown with ivy, and +united by imposing vaulted arches, the brougham shot in, announced by +two strokes of a sonorous bell which roused Jenkins from the reverie +into which the reading of his newspaper seemed to have plunged him. +Then the noise of the wheels became deadened on the sand of a vast +court-yard, and they drew up, after describing an elegant curve, before +the steps of the mansion, which were surrounded by a large circular +awning. In the obscurity of the fog, a dozen carriages could be seen +ranged in line, and along an avenue of acacias, quite withered at +that season and leafless in their bark, the profiles of English grooms +leading out the saddle-horses of the duke for their exercise. Everything +revealed a luxury thought-out, settled, grandiose, and assured. + +"It is quite useless for me to come early; others always arrive before +me," said Jenkins to himself as he saw the file in which his brougham +took its place; but, certain of not having to wait, with head carried +high, and an air of tranquil authority, he ascended that official flight +of steps which is mounted every day by so many trembling ambitions, so +many anxieties on hesitating feet. + +From the very antechamber, lofty and resonant like a church, which, +although calorifers burned night and day, possessed two great wood-fires +that filled it with a radiant life, the luxury of this interior reached +you by warm and heady puffs. It suggested at once a hot-house and +a Turkish bath. A great deal of heat and yet brightness; white +wainscoting, white marbles, immense windows, nothing stifling or shut +in, and yet a uniform atmosphere meet for the surrounding of some +rare existence, refined and nervous. Jenkins always expanded in this +factitious sun of wealth; he greeted with a "good-morning, my lads," +the powdered porter, with his wide golden scarf, the footmen in +knee-breeches and livery of gold and blue, all standing to do him +honour; lightly drew his finger across the bars of the large cages of +monkeys full of sharp cries and capers, and, whistling under his breath, +stepped quickly up the staircase of shining marble laid with a carpet +as thick as the turf of a lawn, which led to the apartments of the duke. +Although six months had passed since his first visit to Mora House, +the good doctor was not yet become insensible to the quite physical +impression of gaiety, of frivolity, which he received from this +dwelling. + +Although you were in the abode of the first official of the Empire there +was nothing here suggestive of the work of government or its boxes +of dusty old papers. The duke had only consented to accept his high +dignitaries as Minister of State and President of the Council upon the +condition that he should not quit his private mansion; he only went +to his office for an hour or two daily, the time necessary to give the +indispensable signatures, and held his receptions in his bed-chamber. +At this moment, notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, the hall was +crowded. You saw there grave, anxious faces, provincial prefects with +shaven lips, and administrative whiskers, slightly less arrogant in this +antechamber than yonder in their prefectures, magistrates of austere +air, sober in gesture, deputies important of manner, big-wigs of the +financial world, rich and boorish manufacturers, among whom stood out +here and there the slender, ambitious figure of some substitute of a +prefectorial councillor, in the garb of one seeking a favour, dress-coat +and white tie; and all, standing, sitting in groups or solitary, sought +silently to penetrate with their gaze that high door closed upon their +destiny, by which they would issue forth directly triumphant or with +cast-down head. Jenkins passed through the crowd rapidly, and every one +followed with an envious eye this newcomer whom the doorkeeper, with +his official chain, correct and icy in his demeanour, seated at a table +beside the door, greeted with a little smile at once respectful and +familiar. + +"Who is with him?" asked the doctor, indicating the chamber of the duke. + +Hardly moving his lips, and not without a slightly ironical glance of +the eye, the doorkeeper whispered a name which, if they had heard it, +would have roused the indignation of all these high personages who had +been waiting for an hour past until the costumier of the opera should +have ended his audience. + +A sound of voices, a ray of light. Jenkins had just entered the duke's +presence; he never waited, he. + +Standing with his back to the fireplace, closely wrapped in a +dressing-jacket of blue fur, the soft reflections from which gave an +air of refinement to an energetic and haughty head, the President of the +Council was causing to be designed under his eyes a Pierrette costume +for the duchess to wear at her next ball, and was giving his directions +with the same gravity with which he would have dictated the draft of a +new law. + +"Let the frill be very fine on the ruff, and put no frills on the +sleeves.--Good-morning, Jenkins. I am with you directly." + +Jenkins bowed, and took a few steps in the immense room, of which the +windows, opening on a garden that extended as far as the Seine, framed +one of the finest views of Paris, the bridges, the Tuileries, the +Louvre, in a network of black trees traced as it were in Indian ink upon +the floating background of fog. A large and very low bed, raised by +a few steps above the floor, two or three little lacquer screens with +vague and capricious gilding, indicating, like the double doors and the +carpets of thick wool, a fear of cold pushed even to excess, various +seats, lounges, warmers, scattered about rather indiscriminately, all +low, rounded, indolent, or voluptuous in shape, composed the furniture +of this celebrated chamber in which the gravest questions and the most +frivolous were wont to be treated alike with the same seriousness. On +the wall was a handsome portrait of the duchess; on the chimneypiece a +bust of the duke, the work of Felicia Ruys, which at the recent Salon +had received the honours of a first medal. + +"Well, Jenkins, how are we this morning?" said his excellency, +approaching, while the costumier was picking up his fashion-plates, +scattered over all the easy chairs. + +"And you, my dear duke? I thought you a little pale last evening at the +Varietes." + +"Come, come! I have never felt so well. Your pills have a most +marvellous effect upon me. I am conscious of a vivacity, a freshness, +when I remember how run down I was six months ago." + +Jenkins, without saying anything, had laid his great head against the +fur-coat of the minister of state, at the place where, in common men, +the heart beats. He listened a moment while his excellency continued to +speak in the indolent, bored tone which was one of the characteristics +of his distinction. + +"And who was your companion, doctor, last night? That huge, bronzed +Tartar who was laughing so loudly in the front of your box." + +"It was the Nabob, _Monsieur le Duc_. The famous Jansoulet, about whom +people are talking so much just now." + +"I ought to have guessed it. The whole house was watching him. The +actresses played for him alone. You know him? What sort of man is he?" + +"I know him. That is to say, I attend him professionally.--Thank you, +my dear duke, I have finished. All is right in that region.--When +he arrived in Paris a month ago, he had found the change of climate +somewhat trying. He sent for me, and since then has received me upon +the most friendly footing. What I know of him is that he possesses a +colossal fortune, made in Tunis, in the service of the Bey, that he has +a loyal heart, a generous soul, in which the ideas of humanity--" + +"In Tunis?" interrupted the duke, who was by nature very little +sentimental and humanitarian. "In that case, why this name of Nabob?" + +"Bah! the Parisians do not look at things so closely. For them, every +rich foreigner is a nabob, no matter whence he comes. Furthermore, this +nabob has all the physical qualities for the part--a copper-coloured +skin, eyes like burning coals, and, what is more, gigantic wealth, of +which he makes, I do not fear to say it, the most noble and the most +intelligent use. It is to him that I owe"--here the doctor assumed a +modest air--"that I owe it that I have at last been able to found the +Bethlehem Society for the suckling of infants, which a morning paper, +that I was looking over just now--the _Messenger_, I think--calls 'the +great philanthropic idea of the century.'" + +The duke threw a listless glance over the sheet which Jenkins held out +to him. He was not the man to be caught by the turn of an advertisement. + +"He must be very rich, this M. Jansoulet," said he, coldly. "He finances +Cardailhac's theatre; Monpavon gets him to pay his debts; Bois l'Hery +starts a stable for him; old Schwalbach a picture gallery. It means +money, all that." + +Jenkins laughed. + +"What will you have, my dear duke, this poor Nabob, you are his great +occupation. Arriving here with the firm resolution to become a Parisian, +a man of the world, he has taken you for his model in everything, and I +do not conceal from you that he would very much like to study his model +from a nearer standpoint." + +"I know, I know. Monpavon has already asked my permission to bring +him to see me. But I prefer to wait; I wish to see. With these great +fortunes that come from so far away one has to be careful. _Mon Dieu_! I +do not say that if I should meet him elsewhere than in my own house, at +the theatre, in a drawing-room----" + +"As it just happens, Mrs. Jenkins is proposing to give a small party +next month. If you would do us the honour----" + +"I shall be glad to come, my dear doctor, and if your Nabob should +chance to be there I should make no objection to his being presented to +me." + +At this moment the usher on duty opened the door. + +"Monsieur the Minister of the Interior is in the blue salon. He has only +one word to say to his excellency. Monsieur the Prefect of Police is +still waiting downstairs, in the gallery." + +"Very well," said the duke, "I am coming. But I should like first to +finish the matter of this costume. Let us see--friend, what's your +name--what are we deciding upon for these ruffs? Au revoir, doctor. +There is nothing to be done, is there, except to continue the pills?" + +"Continue the pills," said Jenkins, bowing; and he left the room beaming +with delight at the two pieces of good fortune which were befalling him +at the same time--the honour of entertaining the duke and the pleasure +of obliging his dear Nabob. In the antechamber, the crowd of petitioners +through which he passed was still more numerous than at his entry; +newcomers had joined those who had been patiently waiting from the +first, others were mounting the staircase, with busy look and very pale, +and in the courtyard the carriages continued to arrive, and to range +themselves on ranks in a circle, gravely, solemnly, while the question +of the sleeve ruffs was being discussed upstairs with not less +solemnity. + +"To the club," said Jenkins to his coachman. + +The brougham bowled along the quays, recrossed the bridges, reached the +Place de la Concorde, which already no longer wore the same aspect as an +hour earlier. The fog was lifting in the direction of the Garde-Meuble +and the Greek temple of the Madeleine, allowing to be dimly +distinguished here and there the white plume of a jet of water, the +arcade of a palace, the upper portion of a statue, the tree-clumps of +the Tuileries, grouped in chilly fashion near the gates. The veil, not +raised, but broken in places, disclosed fragments of horizon; and on the +avenue which leads to the Arc de Triomphe could be seen brakes passing +at full trot laden with coachmen and jobmasters, dragoons of the +Empress, fuglemen bedizened with lace and covered with furs, going two +by two in long files with a jangling of bits and spurs, and the snorting +of fresh horses, the whole lighted by a sun still invisible, the light +issuing from the misty atmosphere, and here and there withdrawing into +it again as if offering a fleeting vision of the morning luxury of that +quarter of the town. + +Jenkins alighted at the corner of the Rue Royale. From top to bottom of +the great gambling house the servants were passing to and fro, shaking +the carpets, airing the rooms where the fume of cigars still hung about +and heaps of fine glowing ashes were crumbling away at the back of the +hearths, while on the green tables, still vibrant with the night's play, +there stood burning a few silver candlesticks whose flames rose straight +in the wan light of day. The noise, the coming and going, ceased at +the third floor, where sundry members of the club had their apartments. +Among them was the Marquis de Monpavon, whose abode Jenkins was now on +his way to visit. + +"What! It is you, doctor? The devil take it! What is the time then? I'm +not visible." + +"Not even for the doctor?" + +"Oh, for nobody. Question of etiquette, _mon cher_. No matter, come in +all the same. You'll warm your feet for a moment while Francis finishes +doing my hair." + +Jenkins entered the bed-chamber, a banal place like all furnished +apartments, and moved towards the fire on which there were set to +heat curling-tongs of all sizes, while in the contiguous laboratory, +separated from the room by a curtain of Algerian tapestry, the Marquis +de Monpavon gave himself up to the manipulations of his valet. Odours of +patchouli, of cold-cream, of hartshorn, and of singed hair escaped from +the part of the room which was shut off, and from time to time, when +Francis came to fetch a curling-iron, Jenkins caught sight of a huge +dressing-table laden with a thousand little instruments of ivory, and +mother-of-pearl, with steel files, scissors, puffs, and brushes, with +bottles, with little trays, with cosmetics, labelled and arranged +methodically in groups and lines; and amid all this display, awkward and +already shaky, an old man's hand, shrunken and long, delicately trimmed +and polished about the nails like that of a Japanese painter, which +faltered about among this fine hardware and doll's china. + +While continuing the process of making up his face, the longest, the +most complicated of his morning occupations, Monpavon chatted with the +doctor, told of his little ailments, and the good effect of the _pills_. +They made him young again, he said. And at a distance, thus, without +seeing him, one would have taken him for the Duc de Mora, to such +a degree had he usurped his manner of speech. There were the same +unfinished phrases, ended by "ps, ps, ps," muttered between the teeth, +expressions like "What's its name?" "Who was it?" constantly thrown into +what he was saying, a kind of aristocratic stutter, fatigued, listless, +wherein you might perceive a profound contempt for the vulgar art of +speech. In the society of which the duke was the centre, every one +sought to imitate that accent, those disdainful intonations with an +affectation of simplicity. + +Jenkins, finding the sitting rather long, had risen to take his +departure. + +"Adieu, I must be off. We shall see you at the Nabob's?" + +"Yes, I intend to be there for luncheon. Promised to bring him--what's +his name. Who was it? What? You know, for our big affair--ps, ps, ps. +Were it not for that, should gladly stay away. Real menagerie, that +house." + +The Irishman, despite his benevolence, agreed that the society was +rather mixed at his friend's. But then! One could hardly blame him for +it. The poor fellow, he knew no better. + +"Neither knows nor is willing to learn," remarked Monpavon with +bitterness. "Instead of consulting people of experience--ps, ps, +ps--first sponger that comes along. Have you seen the horses that Bois +l'Hery has persuaded him to buy? Absolute rubbish those animals. And he +paid twenty thousand francs for them. We may wager that Bois l'Hery got +them for six thousand." + +"Oh, for shame--a nobleman!" said Jenkins, with the indignation of a +lofty soul refusing to believe in baseness. + +Monpavon continued, without seeming to hear: + +"All that because the horses came from Mora's stable." + +"It is true that the dear Nabob's heart is very full of the duke. I am +about to make him very happy, therefore, when I inform him----" + +The doctor paused, embarrassed. + +"When you inform him of what, Jenkins?" + +Somewhat abashed, Jenkins had to confess that he had obtained permission +from his excellency to present to him his friend Jansoulet. Scarcely +had he finished his sentence before a tall spectre, with flabby face +and hair and whiskers diversely coloured, bounded from the dressing-room +into the chamber, with his two hands folding round a fleshless but very +erect neck a dressing-gown of flimsy silk with violet spots, in which he +was wrapped like a sweetmeat in its paper. The most striking thing about +this mock-heroic physiognomy was a large curved nose all shiny with cold +cream, and an eye alive, keen, too young, too bright, for the heavy and +wrinkled eyelid which covered it. Jenkins's patients all had that eye. + +Monpavon must indeed have been deeply moved to show himself thus devoid +of all prestige. In point of fact, with white lips and a changed voice +he addressed the doctor quickly, without the lisp this time, and in a +single outburst: + +"Come now, _mon cher_, no tomfoolery between us, eh? We are both met +before the same dish, but I leave you your share. I intend that you +shall leave me mine." + +And Jenkins's air of astonishment did not make him pause. "Let this be +said once for all. I have promised the Nabob to present him to the duke, +just as, formerly, I presented you. Do not mix yourself up, therefore, +with what concerns me alone." + +Jenkins laid his hand on his heart, protested his innocence. He had +never had any intention. Certainly Monpavon was too intimate a friend of +the duke, for any other--How could he have supposed? + +"I suppose nothing," said the old nobleman, calmer but still cold. +"I merely desired to have a very clear explanation with you on this +subject." + +The Irishman extended a widely opened hand. + +"My dear marquis, explanations are always clear between men of honour." + +"Honour is a big word, Jenkins. Let us say people of deportment--that +suffices." + +And that deportment, which he invoked as the supreme guide of conduct, +recalling him suddenly to the sense of his ludicrous situation, the +marquis offered one finger to his friend's demonstrative shake of the +hand, and passed back with dignity behind his curtain, while the other +left, in haste to resume his round. + +What a magnificent clientele he had, this Jenkins! Nothing but princely +mansions, heated staircases, laden with flowers at every landing, +upholstered and silky alcoves, where disease was transformed into +something discreet, elegant, where nothing suggested that brutal hand +which throws on a bed of pain those who only cease to work in order to +die. They were not in any true speech, sick people, these clients of +the Irish doctor. They would have been refused admission to a hospital. +Their organs not possessing even strength to give them a shock, the seat +of their malady was to be discovered nowhere, and the doctor, as he bent +over them, might have sought in vain the throb of any suffering in those +bodies which the inertia, the silence of death already inhabited. They +were worn-out, debilitated people, anaemics, exhausted by an absurd +life, but who found it so good still that they fought to have it +prolonged. And the Jenkins pills became famous precisely by reason of +that lash of the whip which they gave to jaded existences. + +"Doctor, I beseech you, let me be fit to go to the ball this evening!" +the young woman would say, prostrate on her lounge, and whose voice was +reduced to a breath. + +"You shall go, my dear child." + +And she went; and never had she looked more beautiful. + +"Doctor, at all costs, though it should kill me, to-morrow morning I +must be at the Cabinet Council." + +He was there, and carried away from it in a triumph of eloquence and of +ambitious diplomacy. + +Afterward--oh, afterward, if you please! But no matter! To their +last day Jenkins's clients went about, showed themselves, cheated the +devouring egotism of the crowd. They died on their feet, as became men +and women of the world. + +After a thousand peregrinations in the Chaussee d'Antin and the +Champs-Elysees, after having visited every millionaire or titled +personage in the Faubourg Saint Honore, the fashionable doctor arrived +at the corner of the Cours-la-Reine and the Rue Francois I., before a +house with a rounded front, which occupied the angle on the quay, and +entered an apartment on the ground floor which resembled in nowise those +through which he had been passing since morning. From the threshold, +tapestries covering the wall, windows of old stained glass with strips +of lead cutting across a discrete and composite light, a gigantic saint +in carved wood which fronted a Japanese monster with protruding eyes +and a back covered with delicate scales like tiles, indicated the +imaginative and curious taste of an artist. The little page who answered +the door held in leash an Arab greyhound larger than himself. + +"Mme. Constance is at mass," he said, "and Mademoiselle is in the studio +quite alone. We have been at work since six o'clock this morning," added +the child with a rueful yawn which the dog caught on the wing, making +him open wide his pink mouth with its sharp teeth. + +Jenkins, whom we have seen enter with so much self-possession the +chamber of the Minister of State, trembled a little as he raised the +curtain masking the door of the studio which had been left open. It was +a splendid sculptor's studio, the front of which, on the street corner, +semi-circular in shape, gave the room one whole wall of glass, with +pilasters at the sides, a large, well-lighted bay, opal-coloured just +then by reason of the fog. More ornate than are usually such work-rooms, +which the stains of the plaster, the boasting-tools, the clay, the +puddles of water generally cause to resemble a stone-mason's shed, this +one added a touch of coquetry to its artistic purpose. Green plants in +every corner, a few good pictures suspended against the bare wall +and, here and there, resting upon oak brackets, two or three works +of Sebastien Ruys, of which the last, exhibited after his death, was +covered with a piece of black gauze. + +The mistress of the house, Felicia Ruys, the daughter of the famous +sculptor and herself already known by two masterpieces, the bust of her +father and that of the Duc de Mora, was standing in the middle of the +studio, occupied in the modelling of a figure. Wearing a tightly fitting +riding-habit of blue cloth with long folds, a fichu of China silk +twisted about her neck like a man's tie, her black, fine hair caught up +carelessly above the antique modelling of her small head, Felicia was +at work with an extreme earnestness which added to her beauty the +concentration, the intensity which are given to the features by an +attentive and satisfied expression. But that changed immediately upon +the arrival of the doctor. + +"Ah, it is you," said she brusquely, as though awaked from a dream. "The +bell was rung, then? I did not hear it." + +And in the ennui, the lassitude that suddenly took possession of that +adorable face, the only thing that remained expressive and brilliant was +the eyes, eyes in which the factitious gleam of the Jenkins pills was +heightened by the constitutional wildness. + +Oh, how the doctor's voice became humble and condescending as he +answered her: + +"So you are quite absorbed in your work, my dear Felicia. Is it +something new that you are at work on there? It seems to me very +pretty." + +He moved towards the rough and still formless model out of which there +was beginning to issue vaguely a group of two animals, one a greyhound +which was scampering at full speed with a rush that was truly +extraordinary. + +"The idea of it came to me last night. I began to work it out by +lamplight. My poor Kadour, he sees no fun in it," said the girl, +glancing with a look of caressing kindness at the greyhound whose paws +the little page was endeavouring to place apart in order to get the pose +again. + +Jenkins remarked in a fatherly way that she did wrong to tire herself +thus, and taking her wrist with ecclesiastical precautions: + +"Come, I am sure you are feverish." + +At the contact of his hand with her own, Felicia made a movement almost +of repulsion. + +"No, no, leave me alone. Your pills can do nothing for me. When I do not +work I am bored. I am bored to death, to extinction; my thoughts are the +colour of that water which flows over yonder, brackish and heavy. To be +commencing life, and to be disgusted with it! It is hard. I am reduced +to the point of envying my poor Constance, who passes her days in +her chair, without opening her mouth, but smiling to herself over her +memories of the past. I have not even that, I, happy remembrances to +muse upon. I have only work--work!" + +As she talked she went on modelling furiously, now with the +boasting-tool, now with her fingers, which she wiped from time to time +on a little sponge placed on the wooden platform which supported the +group; so that her complaints, her melancholies, inexplicable in the +mouth of a girl of twenty which, in repose, had the purity of a Greek +smile, seemed uttered at random and addressed to no one in particular. + +Jenkins, however, appeared disturbed by them, troubled, despite the +evident attention which he gave to the work of the artist, or rather to +the artist herself, to the triumphant grace of this girl whom her beauty +seemed to have predestined to the study of the plastic arts. + +Embarrassed by the admiring gaze which she felt fixed upon her, Felicia +resumed: + +"Apropos, I have seen him, you know, your Nabob. Some one pointed him +out to me last Friday at the opera." + +"You were at the opera on Friday?" + +"Yes. The duke had sent me his box." + +Jenkins changed colour. + +"I persuaded Constance to go with me. It was the first time for +twenty-five years since her farewell performance, that she had been +inside the Opera-House. It made a great impression on her. During the +ballet, especially, she trembled, she beamed, all her old triumphs +sparkled in her eyes. Happy who has emotions like that. A real type, +that Nabob. You will have to bring him to see me. He has a head that it +would amuse me to do." + +"He! Why, he is hideous! You cannot have looked at him carefully." + +"On the contrary, I had a perfect view. He was opposite us. That mask, +as of a white Ethiopian, would be superb in marble. And not vulgar, +in any case. Besides, since he is so ugly as that, you will not be +so unhappy as you were last year when I was doing Mora's bust. What a +disagreeable face you had, Jenkins, in those days!" + +"For ten years of life," muttered Jenkins in a gloomy voice, "I would +not have that time over again. But you it amuses to behold suffering." + +"You know quite well that nothing amuses me," said she, shrugging her +shoulders with a supreme impertinence. + +Then, without looking at him, without adding another word, she plunged +into one of those dumb activities by which true artists escape from +themselves and from everything that surrounds them. + +Jenkins paced a few steps in the studio, much moved, with avowals on +the tip of his tongue which yet dared not put themselves into words. At +length, feeling himself dismissed, he took his hat and walked towards +the door. + +"So it is understood. I must bring him to see you." + +"Who?" + +"Why, the Nabob. It was you who this very moment----" + +"Ah, yes," remarked the strange person whose caprices were short-lived. +"Bring him if you like. I don't care, otherwise." + +And her beautiful dejected voice, in which something seemed broken, the +listlessness of her whole personality, said distinctly enough that it +was true, that she cared really for nothing in the world. + +Jenkins left the room, extremely troubled, and with a gloomy brow. But, +the moment he was outside, he assumed once more his laughing and cordial +expression, being of those who, in the streets, go masked. The morning +was advancing. The mist, still perceptible in the vicinity of the Seine, +floated now only in shreds and gave a vaporous unsubstantiality to +the houses on the quay, to the river steamers whose paddles remained +invisible, to the distant horizon in which the dome of the Invalides +hung poised like a gilded balloon with a rope that darted sunbeams. A +diffused warmth, the movement in the streets, told that noon was not far +distant, that it would be there directly with the striking of all the +bells. + +Before going on to the Nabob's, Jenkins had, however, one other visit to +make. But he appeared to find it a great nuisance. However, since he had +made the promise! And, resolutely: + +"68 Rue Saint-Ferdinand, at the Ternes," he said, as he sprang into his +carriage. + +The address required to be repeated twice to the coachman, Joey, who +was scandalized; the very horse showed a momentary hesitation, as if the +valuable beast and the impeccably clad servant had felt revolt at the +idea of driving out to such a distant suburb, beyond the limited but +so brilliant circle wherein their master's clients were scattered. +The carriage arrived, all the same, without accident, at the end of a +provincial-looking, unfinished street, and at the last of its buildings, +a house of unfurnished apartments with five stories, which the street +seemed to have despatched forward as a reconnoitring party to discover +whether it might continue on that side isolated as it stood between +vaguely marked-out sites waiting to be built upon or heaped with the +debris of houses broken down, with blocks of freestone, old shutters +lying amid the desolation, mouldy butchers' blocks with broken hinges +hanging, an immense ossuary of a whole demolished region of the town. + +Innumerable placards were stuck above the door, the latter being +decorated by a great frame of photographs white with dust before which +Jenkins paused for a moment as he passed. Had the famous doctor come so +far, then, simply for the purpose of having a photograph taken? It might +have been thought so, judging by the attention with which he stayed +to examine this display, the fifteen or twenty photographs which +represented the same family in different poses and actions and with +varying expressions; an old gentleman, with chin supported by a high +white neckcloth, and a leathern portfolio under his arm, surrounded by +a bevy of young girls with their hair in plait or in curls, and with +modest ornaments on their black frocks. Sometimes the old gentleman had +posed with but two of his daughters; or perhaps one of those young and +pretty profile figures stood out alone, the elbow resting upon a broken +column, the head bowed over a book in a natural and easy pose. But, in +short, it was always the same air with variations, and within the glass +frame there was no gentleman save the old gentleman with the white +neckcloth, nor other feminine figures that those of his numerous +daughters. + +"Studios upstairs, on the fifth floor," said a line above the frame. +Jenkins sighed, measured with his eye the distance that separated the +ground from the little balcony up there in the clouds, then he decided +to enter. In the corridor he passed a white neckcloth and a majestic +leathern portfolio, evidently the old gentleman of the photographic +exhibition. Questioned, this individual replied that M. Maranne did +indeed live on the fifth floor. "But," he added, with an engaging smile, +"the stories are not lofty." Upon this encouragement the Irishman began +to ascend a narrow and quite new staircase with landings no larger than +a step, only one door on each floor, and badly lighted windows through +which could be seen a gloomy, ill-paved court-yard and other cage-like +staircases, all empty; one of those frightful modern houses, built +by the dozen by penniless speculators, and having as their worst +disadvantage thin partition walls which oblige all the inhabitants to +live in a phalansterian community. + +At this particular time the inconvenience was not great, the fourth and +fifth floors alone happening to be occupied, as though the tenants had +dropped into them from the sky. + +On the fourth floor, behind a door with a copper plate bearing the +announcement "M. Joyeuse, Expert in Bookkeeping," the doctor heard +a sound of fresh laughter, of young people's chatter, and of romping +steps, which accompanied him to the floor above, to the photographic +establishment. + +These little businesses perched away in corners with the air of having +no communication with any outside world are one of the surprises of +Paris. One asks one's self how the people live who go into these +trades, what fastidious Providence can, for example, send clients to +a photographer lodged on a fifth floor in a nondescript region, well +beyond the Rue Saint-Ferdinand, or books to keep to the accountant +below. Jenkins, as he made this reflection, smiled in pity, then went +straight in as he was invited by the following inscription, "Enter +without knocking." Alas! the permission was scarcely abused. A tall +young man wearing spectacles, and writing at a small table, with his +legs wrapped in a travelling-rug, rose precipitately to greet the +visitor whom his short sight had prevented him from recognising. + +"Good-morning, Andre," said the doctor, stretching out his loyal hand. + +"M. Jenkins!" + +"You see, I am good-natured as I have always been. Your conduct towards +us, your obstinacy in persisting in living far away from your parents, +imposed a great reserve on me, for my own dignity's sake; but your +mother has wept. And here I am." + +While he spoke, he examined the poor little studio, with its bare walls, +its scanty furniture, the brand-new photographic apparatus, the little +Prussian fireplace, new also and never yet used for a fire, all forced +into painfully clear evidence beneath the direct light falling from the +glass roof. The drawn face, the scanty beard of the young man, to whom +the bright colour of his eyes, the narrow height of his forehead, +his long and fair hair thrown backward gave the air of a visionary, +everything was accentuated in the crude light; and also the resolute +will in that clear glance which settled upon Jenkins coldly, and in +advance to all his reasonings, to all his protestations, opposed an +invincible resistance. + +But the good Jenkins feigned not to perceive anything of this. + +"You know, my dear Andre, since the day when I married your mother I +have regarded you as my son. I looked forward to leaving you my practice +and my patients, to putting your foot in a golden stirrup, happy to see +you following a career consecrated to the welfare of humanity. All at +once, without giving any reason, without taking into any consideration +the effect which such a rupture might well have in the eyes of the +world, you have separated yourself from us, you have abandoned your +studies, renounced your future, in order to launch out into I know not +what eccentric life, engaging in a ridiculous trade, the refuge and the +excuse of all unclassed people." + +"I follow this occupation in order to earn a living. It is bread and +butter in the meantime." + +"In what meantime? While you are waiting for literary glory?" + +He glanced disdainfully at the scribbling scattered over the table. + +"All that is not serious, you know, and here is what I am come to tell +you. An opportunity presents itself to you, a double-swing door opening +into the future. The Bethlehem Society is founded. The most splendid of +my philanthropic dreams has taken body. We have just purchased a superb +villa at Nanterre for the housing of our first establishment. It is the +care, the management of this house that I have thought of intrusting +to you as to an _alter ego_. A princely dwelling, the salary of the +commander of a division, and the satisfaction of a service rendered to +the great human family. Say one word, and I take you to see the Nabob, +the great-hearted man who defrays the expense of our undertaking. Do you +accept?" + +"No," said the other so curtly that Jenkins was somewhat put out of +countenance. + +"Just so. I was prepared for this refusal when I came here. But I am +come nevertheless. I have taken for motto, 'To do good without hope,' +and I remain faithful to my motto. So then, it is understood you prefer +to the honourable, worthy, and profitable existence which I have just +proposed to you, a life of hazard without aim and without dignity?" + +Andre answered nothing, but his silence spoke for him. + +"Take care. You know what that decision will involve, a definitive +estrangement, but you have always wanted that. I need not tell you," +continued Jenkins, "that to break with me is to break off relations also +with your mother. She and I are one." + +The young man turned pale, hesitated a moment, then said with effort: + +"If it please my mother to come to see me here, I shall be delighted, +certainly. But my determination to quit your house, to have no longer +anything in common with you, is irrevocable." + +"And will you at least say why?" + +He made a negative sign; he would not say. + +For once the Irishman felt a genuine impulse of anger. His whole +face assumed a cunning, savage expression which would have very much +astonished those that only knew the good and loyal Jenkins; but he took +good care not to push further an explanation which he feared perhaps as +much as he desired it. + +"Adieu," said he, half turning his head on the threshold. "And never +apply to us." + +"Never," replied his stepson in a firm voice. + +This time, when the doctor had said to Joey, "Place Vendome," the horse, +as though he had understood that they were going to the Nabob's, gave a +proud shake to his glittering curb-chains, and the brougham set off at +full speed, transforming each axle of its wheels into sunshine. "To +come so far to get a reception like that! A celebrity of the time to be +treated thus by that Bohemian! One may try indeed to do good!" Jenkins +gave vent to his anger in a long monologue of this character, then +suddenly rousing himself, exclaimed, "Ah, bah!" and what anxiety there +was remaining on his brow quickly vanished on the pavement of the Place +Vendome. Noon was striking everywhere in the sunshine. Issued forth from +behind its curtain of mist, luxurious Paris, awake and on its feet, +was commencing its whirling day. The shop-windows of the Rue de la +Paix shone brightly. The mansions of the square seemed to be ranging +themselves haughtily for the receptions of the afternoon; and, right at +the end of the Rue Castiglione with its white arcades, the Tuileries, +beneath a fine burst of winter sunshine, raised shivering statues, pink +with cold, amid the stripped trees. + + + + +A LUNCHEON IN THE PLACE VENDOME + +There were scarcely more than a score of persons that morning in the +Nabob's dining-room, a dining-room in carved oak, supplied the previous +evening as it were by some great upholsterer, who at the same stroke had +furnished these suites of four drawing-rooms of which you caught sight +through an open doorway, the hangings on the ceiling, the objects of +art, the chandeliers, even the very plate on the sideboards and the +servants who were in attendance. It was obviously the kind of interior +improvised the moment he was out of the railway-train by a gigantic +_parvenu_ in haste to enjoy. Although around the table there was no +trace of any feminine presence, no bright frock to enliven it, its +aspect was yet not monotonous, thanks to the dissimilarity, the oddness +of the guests, people belonging to every section of society, specimens +of humanity detached from all races, in France, in Europe, in the entire +globe, from the top to the bottom of the social ladder. To begin with, +the master of the house--a kind of giant, tanned, burned by the sun, +saffron-coloured, with head in his shoulders. His nose, which was short +and lost in the puffiness of his face, his woolly hair massed like a +cap of astrakhan above a low and obstinate forehead, and his bristly +eyebrows with eyes like those of an ambushed chapard gave him the +ferocious aspect of a Kalmuck, of some frontier savage living by war and +rapine. Fortunately the lower part of the face, the fleshy and strong +lip which was lightened now and then by a smile adorable in its +kindness, quite redeemed, by an expression like that of a St. Vincent de +Paul, this fierce ugliness, this physiognomy so original that it was +no longer vulgar. An inferior extraction, however, betrayed itself yet +again by the voice, the voice of a Rhone waterman, raucous and thick, +in which the southern accent became rather uncouth than hard, and by two +broad and short hands, hairy at the back, square and nailless fingers +which, laid on the whiteness of the table-cloth, spoke of their past +with an embarrassing eloquence. Opposite him, on the other side of the +table at which he was one of the habitual guests, was seated the Marquis +de Monpavon, but a Monpavon presenting no resemblance to the painted +spectre of whom we had a glimpse in the last chapter. He was now a +haughty man of no particular age, fine majestic nose, a lordly bearing, +displaying a large shirt-front of immaculate linen crackling beneath +the continual effort of the chest to throw itself forward, and bulging +itself out each time with a noise like that made by a white turkey when +it struts in anger, or by a peacock when he spreads his tail. His name +of Monpavon suited him well. + +Of great family and of a wealthy stock, but ruined by gambling and +speculation, the friendship of the Duc de Mora had secured him an +appointment as receiver-general in the first class. Unfortunately +his health had not permitted him to retain this handsome +position--well-informed people said his health had nothing to do with +it--and for the last year he had been living in Paris, awaiting his +restoration to health, according to his own account of the matter, +before resuming his post. The same people were confident that he +would never regain it, and that even were it not for certain exalted +influences--However, he was the important personage of the luncheon; +that was clear from the manner in which the servants waited upon him, +and the Nabob consulted him, calling him "Monsieur le Marquis," as at +the Comedie-Francaise, less almost out of deference than from pride, by +reason of the honour which it reflected upon himself. Full of disdain +for the people around him, M. le Marquis spoke little, in a very +high voice, and as though he were stooping towards those whom he was +honouring with his conversation. From time to time he would throw to the +Nabob across the table a few words enigmatical for all. + +"I saw the duke yesterday. He was talking a great deal about you in +connection with that matter. You know, that thing--that business. What +was the name of it?" + +"You really mean it? He spoke of me to you?" And the good Nabob, quite +proud, would look around him with movements of the head that were +supremely laughable, or perhaps assume the contemplative air of a +devotee who should hear the name of Our Lord pronounced. + +"His excellency would have pleasure in seeing you take up the--ps, ps, +ps--the thing." + +"He told you so?" + +"Ask the governor if he did not--heard it like myself." + +The person who was called the governor--Paganetti, to give him his +real name--was a little, expressive man, constantly gesticulating and +fatiguing to behold, so many were the different expressions which his +face would assume in the course of a single minute. He was managing +director of the Territorial Bank of Corsica, a vast financial +enterprise, and had now come to the house for the first time, introduced +by Monpavon; he occupied accordingly a place of honour. On the other +side of the Nabob was an old gentleman, buttoned up to the chin in a +frock-coat having a straight collar without lapels, like an Oriental +tunic, his face slashed by a thousand little bloodshot veins and wearing +a white moustache of military cut. It was Brahim Bey, the most valiant +colonel of the Regency of Tunis, aide-de-camp of the former Bey who had +made the fortune of Jansoulet. The glorious exploits of this warrior +showed themselves written in wrinkles, in blemishes wrought by +debauchery upon the nerveless under-lip that hung as it were relaxed, +and upon his eyes without lashes, inflamed and red. It was a head such +as one may see in the dock at certain criminal trials that are held with +closed doors. The other guests were seated pell-mell, just as they had +happened to arrive or to find themselves, for the house was open to +everybody, and the table was laid every morning for thirty persons. + +There were present the manager of the theatre financed by the Nabob, +Cardailhac, renowned for his wit almost as much as for his insolvencies, +a marvellous carver who, while he was engaged in severing the limbs of +a partridge, would prepare one of his witticisms and deposit it with +a wing upon the plate which was presented to him. He worked up his +witticisms instead of improvising them, and the new fashion of serving +meats, _a la Russe_ and carved beforehand, had been fatal to him by its +removal of all excuse for a preparatory silence. Consequently it was the +general remark that his vogue was on the decline. Parisian, moreover, +a dandy to the finger tips, and, as he himself was wont to boast, "with +not one particle of superstition in his whole body," a characteristic +which permitted him to give very piquant details concerning the ladies +of his theatre to Brahim Bey--who listened to him as one turns over the +pages of a naughty book--and to talk theology to the young priest who +was his nearest neighbour, a curate of some little southern village, +lean and with a complexion sunburnt till it matched the cloth of his +cassock in colour, with fiery patches above the cheek-bones, and the +pointed, forward-pushing nose of the ambitious man, who would remark +to Cardailhac very loudly, in a tone of protection and sacerdotal +authority: + +"We are quite pleased with M. Guizot. He is doing very well--very well. +It is a conquest for the Church." + +Seated next this pontiff, with a black neck-band, old Schwalbach, the +famous picture-dealer, displayed his prophet's beard, tawny in places +like a dirty fleece, his three overcoats tinged by mildew, all that +loose and negligent attire for which he was excused in the name of art, +and because, in a time when the mania for picture galleries had already +begun to cause millions to change hands, it was the proper thing to +entertain the man who was the best placed for the conduct of these +absurdly vain transactions. Schwalbach did not speak, contenting himself +with gazing around him through his enormous monocle, shaped like a +hand magnifying-glass, and with smiling in his beard over the singular +neighbours made by this unique assembly. Thus it happened that M. de +Monpavon had quite close to him--and it was a sight to watch how the +disdainful curve of his nose was accentuated at each glance in that +direction--the singer Garrigou, a fellow-countryman of Jansoulet, a +distinguished ventriloquist who sang Figaro in the dialect of the south, +and had no equal in his imitations of animals. Just beyond, Cabassu, +another compatriot, a little short and dumpy man, with the neck of a +bull and the biceps of a statue by Michel Angelo, who suggested at +once a Marseilles hairdresser and the strong man at a fair, a masseur, +pedicure, manicure, and something of a dentist, sat with elbows on the +table with the coolness of a charlatan whom one receives in the morning +and knows the little infirmities, the intimate distresses of the abode +in which he chances to find himself. M. Bompain completed this array +of subordinates, all alike in one respect at any rate, Bompain, the +secretary, the steward, the confidential agent, through whose hands the +entire business of the house passed; and it sufficed to observe that +solemnly stupid attitude, that indefinite manner, the Turkish fez placed +awkwardly on a head suggestive of a village school-master, in order to +understand to what manner of people interests like those of the Nabob +had been abandoned. + +Finally, to fill the gaps among these figures I have sketched, the +Turkish crowd--Tunisians, Moors, Egyptians, Levantines; and, mingled +with this exotic element, a whole variegated Parisian Bohemia of ruined +nobleman, doubtful traders, penniless journalists, inventors of strange +products, people arrived from the south without a farthing, all the lost +ships needing revictualling, or flocks of birds wandering aimlessly in +the night, which were drawn by this great fortune as by the light of a +beacon. The Nabob admitted this miscellaneous collection of individuals +to his table out of kindness, out of generosity, out of weakness, by +reason of his easy-going manners, joined to an absolute ignorance and +a survival of that loneliness of the exile, of that need for expansion +which, down yonder in Tunis, in his splendid palace of the Bardo, had +caused him to welcome everybody who hailed from France, from the small +tradesman exporting Parisian wares to the famous pianist on tour and the +consul-general himself. + +As one listened to those various accents, those foreign intonations, +gruff or faltering, as one gazed upon those widely different +physiognomies, some violent, barbarous, vulgar, others hyper-civilized, +worn, suggestive only of the Boulevard and as it were flaccid, one noted +that the same diversity was evident also among the servants who, some +apparently lads just out of an office, insolent in manner, with heads +of hair like a dentist's or a bath-attendant's, busied themselves among +Ethiopians standing motionless and shining like candelabra of black +marble, and it was impossible to say exactly where one was; in any case, +you would never have imagined yourself to be in the Place Vendome, right +in the beating heart and very centre of the life of our modern Paris. +Upon the table there was a like importation of exotic dishes, saffron or +anchovy sauces, spices mixed up with Turkish delicacies, chickens with +fried almonds, and all this taken together with the banality of the +interior, the gilding of the panels, the shrill ringing of the new +bells, gave the impression of a _table d'hote_ in some big hotel +in Smyrna or Calcutta, or of a luxurious dining-saloon on board a +transatlantic liner, the "Pereire" or the "Sinai." + +It might seem that this diversity among the guests--I was about to say +among the passengers--ought to have caused the meal to be animated and +noisy. Far otherwise. They all ate nervously, watching each other out +of eye-corners, and even those most accustomed to society, those who +appeared the most at their ease, had in their glance the wandering look +and the distraction of a fixed idea, a feverish anxiety which caused +them to speak without relevance and to listen without understanding a +word of what was being said to them. + +Suddenly the door of the dining-room opened. + +"Ah, here comes Jenkins!" exclaimed the Nabob delightedly. "Welcome, +welcome, doctor. How are you, my friend?" + +A smile to those around, a hearty shake of his host's hand, and Jenkins +sat down opposite him, next to Monpavon, before a place at the table +which a servant had just prepared in all haste and without having +received any order, exactly as at a _table d'hote_. Among those +preoccupied and feverish faces, this one at any rate stood out in +contrast by its good humour, its cheerfulness, and that loquacious and +flattering benevolence which makes the Irish in a way the Gascons of +England. And what a splendid appetite! With what heartiness, what ease +of conscience he used his white teeth as he talked! + +"Well, Jansoulet, you have read it?" + +"What?" + +"How, then! you do not know? You have not read what the _Messenger_ says +about you this morning?" + +Beneath the dark tan of his cheeks the Nabob blushed like a child, and, +his eyes shining with pleasure: + +"Is it possible--the _Messenger_ has spoken of me?" + +"Through two columns. How is it that Moessard has not shown it to you?" + +"Oh," put in Moessard modestly, "it was not worth the trouble." + +He was a little journalist, with a fair complexion and smart in his +dress, sufficiently good-looking, but with a face which presented +that worn appearance noticeable as the special mark of waiters in +night-restaurants, actors, and light women, and produced by conventional +grimacing and the wan reflection of gaslight. He was reputed to be the +paid lover of an exiled and profligate queen. The rumour was whispered +around him, and, in his own world, secured him an envied and despicable +position. + +Jansoulet insisted on reading the article, impatient to know what had +been said of him. Unfortunately Jenkins had left his copy at the duke's. + +"Let some one go fetch me a _Messenger_ quickly," said the Nabob to the +servant behind him. + +Moessard intervened. + +"It is needless. I must have the thing on me somewhere." + +And with the absence of ceremony of the tavern _habitue_, of the +reporter who scribbles his paragraph with his glass beside him, the +journalist drew out a pocket-book, crammed full of notes, stamped +papers, newspaper cuttings, notes written on glazed paper with crests, +which he proceeded to litter over the table, pushing away his plate in +order to search for the proof of his article. + +"There you are." He passed it over to Jansoulet; but Jenkins besought +him: + +"No, no; read it aloud." + +The company having echoed the request in chorus, Moessard took back his +proof and commenced to read in a loud voice, "The Bethlehem Society +and Mr. Bernard Jansoulet," a long dithyramb in favour of artificial +lactation, written from notes made by Jenkins, which were recognisable +through certain fine phrases much affected by the Irishman, such as "the +long martyrology of childhood," "the sordid traffic in the breast," "the +beneficent nanny-goat as foster-mother," and finishing, after a pompous +description of the splendid establishment at Nanterre, with a eulogy +of Jenkins and a glorification of Jansoulet: "O Bernard Jansoulet, +benefactor of childhood!" It was a sight to see the vexed, scandalized +faces of the guests. What an intriguer was this Moessard! What an +impudent piece of sycophantry! And the same envious, disdainful smile +quivered on every mouth. And the deuce of it was that a man had to +applaud, to appear charmed, the master of the house not being weary as +yet of incense, and taking everything very seriously, both the article +and the applause it provoked. His big face shone during the reading. +Often, down yonder, far away, had he dreamed a dream of having his +praises sung like this in the newspapers of Paris, of being somebody +in that society, the first among all, on which the entire world has its +eyes fixed as on the bearer of a torch. Now, that dream was becoming +a reality. He gazed upon all these people seated at his board, the +sumptuous dessert, this panelled dining-room as high, certainly, as the +church of his native village; he listened to the dull murmur of Paris +rolling along in its carriages and treading the pavements beneath his +windows, with the intimate conviction that he was about to become +an important piece in that active and complicated machine. And then, +through the atmosphere of physical well-being produced by the meal, +between the lines of that triumphant vindication, by an effect of +contrast, he beheld unfold itself his own existence, his youth, +adventurous as it was sad, the days without bread, the nights without +shelter. Then suddenly, the reading having come to an end, his joy +overflowing in one of those southern effusions which force thought +into speech, he cried, beaming upon his guests with that frank and +thick-lipped smile of his: + +"Ah, my friends, my dear friends, if you could know how happy I am! What +pride I feel!" + +Scarce six weeks had passed since he had landed in France. Excepting two +or three compatriots, those whom he thus addressed as his friends were +but the acquaintances of a day, and that through his having lent +them money. This sudden expansion, therefore, appeared sufficiently +extraordinary; but Jansoulet, too much under the sway of emotion to +notice anything, continued: + +"After what I have just heard, when I behold myself here in this +great Paris, surrounded by all its wealth of illustrious names, of +distinguished intellects, and then call up the remembrance of my +father's booth! For I was born in a booth. My father used to sell old +nails at the corner of a boundary stone in the Bourg-Saint-Andeol. If we +had bread in the house every day and stew every Sunday it was the most +we had to expect. Ask Cabassu whether it was not so. He knew me in those +days. He can tell you whether I am not speaking the truth. Oh, yes, I +have known what poverty is." He threw back his head with an impulse +of pride as he savoured the odour of truffles diffused through the +suffocating atmosphere. "I have known it, and the real thing too, and +for a long time. I have been cold. I have known hunger--genuine hunger, +remember--the hunger that intoxicates, that wrings the stomach, sets +circles dancing in your head, deprives you of sight as if the inside of +your eyes was being gouged out with an oyster-knife. I have passed days +in bed for want of an overcoat to go out in; fortunate at that when +I had a bed, which was not always. I have sought my bread from every +trade, and that bread cost me such bitter toil, it was so black, so +tough, that in my mouth I keep still the flavour of its acrid and mouldy +taste. And thus until I was thirty. Yes, my friends, at thirty years +of age--and I am not yet fifty--I was still a beggar, without a sou, +without a future, with the remorseful thought of the poor old mother, +become a widow, who was half-dying of hunger away yonder in her booth, +and to whom I had nothing to give." + +Around this Amphitryon recounting the story of his evil days the faces +of his hearers expressed curiosity. Some appeared shocked, Monpavon +especially. For him, this exposure of rags was in execrable taste, an +absolute breach of good manners. Cardailhac, sceptical and dainty, an +enemy to scenes of emotion, with face set as if it were hypnotized, +sliced a fruit on the end of his fork into wafers as thin as cigarette +papers. + +The governor exhibited, on the contrary, a flatly admiring demeanour, +uttering exclamations of amazement and compassion; while, not far away, +in singular contrast, Brahmin Bey, the thunderbolt of war, upon whom +this reading followed by a lecture after a heavy meal had had the effect +of inducing a restorative slumber, slept with his mouth open beneath his +white moustache, his face congested by his collar, which had slipped +up. But the most general expression was one of indifference and boredom. +What could it matter to them, I ask you; what had they to do with +Jansoulet's childhood in the Bourg-Saint-Andeol, the trials he had +endured, the way in which he had trudged his path? They had not come to +listen to idle nonsense of that kind. Airs of interest falsely affected, +glances that counted the ovals of the ceiling or the bread-crumbs on the +table-cloth, mouths compressed to stifle a yawn, betrayed, accordingly, +the general impatience provoked by this untimely story. Yet he himself +seemed not to weary of it. He found pleasure in the recital of his +sufferings past, even as the mariner safe in port, remembering his +voyagings over distant seas, and the perils and the great shipwrecks. +There followed the story of his good luck, the prodigious chance that +had placed him suddenly upon the road to fortune. "I was wandering about +the quays of Marseilles with a comrade as poverty-stricken as myself, +who is become rich, he also, in the service of the Bey, and, after +having been my chum, my partner, is now my most cruel enemy. I may +mention his name, _pardi_! It is sufficiently well known--Hemerlingue. +Yes, gentlemen, the head of the great banking house. 'Hemerlingue & +Co.' had not in those days even the wherewithal to buy a pennyworth of +_clauvisses_ on the quay. Intoxicated by the atmosphere of travel that +one breathes down there, the idea came into our minds of starting out, +of going to seek our livelihood in some country where the sun shines, +since the lands of mist were so inhospitable to us. But where to go? We +did what sailors sometimes do in order to decide in what low hole they +will squander their pay. You fix a scrap of paper on the brim of your +hat. You make the hat spin on a walking-stick; when it stops spinning +you follow the pointer. In our case the paper needle pointed towards +Tunis. A week later I landed at Tunis with half a louis in my pocket, +and I came back to-day with twenty-five millions!" + +An electric shock passed round the table; there was a gleam in every +eye, even in those of the servants. Cardailhac said, "Phew!" Monpavon's +nose descended to common humanity. + +"Yes, my boys, twenty-five millions in liquidated cash, without speaking +of all that I have left in Tunis, of my two palaces at the Bardo, of my +vessels in the harbour of La Goulette, of my diamonds, of my precious +stones, which are worth certainly more than the double. And you know," +he added, with his kindly smile and in his hoarse, plebeian voice, "when +that is done there will still be more." + +The whole company rose to its feet, galvanized. + +"Bravo! Ah, bravo!" + +"Splendid!" + +"Deuced clever--deuced clever!" + +"Now, that is something worth talking about." + +"A man like him ought to be in the Chamber." + +"He will be, _per Bacco_! I answer for it," said the governor in a +piercing voice; and in the transport of admiration, not knowing how to +express his enthusiasm, he seized the fat, hairy hand of the Nabob and +on an unreflective impulse raised it to his lips. They are demonstrative +in his country. Everybody was standing up; no one sat down again. + +Jansoulet, beaming, had risen in his turn, and, throwing down his +serviette: "Let us go and have some coffee," he said. + +A glad tumult immediately spread through the salons, vast apartments in +which light, decoration, sumptuousness, were represented by gold alone. +It seemed to fall from the ceiling in blinding rays, it oozed from +the walls in mouldings, sashes, framings of every kind. A little of it +remained on your hands if you moved a piece of furniture or opened a +window; and the very hangings, dipped in this Pactolus, kept on their +straight folds the rigidity, the sparkle of a metal. But nothing bearing +the least personal stamp, nothing intimate, nothing thought out. The +monotonous luxury of the furnished flat. And there was a re-enforcement +of this impression of a moving camp, of a merely provisory home, in the +suggestion of travel which hovered like an uncertainty or a menace over +this fortune derived from far-off sources. + +Coffee having been served, in the Eastern manner, with all its grounds, +in little cups filigreed with silver, the guests grouped themselves +round, making haste to drink, scalding themselves, keeping watchful eyes +on each other and especially on the Nabob as they looked out for the +favourable moment to spring upon him, draw him into some corner of those +immense rooms, and at length negotiate their loan. For this it was that +they had been awaiting for two hours; this was the object of their visit +and the fixed idea which gave them during the meal that absent, falsely +attentive manner. But here no more constraint, no more pretence. In that +peculiar social world of theirs it is of common knowledge that in the +Nabob's busy life the hour of coffee remains the only time free for +private audiences, and each desiring to profit by it, all having come +there in order to snatch a handful of wool from the golden fleece +offered them with so much good nature, people no longer talk, they no +longer listen, every man is absorbed in his own errand of business. + +It is the good Jenkins who begins. Having drawn his friend Jansoulet +aside into a recess, he submits to him the estimates for the house at +Nanterre. A big purchase, indeed! A cash price of a hundred and fifty +thousand francs, then considerable expenses in connection with getting +the place into proper order, the personal staff, the bedding, the +nanny-goats for milking purposes, the manager's carriage, the omnibuses +going to meet the children coming by every train. A great deal of money. +But how well off and comfortable they will be there, those dear little +things! what a service rendered to Paris, to humanity! The Government +cannot fail to reward with a bit of red ribbon so disinterested, so +philanthropic a devotion. "The Cross, on the 15th of August." With these +magic words Jenkins will obtain everything he desires. In his merry, +guttural voice, which seems always as though it were hailing a boat in a +fog, the Nabob calls, "Bompain!" + +The man in the fez, quickly leaving the liqueur-stand, walks +majestically across the room, whispers, moves away, and returns with +an inkstand and a counterfoil check-book from which the slips detach +themselves and fly away of their own accord. A fine thing, wealth! +To sign a check on his knee for two hundred thousand francs troubles +Jansoulet no more than to draw a louis from his pocket. + +Furious, with noses in their cups, the others watch this little scene +from a distance. Then, as Jenkins takes his departure, bright, smiling, +with a nod to the various groups, Monpavon seizes the governor: "Now is +our chance." And both, springing on the Nabob, drag him off towards a +couch, oblige him almost forcibly to sit down, press upon each side of +him with a ferocious little laugh that seems to signify, "What shall we +do with him now?" Get the money out of him, the largest amount possible. +It is needed, to set afloat once more the Territorial Bank, for years +lain aground on a sand-bank, buried to the very top of its masts. A +superb operation, this re-flotation, if these two gentlemen are to be +believed, for the submerged bank is full of ingots, of precious things, +of the thousand various forms of wealth of a new country discussed by +everybody and known by none. + +In founding this unique establishment, Paganetti of Porto-Vecchio had +as his aim to monopolize the commercial development of the whole of +Corsica: iron mines, sulphur mines, copper mines, marble quarries, +coral fisheries, oyster beds, water ferruginous and sulphurous, immense +forests of thuya, of cork-oak, and to establish for the facilitation of +this development a network of railways over the island, with a service +of packet-boats in addition. Such is the gigantic undertaking to which +he has devoted himself. He has sunk considerable capital in it, and it +is the new-comer, the workman of the last hour, who will gain the whole +profit. + +While with his Italian accent and violent gestures the Corsican +enumerates the "splendours" of the affair, Monpavon, haughty, and with +an air calculated to command confidence, nods his head approvingly with +conviction, and from time to time, when he judges the moment propitious, +throws into the conversation the name of the Duc de Mora, which never +fails in its effect on the Nabob. + +"Well, in short, how much would be required?" + +"Millions," says Monpavon boldly, in the tone of a man who would have +no difficulty in addressing himself elsewhere. "Yes, millions; but the +enterprise is magnificent. And, as his excellency was saying, it would +provide even a political position. Just think! In that district without +a metallic currency, you might become counsellor-general, deputy." The +Nabob gives a start. And the little Paganetti, who feels the bait quiver +on his hook: "Yes, deputy. You will be that whenever I choose. At a sign +from me all Corsica is at your disposal." Then he launches out into an +astonishing improvisation, counting the votes which he controls, the +cantons which will obey his call. "You bring me your capital. I--I give +you an entire people." The cause is gained. + +"Bompain, Bompain!" calls the Nabob, roused to enthusiasm. He has now +but one fear, that is lest the thing escape him; and in order to bind +Paganetti, who has not concealed his need of money, he hastens to +effect the payment of a first instalment to the Territorial bank. New +appearance of the man in red breeches with the check-book which he +carries clasped gravely to his chest, like a choir-boy moving the Gospel +from one side to the other. New inscription of Jansoulet's signature +upon a slip, which the governor pockets with a negligent air and which +operates on his person a sudden transformation. The Paganetti who was +so humble and spiritless just now, goes away with the assurance of a +man worth four hundred thousand francs, while Monpavon, carrying it even +higher than usual, follows after him in his steps, and watches over him +with a more than paternal solicitude. + +"That's a good piece of business done," says the Nabob to himself. "I +can drink my coffee now." + +But the borrowers are waiting for him to pass. The most prompt, the most +adroit, is Cardailhac, the manager, who lays hold of him and bears him +off into a side-room. + +"Let us have a little talk, old friend. I must explain to you the +situation of affairs in connection with our theatre." Very complicated, +doubtless, the situation; for here is M. Bompain who advances once more, +and there are the slips of blue paper flying away from the check-book. +Whose turn now? There is the journalist Moessard coming to draw his +pay for the article in the _Messenger_; the Nabob will find out what it +costs to have one's self called "benefactor of childhood" in the morning +papers. There is the parish priest from the country who demands funds +for the restoration of his church, and takes checks by assault with the +brutality of a Peter the Hermit. There is old Schwalbach coming up with +nose in his beard and winking mysteriously. + +"Sh! He had found a pearl for monsieur's gallery, an Hobbema from the +collection of the Duc de Mora. But several people are after it. It will +be difficult--" + +"I must have it at any price," says the Nabob, hooked by the name of +Mora. "You understand, Schwalbach. I must have this Hobbema. Twenty +thousand francs for you if you secure it." + +"I shall do my utmost, M. Jansoulet." + +And the old rascal calculates, as he goes away, that the twenty thousand +of the Nabob added to the ten thousand promised him by the duke if he +gets rid of his picture for him, will make a nice little profit for +himself. + +While these fortunate ones follow each other, others look on around, +wild with impatience, biting their nails to the quick, for all are come +on the same errand. From the good Jenkins, who opened the advance, to +the masseur Cabassu, who closes it, all draw the Nabob away to some +room apart. But, however far they lead him down this gallery of +reception-rooms, there is always some indiscreet mirror to reflect the +profile of the host and the gestures of his broad back. That back has +eloquence. Now and then it straightens itself up in indignation. +"Oh, no; that is too much." Or again it sinks forward with a comical +resignation. "Well, since it must be so." And always Bompain's fez in +some corner of the view. + +When those are finished, others arrive. They are the small fry who +follow in the wake of the big eaters in the ferocious hunts of the +rivers. There is a continual coming and going through these handsome +white-and-gold drawing rooms, a noise of doors, an established current +of bare-faced and vulgar exploitation attracted from the four corners of +Paris and the suburbs by this gigantic fortune and incredible facility. + +For these small sums, these regular distributions, recourse was not had +to the check-book. For such purposes the Nabob kept in one of his +rooms a mahogany chest of drawers, a horrible little piece of furniture +representing the savings of a house porter, the first that Jansoulet had +bought when he had been able to give up living in furnished apartments; +which he had preserved since, like a gambler's fetish; and the three +drawers of which contained always two hundred thousand francs in cash. +It was to this constant supply that he had recourse on the days of his +large receptions, displaying a certain ostentation in the way in which +he would handle the gold and silver, by great handfuls, thrusting it to +the bottom of his pockets to draw it out thence with the gesture of +a cattle dealer; a certain vulgar way of raising the skirts of his +frock-coat and of sending his hand "to the bottom and into the pile." +To-day there must be a terrible void in the drawers of the little chest. + +After so many mysterious whispered confabulations, demands more or less +clearly formulated, chance entries and triumphant departures, the last +client having been dismissed, the chest of drawers closed and locked, +the flat in the Place Vendome began to empty in the uncertain light of +the afternoon towards four o'clock, that close of the November days so +exceedingly prolonged afterward by artificial light. The servants were +clearing away the coffee and the raki, and bearing off the open and +half-emptied cigar-boxes. The Nabob, thinking himself alone, gave a sigh +of relief. "Ouf! that's over." But no. Opposite him, some one comes out +from a corner that is already dark, and approaches with a letter in his +hand. + +Another! + +And at once, mechanically, the poor man made that eloquent, +horse-dealer's gesture of his. Instinctively, also, the visitor showed a +movement of recoil so prompt, so hurt, that the Nabob understood that he +was making a mistake, and took the trouble to examine the young man who +stood before him, simply but correctly dressed, of a dull complexion, +without the least sign of a beard, with regular features, perhaps a +little too serious and fixed for his age, which, aided by his hair of +pale blond colour, curled in little ringlets like a powdered wig, gave +him the appearance of a young deputy of the Commons under Louis XVI, the +head of a Barnave at twenty! This face, although the Nabob beheld it for +the first time, was not absolutely unknown to him. + +"What do you desire, monsieur?" + +Taking the letter which the young man held out to him, he went to a +window in order to see to read it. + +"Te! It is from mamma." + +He said it with so happy an air; that word "mamma" lit up all his face +with so young, so kind a smile, that the visitor, who had been at first +repulsed by the vulgar aspect of this _parvenu_, felt himself filled +with sympathy for him. + +In an undertone the Nabob read these few lines written in an awkward +hand, incorrect and shaky, which contrasted with the large glazed +note-paper, with its heading "Chateau de Saint-Romans." + +"My dear son, this letter will be delivered to you by the eldest son of +M. de Gery, the former justice of the peace for Bourg-Saint-Andeol, who +has shown us so much kindness." + +The Nabob broke off his reading. + +"I ought to have recognised you, M. de Gery. You resemble your father. +Sit down, I beg of you." + +Then he finished running through the letter. His mother asked him +nothing precise, but, in the name of the services which the de Gery +family had rendered them in former years, she recommended M. Paul to +him. An orphan, burdened with the care of his two young brothers, he had +been called to the bar in the south, and was now coming to Paris to seek +his fortune. She implored Jansoulet to aid him, "for he needed it badly, +poor fellow," and she signed herself, "Thy mother who pines for thee, +Francoise." + +This letter from his mother, whom he had not seen for six years, those +expressions of the south country of which he could hear the intonations +that he knew so well, that coarse handwriting which sketched for him an +adored face, all wrinkled, scored, and cracked, but smiling beneath its +peasant's head-dress, had affected the Nabob. During the six weeks +that he had been in France, lost in the whirl of Paris, the business of +getting settled in his new habitation, he had not yet given a thought +to his dear old lady at home; and now he saw all of her again in these +lines. He remained a moment looking at the letter, which trembled in his +heavy fingers. + +Then, this emotion having passed: + +"M. de Gery," said he, "I am glad of the opportunity which is about to +permit me to repay to you a little of the kindness which your family has +shown to mine. From to-day, if you consent, I take you into my house. +You are educated, you seem intelligent, you can be of great service +to me. I have a thousand plans, a thousand affairs in hand. I am being +drawn into a crowd of large industrial enterprises. I want some one who +will aid me; represent me at need. I have indeed a secretary, a steward, +that excellent Bompain, but the unfortunate fellow knows nothing of +Paris; he has been, as it were, bewildered ever since his arrival. You +will tell me that you also come straight from the country, but that +does not matter. Well brought up as you are, a southerner, alert and +adaptable, you will quickly pick up the routine of the Boulevard. For +the rest, I myself undertake your education from that point of view. In +a few weeks you will find yourself, I answer for it, as much at home in +Paris as I am." + +Poor man! It was touching to hear him speak of his Parisian habits, and +of his experience; he whose destiny it was to be always a beginner. + +"Now, that is understood, is it not? I engage you as secretary. You will +have a fixed salary which we will settle directly, and I shall provide +you with the opportunity to make your fortune rapidly." + +And while de Gery, raised suddenly above all the anxieties of a +newcomer, of one who solicits a favour, of a neophyte, did not move for +fear of awaking from a dream: + +"Now," said the Nabob to him in a gentle voice, "sit down there, next +me, and let us talk a little about mamma." + + + + +MEMOIRS OF AN OFFICE PORTER A MERE GLANCE AT THE TERRITORIAL BANK + +I had just finished my frugal morning repast and, as my habit was, +placed the remains of my modest provisions in the board-room safe with a +secret lock, which has served me as a store-cupboard during four years, +almost, that I have been at the Territorial. Suddenly the governor walks +into the offices, with his face all red and eyes inflamed, as though +after a night's feasting, draws in his breath noisily, and in rude terms +says to me, with his Italian accent: + +"But this place stinks, _Moussiou_ Passajon." + +The place did not stink, if you like the word. Only--shall I say +it?--I had ordered a few onions to garnish a knuckle of veal which Mme. +Seraphine had sent down to me, she being the cook on the second floor, +whose accounts I write out for her every evening. I tried to explain the +matter to the governor, but he had flown into a temper, saying that to +his mind there was no sense in poisoning the atmosphere of an office in +that way, and that it was not worth while to maintain premises at a +rent of twelve thousand francs, with eight windows fronting full on the +Boulevard Malesherbes, in order to roast onions in them. I don't know +what he did not say to me in his passion. For my own part, naturally +I got angry at hearing myself addressed in that insolent manner. It is +surely the least a man can do to be polite with people in his service +whom he does not pay. What the deuce! So I answered him that it was +annoying, in truth, but that if the Territorial Bank paid me what it +owed me, namely, four years' arrears of salary, _plus_ seven thousand +francs personal advances made by me to the governor for expenses of +cabs, newspapers, cigars, and American grogs on board days, I would go +and eat decently at the nearest cookshop, and should not be reduced to +cooking, in the room where our board was accustomed to sit, a wretched +stew, for which I had to thank the public compassion of female cooks. +Take that! + +In speaking thus I had yielded to an impulse of indignation very +excusable in the eyes of any person whatever acquainted with my position +here. Even so, I had said nothing improper and had confined myself +within the limits of language conformable to my age and education. (I +must have mentioned somewhere in the course of these memoirs that of the +sixty-five years I have lived I passed more than thirty as beadle to the +Faculty of Letters in Dijon. Hence my taste for reports and memoirs, and +those ideas of academical style of which traces will be found in many +passages of this lucubration.) I had, then, expressed myself in the +governor's presence with the most complete reserve, without employing +any one of those terms of abuse to which he is treated by everybody +here, from our two censors--M. de Monpavon, who, every time he comes, +calls him laughingly "Fleur-de-Mazas," and M. de Bois l'Hery, of the +Trumpet Club, coarse as a groom, who, for adieu, always greets him with, +"To your bedstead, bug!"--to our cashier, whom I have heard repeat a +hundred times, tapping on his big book, "That he has in there enough +to send him to the galleys when he pleases." Ah, well! All the same, +my simple observation produced an extraordinary effect upon him. The +circles round his eyes became quite yellow, and, trembling with +rage, one of those evil rages of his country, he uttered these words: +"Passajon, you are a blackguard. One word more, and I discharge you!" +Stupor nailed me to the floor when I heard them. Discharge me--_me!_ and +my four years' arrears, and my seven thousand francs of money lent! + +As though he could read my thought before it was put into words, the +governor replied that all accounts were going to be settled, mine +included. "And as to that," he added, "summon these gentlemen to my +private room. I have important news to announce to them." + +Upon that, he went into his office, banging the doors. + +That devil of a man! In vain you may know him to the core--know him a +liar, a comedian--he manages always to get the better of you with his +stories. My account, mine!--mine! I was so affected by the thought that +my legs seemed to give way beneath me as I went to inform the staff. + +According to the regulations, there are twelve of us employed at the +Territorial Bank, including the governor and the handsome Moessard, +manager of _Financial Truth_; but more than half of that number were +wanting. To begin with, since _Truth_ ceased to be issued--it is two +years since its last appearance--M. Moessard has not once set foot in +the place. It seems he moves amid honours and riches, has a queen for +his mistress--a real queen--who gives him all the money he desires. Oh, +what a Babylon, this Paris! The others come from time to time to learn +whether by chance anything new has happened at the bank; and, as nothing +ever has, we remain weeks without seeing them. Four or five faithful +ones, all poor old men like myself, persist in putting in an appearance +regularly every morning at the same hour, from habit, from want of +occupation, not knowing what else to do. Every one, however, busies +himself about things quite foreign to the work of the office. A man must +live, you know. And then, too, one cannot pass the day dragging one's +self from easy chair to easy chair, from window to window, to look out +of doors (eight windows fronting on the Boulevard). So one tries to do +some work as best one can. I myself, as I have said, keep the accounts +of Mme. Seraphine, and of another cook in the building. Also, I write +my memoirs, which, again, takes a good deal of my time. Our receipt +clerk--one who has not very hard work with us--makes line for a firm +that deals in fishing requisites. Of our two copying-clerks, one, +who writes a good hand, copies plays for a dramatic agency; the other +invents little halfpenny toys which the hawkers sell at street corners +about the time of the New Year, and manages by this means to keep +himself from dying of hunger during all the rest of the year. Our +cashier is the only one who does no outside work. He would believe +his honour lost if he did. He is a very proud man, who never utters a +complaint, and whose one dread is to have the appearance of being in +want of linen. Locked in his office, he is occupied from morning till +evening in the manufacture of shirt-fronts, collars, and cuffs of paper. +In this, he has attained very great skill, and his ever-dazzling linen +would deceive, if it were not that at the least movement, when he +walks, when he sits down, the stuff crackles upon him as though he had a +cardboard box under his waistcoat. Unfortunately all this paper does not +feed him; and he is so thin, has such a mien, that you ask yourself +on what he lives. Between ourselves, I suspect him of paying a visit +sometimes to my store-cupboard. He can do so with ease; for, as cashier, +he has the "word" which opens the safe with the secret lock, and I fancy +that when my back is turned he forages a little among my provisions. + +These are certainly very extraordinary, very incredible internal +arrangements for a banking house. It is, however, the mere truth that +I am telling, and Paris is full of financial institutions after the +pattern of ours. Oh, if ever I publish my memoirs! But to take up the +interrupted thread of my story. + +When he saw us all collected in his private room, the manager said to us +with solemnity: + +"Gentlemen and dear comrades, the time of trials is ended. The +Territorial Bank inaugurates a new phase." + +Upon this he commenced to speak to us of a superb _combinazione_--it is +his favourite word and he pronounces it in such an insinuating manner--a +_combinazione_ into which there was entering this famous Nabob, of whom +all the newspapers are talking. The Territorial Bank was therefore about +to find itself in a position which would enable it to acquit itself of +its obligations to its faithful servants, recognise acts of devotion, +rid itself of useless parasites. This for me, I imagine. And in +conclusion: "Prepare your statements. All accounts will be settled not +later than to-morrow." Unhappily he has so often soothed us with lying +words, that the effect of his speech was lost. Formerly these +fine promises were always swallowed. At the announcement of a new +_combinazione_, there used to be dancing, weeping for joy in the +offices, and men would embrace each other like shipwrecked sailors +discovering a sail. + +Each one would prepare his account for the morrow, as he had said. But +on the morrow, no manager. The day following, still nobody. He had left +town on a little journey. + +At length, one day when all would be there, exasperated, putting out our +tongues, maddened by the water which he had brought to our mouths, the +governor would arrive, let himself drop into an easy chair, his head in +his hands, and before one could speak to him: "Kill me," he would say, +"kill me. I am a wretched impostor. The _combinazione_ has failed. It +has failed, _Pechero!_ the _combinazione_." And he would cry, sob, +throw himself on his knees, pluck out his hair by handfuls, roll on the +carpet. He would call us by our Christian names, implore us to put an +end to his existence, speak of his wife and children whose ruin he had +consummated. And none of us would have the courage to protest in face of +a despair so formidable. What do I say? One always ended by sympathizing +with him. No, since theatres have existed, never has there been a +comedian of his ability. But to-day, that is all over, confidence is +gone. When he had left, every one shrugged his shoulders. I must admit, +however, that for a moment I had been shaken. That assurance about the +settling of my account, and then the name of the Nabob, that man so +rich---- + +"You actually believe it, you?" the cashier said to me. "You will be +always innocent, then, my poor Passajon. Don't disturb yourself. It +will be the same with the Nabob as it was with Moessard's Queen." And he +returned to the manufacture of his shirt-fronts. + +What he had just said referred to the time when Moessard was making love +to his Queen, and had promised the governor that in case of success he +would induce her Majesty to put capital into our undertaking. At the +office, we were all aware of this new adventure, and very anxious, +as you may imagine, that it should succeed quickly, since our money +depended upon it. For two months this story held all of us breathless. +We felt some disquiet, we kept a watch on Moessard's face, considered +that the lady was inclined to insist upon a great deal of ceremony; +and our old cashier, with his dignified and serious air, when he was +questioned on the matter, would answer gravely, behind his wire screen: +"Nothing fresh," or "The thing is in a good way." Whereupon everybody +was contented. One would say to another, "It is making progress," as +though merely an ordinary enterprise was in question. No, in good truth, +there is only one Paris, where one can see such things. Positively it +makes your head turn sometimes. In a word, Moessard, one fine morning, +ceased coming to the office. He had succeeded, it appears, but the +Territorial Bank had not seemed to him a sufficiently advantageous +investment for the money of his mistress. Now, I ask you, was that +honest? + +For that matter, the notion of honesty is lost so easily as hardly to +be believed. When I reflect that I, Passajon, with my white hair, my +venerable appearance, my so blameless past--thirty years of academical +services--am grown accustomed to living like a fish in the water, in the +midst of these infamies, this swindling! One might well ask what I am +doing here, why I remain, how I am come to this. + +How I am come to it? Oh, _mon Dieu!_ very simply. Four years ago, my +wife being dead, my children married, I had just retired from my post +as hall-porter at the college, when an advertisement in the newspaper +chanced to meet my eye: "Wanted, an office-porter, middle-aged, at the +Territorial Bank, 56, Boulevard Malesherbes. Good references." Let me +confess it at the outset. The modern Babylon had always attracted me. +Then, too, I felt myself still a young man. I saw before me ten good +years during which I might earn a little money, a great deal, perhaps, +by means of investing my savings in the banking-house which I should +enter. So I wrote, inclosing my photograph, the one taken at Crespon's, +in the Market Place, which represents me with chin closely shaven, a +keen eye beneath my thick white eyebrows, my steel chain about my neck, +my ribbon as an academy official, "the air of a conscript father upon +his curule-chair," as M. Chalmette, our dean used to say. (He insisted +also that I much resembled the late King Louis XVIII; less strongly, +however.) I supplied, further, the best of references; the most +flattering recommendations from the gentlemen of the college. By return +of post, the governor replied that my appearance pleased him--I believe +it, _parbleu!_ an antechamber in the charge of a person with a striking +face like mine is a bait for the shareholder--and that I might come +when I liked. I ought, you may say to me, myself also to have made my +inquiries. Eh! no doubt. But I had to give so much information about +myself that it never occurred to me to ask for any about them. Besides, +how could a man be suspicious, seeing this admirable installation, +these lofty ceilings, these great safes, as big as cupboards, and these +mirrors, in which you can see yourself from head to knee? And then +those sonorous prospectuses, those millions that I seemed to hear flying +through the air, those colossal enterprises with their fabulous profits. +I was dazzled, fascinated. It must be mentioned, too, that at the time +the house did not bear quite the aspect which it has to-day. Certainly, +business was already going badly--our business always has gone +badly--the paper appeared only at irregular intervals. But a little +_combinazione_ of the governor's enabled him to save appearances. + +He had conceived the idea, just imagine, of opening a patriotic +subscription for the purpose of erecting a statue to General Paolo +Paoli, or some such name; in any case, to a great countryman of his own. +Money flowed accordingly into the Territorial. Unfortunately, that state +of things did not last. By the end of a couple of months the statue was +eaten up before it had been made, and the series of protests and writs +recommenced. Nowadays I am accustomed to them. But in the days when I +had just come from the country, the Auvergnats at the door, caused me a +painful impression. In the house, nobody paid attention to such things +any longer. It was known that at the last moment there would always +arrive a Monpavon, a Bois l'Hery, to pacify the bailiffs; for all those +gentlemen, being deeply implicated in the concern, have an interest in +avoiding a bankruptcy. That is the very circumstance which saves him, +our wily governor. The others run after their money--we know the meaning +which that expression has in gaming--and they would not like all the +stock on their hands to become worthless save to sell for waste paper. + +Small and great, that is the case of all of us who are connected with +the firm. From the landlord, to whom two years' rent is owing and who, +for fear of losing it all, allows us to stay for nothing, to us poor +employees, even to me, who am involved to the extent of my seven +thousand francs of savings and my four years of arrears, we are running +after our money. That is the reason why I remain obstinately here. + +Doubtless, in spite of my advanced age, thanks to my good appearance, +to my education, to the care which I have always taken of my clothes, +I might have obtained some post under other management. There is one +person of excellent repute known to me, M. Joyeuse, a bookkeeper in the +firm of Hemerlingue & Son, the great bankers of the Rue Saint-Honore, +who, every time he meets me, never fails to remark: + +"Passajon, my friend, don't stop in that den of brigands. You are wrong +to persist in remaining. You will never get a halfpenny out of them. So +come to Hemerlingue's. I undertake to find some little corner for you +there. You will earn less, but you will be paid much more." + +I feel that he is quite right, that worthy fellow. But the thing is +stronger than I. I cannot make up my mind to leave. And yet it is by no +means gay, the life I lead here in these great, cold rooms, where no +one ever comes, where each man stows himself away in a corner without +speaking. What will you have? Each knows the other too well. Everything +has been said already. + +Again, until last year, we used to have sittings of the board of +inspection, meetings of shareholders, stormy and noisy assemblies, +veritable battles of savages, from which the cries could be heard to +the Madeleine. Several times a week also there would call subscribers +indignant at no longer ever receiving any news of their money. It was +on such occasions that our governor shone. I have seen these people, +monsieur, go into his office furious as wolves thirsting for blood, +and, after a quarter of an hour, come out milder than sheep, satisfied, +reassured, and their pockets relieved of a few bank-notes. For, there +lay the acme of his cleverness; in the extraction of money from the +unlucky people who came to demand it. Nowadays the shareholders of the +Territorial Bank no longer give any sign of existence. I think they are +all dead or else resigned to the situation. The board never meets. +The sittings only take place on paper; it is I who am charged with the +preparation of a so-called report--always the same--which I copy out +afresh each quarter. We should never see a living soul, if, at +long intervals, there did not rise from the depths of Corsica some +subscribers to the statue of Paoli, curious to know how the monument +is progressing; or, it may be, some worthy reader of _Financial Truth_, +which died over two years ago, who calls to renew his subscription with +a timid air, and begs a little more regularity, if possible, in the +forwarding of the paper. There is a faith that nothing shakes. So, when +one of these innocents falls among our hungry band, it is something +terrible. He is surrounded, hemmed in, an attempt is made to secure his +name for one of our lists, and, in case of resistance, if he wishes to +subscribe neither to the Paoli monument nor to Corsican railways, these +gentlemen deal him what they call--my pen blushes to write it--what they +call, I say, "the drayman thrust." + +Here is what it is: We always keep at the office a parcel prepared in +advance, a well-corded case which arrives nominally from the railway +station while the visitor is present. "There are twenty francs carriage +to pay," says the one among us who brings the thing in. (Twenty francs, +sometimes thirty, according to the appearance of the patient.) Every +one then begins to ransack his pockets: "Twenty francs carriage! but I +haven't got it." "Nor I either. What a nuisance!" Some one runs to the +cash-till. Closed. The cashier is summoned. He is out. And the gruff +voice of the drayman, growing impatient in the antechamber: "Come, come, +make haste." (It is generally I who play the drayman, because of the +strength of my vocal organs.) What is to be done now? Return the parcel? +That will vex the governor. "Gentlemen, I beg, will you permit me," +ventures the innocent victim, opening his purse. "Ah, monsieur, +indeed--" He hands over his twenty francs, he is ushered to the door, +and, as soon as his heel is turned, we all divide the fruit of the +crime, laughing like highway robbers. + +Fie! M. Passajon. At your age, such a trade! Eh! _mon Dieu!_ I well know +it. I know that I should do myself more honour in quitting this evil +place. But what! You would have me then renounce the hope of getting +back anything of all I have put in here. No, it is not possible. There +is urgent need on the contrary that I should remain, that I should be +on the watch, always at hand, ready to profit by any windfall, if one +should come. Oh, for example, I swear it upon my ribbon, upon my thirty +years of academical service, if ever an affair like this of the Nabob +allow me to recover my disbursements, I shall not wait another single +minute. I shall quickly be off to look after my pretty vineyard down +yonder, near Monbars, cured forever of my thoughts of speculation. But, +alas! that is a very chimerical hope. Exhausted, used up, known as we +are upon the Paris market, with our stocks which are no longer quoted on +the Bourse, our bonds which are near being waste paper, so many lies, so +many debts, and the hole that grows ever deeper and deeper. (We owe +at this moment three million five hundred thousand francs. It is not, +however, those three millions that worry us. On the contrary, it is they +that keep us going; but we have with the _concierge_ a little bill of a +hundred and twenty-five francs for postage-stamps, a month's gas bill, +and other little things. That is the really terrible part of it.) and we +are expected to believe that a man, a great financier like this Nabob, +even though he were just arrived from the Congo, or dropped from the +moon the same day, would be fool enough to put his money into a concern +like this. Come! Is the thing possible? You may tell that story to the +marines, my dear governor. + + + + +A DEBUT IN SOCIETY + + +"M. BERNARD JANSOULET!" + +The plebeian name, accentuated proudly by the liveried servants, and +announced in a resounding voice, sounded in Jenkins's drawing-rooms like +the clash of a cymbal, one of those gongs which, in fairy pieces at +the theatre, are the prelude to fantastic apparitions. The light of the +chandeliers paled, every eye sparkled at the dazzling perspective of +the treasures of the Orient, of the showers of the sequins and of pearls +evoked by the magic syllables of that name, yesterday unknown. + +He, it was he himself, the Nabob, the rich among the rich, the great +Parisian curiosity, spiced by that relish of adventure which is so +pleasing to the surfeited crowd. All heads turned, all conversations +were interrupted; near the door there was a pushing among the guests, +a crush as upon the quay of a seaport to witness the entry of a felucca +laden with gold. + +Jenkins himself, so hospitable, so self-possessed, who was standing in +the first drawing-room receiving his guests, abruptly quitted the +group of men about him and hurried to place himself at the head of the +galleons bearing down upon the guest. + +"You are a thousand times, a thousand times kind. Mme. Jenkins will be +so glad, so proud.--Come, let me conduct you!" + +And in his haste, in his vainglorious delight, he bore Jansoulet off so +quickly that the latter had no time to present his companion, Paul de +Gery, to whom he was giving his first entry into society. The young man +welcomed this forgetfulness. He slipped away among the crowd of black +dress-coats constantly pressed back at each new arrival, buried himself +in it, seized by that wild terror which is experienced by every young +man from the country at his first introduction to a Paris drawing-room, +especially when he is intelligent and refined, and beneath his +breastplate of linen does not wear like a coat of mail the imperturbable +assurance of a boor. + +All you, Parisians of Paris, who from the age of sixteen, in your first +dress-coat and with opera-hat against your thigh, have been wont to air +your adolescence at receptions of all kinds, you know nothing of that +anguish, compounded of vanity, of timidity, of recollections of romantic +readings, which keeps a young man from opening his mouth and so makes +him awkward and for a whole night pins him down to one spot in a +doorway, and converts him into a piece of furniture in a recess, a poor, +wandering and wretched being, incapable of manifesting his existence +save by an occasional change of place, dying of thirst rather than +approach the buffet, and going away without having uttered a word, +unless perhaps to stammer out one of those incoherent pieces of +foolishness which he remembers for months, and which make him, at night, +as he thinks of them, heave an "Ah!" of raging shame, with head buried +in the pillow. + +Paul de Gery was that martyr. Away yonder in his country home he had +always lived a very retired existence with an old, pious, and gloomy +aunt, up to the time when the law-student, destined in the first +instance to the career in which his father had left an excellent +reputation, had found himself introduced to a few judges' drawing-rooms, +ancient, melancholy dwellings with faded pier-glasses, where he used to +go to make a fourth at whist with venerable shadows. Jenkins's evening +party was therefore a _debut_ for this provincial, of whom his very +ignorance and his southern adaptability made immediately an observer. + +From the place where he stood, he watched the curious defile of +Jenkins's guests which had not yet come to an end at midnight; all the +clients of the fashionable physician; the fine flower of society; +a strong political and financial element, bankers, deputies, a few +artists, all the jaded people of Parisian "high life," wan-faced, with +glittering eyes, saturated with arsenic like greedy mice, but with +appetite insatiable for poison and for life. The drawing-room being +thrown open, the vast antechamber of which the doors had been removed to +be seen, laden with flowers at the sides, the principal staircase of the +mansion, over which swept, now shaken out to their full extent, the +long trains, whose silky weight seemed to give a backward pull to the +undraped busts of the women in the course of that pretty ascending +movement which brought them into view, little by little, till the +complete flower of their splendour was reached. The couples as they +gained the top seemed to be making an entry on the stage of a theatre; +and that was twice true, since each person left on the last step the +contracted eyebrows, the lines that marked preoccupation, the wearied +air, his vexations, his sorrows, to display instead a contented face, a +gay smile over the reposeful harmony of the features. The men exchanged +honest shakes of the hand, exhibitions of fraternal good-feeling; +the women, preoccupied with themselves, as they stood making little +caracoling movements, with trembling graces, play of eyes and shoulders, +murmured, without meaning anything, a few words of greeting: + +"Thank you--oh, thank you! How kind you are!" + +Then the couples would separate, for evening parties are no longer the +gatherings of charming wits, in which feminine delicacy was wont to +compel the character, the lofty knowledge, the genius, even, of men +to bow graciously before it; but these overcrowded routs, in which the +women, who alone are seated, chattering together like slaves in a harem, +have no longer aught save the pleasure of being beautiful or appearing +so. De Gery, after having wandered through the doctor's library, the +conservatory, the billiard-room, where men were smoking, weary of +serious and dry conversation which seemed to him out of place amid +surroundings so decorated and in the brief hour of pleasure--some one +had asked him carelessly, without looking at him, what the Bourse +was doing that day--made his way again towards the door of the large +drawing-room, which was barricaded by a wedged crowd of dress-coats, a +sea of heads bent sideways and peering past each other, watching. + +This salon was a spacious apartment richly furnished with the artistic +taste which distinguished the host and hostess. There were a few +old pictures on the light background of the hangings. A monumental +chimneypiece, adorned by a handsome group in marble--"The Seasons," by +Sebastien Ruys--around which long green stems cut in lacework or of a +goffered bronze-like rigidity curved back towards the mirror as towards +the limpidity of a clear lake. On the low seats, women in close groups, +so close as almost to blend the delicate colours of their toilettes, +forming an immense basket of living flowers, above which there floated +the gleam of bare shoulders, of hair sown with diamonds that looked like +drops of water on the dark women, glittering reflections on the fair, +and the same heady perfume, the same confused and gentle hum, compact +of vibrant warmth and intangible wings, which, in summer, caresses a +garden-bed through all its flowering time. Now and then a little laugh, +rising into this luminous atmosphere, a quicker inspiration in the air, +which would cause aigrettes and curls to tremble, a handsome profile to +stand out suddenly. Such was the aspect of the drawing-room. + +A few men were present, a very small number, however, and all of them +personages of note, laden with years and decorations. They were standing +about near couches, leaning over the backs of chairs, with that air of +condescension which men assume when speaking to children. But in the +peaceful buzz of these conversations, one voice rang out piercing and +brazen, that of the Nabob, who was tranquilly performing his evolutions +across this social hothouse with the assurance bestowed upon him by his +immense wealth, and a certain contempt for women which he had brought +back from the East. + +At that moment, comfortably installed on a settee, his big hands in +yellow gloves crossed carelessly one over the other, he was talking with +a very handsome woman, whose original physiognomy--much vitality coupled +with severe features--stood out pale among the pretty faces about her, +just as her dress, all white, classic in its folds and following closely +the lines of her supple figure, contrasted with toilettes that were +richer, but among which none had that air of daring simplicity. From his +corner, de Gery admired the low and smooth forehead beneath its fringe +of downward combed hair, the well-opened eyes, deep blue in colour, an +abysmal blue, the mouth which ceased to smile only to relax its pure +curve into an expression that was weary and drooping. In sum, the rather +haughty mien of an exceptional being. + +Somebody near him mentioned her name--Felicia Ruys. At once he +understood the rare attraction of this young girl, the continuer of +her father's genius, whose budding celebrity had penetrated even to the +remote country district where he had lived, with the aureole of reputed +beauty. While he stood gazing at her, admiring her least gestures, a +little perplexed by the enigma of her handsome countenance, he heard +whispers behind him. + +"But see how pleasant she is with the Nabob! If the duke were to come +in!" + +"The Duc de Mora is coming?" + +"Certainly. It is for him that the party is given; to bring about a +meeting between him and Jansoulet." + +"And you think that the duke and Mlle. Ruys----" + +"Where have you come from? It is an intrigue known to all Paris. The +affair dates from the last exhibition, for which she did a bust of him." + +"And the duchess?" + +"Bah! it is not her first experience of that sort. Ah! there is Mme. +Jenkins going to sing." + +There was a movement in the drawing-room, a more violent swaying of the +crowd near the door, and conversation ceased for a moment. Paul de +Gery breathed. What he had just heard had oppressed his heart. He felt +himself reached, soiled, by this mud flung in handfuls over the ideal +which in his own mind he had formed of that splendid adolescence, +matured by the sun of Art to so penetrating a charm. He moved away +a little, changed his place. He feared to hear again some whispered +infamy. Mme. Jenkins's voice did him good, a voice that was famous in +the drawing-rooms of Paris and that in spite of all its magnificence had +nothing theatrical about it, but seemed an emotional utterance vibrating +over unstudied sonorities. The singer, a woman of forty or forty-five, +had splendid ash-blond hair, delicate, rather nerveless features, a +striking expression of kindness. Still good-looking, she was dressed +in the costly taste of a woman who has not given up the thought of +pleasing. Indeed, she was far from having given it up. Married a dozen +years ago, for a second time, to the doctor, they seemed still to be +at the first months of their dual happiness. While she sang a popular +Russian melody, savage and sweet like the smile of a Slav, Jenkins was +ingenuously proud, without seeking to dissimulate the fact, his broad +face all beaming; and she, each time that she bent her head as she +regained her breath, glanced in his direction a timid, affectionate +smile that flew to seek him over the unfolded music. And then, when she +had finished amid an admiring and delighted murmur, it was touching to +notice how discreetly she gave her husband's hand a secret squeeze, as +though to secure to themselves a corner of private bliss in the midst of +her great triumph. Young de Gery was feeling cheered by the spectacle of +this happy couple, when quite close to him a voice murmured--it was not, +however, the same voice that he had heard just before: + +"You know what they say--that the Jenkinses are not married." + +"How absurd!" + +"I assure you. It would seem that there is a veritable Mme. Jenkins +somewhere, but not the lady we know. Besides, have you noticed----" + +The dialogue continued in an undertone. Mme. Jenkins advanced, bowing, +smiling, while the doctor, stopping a tray that was being borne +round, brought her a glass of claret with the alacrity of a mother, an +impresario, a lover. Calumny, calumny, ineffaceable defilement! To the +provincial young man, Jenkins's attentions now seemed exaggerated. +He fancied that there was something affected about them, something +deliberate, and, too, in the words of thanks which she addressed in +a low voice to her husband he thought he could detect a timidity, a +submissiveness, not consonant with the dignity of the legitimate spouse, +glad and proud in an assured happiness. "But Society is a hideous +affair!" said de Gery to himself, dismayed and with cold hands. The +smiles around him had upon him the effect of hypocritical grimaces. +He felt shame and disgust. Then suddenly revolting: "Come, it is not +possible." And, as though in reply to this exclamation, behind him +the scandalous tongue resumed in an easy tone: "After all, you know, I +cannot vouch for its truth. I am only repeating what I have heard. But +look! Baroness Hemerlingue. He gets all Paris, this Jenkins." + +The baroness moved forward on the arm of the doctor, who had rushed to +meet her, and appeared, despite all his control of his facial muscles, a +little ill at ease and discomfited. He had thought, the good Jenkins, to +profit by the opportunity afforded by this evening party to bring +about a reconciliation between his friend Hemerlingue and his friend +Jansoulet, who were his two most wealthy clients and embarrassed him +greatly with their intestine feud. The Nabob was perfectly willing. +He bore his old chum no grudge. Their quarrel had arisen out of +Hemerlingue's marriage with one of the favourites of the last Bey. "A +story with a woman at the bottom of it, in short," said Jansoulet, and +a story which he would have been glad to see come to an end, since his +exuberant nature found every antipathy oppressive. But it seemed that +the baron was not anxious for any settlement of their differences; for, +notwithstanding his word passed to Jenkins, his wife arrived alone, to +the Irishman's great chagrin. + +She was a tall, slender, frail person, with eyebrows that suggested a +bird's plumes, and a youthful intimidated manner. She was aged about +thirty but looked twenty, and wore a head-dress of grasses and ears of +corn drooping over very black hair peppered with diamonds. With her long +lashes against cheeks white with that transparency of complexion which +characterizes women who have long led a cloistered existence, and a +little ill at ease in her Parisian clothes, she resembled less one who +had formerly been a woman of the harem than a nun who, having renounced +her vows, was returning into the world. + +An air of piety, of extreme devoutness, in her bearing, a certain +ecclesiastical trick of walking with downcast eyes, elbows close to +the body, hands crossed, mannerisms which she had acquired in the very +religious atmosphere in which she had lived since her conversion and +her recent baptism, completed this resemblance. And you can imagine +with what ardent curiosity that worldly assembly regarded this quondam +odalisk turned fervent Catholic, as she advanced escorted by a man with +a livid countenance like that of some spectacled sacristan, Maitre +le Merquier, deputy of Lyons, Hemerlingue's man of business, who +accompanied the baroness whenever the baron "was somewhat indisposed," +as on this evening. + +At their entry into the second drawing-room, the Nabob came straight up +to her, expecting to see appear in her wake the puffy face of his old +comrade to whom it was agreed that he should go and offer his hand. The +baroness perceived him and became still whiter. A flash as of steel shot +from beneath her long lashes. Her nostrils dilated, quivered, and, as +Jansoulet bowed, she quickened her step, carrying her head high and +erect, and letting fall from her thin lips an Arab word which no one +else could understand but of which the Nabob himself well appreciated +the insult; for, as he raised his head again, his tanned face was of the +colour of baked earthenware as it leaves the furnace. He stood for an +instant without moving, his huge fists clinched, his mouth swollen with +anger. Jenkins came up and rejoined him, and de Gery, who had followed +the whole scene from a distance, saw them talking together with +preoccupied air. + +The thing was a failure. The reconciliation, so cunningly planned, would +not take place. Hemerlingue did not desire it. If only the duke, now, +did not fail to keep his engagement with them. This reflection was +prompted by the lateness of the hour. The Wauters who was to sing the +music of the Night from the _Enchanted Flute_, on her way home from her +theatre, had just entered, completely muffled in her hoods of lace. + +And there was still no sign of the Minister. + +It was, however, a clearly understood, definitely promised arrangement. +Monpavon was to call for him at the club. From time to time the good +Jenkins glanced at his watch, while applauding absently the bouquet of +brilliant notes which the Wauters was pouring forth from her fairy +lips, a bouquet costing three thousand francs, useless, like the other +expenses of the evening, if the duke did not come. + +Suddenly the double doors were flung wide open: + +"His excellency M. le Duc de Mora!" + +A long quiver of excitement welcomed him, a respectful curiosity that +ranged itself in two rows instead of the mobbing crowd that flocked on +the heels of the Nabob. + +None better than he knew how to bear himself in society, to walk across +a drawing-room with gravity, to endow futile things with an air of +seriousness, and to treat serious things lightly; that was the epitome +of his attitude in life, a paradoxical distinction. Still handsome, +despite his fifty-six years, with a comeliness compounded of elegance +and proportion, wherein the grace of the dandy was fortified by +something military about the figure and the haughtiness of the face; he +wore with striking effect his black dress-coat, on which, to do honour +to Jenkins, he had pinned a few of his decorations, which he was in the +habit of never wearing except upon official occasions. The reflection +from the linen, from the white cravat, the dull silver of the +decorations, the smoothness of the thin hair now turning gray, enhanced +the pallor of the features, more bloodless than all the bloodless faces +that were to be seen that evening in the Irishman's house. + +He had led such a terrible life! Politics, play under all its forms, +from the Stock Exchange to the baccarat-table, and that reputation of a +man successful with women which had to be maintained at all costs. Oh, +this man was a true client of Jenkins; and this princely visit, he owed +it in good sooth to the inventor of those mysterious pills which gave +that fire to his glance, to his whole being that energy so vibrating and +extraordinary. + +"My dear duke, permit me to----" + +Monpavon, with solemn air and a great sense of his own importance, +endeavoured to effect the presentation so long looked forward to; but +his excellency, preoccupied, seemed not to hear, continued his progress +towards the large drawing-room, borne along by one of those electric +currents that break the social monotony. On his passage, and while he +greeted the handsome Mme. Jenkins, the ladies bent forward a little with +seductive airs, a soft laugh, concerned to please. But he noticed only +one among them, Felicia, on her feet in the centre of a group of men, +discussing some question as though she were in her studio, and watching +the duke come towards her, while tranquilly taking her sherbet. She +greeted him with perfect naturalness. Those near had discreetly retired +to a little distance. There seemed to exist between them, however, +notwithstanding what de Gery had overheard with regard to their presumed +relations, nothing more than a quite intellectual intimacy, a playful +familiarity. + +"I called at your house, mademoiselle, on my way to the Bois." + +"I was informed of it. You even went into the studio." + +"And I saw the famous group--my group." + +"Well?" + +"It is very fine. The hound runs as though he were mad. The fox scampers +away admirably. Only I did not quite understand. You had told me that it +was our own story, yours and mine." + +"Ah, there! Try. It is an apologue that I read in--You do not read +Rabelais, M. le Duc?" + +"My faith, no. He is too coarse." + +"Ah, well, his works were the text-book of my first reading lessons. +Very badly brought up, you know. Oh, exceedingly badly. My apologue, +then, is taken from Rabelais. Here it is: Bacchus created a wonderful +fox, impossible to capture. Vulcan, on the other hand, gave a dog of +his own creation the power to catch every animal that he should pursue. +'Now,' as my author has it, 'it happened that the two met.' You see +what a wild and interminable chase. It seems to me, my dear duke, +that destiny has in the same way brought us together, endowed with +conflicting attributes; you who have received from the gods the gift of +reaching all hearts, I whose heart will never be made prisoner." + +She spoke these words, looking him full in the face, almost laughing, +but sheathed and erect in the white tunic which seemed to defend her +person against the liberties of his thought. He, the conqueror, the +irresistible, had never before met one of this audacious and headstrong +breed. He brought to bear upon her, therefore, all the magnetic currents +of his seductiveness, while around them the rising murmur of the _fete_, +the soft laughter, the rustle of satins and the rattling of pearls +formed the accompaniment to this duet of mundane passion and juvenile +irony. He resumed after a minute's pause: + +"But how did the gods escape from that awkward situation?" + +"By turning the two runners into stone." + +"Upon my word," said he, "that is a solution which I do not at all +accept. I defy the gods ever to petrify my heart." + +A fiery gleam shot for a moment from his eyes, extinguished immediately +by the thought that people were observing them. + +In effect, people were observing them intently, but no one with so +much curiosity as Jenkins, who wandered round them a little way off, +impatient and fidgety, as though he were annoyed with Felicia for taking +private possession of the important personage of the assembly. The young +girl laughingly called the duke's attention to it. + +"People will say that I am monopolizing you." + +She pointed out to him Monpavon waiting, standing near the Nabob who, +from afar, was gazing at his excellency with the beseeching, submissive +eyes of a big, good-tempered mastiff. The Minister of State then +remembered the object which had brought him. He bowed to the young girl +and returned to Monpavon, who was able at last to present to him "his +honourable friend, M. Bernard Jansoulet." His excellency bowed slightly, +the _parvenu_ humbled himself lower than the earth, then they chatted +for a moment. + +A group curious to observe. Jansoulet, tall, strong, with an air of the +people about him, a sunburned skin, his broad back arched as though made +round for ever by the low bowings of Oriental courtiery, his big, short +hands splitting his light gloves, his excessive gestures, his southern +exuberance chopping up his words like a puncher. The other, a high-bred +gentleman, a man of the world, elegance itself, easy in his least +gestures, though these, however, were extremely rare, carelessly letting +fall unfinished sentences, relieving by a half smile the gravity of his +face, concealing beneath an imperturbable politeness the deep contempt +which he had for man and woman; and it was in that contempt that his +strength lay. In an American drawing-room the antithesis would have been +less violent. The Nabob's millions would have re-established the balance +and even made the scale lean to his side. But Paris does not yet place +money above every other force, and to realize this, it was sufficient +to observe the great contractor wriggling amiably before the great +gentleman and casting under his feet, like the courtier's cloak of +ermine, the dense vanity of a newly rich man. + +From the corner in which he had ensconced himself, de Gery was watching +the scene with interest, knowing what importance his friend attached to +this introduction, when the same chance which all through the evening +had so cruelly been giving the lie to the native simplicity of his +inexperience, caused him to distinguish a short dialogue near him, amid +that buzz of many conversations through which each hears just the word +that interests him. + +"It is indeed the least that Monpavon can do, to enable him to make a +few good acquaintances. He has introduced him to so many bad ones. You +know that he has just put Paganetti and all his gang on his shoulders." + +"Poor fellow! But they will devour him." + +"Bah! It is only fair that he should be made to disgorge a little. He +has been such a thief himself away yonder among the Turks." + +"Really, do you believe that is so?" + +"Do I believe it? I am in possession of very precise details on the +point which I have from Baron Hemerlingue, the banker, who effected the +last Tunisian loan. He knows some stories about the Nabob, he does. Just +imagine." + +And the infamous gossip commenced. For fifteen years Jansoulet had +exploited the former Bey in a scandalous fashion. Names of purveyors +were cited and tricks wonderful in their assurance, their effrontery; +for instance, the story of a musical frigate, yes, a veritable musical +box, like a dining-room picture, which he had bought for two hundred +thousand francs and sold again for ten millions; the cost price of a +throne sold at three millions for which the account could be seen in the +books of an upholsterer of the Faubourg Saint-Honore did not exceed a +hundred thousand francs; and the funniest part of it was that, the Bey +having changed his mind, the royal seat, fallen into disgrace before it +had even been unpacked, remained still nailed in its packing-case at the +custom-house in Tripoli. + +Next, beyond these wildly extravagant commissions on the provision of +the least toy, they laid stress upon accusations more grave but no less +certain, since they also sprang from the same source. It seemed there +was, adjoining the seraglio, a harem of European women admirably +equipped for his Highness by the Nabob, who must have been a good +judge in such matters, having practised formerly, in Paris--before +his departure for the East--the most singular trades: vendor of +theatre-tickets, manager of a low dancing-hall, and of an establishment +more ill-famed still. And the whispering ended in a smothered laugh, the +coarse laugh of men chatting among themselves. + +The first impulse of the young man from the country, as he heard these +infamous calumnies, was to turn round and exclaim: + +"You lie!" + +A few hours earlier he would have done it without hesitating; but, since +he had been there, he had learned distrust, scepticism. He contained +himself, therefore, and listened to the end, motionless in the same +place, having deep down within himself an unavowed desire to become +further acquainted with the man whose service he had entered. As for +the Nabob, the completely unconscious subject of this hideous recital, +tranquilly installed in a small room to which its blue hangings and two +shaded lamps gave a reposeful air, he was playing his game of _ecarte_ +with the Duc de Mora. + +O magic of Fortune's argosy! The son of the dealer in old iron seated +alone at a card-table opposite the first personage of the Empire! +Jansoulet could scarcely believe the Venetian mirror in which were +reflected his own bright countenance and the august head with its +parting down the middle. Accordingly, in order to show his appreciation +of this great honour, he sought to lose decently as many thousand-franc +notes as possible, feeling himself even so the winner of the game, and +quite proud to see his money pass into those aristocratic hands, whose +least gesture he studied as they dealt, cut, or held the cards. + +A circle had formed around them, always keeping a distance, however, +the ten paces exacted for the salutation of a prince; it was the public +there to witness this triumph in which the Nabob was bearing his part +as in a dream, intoxicated by those fairy harmonies rather faint in the +distance, whose songs that reached him in snatches as over the resonant +obstacle of a pool, the perfume of flowers that seem to become full +blown in so singular fashion towards the end of Parisian balls, when +the late hour that confuses all notions of time and the weariness of +the sleepless nights communicate to brains soothed in a more nervous +atmosphere, as it were, a dizzy sense of enjoyment. The robust nature of +Jansoulet, civilized savage that he was, was more sensitive than another +to these unknown subtleties, and he had need of all his strength to +refrain from manifesting by some glad hurrah, by some untimely effusion +of gestures and speech, the impulse of physical gaiety which pervaded +his whole being, as happens to those great mountain dogs that are +thrown into epileptic fits of madness by the inhaling of a drop of some +essence. + +"The sky is clear, the pavement dry. If you like, my dear boy, we +will send the carriage away and return on foot," said Jansoulet to his +companion as they left Jenkins's house. + +De Gery accepted with eagerness. He felt that he required to walk, to +shake off in the open air the infamies and the lies of that comedy +of society which had left his heart cold and oppressed, with all his +life-blood driven to his temples where he could hear the swollen veins +beating. He staggered as he walked, like those unfortunate persons who, +having been operated upon for cataract, in the terror of sight regained, +do not dare put one foot before the other. But with what a brutal hand +the operation had been performed! So that great artist with the glorious +name, that pure and untamed beauty the sight alone of whom had troubled +him like an apparition, was only a courtesan. Mme. Jenkins, that stately +woman, of bearing at once so proud and so gentle, had no real title to +the name. That illustrious man of science with the open countenance, and +a manner so pleasant in his welcome, had the impudence thus to parade +a disgraceful concubinage. And Paris suspected it, but that did not +prevent it from running to their parties. And, finally, Jansoulet, so +kind, so generous, for whom he felt in his heart so much gratitude, he +knew him to be fallen into the hands of a gang of brigands, a brigand +himself and well worthy of the conspiracy organized to cause him to +disgorge his millions. + +Was it possible, and how much of it was he to be obliged to believe? + +A glance which he threw sideways at the Nabob, whose immense person +almost blocked the pavement, revealed to him suddenly in that walk +oppressed by the weight of his wealth, a something low and vulgar which +he had not previously remarked. Yes, he was indeed the adventurer +from the south, moulded of the slimy clay that covers the quays of +Marseilles, trodden down by all the nomads and wanderers of a seaport. +Kind, generous, forsooth! as harlots are, or thieves. And the gold, +flowing in torrents through that tainted and luxurious world, splashing +the very walls, seemed to him now to be loaded with all the dross, all +the filth of its impure and muddy source. There remained, then, for +him, de Gery, but one thing to do, to go away, to quit with all possible +speed this situation in which he risked the compromising of his good +name, the one heritage from his father. Doubtless. But the two little +brothers down yonder in the country. Who would pay for their board and +lodging? Who would keep up the modest home miraculously brought into +being once more by the handsome salary of the eldest son, the head of +the family? Those words, "head of the family," plunged him immediately +into one of those internal combats in which interest and conscience +struggled for the mastery--the one brutal, substantial, attacking +vigorously with straight thrusts, the other elusive, breaking away by +subtle disengagements--while the worthy Jansoulet, unconscious cause +of the conflict, walked with long strides close by his young friend, +inhaling the fresh air with delight at the end of his lighted cigar. + +Never had he felt it such a happiness to be alive; and this evening +party at Jenkins's, which had been his own first real entry into society +as well as de Gery's, had left with him an impression of porticoes +erected as for a triumph, of an eagerly assembled crowd, of flowers +thrown on his path. So true is it that things only exist through the +eyes that observe them. What a success! the duke, as he took leave of +him inviting him to come to see his picture gallery, which meant the +doors of Mora House opened to him within a week. Felicia Ruys +consenting to do his bust, so that at the next exhibition the son of the +nail-dealer would have his portrait in marble by the same great +artist who had signed that of the Minister of State. Was it not the +satisfaction of all his childish vanities? + +And each pondering his own thoughts, sombre or glad, they continued to +walk shoulder to shoulder, absorbed and so absent in mind that the Place +Vendome, silent and bathed in a blue and chilly light, rang under their +steps before a word had been uttered between them. + +"Already?" said the Nabob. "I should not at all have minded walking a +little longer. What do you say?" And while they strolled two or three +times around the square, he gave vent in spasmodic bursts to the immense +joy which filled him. + +"How pleasant the air is! How one can breathe! Thunder of God! I would +not have missed this evening's party for a hundred thousand francs. +What a worthy soul that Jenkins is! Do you like Felicia Ruys's style of +beauty? For my part, I dote on it. And the duke, what a great gentleman! +so simple, so kind. A fine place, Paris, is it not, my son?" + +"It is too complicated for me. It frightens me," answered Paul de Gery +in a hollow voice. + +"Yes, yes, I understand," replied the other with an adorable fatuity. +"You are not yet accustomed to it; but, never mind, one quickly becomes +so. See how after a single month I find myself at my ease." + +"That is because it is not your first visit to Paris. You have lived +here." + +"I? Never in my life. Who told you that?" + +"Indeed! I thought--" answered the young man; and immediately, a host of +reflections crowding into his mind: + +"What, then, have you done to this Baron Hemerlingue? It is a hatred to +the death between you." + +For a moment the Nabob was taken aback. That name of Hemerlingue, thrown +suddenly into his glee, recalled to him the one annoying episode of the +evening. + +"To him as to the others," said he in a saddened voice, "I have never +done anything save good. We began together in poverty. We made progress +and prospered side by side. Whenever he wished to try a flight on his +own wings, I always aided and supported him to the best of my ability. +It was I who during ten consecutive years secured for him the contracts +for the fleet and the army; almost his whole fortune came from that +source. Then one fine morning this slow-blooded imbecile of a Bernese +goes crazy over an odalisk whom the mother of the Bey had caused to be +expelled from the harem. The hussy was beautiful and ambitious, she made +him marry her, and naturally, after this brilliant match, Hemerlingue +was obliged to leave Tunis. Somebody had persuaded him to believe that I +was urging the Bey to close the principality to him. It was not true. On +the contrary, I obtained from his Highness permission for Hemerlingue's +son--a child by his first wife--to remain in Tunis in order to look +after their suspended interests, while the father came to Paris to found +his banking-house. Moreover, I have been well rewarded for my kindness. +When, at the death of my poor Ahmed, the Mouchir, his brother, ascended +the throne, the Hemerlingues, restored to favour, never ceased to work +for my undoing with the new master. The Bey still keeps on good terms +with me; but my credit is shaken. Well, in spite of that, in spite of +all the shabby tricks that Hemerlingue has played me, that he plays me +still, I was ready this evening to hold out my hand to him. Not only +does the blackguard refuse it, but he causes me to be insulted by his +wife, a savage and evil-disposed creature, who does not pardon me for +always having declined to receive her in Tunis. Do you know what she +called me just now as she passed me? 'Thief and son of a dog.' As free +in her language as that, the odalisk--That is to say, that if I did not +know my Hemerlingue to be as cowardly as he is fat--After all, bah! let +them say what they like. I snap my fingers at them. What can they do +against me? Ruin me with the Bey? That is a matter of indifference +to me. There is nothing any longer for me to do in Tunis, and I shall +withdraw myself from the place altogether as soon as possible. There +is only one town, one country in the world, and that is Paris--Paris +welcoming, hospitable, not prudish, where every intelligent man may find +space to do great things. And I, now, do you see, de Gery, I want to do +great things. I have had enough of mercantile life. For twenty years I +have worked for money; to-day I am greedy of glory, of consideration, of +fame. I want to be somebody in the history of my country, and that will +be easy for me. With my immense fortune, my knowledge of men and of +affairs, the things I know I have here in my head, nothing is beyond my +reach and I aspire to everything. Believe me, therefore, my dear boy, +never leave me"--one would have said that he was replying to the secret +thought of his young companion--"remain faithfully on board my ship. The +masts are firm; I have my bunkers full of coal. I swear to you that we +shall go far, and quickly, _nom d'un sort_!" + +The ingenuous southerner thus poured out his projects into the night +with many expressive gestures, and from time to time, as they walked +rapidly to and fro in the vast and deserted square, majestically +surrounded by its silent and closed palaces, he raised his head towards +the man of bronze on the column, as though taking to witness that great +upstart whose presence in the midst of Paris authorizes all ambitions, +endows every chimera with probability. + +There is in young people a warmth of heart, a need of enthusiasm which +is awakened by the least touch. As the Nabob talked, de Gery felt his +suspicion take wing and all his sympathy return, together with a shade +of pity. No, very certainly this man was not a rascal, but a poor, +illuded being whose fortune had gone to his head like a wine too heavy +for a stomach long accustomed to water. Alone in the midst of Paris, +surrounded by enemies and people ready to take advantage of him, +Jansoulet made upon him the impression of a man on foot laden with gold +passing through some evil-haunted wood, in the dark and unarmed. And +he reflected that it would be well for the _protege_ to watch, +without seeming to do so, over the protector, to become the discerning +Telemachus of the blind Mentor, to point out to him the quagmires, to +defend him against the highwaymen, to aid him, in a word, in his combats +amid all that swarm of nocturnal ambuscades which he felt were prowling +ferociously around the Nabob and his millions. + + + + +THE JOYEUSE FAMILY + +Every morning of the year, at exactly eight o'clock, a new and almost +tenantless house in a remote quarter of Paris, echoed to cries, calls, +merry laughter, ringing clear in the desert of the staircase: + +"Father, don't forget my music." + +"Father, my crochet wool." + +"Father, bring us some rolls." + +And the voice of the father calling from below: + +"Yaia, bring me down my portfolio, please." + +"There you are, you see! He has forgotten his portfolio." + +And there would be a glad scurry from top to bottom of the house, a +running of all those pretty faces confused by sleep, of all those heads +with disordered hair which the owners made tidy as they ran, until the +moment when, leaning over the baluster, half a dozen girls bade loud +good-bye to a little, old gentleman, neat and well-groomed, whose +reddish face and short profile disappeared at length in the spiral +perspective of the stairs. M. Joyeuse had departed for his office. +At once the whole band, escaped from their cage, would rush quickly +upstairs again to the fourth floor, and, the door having been opened, +group themselves at an open casement to gain one last glimpse of their +father. The little man used to turn round, kisses were exchanged across +the distance, then the windows were closed, the new and tenantless house +became quiet again, except for the posters dancing their wild saraband +in the wind of the unfinished street, as if made gay, they also, by all +these proceedings. A moment later the photographer on the fifth floor +would descend to hang at the door his showcase, always the same, in +which was to be seen the old gentleman in a white tie surrounded by his +daughters in various groups; he went upstairs again in his turn, and the +calm which succeeded immediately upon this little morning uproar left +one to imagine that the "father" and his young ladies had re-entered the +case of photographs, where they remained smiling and motionless until +evening. + +From the Rue Saint-Ferdinand to the establishment of Hemerlingue & +Son, his employers, M. Joyeuse had a good three-quarters of an hour's +journey. He walked with head erect and straight, as though he had feared +to disarrange the smart knot of the cravat tied by his daughters, or his +hat put on by them, and when the eldest, ever anxious and prudent, just +as he went out raised his coat-collar to protect him against the +harsh gusts of the wind that blew round the street corner, even if the +temperature were that of a hothouse M. Joyeuse would not lower it again +until he reached the office, like the lover who, quitting his mistress's +arms, dares not to move for fear of losing the intoxicating perfume. + +A widower for some years, this worthy man lived only for his children, +thought only of them, went through life surrounded by those fair little +heads that fluttered around him confusedly as in a picture of the +Assumption. All his desires, all his projects, bore reference to "those +young ladies," returned to them without ceasing, sometimes after long +circuits, for M. Joyeuse--this was connected no doubt with the fact that +he possessed a short neck and a small figure whereof his turbulent +blood made the circuit in a moment--was a man of fecund and astonishing +imagination. In his brain the ideas performed their evolutions with the +rapidity of hollow straws around a sieve. At the office, figures kept +his steady attention by reason of their positive quality; but, outside, +his mind took its revenge upon that inexorable occupation. The activity +of the walk, the habit that led him by a route where he was familiar +with the least incidents, allowed full liberty to his imaginative +faculties. He invented at these times extraordinary adventures, enough +of them to crank out a score of the serial stories that appear in the +newspapers. + +If, for example, M. Joyeuse, as he went up the Faubourg Saint-Honore, +on the right-hand footwalk--he always took that one--noticed a heavy +laundry-cart going along at a quick pace, driven by a woman from the +country with a child perched on a bundle of linen and leaning over +somewhat: + +"The child!" the terrified old fellow would cry. "Have a care of the +child!" + +His voice would be lost in the noise of the wheels and his warning among +the secrets of Providence. The cart passed. He would follow it for a +moment with his eye, then resume his walk; but the drama begun in +his mind would continue to unfold itself there, with a thousand +catastrophes. The child had fallen. The wheels were about to pass over +him. M. Joyeuse dashed forward, saved the little creature on the very +brink of destruction; the pole of the cart, however, struck himself +full in the chest and he fell bathed in blood. Then he would see himself +borne to some chemists' shop through the crowd that had collected. He +was placed in an ambulance, carried to his own house, and then suddenly +he would hear the piercing cry of his daughters, his well-beloved +daughters, when they beheld him in this condition. And that agonized +cry touched his heart so deeply, he would hear it so distinctly, so +realistically: "Papa, my dear papa," that he would himself utter it +aloud in the street, to the great astonishment of the passers-by, in a +hoarse voice which would wake him from his fictitious nightmare. + +Will you have another sample of this prodigious imagination? It is +raining, freezing; wretched weather. M. Joyeuse has taken the omnibus +to go to his office. Finding himself seated opposite a sort of colossus, +with the head of a brute and formidable biceps, M. Joyeuse, himself very +small, very puny, with his portfolio on his knees, draws in his legs in +order to make room for the enormous columns which support the monumental +body of his neighbour. As the vehicle moves on and as the rain beats on +the windows, M. Joyeuse falls into reverie. And suddenly the colossus +opposite, whose face is kind after all, is very much surprised to see +the little man change colour, look at him and grind his teeth, look at +him with ferocious eyes, an assassin's eyes. Yes, with the eyes of a +veritable assassin, for at that moment M. Joyeuse is dreaming a terrible +dream. He sees one of his daughters sitting there opposite him, by the +side of this giant brute, and the wretch has put his arm round her waist +under her cape. + +"Remove your hand, sir!" M. Joyeuse has already said twice over. The +other has only sneered. Now he wishes to kiss Elise. + +"Ah, rascal!" + +Too feeble to defend his daughter, M. Joyeuse, foaming with rage, draws +his knife from his pocket, stabs the insolent fellow full in the breast, +and with head high goes off, strong in the right of an outraged father, +to make his declaration at the nearest police-station. + +"I have just killed a man in an omnibus!" At the sound of his own voice +actually uttering these sinister words, but not in the police-station, +the poor fellow wakes us, guesses from the bewildered manner +of the passengers that he must have spoken the words aloud, +and very quickly takes advantage of the conductor's call, +"Saint-Philippe--Pantheon--Bastille--" to alight, feeling greatly +confused, amid general stupefaction. + +This imagination constantly on the stretch, gave to M. Joyeuse a +singular physiognomy, feverish and worn, in strong contrast with the +general correct appearance of a subordinate clerk which he presented. +In one day he lived so many passionate existences. The race is more +numerous than one thinks of these waking dreamers, in whom a too +restricted fate compresses forces unemployed and heroic faculties. +Dreaming is the safety-valve through which all those expend themselves +with terrible ebullitions, as of the vapour of a furnace and floating +images that are forthwith dissipated into air. From these visions +some return radiant, others exhausted and discouraged, as they find +themselves once more on the every-day level. M. Joyeuse was of these +latter, rising without ceasing to heights whence a man cannot but +re-descend, somewhat bruised by the velocity of the transit. + +Now, one morning that our "visionary" had left his house at his habitual +hour, and under the usual circumstances, he began at the turning of the +Rue Saint-Ferdinand one of his little private romances. As the end of +the year was at hand, perhaps it was the hammer-strokes on a wooden hut +which was being erected in the neighbouring timber-yard that caused his +thoughts to turn to "presents--New Year's Day." And immediately the word +bounty implanted itself in his mind as the first landmark of a marvelous +story. In the month of December all persons in Hemerlingue's service +received double pay, and you know that in small households there are +founded on windfalls of this kind a thousand projects, ambitious or +kind, presents to be made, a piece of furniture to be replaced, a little +sum of money to be saved in a drawer against the unforeseen. + +In simple fact, M. Joyeuse was not rich. His wife, a Mlle. de +Saint-Armand, tormented with ideas of greatness and society, had set +this little clerk's household on a ruinous footing, and though since her +death three years had passed during which Bonne Maman had managed the +housekeeping with so much wisdom, they had not yet been able to save +anything, so heavy had proved the burden of the past. Suddenly it +occurred to the good fellow that this year the bounty would be larger +by reason of the increase of work which had been caused by the Tunisian +loan. The loan constituted a very fine stroke of business for the firm, +too fine even, for M. Joyeuse had permitted himself to remark in the +office that this time "Hemerlingue & Son had shaved the Turk a little +too close." + +"Certainly, yes, the bounty will be doubled," reflected the visionary, +as he walked; and already he saw himself, a month thence, mounting with +his comrades, for the New Year's visit, the little staircase that led +to Hemerlingue's apartment. He announced the good news to them; then he +detained M. Joyeuse for a few words in private. And, behold, that master +habitually so cold in his manner, sheathed in his yellow fat as in +a bale of raw silk, became affectionate, paternal, communicative. He +desired to know how many daughters Joyeuse had. + +"I have three; no, I should say, four, M. le Baron. I always confuse +them. The eldest is such a sensible girl." + +Further he wished to know their ages. + +"Aline is twenty, M. le Baron. She is the eldest. Then we have Elise, +who is preparing for the examination which she must pass when she is +eighteen. Henriette, who is fourteen, and Zara or Yaia who is only +twelve." + +That pet name of Yaia intensely amused M. le Baron, who inquired next +what were the resources of this interesting family. + +"My salary, M. le Baron; nothing else. I had a little money put aside, +but my poor wife's illness, the education of the girls--" + +"What you are earning is not sufficient, my dear Joyeuse. I raise your +salary to a thousand francs a month." + +"Oh, M. le Baron, it is too much." + +But although he had uttered this last sentence aloud, in the ear of +a policeman who watched with a mistrustful eye the little man pass, +gesticulating and nodding his head, the poor visionary awoke not. With +admiration he saw himself returning home, announcing the news to his +daughters, taking them to the theatre in the evening in celebration of +the happy day. _Dieu!_ how pretty they looked in the front of their box, +the Demoiselles Joyeuse, what a bouquet of rosy faces! And then, the +next day, the two eldest asked in marriage by--Impossible to determine +by whom, for M. Joyeuse had just suddenly found himself once more +beneath the arch of the Hemerlingue establishment, before the swing-door +surmounted by a "counting-house" in letters of gold. + +"I shall always be the same, it seems," said he to himself, laughing a +little and passing his hand over his forehead, on which the perspiration +stood in drops. + +In a good humour as the result of this pleasant fancy and at the sight +of the fire crackling in the suite of parquet-floored offices, with +their screens of iron trellis-work and their air of secrecy in the cold +light of the ground floor, where one could count the pieces of gold +without dazzling his eyes, M. Joyeuse gave a gay greeting to the +other clerks and slipped on his working coat and his black velvet cap. +Suddenly, some one whistled from upstairs, and the cashier, applying his +ear to the tube, heard the oily and gelatinous voice of Hemerlingue, +the sole and veritable Hemerlingue--the other, the son, was always +absent--asking for M. Joyeuse. + +What! Could the dream be continuing? + +He was conscious of a great agitation; took the little inside staircase +which he had seen himself ascending just before so bravely, and found +himself in the banker's private room, a narrow apartment, with a very +high ceiling, furnished only with green curtains and enormous leather +easy chairs of a size proportioned to the terrific bulk of the head of +the house. He was there, seated at his desk which his belly prevented +him from approaching very closely, obese, ill-shaped, and so yellow that +his round face with its hooked nose, the head of a fat and sick owl, +suggested as it were a light at the end of the solemn and gloomy room. A +rich Moorish merchant grown mouldy in the damp of his little court-yard. +Beneath his heavy eyelids, raised with an effort, his glance glittered +for a second when the accountant entered; he signed to him to approach, +and slowly, coldly, pausing to take breath between his sentences, +instead of "M. Joyeuse, how many daughters have you?" he said this: + +"Joyeuse, you have allowed yourself to criticise in the office our last +operations in the Tunis market. Useless to defend yourself. Your remarks +have been reported to me word for word. And as I am unable to admit them +from the mouth of one in my service, I give you notice that dating from +the end of this month you cease to be a member of my establishment." + +A wave of blood mounted to the accountant's face, fell back, returned +again, bringing each time a confused whizzing into his ears, into his +brain a tumult of thoughts and images. + +His daughters! + +What was to become of them? + +Employment is so hard to find at that period of the year. + +Poverty appeared before his eyes and also the vision of an unfortunate +man falling at Hemerlingue's feet, supplicating him, threatening him, +springing at his throat in an access of despairing rage. All this +agitation passed over his features like a gust of wind which throws the +surface of a lake into ripples, fashioning there all manner of mobile +whirlpools; but he remained mute, standing in the same place, and upon +the master's intimation that he could withdraw, went down with tottering +step to resume his work in the counting-house. + +In the evening when he went home to the Rue Saint-Ferdinand, M. Joyeuse +told his daughters nothing. He did not dare. The idea of darkening that +radiant gaiety which was the life of the house, of making dull with +heavy tears those pretty bright eyes, was insupportable to him. +Timorous, too, and weak, he was of those who always say, "Let us wait +till to-morrow." He waited therefore before speaking, at first until the +month of November should be ended, deluding himself with the vague hope +that Hemerlingue might change his mind, as though he did not know that +will as of some mollusk flabby and tenacious upon its ingot of gold. +Then when his salary had been paid up and another accountant had taken +his place before the high desk at which he had stood for so long, he +hoped to find something else quickly and repair his misfortune before +being obliged to confess it. + +Every morning he feigned to start for the office, allowed himself to +be equipped and accompanied to the door as usual, his huge leather +portfolio all ready for the evening's numerous commissions. Although he +would forget some of them on purpose because of the approaching and +so problematical end of the month, he did not lack time now to execute +them. He had his day to himself, the whole of an interminable day which +he spent in rushing about Paris in search for an employment. People gave +him addresses, excellent recommendations. But in that terrible month of +December, so cold and with such short hours of daylight, bringing with +it so many expenses and preoccupations, employees need to take patience +and employers also. Each man tries to end the year in peace, postponing +to the month of January, to that great leap of time towards a fresh +halting-place, any changes, ameliorations, attempts at a new life. + +In every house where M. Joyeuse presented himself, he beheld faces +suddenly grow cold as soon as he explained the object of his visit. + +"What! You are no longer with Hemerlingue & Son? How is that?" + +He would explain the matter as best he could through a caprice of the +head of the firm, the ferocious Hemerlingue whom Paris knew; but he +was conscious of a coldness, a mistrust in the uniform reply which he +received: "Call on us again after the holidays." And, timid as he was to +begin with, he reached a point at which he could no longer bring himself +to call on any one, a point at which he could walk past the same door +a score of times and never have crossed its threshold at all had it not +been for the thought of his daughters. This alone pushed him along by +the shoulders, put heart in his legs, despatched him in the course +of the same day to the opposite extremities of Paris, to very vague +addresses given to him by comrades, to a great manufactory of animal +black at Aubervilliers, where he was made to return for nothing three +days in succession. + +Oh, the journeys in the rain, in the frost, the closed doors, the master +who is out or engaged, the promises given and immediately withdrawn, +the hopes deceived, the enervation of hours of waiting, the humiliations +reserved for every man who asks for work, as though it were a shameful +thing to lack it. M. Joyeuse knew all these melancholy things and, too, +the good will that tires and grows discouraged before the persistence of +evil fortune. And you may imagine how the hard martyrdom of "the man who +seeks a place" was rendered tenfold more bitter by the mirages of his +imagination, by those chimeras which rose before him from the Paris +pavements as over them he journeyed along on foot in every direction. + +For a month he was one of those woeful puppets, talking in monologue, +gesticulating on the footways, from whom every chance collision with the +crowd wrests an exclamation as of one walking in his sleep. "I told you +so," or "I have no doubt of it, sir." One passes by, almost one would +laugh, but one is seized with pity before the unconsciousness of those +unhappy men possessed by a fixed idea, blind whom the dream leads, drawn +along by an invisible leash. The terrible thing was that after those +long, cruel days of inaction and fatigue, when M. Joyeuse returned home, +he had perforce to play the comedy of the man returning from his work, +to recount the incidents of the day, the things he had heard, the gossip +of the office with which he had been always wont to entertain his girls. + +In humble homes there is always a name which comes up more often than +all others, which is invoked in days of stress, which is mingled with +every wish, with every hope, even with the games of the children, +penetrated as they are with its importance, a name which sustains in +the dwelling the part of a sub-Providence, or rather of a household +divinity, familiar and supernatural. In the Joyeuse family, it was +Hemerlingue, always Hemerlingue, returning ten times, twenty times a +day in the conversation of the girls, who associated it with all their +plans, with the most intimate details of their feminine ambitions. +"If Hemerlingue would only----" "All that depends on Hemerlingue." And +nothing could be more charming than the familiarity with which these +young people spoke of that enormously wealthy man whom they had never +seen. + +They would ask for news of him. Had their father spoken to him? Was he +in a good temper? And to think that we all of us, whatever our position, +however humble we be, however weighed down by fate, we have always +beneath us unfortunate beings more humble, yet more weighed down, for +whom we are great, for whom we are as gods, and in our quality of gods, +indifferent, disdainful, or cruel. + +One imagines the torture of M. Joyeuse, obliged to invent stories and +anecdotes about the wretch who had so ruthlessly discharged him after +ten years of good service. He played his little comedy, however, so well +as completely to deceive everybody. Only one thing had been remarked, +and that was that father when he came home in the evening always sat +down to table with a great appetite. I believe it! Since he lost his +place the poor man had gone without his luncheon. + +The days passed. M. Joyeuse found nothing. Yes, one place as accountant +in the Territorial Bank, which he refused, however, knowing too much +about banking operations, about all the corners and innermost recesses +of the financial Bohemia in general, and of the Territorial bank in +particular, to set foot in that den. + +"But," said Passajon to him--for it was Passajon who, meeting the honest +fellow and hearing that he was out of employment, had suggested to +him that he should come to Paganetti's--"but since I repeat that it is +serious. We have lots of money. They pay one. I have been paid. See how +prosperous I look." + +In effect, the old office porter had a new livery, and beneath his tunic +with its buttons of silver-gilt his paunch protruded, majestic. All +the same M. Joyeuse had not allowed himself to be tempted, even after +Passajon, opening wide his shallow-set blue eyes, had whispered into his +ear with emphasis these words rich in promises: + +"The Nabob is in the concern." + +Even after that, M. Joyeuse had had the courage to say No. Was it not +better to die of hunger than to enter a fraudulent house of which +he might perhaps one day be summoned to report upon the books in the +courts? + +So he continued to wander; but, discouraged, he no longer sought employ. +As it was necessary that he should absent himself from home, he used +to linger over the stalls on the quays, lean for hours on the parapets, +watch the water flow and the unladening of the vessels. He became one of +those idlers whom one sees in the first rank whenever a crowd collects +in the street, taking shelter from the rain under the porches, warming +himself at the stoves where, in the open air, the tar of the asphalters +reeks, sinking on a bench of some boulevard when his legs could no +longer carry him. + +To do nothing! What a fine way of making life seem longer! + +On certain days, however, when M. Joyeuse was too weary or the sky +too unkind, he would wait at the end of the street until his daughters +should have closed their window again and, returning to the house, +keeping close to the walls, would mount the staircase very quickly, pass +before his own door holding his breath, and take refuge in the apartment +of the photographer Andre Maranne, who, aware of his ill-fortune, always +gave him that kindly welcome which the poor have for each other. Clients +are rare so near the outskirts of the town. He used to remain long hours +in the studio, talking in a very low voice, reading at his friend's +side, listening to the rain on the window-panes or the wind that blew +as it does on the open sea, shaking the old doors and the window-sashes +below in the wood-sheds. Beneath him he could hear sounds well known +and full of charm, songs that escaped in the satisfaction of work +accomplished, assembled laughter, the pianoforte lesson being given by +Bonne Maman, the tic-tac of the metronome, all the delicious household +stir that pleased his heart. He lived with his darlings, who certainly +never could have guessed that they had him so near them. + +Once, when Maranne was out, M. Joyeuse keeping faithful watch over the +studio and its new apparatus, heard two little strokes given on the +ceiling of the apartment below, two separate, very distinct strokes, +then a cautious pattering of fingers, like the scamper of mice. The +friendliness of the photographer with his neighbours sufficiently +authorized these communications like those of prisoners. But what did +they mean? How reply to what seemed a call? Quite at hazard, he repeated +the two strokes, the light tapping, and the conversation ended there. On +the return of Andre Maranne he learned the explanation of the incident. +It was very simple. Sometimes, in the course of the day, the young +ladies below, who only saw their neighbour in the evening, would inquire +how things were going with him, whether any clients were coming in. The +signal he had heard meant, "Is business good to-day?" And M. Joyeuse had +replied, obeying only an instinct without any knowledge, "Fairly well +for the season." Although young Maranne was very red as he made this +affirmation, M. Joyeuse accepted his word at once. Only this idea of +frequent communications between the two households made him afraid for +the secrecy of his position, and from that time forward he cut himself +off from what he used to call his "artistic days." Moreover, the +moment was approaching when he would no longer be able to conceal his +misfortune, the end of the month arriving, complicated by the ending of +the year. + +Paris was already assuming the holiday appearance which it wears during +the last weeks of December. In the way of national or popular rejoicing +it had little left but that. The follies of the Carnival died with +Gavarni, the religious festivals with their peals of bells which one +scarcely hears amid the noise of the streets confine themselves within +their heavy church-doors, the 15th of August has never been anything but +the Saint Charles-the-Great of the barracks; but Paris has maintained +its observance of New Year's Day. + +From the beginning of December an immense childishness begins to +permeate the town. You see hand-carts pass laden with gilded drums, +wooden horses, playthings by the dozen. In the industrial quarters, from +top to bottom of the five-storied houses, the old private residences +still standing in that low-lying district, where the warehouses have +such lofty ceilings and majestic double doors, the nights are passed in +the making up of gauze flowers and spangles, in the gumming of labels +upon satin-lined boxes, in sorting, marking, packing, the thousand +details of the toy, that great branch of commerce on which Paris places +the seal of its elegance. There is a smell about of new wood, of fresh +paint, glossy varnish, and, in the dust of garrets, on the wretched +stairways where the poor leave behind them all the dirt through which +they have passed, there lie shavings of rosewood, scraps of satin and +velvet, bits of tinsel, all the _debris_ of the luxury whose end is to +dazzle the eyes of children. Then the shop-windows are decorated. Behind +the panes of clear glass the gilt of presentation-books rises like a +glittering wave under the gaslight, the stuffs of various and tempting +colours display their brittle and heavy folds, while the young ladies +behind the counter, with their hair dressed tapering to a point and with +a ribbon beneath their collar, tie up the article, little finger in the +air, or fill bags of moire into which the sweets fall like a rain of +pearls. + +But, over against this kind of well-to-do business, established in +its own house, warmed, withdrawn behind its rich shop-front, there is +installed the improvised commerce of those wooden huts, open to the +wind of the streets, of which the double row gives to the boulevards +the aspect of some foreign mall. It is in these that you find the true +interest and the poetry of New Year's gifts. Sumptuous in the district +of the Madeleine, well-to-do towards the Boulevard Saint-Denis, of more +"popular" order as you ascend to the Bastille, these little sheds adapt +themselves according to their public, calculate their chances of success +by the more or less well-lined purses of the passers-by. Among these, +there are set up portable tables, laden with trifling objects, miracles +of the Parisian trade that deals in such small things, constructed out +of nothing, frail and delicate, and which the wind of fashion sometimes +sweeps forward in its great rush by reason of their very triviality. +Finally, along the curbs of the footways, lost in the defile of the +carriage traffic which grazes their wandering path, the orange-girls +complete this peripatetic commerce, heaping up the sun-coloured fruit +beneath their lanterns of red paper, crying "La Valence" amid the fog, +the tumult, the excessive haste which Paris displays at the ending of +its year. + +Ordinarily, M. Joyeuse was accustomed to make one of the busy crowd +which goes and comes with the jingle of money in its pocket and parcels +in every hand. He would wander about with Bonne Maman at his side on the +lookout for New Year's presents for his girls, stop before the booths of +the small dealers, who are accustomed to do much business and excited +by the appearance of the least important customer, have based upon +this short season hopes of extraordinary profits. And there would be +colloquies, reflections, an interminable perplexity to know what to +select in that little complex brain of his, always ahead of the present +instant and of the occupation of the moment. + +This year, alas! nothing of that kind. He wandered sadly through the +town in its rejoicing, time seeming to hang all the heavier for the +activity around him, jostled, hustled, as all are who stand obstructing +the way of active folk, his heart beating with a perpetual fear, for +Bonne Maman for some days past, in conversation with him at table, +had been making significant allusions with regard to the New Year's +presents. Consequently he avoided finding himself alone with her and had +forbidden her to come to meet him at the office at closing-time. But +in spite of all his efforts he knew the moment was drawing near when +concealment would be impossible and his grievous secret be unveiled. +Was, then, a very formidable person, Bonne Maman, that M. Joyeuse should +stand in such fear of her? By no means. A little stern, that was all, +with a pretty smile that instantly forgave one. But M. Joyeuse was +a coward, timid from his birth; twenty years of housekeeping with a +masterful wife, "a member of the nobility," having made him a slave for +ever, like those convicts who, after their imprisonment is over, have to +undergo a period of surveillance. And for him this meant all his life. + +One evening the Joyeuse family was gathered in the little drawing-room, +last relic of its splendour, still containing two upholstered chairs, +many crochet decorations, a piano, two lamps crowned with little green +shades, and a what-not covered with bric-a-brac. + +True family life exists in humble homes. + +For the sake of economy, there was lighted for the whole household but +one fire and a single lamp, around which the occupations and amusements +of all were grouped. A fine big family lamp, whose old painted +shade--night scenes pierced with shining dots--had been the astonishment +and the joy of every one of those young girls in her early childhood. +Issuing softly from the shadow of the room, four young heads were bent +forward, fair or dark, smiling or intent, into that intimate and warm +circle of light which illumined them as far as the eyes, seemed to feed +the fire of their glance, to shelter them, protect them, preserve them +from the black cold blowing outside, from phantoms, from snares, from +miseries and terrors, from all the sinister things that a winter night +in Paris brings forth in the remoteness of its quiet suburbs. + +Thus, drawn close together in a small room at the top of the lonely +house, in the warmth, the security of their comfortable home, the +Joyeuse household seems like a nest right at the top of a lofty +tree. The girls sew, read, chat a little. A leap of the lamp-flame, +a crackling of fire, is what you may hear, with from time to time an +exclamation from M. Joyeuse, a little removed from his small circle, +lost in the shadow where he hides his anxious brow and all the +extravagance of his imagination. Just now he is imagining that in +the distress into which he finds himself driven beyond possibility +of escape, in that absolute necessity of confessing everything to his +children, this evening, at latest to-morrow, an unhoped-for succour may +come to him. Hemerlingue, seized with remorse, sends to him, as to +all those who took part in the work connected with the Tunis loan, his +December gratuity. A tall footman brings it: "On behalf of M. le Baron." +The visionary says those words aloud. The pretty faces turn towards him; +the girls laugh, move their chairs, and the poor fellow awakes suddenly +to reality. + +Oh, how angry he is with himself now for his delay in confessing all, +for that false security which he has maintained around him and which he +will have to destroy at a blow. What need had he, too, to criticise that +Tunis loan? At this moment he even reproaches himself for not having +accepted a place in the Territorial Bank. Had he the right to refuse? +Ah, the sorry head of a family, without strength to keep or to defend +the happiness of his own! And, glancing at the pretty group within +the circle of the lamp-shade, whose reposeful aspect forms so great a +contrast with his own internal agitation, he is seized by a remorse so +violent for the weakness of his soul that his secret rises to his lips, +is about to escape him in a burst of sobs, when the ring of a bell--no +chimera, that--gives them all a start and arrests him at the very moment +when he was about to speak. + +Whoever could it be, coming at this hour? They had lived in retirement +since the mother's death and saw almost nobody. Andre Maranne, when +he came down to spend a few minutes with them, tapped like a familiar +friend. Profound silence in the drawing-room, long colloquy on the +landing. Finally, the old servant--she had been in the family as long as +the lamp--showed in a young man, complete stranger, who stopped, struck +with admiration at the charming picture of the four darlings gathered +round the table. This made his entrance timid, rather awkward. However, +he explained clearly the object of his visit. He had been referred to M. +Joyeuse by an honest fellow of his acquaintance, old Passajon, to take +lessons in bookkeeping. One of his friends happened to be engaged in +large financial transactions in connection with an important joint-stock +company. He wished to be of service to him in keeping an eye on the +employment of the capital, the straightforwardness of the operations; +but he was a lawyer, little familiar with financial methods, with the +terms employed in banking. Could not M. Joyeuse in the course of a few +months, with three or four lessons a week-- + +"Yes, indeed, sir, yes, indeed," stammered the father, quite overcome by +this unlooked-for piece of good luck. "Assuredly I can undertake, in a +few months, to qualify you for such auditing work. Where shall we have +our lessons?" + +"Here, at your own house, if you are agreeable," said the young man, +"for I am anxious that no one should know that I am working at the +subject. But I shall be grieved if I always frighten everybody away as I +have this evening." + +For, at the first words of the visitor, the four curly heads had +disappeared, with little whisperings, and with rustlings of skirts, and +the drawing-room looked very bare now that the big circle of white light +was empty. + +Always quick to take offence, where his daughters were concerned, M. +Joyeuse replied that "the young girls were accustomed to retire early +every evening," and the words were spoken in a brief, dry tone which +very clearly signified: "Let us talk of our lessons, young man, if you +please." Days were then fixed, free hours in the evening. + +As for the terms, they would be whatever monsieur desired. + +Monsieur mentioned a sum. + +The accountant became quite red. It was the amount he used to earn at +Hemerlingue's. + +"Oh, no, that is too much." + +But the other was no longer listening. He was seeking for words, as +though he had something very difficult to say, and suddenly, making up +his mind to it: + +"Here is your first month's salary." + +"But, monsieur--" + +The young man insisted. He was a stranger. It was only fair that he +should pay in advance. Evidently, Passajon has told his secret. + +M. Joyeuse understood, and in a low voice said, "Thank you, oh, thank +you," so deeply moved that words failed him. Life! it meant life, +several months of life, the time to turn round, to find another place. +His darlings would want for nothing. They would have their New Year's +presents. Oh, the mercy of Providence! + +"Till Wednesday, then, M. Joyeuse." + +"Till Wednesday, monsieur--" + +"De Gery--Paul de Gery." + +And they separated, both delighted, fascinated, the one by the +apparition of this unexpected saviour, the other by the adorable picture +of which he had only a glimpse, all those young girls grouped round the +table covered with books, exercise-books, and skeins of wool, with an +air of purity, of industrious honesty. This was a new Paris for Paul de +Gery, a courageous, home-like Paris, very different from that which he +already knew, a Paris of which the writers of stories in the newspapers +and the reporters never speak, and which recalled to him his own country +home, with an additional charm, that charm which the struggle and tumult +around lend to the tranquil, secured refuge. + + + + +FELICIA RUYS + +"And your son, Jenkins. What are you doing with him? Why does one never +see him now at your house? He seemed a nice fellow." + +As she spoke in that tone of disdainful bluntness which she almost +always used when speaking to the Irishman, Felicia was at work on the +bust of the Nabob which she had just commenced, posing her model, laying +down and taking up the boasting-tool, quickly wiping her fingers with +the little sponge, while the light and peace of a fine Sunday afternoon +fell on the top-light of the studio. Felicia "received" every Sunday, +if to receive were to leave her door open to allow people to come in, +go out, sit down for a moment, without stirring from her work or even +interrupting the course of a discussion to welcome the new arrivals. +They were artists, with refined heads and luxuriant beards; here and +there you might see among them white-haired friends of Ruys, her father; +then there were society men, bankers, stock-brokers, and a few young men +about town, come to see the handsome girl rather than her sculpture, in +order to be able to say at the club in the evening, "I was at Felicia's +to-day." Among them was Paul de Gery, silent, absorbed in an admiration +which each day sunk into his heart a little more deeply, trying to +understand the beautiful sphinx draped in purple cashmere and ecru lace, +who worked away bravely amid her clay, a burnisher's apron reaching +nearly to her neck, allowing her small, proud head to emerge with those +transparent tones, those gleams of veiled radiance of which the sense, +the inspiration bring the blood to the cheek as they pass. Paul always +remembered what had been said of her in his presence, endeavoured to +form an opinion for himself, doubted, worried himself, and was charmed, +vowing to himself each time that he would come no more and never missing +a Sunday. A little woman with gray, powdered hair was always there in +the same place, her pink face like a pastel somewhat worn by years, who, +in the discrete light of a recess, smiled sweetly, with her hands lying +idly on her knees, motionless as a fakir. Jenkins, amiable, with his +open face, his black eyes, and his apostolical manner, moved on from one +group to another, liked and known by all. He did not miss, either, one +of Felicia's days; and, indeed, he showed his patience in this, all the +snubs of his hostess both as artist and pretty woman being reserved for +him alone. Without appearing to notice them, with ever the same smiling, +indulgent serenity, he continued to pay his visits to the daughter of +his old Ruys, of the man whom he had so loved and tended to his last +moments. + +This time, however, the question which Felicia had just addressed to him +respecting his son appeared extremely disagreeable to him, and it was +with a frown and a real expression of annoyance that he replied: +"Ma foi! I know no more than yourself what he is doing. He has quite +deserted us. He was bored at home. He cares only for his Bohemia." + +Felicia gave a jump that made them all start, and with flashing eyes and +nostrils that quivered, said: + +"That is too absurd. Ah, now, come, Jenkins. What do you mean by +Bohemia? A charming word, by-the-bye, and one that ought to recall long +days of wandering in the sun, halts in woody nooks, all the freshness of +fruits gathered by the open road. But since you have made a reproach of +the name, to whom do you apply it? To a few poor devils with long hair, +in love with liberty in rags, who starve to death in a fifth-floor +garret, or seek rhymes under tiles through which the rain filters; +to those madmen, growing more and more rare, who, from horror of the +customary, the traditional, the stupidity of life, have put their feet +together and made a jump into freedom? Come, that is too old a story. +It is the Bohemia of Murger, with the workhouse at the end, terror of +children, boon of parents, Red Riding-Hood eaten by the wolf. It was +worn out a long time ago, that story. Nowadays, you know well that +artists are the most regular people in their habits on earth, that they +earn money, pay their debts, and contrive to look like the first man you +may meet on the street. The true Bohemians exist, however; they are the +backbone of our society; but it is in your own world especially that +they are to be found. _Parbleu!_ They bear no external stamp and +nobody distrusts them; but, so far as uncertainty, want of substantial +foundation in their lives is concerned, they have nothing to wish for +from those whom they call so disdainfully 'irregulars.' Ah! if we +knew how much turpitude, what fantastic or abominable stories, a black +evening-coat, the most correct of your hideous modern garments, can +mask. Why, see, Jenkins, the other evening at your house I was amusing +myself by counting them--all these society adventurers--" + +The little old lady, pink and powdered, put in gently from her place: + +"Felicia, take care!" + +But she continued, without listening: + +"What do you call Monpavon, doctor? And Bois l'Hery? And de Mora +himself? And--" She was going to say "and the Nabob?" but stopped +herself. + +"And how many others! Oh, truly, you may well speak of Bohemia with +contempt. But your fashionable doctor's clientele, oh sublime Jenkins, +consists of that very thing alone. The Bohemia of commerce, of finance, +of politics; unclassed people, shady people of all castes, and the +higher one ascends the more you find of them, because rank gives +impunity and wealth can pay for rude silence." + +She spoke with a hard tone, greatly excited, with lip curled by a savage +disdain. The doctor forced a laugh and assumed a light, condescending +tone, repeating: "Ah, feather-brain, feather-brain!" And his glance, +anxious and beseeching, sought the Nabob, as though to demand his pardon +for all these paradoxical impertinences. + +But Jansoulet, far from appearing vexed, was so proud of posing to this +handsome artist, so appreciative of the honour that was being done him, +that he nodded his head approvingly. + +"She is right, Jenkins," said he at last, "she is right. It is we who +are the true Bohemia. Take me, for example; take Hemerlingue, two of the +men who handle the most money in Paris. When I think of the point from +which we started, of all the trades through which we have made our way. +Hemerlingue, once keeper of a regimental canteen. I, who have carried +sacks of wheat in the docks of Marseilles for my living. And the strokes +of luck by which our fortunes have been built up--as all fortunes, +moreover, in these times are built up. Go to the Bourse between three +and five. But, pardon, mademoiselle, see, through my absurd habit of +gesticulating when I speak, I have lost the pose. Come, is this right?" + +"It is useless," said Felicia. A true daughter of an artist, of a genial +and dissolute artist, thoroughly in the romantic tradition, as was +Sebastien Ruys. She had never known her mother. She was the fruit of one +of those transient loves which used to enter suddenly into the bachelor +life of the sculptor like swallows into a dovecote of which the door is +always open, and who leave it again because no nest can be built there. + +This time, the lady, ere she flew away, had left to the great artist, +then about forty years of age, a beautiful child whom he had brought +up, and who became the joy and the passion of his life. Until she +was thirteen, Felicia had lived in her father's house, introducing a +childish and tender note into that studio full of idlers, models, and +huge greyhounds lying at full length on the couches. There was a corner +reserved for her, for her attempts at sculpture, a whole miniature +equipment, a tripod, wax, etc., and old Ruys would cry to those who +entered: + +"Don't go there. Don't move anything. That is the little one's corner." + +So it came about that at ten years old she scarcely knew how to read and +could handle the boasting-tool with marvellous skill. Ruys would have +liked to keep always with him this child whom he never felt to be in the +way, a member of the great brotherhood from her earliest years. But +it was pitiful to see the little girl amid the free behaviour of the +frequenters of the house, the constant going and coming of the models, +the discussions of an art, so to speak, entirely physical, and even at +the noisy Sunday dinner-parties, sitting among five or six women, to all +of whom her father spoke familiarly. There were actresses, dancers or +singers, who, after dinner, would settle themselves down to smoke with +their elbows on the table absorbed in the indecent stories so keenly +relished by their host. Fortunately, childhood is protected by a +resisting candour, by an enamel over which all impurities glide. Felicia +became noisy, turbulent, ill-behaved, but without being touched by all +that passed over her little soul so near to earth. + +Every year, in the summer, she used to go to stay for a few days with +her godmother, Constance Crenmitz, the elder Crenmitz, whom all Europe +had called for so long "the famous dancer," and who lived in peaceful +retirement at Fontainebleau. + +The arrival of the "little demon" used to bring into the life of the old +dancer an element of disturbance from which she had afterward all the +year to recover. The frights which the child caused her by her daring +in climbing, in jumping, in riding, all the passionate transports of +her wild nature made this visit for her at once delicious and terrible; +delicious for she adored Felicia, the one family tie that remained to +this poor old salamander in retirement after thirty years of fluttering +in the glare of the footlights; terrible, for the demon used to upset +without pity the dancer's house, decorated, carefully ordered, perfumed, +like her dressing-room at the opera, and adorned with a museum of +souvenirs dated from every stage in the world. + +Constance Crenmitz was the one feminine element in Felicia's childhood. +Futile, limited in mind, she had at least a coquettish taste, agile +fingers that knew how to sew, to embroider, to arrange things, to leave +in every corner of the room their dainty and individual trace. She +alone undertook to train up the wild young plant, and to awaken with +discretion the woman in this strange being on whom cloaks, furs, +everything elegant devised by fashion, seemed to take odd folds or look +curiously awkward. + +It was the dancer again--in what neglect must she not have lived, this +little Ruys--who, triumphing over the paternal selfishness, insisted +upon a necessary separation, when Felicia was twelve or thirteen years +old; and she took also the responsibility of finding a suitable school, +a school which she selected of deliberate purpose, very comfortable and +very respectable, right at the upper end of an airy road, occupying a +roomy, old-world building surrounded by high walls, big trees, a sort of +convent without its constraint and contempt of serious studies. + +Much work, on the contrary, was done in Mme. Belin's institution, +where the pupils went out only on the principal holidays and had no +communication with outside except the visits of relatives on Thursdays, +in a little garden planted with flowering shrubs or in the immense +parlour with carved and gilded work over its doors. The first entry +of Felicia into this almost monastic house caused indeed a certain +sensation; her dresses chosen by the Austrian dancer, her hair curling +to her waist, her gait free and easy like a boy's, aroused some +hostility, but she was a Parisian and could adapt herself quickly to +every situation and to all surroundings. A few days later, she looked +better than any one in the little black apron, to which the more +coquettish were wont to hang their watches, the straight skirt--a severe +and hard prescription at that period when fashion expanded women's +figures with an infinity of flounces--the regulation coiffure, two +plaits tied rather low, at the neck, after the manner of the Roman +peasants. + +Strange to say, the regularity of the classes, their calm exactitude, +suited Felicia's nature, intelligent and quick, in which the taste +for study was relieved by a juvenile expansion at ease in the noisy +good-humour of playtime. She was popular. Among those daughters of +wealthy businessmen, of Parisian lawyers or of gentlemen-farmers, a +respectable and rather affectedly serious world, the well-known name +of old Ruys, the respect with which at Paris an artist's reputation is +surrounded, created for Felicia a greatly envied position, rendered more +brilliant still by her successes in the school-work, a genuine talent +for drawing, and her beauty, that superiority which asserts its +power even among young girls. In the wholesale atmosphere of the +boarding-school, she was conscious of an extreme pleasure as she grew +feminized, in resuming her sex, in learning to know order, regularity, +otherwise than these were taught by that amiable dancer whose kisses +seemed always to keep the taste of paint and her embraces somewhat +artificial in the curving of her arms. Ruys, her father, was enraptured +each time that he came to see his daughter, to find her more grown, +womanly, knowing how to enter, to walk, and to leave a room with that +pretty courtesy which caused all Mme. Belin's pupils to long for the +trailing rustle of a long skirt. + +At first he came often, then, as he had not time enough for all his +commissions, accepted and undertaken, the advances on which went to pay +for the scrapes, the pleasures of his existence, he was seen more seldom +in the parlour. Finally, sickness intervened. Stricken by an incurable +anaemia, he would remain for weeks without leaving his house, without +doing any work. Thereupon he wished to have his daughter with him again; +and from the boarding-school, sheltered by so healthy a tranquility, +Felicia returned once more to her father's studio, haunted still by the +same boon companions, the parasites which swarm around every celebrity, +into the midst of which sickness had introduced a new personage, Dr. +Jenkins. + +His fine open countenance, the air of candour, of serenity that seemed +to dwell about the person of this physician, already famous, who was +wont to speak of his art so carelessly and yet seemed to work miraculous +cures, the care with which he surrounded her father, these things made +a great impression on the young girl. Jenkins became immediately her +friend, confidant, a vigilant and kind guardian. Occasionally, when, +in the studio, somebody--her father most likely of all--uttered a risky +jest, the Irishman would contract his eyebrows, give a little click of +the tongue, or perhaps distract Felicia's attention. + +He often used to take her to pass the day with Mme. Jenkins, +endeavouring to prevent her from becoming again the wild young thing she +was before going to school, or even something worse, as she threatened +to do in the moral neglect, sadder than all other, in which she was +left. + +But the young girl had as a protection something even better than the +irreproachable and worldly example of the handsome Mme. Jenkins: the art +that she adored, the enthusiasm which it implanted in her nature wholly +occupied with outside things, the sentiment of beauty, of truth, which, +from her thoughtful brain, full of ideas, passed into her fingers with +a little quivering of the nerves, a desire of the idea accomplished, of +the realized image. All day long she would work at her sculpture, giving +shape to her dreams with that happiness of instinctive youth which +lends so much charm to early work; this prevented her from any excessive +regret for the austerity of the Belin institution, sheltering and light +as the veil of a novice before her vows, and preserved her also from +dangerous conversations, unheard amid her unique preoccupation. + +Ruys was proud of this talent growing up at his side. Growing every day +feebler, already at that stage in which the artist regrets himself, he +found in following Felicia's progress a certain consolation for his +own ended career. He saw the boasting-tool, which trembled in his hand, +taken up again under his eye with a virile firmness and assurance, +tempered by all those delicacies of her being which a woman can apply to +the realization of an art. A strange sensation, this double paternity, +this survival of genius as it abandons the man whose day is over to pass +into him who is at his dawn, like those beautiful, familiar birds which, +on the eve of a death, will desert the menaced roof to fly away to a +less mournful lodging. + +During the last period of her father's life, Felicia--a great artist and +still a mere child--used to execute half of his works; and nothing was +more touching than this collaboration of father and daughter, in the +same studio, around the same group. The operation did not always proceed +peaceably; although her father's pupil, Felicia already felt her +own personality rebel against any despotic direction. She had those +audacities of the beginner, those intuitions of the future which are the +heritage of young talents, and, in opposition to the romantic traditions +of Sebastien Ruys, a tendency to modern realism, a need to plant that +glorious old flag upon some new monument. + +These things were the occasion of terrible arguments, of discussions +from which the father came out beaten, conquered by his daughter's +logic, astonished at the progress made by the young, while the old, who +have opened the way for them, remain motionless at the point from which +they started. When she was working for him, Felicia would yield more +easily; but, where her own sculpture was concerned she was found to +be intractable. Thus the _Joueur de Boules_, her first exhibited work, +which obtained so great a success at the Salon of 1862, was the subject +of violent scenes between the two artists, of contradictions so strong, +that Jenkins had to intervene and help to secure the safety of the +plaster-cast which Ruys had threatened to destroy. + +Apart from such little dramas, which in no way affected the tenderness +of their hearts, these two beings adored each other with the +presentiment and, gradually, the cruel certitude of an approaching +separation, when suddenly there occurred in Felicia's life a horrible +event. One day, Jenkins had taken her to dine at his house, as often +happened. Mme. Jenkins was away on a couple of days' visit, as also her +son; but the doctor's age, his semi-paternal intimacy, allowed him to +have with him, even in his wife's absence, this young girl whose fifteen +years, the fifteen years of an Eastern Jewess glorious in her precocious +beauty, left her still near childhood. + +The dinner was very gay, and Jenkins pleasant and cordial as usual. +Afterwards they went into the doctor's study, and suddenly, on the +couch, in the middle of an intimate and quite friendly conversation +about her father, his health, their work together, Felicia felt as it +were the chill of a gulf between herself and this man, then the brutal +grasp of a faun. She beheld an unknown Jenkins, wild-looking, stammering +with a besotted laugh and outraging hands. In the surprise, the +unexpectedness of this bestial attack, any other than Felicia--a child +of her own age, really innocent, would have been lost. As for her, poor +little thing! what saved her was her knowledge. She had heard so many +stories of this kind of thing at her father's table! and then art, +and the life of the studio--She was not an _ingenue_. In a moment she +understood the object of this grasp, struggled, sprang up, then, not +being strong enough, cried out. He was afraid, released his hold, and +suddenly she found herself standing up, free, with the man on his knees +weeping and begging forgiveness. He had yielded to a fit of madness. +She was so beautiful; he loved her so much. For months he had been +struggling. But now it was over, never again, oh, never again! Not +even would he so much as touch the hem of her dress. She made no reply, +trembled, put her hair and her clothes straight again with the fingers +of a woman demented. To go home--she wished to go home instantly, quite +alone. He sent a servant with her; and, quite low, as she was getting +into the carriage, whispered: + +"Above all, not a word. It would kill your father." + +He knew her so well, he was so sure of his power over her through that +suggestion, the blackguard! that he returned on the morrow looking +bright as ever and with loyal face as though nothing had happened. In +fact, she never spoke of the matter to her father, nor to any one. But, +dating from that day, a change came over her, a sudden development, as +it were, of her haughty ways. She was subject to caprices, wearinesses, +a curl of disgust in her smile, and sometimes quick fits of anger +against her father, a glance of contempt which reproached him for not +having known how to watch over her. + +"What is the matter with her?" Ruys, her father, used to say; and +Jenkins, with the authority of a doctor, would put it down to her age +and some physical disturbance. He avoided speaking to the girl herself, +counting on time to efface the sinister impression, and not despairing +of attaining his end, for he desired it still, more than ever, prey to +the exasperated love of a man of forty-seven to one of those incurable +passions of maturity; and that was this hypocrite's punishment. This +unusual condition of his daughter was a real grief to the sculptor; but +this grief was of short duration. Without warning, Ruys flickered out of +life, fell to pieces in a moment, as was the way with all the Irishman's +patients. His last words were: + +"Jenkins, I beg you to look after my daughter." + +They were so ironically mournful that Jenkins could not prevent himself +from turning pale. + +Felicia was even more stupefied than grief-stricken. To the amazement +caused by death, which she had never seen and which now came before her +wearing features so dear, there was joined the sense of a vast solitude +surrounded by darkness and perils. + +A few of the sculptor's friends gathered together as a family council +to consider the future of this unfortunate child without relatives or +fortune. Fifty francs had been discovered in the box where Sebastien +used to put his money, on a piece of the studio furniture well known to +its needy frequenters and visited by them without scruple. There was +no other inheritance, at least in cash; only a quantity of artistic +and curious furniture of the most sumptuous description, a few valuable +pictures, and a certain amount of money owing but scarcely sufficing +to cover numberless debts. It was proposed to organize a sale. Felicia, +when she was consulted, replied that she would not care if everything +were sold, but, for God's sake, let them leave her in peace. + +The sale did not take place, however, thanks to the godmother, the +excellent Crenmitz, who suddenly made her appearance, calm and gentle as +usual. + +"Don't listen to them, my child. Sell nothing. Your old Constance has +an income of fifteen thousand francs, which was destined to come to you +later on. You will take advantage of it at once, that is all. We will +live here together. You will see, I shall not be in the way. You will +work at your sculpture, I shall manage the house. Does that suit you?" + +It was said so tenderly, with that childishness of accent which +foreigners have when expressing themselves in French, that the girl +was deeply moved. Her heart that had seemed turned to stone opened, a +burning flood came pouring from her eyes, and she rushed, flung herself +into the arms of the dancer. "Ah, godmother, how good you are to me! +Yes, yes, don't leave me any more. Stay with me always. Life frightens +and disgusts me. I see so much hypocrisy in it, so much falsehood." And +the old woman arranged for herself a silken and embroidered nest in this +house so like a traveller's camp laden with treasures from every land, +and the suggested dual life began for these two different natures. + +It was no small sacrifice that Constance had made for the dear demon in +quitting her Fontainebleau retreat for Paris, which inspired her with +terror. Ever since the day when this dancer, with her extravagant +caprices, who made princely fortunes flow and disappear through her five +open fingers, had descended from her triumphant position, a little of +its dazzling glitter still in her eyes, and had attempted to resume +an ordinary existence, to manage her little income and her modest +household, she had been the object of a thousand impudent exploitations, +of frauds that were easy in view of the ignorance of this poor butterfly +that was frightened by reality and came into collision with all its +unknown difficulties. Living in Felicia's house, the responsibility +became still more serious by reason of the wastefulness introduced long +ago by the father and continued by the daughter, two artists knowing +nothing of economy. She had, moreover, other difficulties to conquer. +She found the studio insupportable with its permanent atmosphere of +tobacco smoke, an impenetrable cloud for her, in which the discussions +on art, the analysis of ideas, were lost and which infallibly gave her a +headache. "Chaff," above all, frightened her. As a foreigner, as at +one time a divinity of the green-room, brought up on out-of-date +compliments, on gallantries _a la Dorat_, she did not understand it, +and would feel terrified in the presence of the wild exaggerations, the +paradoxes of these Parisians refined by the liberty of the studio. + +That kind of thing was intimidating to her who had never possessed wit +save in the vivacity of her feet, and reduced her simply to the rank of +a lady-companion; and, seeing this amiable old dame sitting, silent and +smiling, her knitting in her lap, like one of Chardin's _bourgeoises_, +or hastening by the side of her cook up the long Rue de Chaillot, where +the nearest market happened to be, one would never have guessed that +that simple old body had ruled kings, princes, the whole class +of amorous nobles and financiers, at the caprice of her step and +pirouettings. + +Paris is full of such fallen stars, extinguished by the crowd. + +Some of these famous ones, these conquerors of a former day, cherish a +rage in their heart; others, on the contrary, enjoy the past blissfully, +digest in an ineffable content all their glorious and ended joys, asking +only repose, silence, shadow, good enough for memory and contemplations, +so that when they die people are quite astonished to learn that they had +been still living. + +Constance Crenmitz was among these fortunate ones. The household of +these two women was a curious one. Both were childlike, placing side by +side in a common domain, inexperience and ambition, the tranquility of +an accomplished destiny and the fever of a life plunged in struggle, +all the different qualities manifest even in the serene style of dress +affected by this blonde who seemed all white like a faded rose, +with something beneath her bright colours that vaguely suggested the +footlights, and that brunette with the regular features, who almost +always clothed her beauty in dark materials, simple in fold, a +semblance, as it were, of virility. + +Things unforeseen, caprices, ignorance of even the least important +details, led to an extreme disorder in the finances of the household, +disorder which was only rectified by dint of privations, by the +dismissal of servants, by reforms that were laughable in their +exaggeration. During one of these crises, Jenkins had made veiled +delicate offers, which, however, were repulsed with contempt by Felicia. + +"It is not nice of you," Constance would remark to her, "to be so +hard on the poor doctor. After all, there was nothing offensive in his +suggestion. An old friend of your father." + +"He, any one's friend! Ah, the hypocrite!" + +And Felicia, hardly able to contain herself, would give an ironical turn +to her wrath, imitating Jenkins with his oily manner and his hand on his +heart; then, puffing out her cheeks, she would say in a loud, deep voice +full of lying unction: + +"Let us be humane, let us be kind. To do good without hope of reward! +That is the whole point." + +Constance used to laugh till the tears came, in spite of herself. The +resemblance was so perfect. + +"All the same, you are too hard. You will end by driving him away +altogether." + +"Little fear of that," a shake of the girl's head would reply. + +In effect he always came back, pleasant, amiable, dissimulating his +passion, which was visible only when it grew jealous of newcomers, +paying assiduous attention to the old dancer, who, in spite of +everything, found his good-nature pleasing and recognised in him a man +of her own time, of the time when one accosted a woman with a kiss on +her hand, with a compliment on her appearance. + +One morning, Jenkins having called in the course of his round, found +Constance alone and doing nothing in the antechamber. + +"You see, doctor, I am on guard," she remarked tranquilly. + +"How is that?" + +"Felicia is at work. She wishes not to be disturbed; and the servants +are so stupid, I am myself seeing that her orders are obeyed." + +Then, seeing that the Irishman made a step towards the studio: + +"No, no, don't go in. She told me very particularly not to let any one +go in." + +"But I?" + +"I beg you not. You would get me a scolding." + +Jenkins was about to take his leave when a burst of laughter from +Felicia, coming through the curtains, made him prick up his ears. + +"She is not alone, then?" + +"No, the Nabob is with her. They are having a sitting for the portrait." + +"And why this mystery? It is a very singular thing." He commenced to +walk backward and forward, evidently very angry, but containing his +wrath. + +At last he burst forth. + +It was an unheard-of impropriety to let a girl thus shut herself in with +a man. + +He was surprised that one so serious, so devoted as Constance--What did +it look like? + +The old lady looked at him with stupefaction. As though Felicia were +like other girls! And then what danger was there with the Nabob, so +staid a man and so ugly? Besides, Jenkins ought to know quite well that +Felicia never consulted anybody, that she always had her own way. + +"No, no, it is impossible! I cannot tolerate this," exclaimed the +Irishman. + +And, without paying any further heed to the dancer, who raised her arms +to heaven as a call upon it to witness what was about to happen, he +moved towards the studio; but, instead of entering immediately, he +softly half-opened the door and raised a corner of the hangings, whereby +the portion of the room in which the Nabob was posing became visible to +him, although at a considerable distance. + +Jansoulet, seated without cravat and with his waist-coat open, was +talking apparently in some agitation and in a low voice. Felicia was +replying in a similar tone, in laughing whispers. The sitting was very +animated. Then a silence, a silken rustle of skirts, and the artist, +going up to her model, turned down his linen collar all round with +familiar gesture, allowing her light hand to run over the sun-tanned +skin. + +That Ethiopian face on which the muscles stood out in the very +intoxication of health, with its long drooping eyelashes as of some deer +being gently stroked in its sleep; the bold profile of the girl as she +leaned over those strange features in order to verify their proportions; +then a violent, irresistible gesture, clutching the delicate hand as it +passed and pressing it to two thick, passionate lips. Jenkins saw all +that in one red flash. + +The noise that he made in entering caused the two personages instantly +to resume their respective positions, and, in the strong light which +dazzled his prying eyes, he saw the young girl standing before him, +indignant, stupefied. + +"Who is that? Who has taken the liberty?" and the Nabob, on his +platform, with his collar turned down, petrified, monumental. + +Jenkins, a little abashed, frightened by his own audacity, murmured some +excuses. He had something very urgent to say to M. Jansoulet, a piece of +news which was most important and would suffer no delay. "He knew upon +the best authority that certain decorations were to be bestowed on the +16th of March." + +Immediately the face of the Nabob, that for a moment had been frowning, +relaxed. + +"Ah! can it be true?" + +He abandoned his pose. The thing was worth the trouble, _que diable!_ +M. de la Perriere, a secretary of the department involved had been +commissioned by the Empress to visit the Bethlehem Refuge. Jenkins had +come in search of the Nabob to take him to see the secretary at the +Tuileries and to appoint a day. This visit to Bethlehem, it meant the +cross for him. + +"Quick, let us start, my dear doctor. I follow you." + +He was no longer angry with Jenkins for having disturbed him, and he +knotted his cravat feverishly, forgetting in his new emotions how he had +been upset a moment earlier, for ambition with him came before all else. + +While the two men were talking in a half-whisper, Felicia, standing +motionless before them, with quivering nostrils and her lip curled in +contempt, watched them with an air of saying, "Well, I am waiting." + +Jansoulet apologized for being obliged to interrupt the sitting; but a +visit of the most extreme importance--She smiled in pity. + +"Don't mention it, don't mention it. At the point which we have reached +I can work without you." + +"Oh, yes," said the doctor, "the work is almost completed." + +He added with the air of a connoisseur: + +"It is a fine piece of work." + +And, counting upon covering his retreat with this compliment, he made +for the door with shoulders drooped; but Felicia detained him abruptly. + +"Stay, you. I have something to say to you." + +He saw clearly from her look that he would have to yield, on pain of an +explosion. + +"You will excuse me, _cher ami_? Mademoiselle has a word for me. My +brougham is at the door. Get in. I will be with you immediately." + +As soon as the door of the studio had closed on that heavy, retreating +foot, each of them looked at the other full in the face. + +"You must be either drunk or mad to have allowed yourself to behave in +this way. What! you dare to enter my house when I am not at home? What +does this violence mean? By what right--" + +"By the right of a despairing and incurable passion." + +"Be silent, Jenkins, you are saying words that I will not hear. I allow +you to come here out of pity, from habit, because my father was fond of +you. But never speak to me again of your--love"--she uttered the word in +a very low voice, as though it were shameful--"or you shall never see me +again, even though I should have to kill myself in order to escape you +once and for all." + +A child caught in mischief could not bend its head more humbly than did +Jenkins, as he replied: + +"It is true. I was in the wrong. A moment of madness, of blindness--But +why do you amuse yourself by torturing my heart as you do?" + +"I think of you often, however." + +"Whether you think of me or not, I am there, I see what goes on, and +your coquetry hurts me terribly." + +A touch of red mounted to her cheeks at this reproach. + +"A coquette, I? And with whom?" + +"With that," said the Irishman, indicating the ape-like and powerful +bust. + +She tried to laugh. + +"The Nabob? What folly!" + +"Don't tell an untruth about it now. Do you think I am blind, that I +do not notice all your little manoeuvres? You remain alone with him for +very long at a time. Just now, I was there. I saw you." He dropped his +voice as though breath had failed him. "What do you want, strange and +cruel child? I have seen you repulse the most handsome, the most noble, +the greatest. That little de Gery devours you with his eyes; you take no +notice. The Duc de Mora himself has not been able to reach your heart. +And it is that man there who is ugly, vulgar, who had no thought of you, +whose head is full of quite other matters than love. You saw how he went +off just now. What can you mean? What do you expect from him?" + +"I want--I want him to marry me. There!" + +Coldly, in a softened tone, as though this avowal had brought her +nearer the level of the man whom she so much despised, she explained her +motives. The life which she led was pushing her into a situation from +which there was no way out. She had luxurious and expensive tastes, +habits of disorder which nothing could conquer and which would bring her +inevitably to poverty, both her and that good Crenmitz, who was allowing +herself to be ruined without saying a word. In three years, four years +at the outside, all would be over with them. And then the wretched +expedients, the debts, the tatters and old shoes of poor artists' +households. Or, indeed, the lover, the man who keeps a mistress--that is +to say, slavery and infamy. + +"Come, come," said Jenkins. "And what of me, am I not here?" + +"Anything rather than you," she exclaimed, stiffening. "No, what I +require, what I want, is a husband who will protect me from others and +from myself, who will save me from many terrible things of which I am +afraid in my moments of ennui, from the gulfs in which I feel that I may +perish, some one who will love me while I am at work and relieve my poor +old wearied fairy of her sentry duty. This man here suits my purpose, +and I thought of him from the first time I met him. He is ugly, but he +has a kind manner; then, too, he is ridiculously rich, and wealth, upon +that scale, must be amusing. Oh, I know well enough. No doubt there +is in his life some blemish that has brought him luck. All that money +cannot be made honestly. But come, truly now, Jenkins, with your hand +on that heart you so often invoke, do you think me a wife who should be +very attractive to an honest man? See: among all these young men who ask +permission as a favour to be allowed to come here, which one has dreamed +of offering me marriage? Never a single one. De Gery no more than the +rest. I am attractive, but I make men afraid. It is intelligible enough. +What can one imagine of a girl brought up as I have been, without a +mother, among my father's models and mistresses? What mistresses, _mon +Dieu_! And Jenkins for sole guardian. Oh, when I think, when I think!" + +And from that far-off memory things surged up that stirred her to a +deeper wrath. + +"Ah, yes, _parbleu_! I am a daughter of adventure, and this adventurer +is, of a truth, the fit husband for me." + +"You must wait at least till he is a widower," replied Jenkins calmly. +"And, in that case, you run the risk of having a long time to wait, for +his Levantine seems to enjoy excellent health." + +Felicia Ruys turned pale. + +"He is married?" + +"Married? certainly, and father of a bevy of children. The whole camp of +them landed a couple of days ago." + +For a minute she remained overwhelmed, looking into space, her cheeks +quivering. Opposite her, the Nabob's large face, with its flattened +nose, its sensual and weak mouth, spoke insistently of life and reality +in the gloss of its clay. She looked at it for an instant, then made a +step forward and, with a gesture of disgust, overturned, with the high +wooden stool on which it stood, the glistening and greasy block, which +fell on the floor shattered to a heap of mud. + + + + +JANSOULET AT HOME + +Married he was and had been so for twelve years, but he had mentioned +the fact to no one among his Parisian acquaintances, through Eastern +habit, that silence which the people of those countries preserve upon +affairs of the harem. Suddenly it was reported that madame was coming, +that apartments were to be prepared for herself, her children, and her +female attendants. The Nabob took the whole second floor of the house +on the Place Vendome, the tenant of which was turned out at an expense +worthy of a Nabob. The stables also were extended, the staff doubled; +then, one day, coachmen and carriages went to the Gare de Lyon to meet +madame, who arrived by train heated expressly for her during the journey +from Marseilles and filled by a suite of negresses, serving-maids, and +little negro boys. + +She arrived in a condition of frightful exhaustion, utterly worn out +and bewildered by her long railway journey, the first of her life, for, +after being taken to Tunis while still quite a child, she had never left +it. From her carriage, two negroes carried her into her apartments on an +easy chair which, subsequently, always remained downstairs beneath +the entrance porch, in readiness for these difficult removals. Mme. +Jansoulet could not mount the staircase, which made her dizzy; she +would not have lifts, which creaked under her weight; besides, she +never walked. Of enormous size, bloated to such a degree that it was +impossible to assign to her any particular age between twenty-five and +forty, with a rather pretty face but grown shapeless in its features, +dull eyes beneath lids that drooped, vulgarly dressed in foreign +clothes, laden with diamonds and jewels after the fashion of a Hindu +idol, she was as fine a sample as could be found of those transplanted +European women called Levantines--a curious race of obese creoles whom +speech and costume alone attach to our world, but whom the East wraps +round with its stupefying atmosphere, with the subtle poisons of its +drugged air in which everything, from the tissues of the skin to the +waists of garments, even to the soul, is enervated and relaxed. + +This particular specimen of it was the daughter of an immensely rich +Belgian who was engaged in the coral trade at Tunis, and in whose +business Jansoulet, after his arrival in the country, had been employed +for some months. Mlle. Afchin, in those days a delicious little doll of +twelve years old, with radiant complexion, hair, and health, used often +to come to fetch her father from the counting-house in the great chariot +with its yoke of mules which carried them to their fine villa at La +Marsu, in the vicinity of Tunis. This mischievous child with splendid +bare shoulders, had dazzled the adventurer as he caught glimpses of +her amid her luxurious surroundings, and, years afterward, when, having +become rich and the favourite of the Bey, he began to think of settling +down, it was to her that his thoughts went. The child had grown into a +fat young woman, heavy and white. Her intelligence, dull in the first +instance, had become still more obscured through the inertia of a +dormouse's existence, the carelessness of a father given over to +business, the use of opium-saturated tobacco and of preserves made from +rose-leaves, the torpor of her Flemish blood, re-enforced by Oriental +indolence. Furthermore, she was ill-bred, gluttonous, sensual, arrogant, +a Levantine jewel in perfection. + +But Jansoulet saw nothing of all this. + +For him she was, and remained, up to the time of her arrival in Paris, a +superior creature, a lady of the most exalted rank, a Demoiselle Afchin. +He addressed her with respect, in her presence maintained an attitude +which was a little constrained and timid, gave her money without +counting, satisfied her most costly fantasies, her wildest caprices, all +the strange desires of a Levantine's brain disordered through boredom +and idleness. One word alone excused everything. She was a Demoiselle +Afchin. Beyond this, no intercourse between them; he always at the +Kasbah or the Bardo, courting the favour of the Bey, or else in his +counting-houses; she passing her days in bed, wearing in her hair a +diadem of pearls worth three hundred thousand francs which she never +took off, befuddling her brain with smoking, living as in a harem, +admiring herself in the glass, adorning herself, in company with a few +other Levantines, whose supreme distraction consisted in measuring with +their necklaces arms and legs which rivalled each other in plumpness, +and bearing children about whom she never gave herself the least +trouble, whom she never used to see, who had not even cost her a pang, +for she gave birth to them under chloroform. A lump of white flesh +perfumed with musk. And, as Jansoulet used to say with pride: "I married +a Demoiselle Afchin!" + +Under the sky of Paris and its cold light the disillusion began. +Determined to settle down, to receive, to give entertainments, the Nabob +had brought his wife over with the idea of setting her at the head of +the establishment; but when he saw the arrival of that display of gaudy +draperies of Palais-Royal jewelry, and all the strange paraphernalia in +her suite, he had the vague impression of a Queen Pomare in exile. +The fact was that now he had seen real women of the world, and he made +comparisons. After having planned a great ball to celebrate her arrival, +he prudently changed his mind. Besides, Mme. Jansoulet desired to see +nobody. Here her natural indolence was increased by the home-sickness +which she suffered, from the first hour of her coming, by the chilliness +of a yellow fog and the dripping rain. She passed several days without +getting up, weeping aloud like a child, saying that it was in order to +cause her death that she had been brought to Paris, and not permitting +her women to do even the least thing for her. She lay there bellowing +among the laces of her pillow, with her hair bristling in disorder about +her diadem, the windows of the room closed, the curtains drawn close, +the lamps lighted night and day, crying out that she wanted to go +away-y, to go away-y; and it was pitiful to see, in that funeral gloom, +the half-unpacked trunks scattered over the carpets, the frightened +maids, the negresses crouched around their mistress in her nervous +attack, they also groaning, with haggard eyes like those dogs of artic +travellers that go mad without the sun. + +The Irish doctor, called in to deal with all this trouble, had no +success with his fatherly manners, the pretty phrases that issued from +his compressed lips. The Levantine would have nothing to do at any price +with the arsenic pearls as a tonic. The Nabob was in consternation. +What was to be done? Send her back to Tunis with the children? It was +scarcely possible. He was decidedly in disgrace in that quarter. The +Hemerlingues were triumphant. A last affront had filled up the +measure. At Jansoulet's departure, the Bey had commissioned him to have +gold-pieces struck at the Paris Mint of a new design to the value of +several millions; then the order, suddenly withdrawn, had been given +to Hemerlingue. Publicly outraged, Jansoulet had replied by a public +demonstration, offering for sale all his possessions, his palace at +the Bardo given to him by the former Bey, his villas of La Marsu all of +white marble, surrounded by splendid gardens, his counting-houses which +were the largest and the most sumptuous in the city, and, charging, +finally, the intelligent Bompain to bring over to him his wife and +children in order to make a clear affirmation of a definitive departure. +After such an uproar, it was no easy thing for him to return there; +this was what he endeavoured to make evident to Mlle. Afchin, who only +replied to him by deep groans. He tried to console her, to amuse her, +but what distraction could be found to appeal to that monstrously +apathetic nature? And then, could he change the sky of Paris, restore to +the unhappy Levantine her _patio_ paved with marble, where she used to +pass long hours in a cool, delicious sleepiness, listening to the water +as it dripped on the great alabaster fountain with its three basins, one +over the other, and her gilded barge, with its awning of crimson, which +eight Tripolitan boatmen supple and vigorous rowed after sunset on the +beautiful lake of El-Baheira? However luxurious the apartment of the +Place Vendome might be, it could not compensate for the loss of these +marvels. And then she would be more miserable than ever. At last, a man +who was a frequent visitor to the house succeeded in lifting her out +of her despair. This was Cabassu, the man who described himself on his +cards as "professor of massage," a big, dark, thick-set man, smelling +of garlic and pomade, square-shouldered, hairy to the eyes, and who +knew stories of Parisian seraglios, tales within the reach of madame's +intelligence. Having once come to massage her, she wished to see him +again, retained him. He had to give up all his other clients, and +became, at the salary of a senator, the masseur of this stout lady, her +page, her reader, her body-guard. Jansoulet, delighted to see his wife +contented, was unconscious of the ridicule attached to this intimacy. + +Cabassu was now seen in the Bois, seated beside the favourite maid in +the huge and sumptuous open carriage, also at the back of the theatre +boxes taken by the Levantine, for she began to go out, since she had +grown less torpid under the treatment of her masseur and was determined +to amuse herself. The theatre pleased her, especially farces or +melodramas. The apathy of her large body found a stimulus in the false +glare of the footlights. But it was to Cardailhac's theatre that she +went for preference. There, the Nabob found himself in his own house. +From the chief superintendent to the humblest _ouvreuse_, the whole +staff was under his control. He had a key which enabled him to pass from +the corridors on to the stage; and the small drawing-room communicating +with his box was decorated in Oriental manner, with a concave ceiling +like a beehive, its couches covered in camel's hair, the flame of the +gas inclosed in a little Moorish lantern. Here one could enjoy a siesta +during rather long intervals between the acts; a gallant attention on +the part of the manager to the wife of his partner. Nor did that ape of +a Cardailhac stop at this. Remarking the taste of the Demoiselle Afchin +for the drama, he had ended by persuading her that she also possessed +the intuition, the knowledge of it, and by begging her when she had +nothing better to do to glance over and let him know what she thought +of the pieces that were submitted to him. A good way of cementing the +partnership more firmly. + +Poor manuscripts in your blue or yellow covers, bound by hope with +fragile ribbons, that set out full of ambition and dreams, who knows +what hands may touch you, turn over your pages, what indiscreet fingers +deflower your charm, the charm of the unknown, that glittering dust +which lies on new ideas? Who may judge you and who condemn? Sometimes, +before dining out, Jansoulet, mounting to his wife's room, would find +her on her lounge, smoking, her head thrown back, bundles of manuscripts +by her side, and Cabassu, armed with a blue pencil, reading in his thick +voice and with the Bourg-Saint-Andeol accent, some dramatic lucubration +which he cut and scored without pity at the least criticism from the +lady. + +"Don't disturb yourselves," the good Nabob would signal with his hand, +entering on tiptoe. He would listen, shake his head with an admiring +air, as he watched his wife: "She is astonishing!" for he himself +understood nothing about literature, and there, at least, he could +discover once again the superiority of Mlle. Afchin. + +"She had the instinct of the stage," as Cardailhac used to say; but, on +the other hand, the maternal instinct was wanting in her. Never did +she take any interest in her children, abandoning them to the hands of +strangers, and, when they were brought to her once a month, contenting +herself with offering to them the flaccid and inanimate flesh of +her cheeks between two puffs of cigarette-smoke, without making any +inquiries into those details of their bringing up and of their health +which perpetuate the physical bond of maternity and make the hearts of +true mothers bleed at the least suffering of their children. + +They were three big, dull and apathetic boys of eleven, nine, and seven +years, having, with the sallow complexion and the precocious bloatedness +of the Levantine, the kind, black, velvety eyes of their father. They +were ignorant as young lords of the middle ages. At Tunis, M. Bompain +had directed their studies; but at Paris, the Nabob, anxious to give +them the benefit of a Parisian education, had sent them to that smartest +and most expensive of boarding-schools, the College Bourdaloue, managed +by good priests who sought less to instruct their pupils than to make of +them good-mannered and right-thinking men of the world, and succeeded +in turning them out affectedly grave and ridiculous little prigs, +disdainful of games, absolutely ignorant, without anything spontaneous +or boyish about them, and of a desperate precocity. The little +Jansoulets were not very happy in this forcing-house, notwithstanding +the immunities which they enjoyed by reason of their immense wealth; +they were, indeed, utterly left to themselves. Even the creoles in the +charge of the institution had some friend whom they visited and people +who came to see them; but the Jansoulets were never summoned to the +parlour, no one knew any of their relatives; from time to time they +received basketfuls of sweetmeats, piles of confectionery, and that was +all. The Nabob, doing some shopping in Paris, would strip for them the +whole of a pastry-cook's window and send the spoils to the college, with +that generous impulse of the heart mingled with negro ostentation +which characterized all his actions. It was the same in the matter +of playthings. They were always too pretty, tricked out too finely, +useless--those toys that are for show but which the Parisian does not +buy. But that which above all attracted to the little Jansoulets the +respect both of pupils and masters, were their purses heavy with gold, +ever ready for school subscriptions, for the professors' birthdays, +and the charity visits, those famous visits organized by the College +Bourdaloue, one of the tempting things in the prospectus, the marvel of +sensitive souls. + +Twice a month, turn and turn about, the pupils who were members of the +miniature Society of St. Vincent de Paul founded in the college upon the +model of the great one, went in little squads, alone, as though they had +been grown-up, to bear succour and consolation into the deepest recesses +of the more densely populated quarters of the town. This was designed +to teach them a practical charity, the art of knowing the needs, the +miseries of the lower classes, and to heal these heart-rending evils +by a nostrum of kind words and ecclesiastical maxims. To console, to +evangelize the masses by the help of childhood, to disarm religious +incredulity by the youth and _naivete_ of the apostles, such was the aim +of this little society; an aim entirely missed, moreover. The children, +healthy, well-dressed, well-fed, calling only at addresses previously +selected, found poor persons of good appearance, sometimes rather +unwell, but very clean, already on the parish register and in receipt of +aid from the wealthy organization of the Church. Never did they +chance to enter one of those nauseous dwellings wherein hunger, grief, +humiliation, all physical and moral ills are written in leprous mould on +the walls, in indelible lines on the brows. Their visits were prepared +for, like that of the sovereign who enters a guard-room to taste the +soldiers' soup: the guard-room is warmed and the soup seasoned for +the royal palate. Have you seen those pictures in pious books, where a +little communicant, with candle in hand, and perfectly groomed, comes +to minister to a poor old man lying sick on his straw pallet and turning +the whites of his eyes to heaven? These visits of charity had the same +conventionality of setting and of accent. To the measured gestures of +the little preachers were corresponding words learned by heart and +false enough to make one squint. To the comic encouragement, to the +"consolations lavished" in prize-book phrases by the voices of young +urchins with colds, were the affecting benedictions, the whining and +piteous mummeries of a church-porch after vespers. And the moment the +young visitors departed, what an explosion of laughter and shouting in +the garret, what a dance in a circle round the present brought, what an +upsetting of the arm-chair in which one had pretended to be lying ill, +of the medicine spilt in the fire, a fire of cinders very artistically +prepared! + +When the little Jansoulets went out to visit their parents at home, +they were intrusted to the care of the man with the red fez, the +indispensable Bompain. It was Bompain who conducted them to the +Champs-Elysees, clad in English jackets, bowler hats of the latest +fashion--at seven years old!--and carrying little canes in their +dog-skin-gloved hands. It was Bompain who stuffed the race-wagonette +with provisions. Here he mounted with the children, who, with their +entrance-cards stuck in their hats round which green veils were twisted, +looked very like those personages in Liliputian pantomimes whose entire +funniness lies in the enormous size of their heads compared with their +small legs and dwarf-like gestures. They smoked and drank; it was a +painful sight. Sometimes the man in the fez, hardly able to hold himself +upright, would bring them home frightfully sick. And yet Jansoulet was +fond of them, the youngest especially, who, with his long hair, his +doll-like manner, recalled to him the little Afchin passing in her +carriage. But they were still of the age when children belong to the +mother, when neither the fashionable tailor, nor the most accomplished +masters, nor the smart boarding-school, nor the ponies girthed specially +for the little men in the stable, nor anything else can replace +the attentive and caressing hand, the warmth and the gaiety of the +home-nest. The father could not give them that; and then, too, he was so +busy! + +A thousand irons in the fire: the Territorial Bank, the installation +of the picture gallery, drives to Tattersall's with Bois l'Hery, +some _bibelot_ to inspect, here or there, at the houses of collectors +indicated by Schwalbach, hours passed with trainers, jockeys, dealers +in curiosities, the encumbered and multiple existence of a _bourgeois +gentilhomme_ in modern Paris. This rubbing of shoulders with all sorts +and conditions of people brought him improvement, in that each day he +was becoming a little more Parisianized; he was received at Monpavon's +club, in the green-room of the ballet, behind the scenes at the +theatres, and presided regularly at his famous bachelor luncheons, the +only receptions possible in his household. His existence was really a +very busy one, and de Gery relieved him of the heaviest part of it, the +complicated department of appeals and of charities. + +The young man now became acquainted with all the audacious and burlesque +inventions, all the serio-comic combinations of that mendicancy of great +cities, organized like a department of state, innumerable as an army, +which subscribes to the newspapers and knows its _Bottin_ by heart. He +received the blonde lady, bold, young, and already faded, who only asks +for a hundred napoleons, with the threat that she will throw herself +into the river when she leaves if they are not given to her, and the +stout matron of prepossessing and unceremonious manner, who says, as she +enters: "Sir, you do not know me. Neither have I the honour of knowing +you. But we shall soon make each other's acquaintance. Be kind enough to +sit down and let us have a chat." The merchant at bay, on the verge of +bankruptcy--sometimes it is true--who comes to entreat you to save his +honour, with a pistol ready to shoot himself, bulging out the pocket +of his overcoat--sometimes it is only his pipe-case. And often genuine +distresses, wearisome and prolix, of people who are unable even to tell +how little competent they are to earn a livelihood. Side by side with +this open begging, there was that which wears various kinds of disguise: +charity, philanthropy, good works, the encouragement of projects of art, +the house-to-house begging for infant asylums, parish churches, rescued +women, charitable societies, local libraries. Finally, those who wear +a society mask, with tickets for concerts, benefit performances, +entrance-cards of all colours, "platform, front seats, reserved seats." +The Nabob insisted that no refusals should be given, and it was a +concession that he no longer burdened his own shoulders with such +matters. For quite a long time, in generous indifference, he had gone +on covering with gold all that hypocritical exploitation, paying +five hundred francs for a ticket for the concert of some Wurtemberg +cithara-player or Languedocian flutist, which at the Tuileries or at the +Duc de Mora's might have fetched ten francs. There were days when the +young de Gery issued from these audiences nauseated. All the honesty of +his youth revolted; he approached the Nabob with schemes of reform. But +the Nabob's face, at the first word, would assume the bored expression +of weak natures when they have to make a decision, or he would perhaps +reply: "But that is Paris, my dear boy. Don't get frightened or +interfere with my plans. I know what I am doing and what I want." + +At that time he wanted two things: a deputyship and the cross of the +Legion of Honour. These were for him the first two stages of the great +ascent to which his ambition pushed him. Deputy he would certainly be +through the influence of the Territorial Bank, at the head of which he +stood. Paganetti of Porto-Vecchio was often saying it to him: "When the +day arrives, the island will rise and vote for you as one man." + +It is not enough, however, to control electors; it is necessary also +that there be a seat vacant in the Chamber, and the representation of +Corsica was complete. One of its members, however, the old Popolusca, +infirm and in no condition to do his work, might perhaps, upon certain +conditions, be willing to resign his seat. It was a difficult matter to +negotiate, but quite feasible, the old fellow having a numerous family, +estates which produced little or nothing, a palace in ruins at Bastia, +where his children lived on _polenta_, and a furnished apartment at +Paris in an eighteenth-rate lodging-house. If a hundred or two hundred +thousand francs were not a consideration, one ought to be able to +obtain a favourable decision from this honourable pauper who, sounded +by Paganetti, would say neither yes nor no, tempted by the large sum +of money, held back by the vainglory of his position. The matter had +reached that point, it might be decided from one day to another. + +As for the cross, things were going still better. The Bethlehem Society +had assuredly made the devil of a noise at the Tuileries. They were now +only waiting until after the visit of M. de la Perriere and his report, +which could not be other than favorable, before inscribing on the list +for the 16th March, on the date of an imperial anniversary, the glorious +name of Jansoulet. The 16th March; that was to say, within a month. What +would the fat Hemerlingue find to say of this signal favour, he who for +so long had had to content himself with the Nisham? And the Bey, who had +been misled into believing that Jansoulet was cut by Parisian society, +and the old mother, down yonder at Saint-Romans, ever so happy in +the successes of her son! Was that not worth a few millions cleverly +squandered along the path of glory which the Nabob was treading like a +child, all unconscious of the fate that lay waiting to devour him at its +end? And in these external joys, these honours, this consideration so +dearly bought, was there not a compensation for all the troubles of this +Oriental won back to European life, who desired a home and possessed +only a caravansary, looked for a wife and found only a Levantine? + + + + +THE BETHLEHEM SOCIETY + +BETHLEHEM! Why did it give one such a chill to see written in letters +of gold over the iron gate that historic name, sweet and warm like the +straw of the miraculous stable! Perhaps it was partly to be accounted +for by the melancholy of the landscape, that immense gloomy plain which +stretches from Nanterre to Saint Cloud, broken only by a few clumps +of trees or the smoke of factory chimneys. Possibly also by the +disproportion that existed between the humble little straggling village +which you expected to find and the grandiose establishment, this country +mansion in the style of Louis XIII, an agglomeration of mortar looking +pink through the branches of its leafless park, ornamented with wide +pieces of water thick with green weeds. What is certain is that as you +passed this place your heart was conscious of an oppression. When you +entered it was still worse. A heavy inexplicable silence weighed on the +house, and the faces you might see at the windows had a mournful air +behind the little, old-fashioned greenish panes. The goats scattered +along the paths nibbled languidly at the new spring grass, with "baas" +at the woman who was tending them, and looked bored, as she followed the +visitors with a lack-lustre eye. A mournfulness was over the place, like +the terror of a contagion. Yet it had been a cheerful house, and one +where even recently there had been high junketings. Replanted with +timber for the famous singer who had sold it to Jenkins, it revealed +clearly the kind of imagination which is characteristic of the +opera-house in a bridge flung over the miniature lake, with its +broken punt half filled with mouldy leaves, and in its pavilion all +of rockery-work, garlanded by ivy. It had witnessed gay scenes, this +pavilion, in the singer's time; now it looked on sad ones, for the +infirmary was installed in it. + +To tell the truth, the whole establishment was one vast infirmary. The +children had hardly arrived when they fell ill, languished, and ended +by dying, if their parents did not quickly take them away and put them +again under the protection of home. The cure of Nanterre had to go so +often to Bethlehem with his black vestments and his silver cross, the +undertaker had so many orders from the house, that it became known +in the district, and indignant mothers shook their fists at the model +nurse; from a long way off, it is true, for they might chance to have in +their arms pink-and-white babies to be preserved from all the contagions +of the place. It was these things that gave to the poor place so +heart-rending an aspect. A house in which children die cannot be gay; +you cannot see trees break into flower there, birds building, streams +flowing like rippling laughter. + +The thing seemed altogether false. Excellent in itself, Jenkins's scheme +was difficult, almost impracticable in its application. Yet, God knows, +the affair had been started and carried out with the greatest enthusiasm +to the last details, with as much money and as large a staff as were +requisite. At its head, one of the most skilful of practitioners, M. +Pondevez, who had studied in the Paris hospitals; and by his side, to +attend to the more intimate needs of the children, a trusty matron, Mme. +Polge. Then there were nursemaids, seamstresses, infirmary-nurses. And +how many the arrangements and how thorough was the maintenance of the +establishment, from the water distributed by a regular system from fifty +taps to the omnibus trotting off with jingling of its posting bells +to meet every train of the day at Rueil station! Finally, magnificent +goats, Thibetan goats, silky, swollen with milk. In regard to +organization, everything was admirable; but there was a point where +it all failed. This artificial feeding, so greatly extolled by the +advertisements, did not agree with the children. It was a singular piece +of obstinacy, a word which seemed to have been passed between them by +a signal, poor little things! for they couldn't yet speak, most of them +indeed were never to speak at all: "Please, we will not suck the goats." +And they did not suck them, they preferred to die one after another +rather than suck them. Was Jesus of Bethlehem in his stable suckled by a +goat? On the contrary, did he not press a woman's soft breast, on which +he could go to sleep when he was satisfied? Who ever saw a goat between +the ox and the ass of the story on that night when the beasts spoke to +each other? Then why lie about it, why call the place Bethlehem? + +The director had been moved at first by the spectacle of so many +victims. This Pondevez, a waif of the life of the "Quarter," mere +student still after twenty years, and well known in all the resorts of +the Boulevard St. Michel under the name of Pompon, was not an unkind +man. When he perceived the small success of the artificial feeding, he +simply brought in four or five vigorous nurses from the district around +and the children's appetites soon returned. This humane impulse went +near costing him his place. + +"Nurses at Bethlehem!" said Jenkins, furious, when he came to pay his +weekly visit. "Are you out of your mind? Well! why then have we goats +at all, and meadows to pasture them; what becomes of my idea, and the +pamphlets upon my idea? What happens to all that? But you are going +against my system. You are stealing the founder's money." + +"All the same, _mon cher maitre_," the student tried to reply, passing +his hands through his long red beard, "all the same, they will not take +this nourishment." + +"Well, then, let them go without, but let the principle of artificial +lactation be respected. That is the whole point. I do not wish to have +to repeat it to you again. Send off these wretched nurses. For the +rearing of our children we have goats' milk, cows' milk in case of +absolute necessity. I can make no further concession in the matter." + +He added, with an assumption of his apostle's air: "We are here for the +demonstration of a philanthropic idea. It must be made to triumph, even +at the price of some sacrifices." + +Pondevez insisted no further. After all the place was a good one, near +enough to Paris to allow of descents upon Nanterre of a Sunday from +the Quarter, or to allow the director to pay a visit to his old +_brasseries_. Mme. Polge, to whom Jenkins always referred as "our +intelligent superintendent," and whom he had placed there to superintend +everything, and chiefly the director himself, was not so austere, as her +prerogatives might have led one to suppose, and submitted willingly to a +few liqueur-glasses of cognac or to a game of bezique. He dismissed +the nurses, therefore, and endeavoured to harden himself in advance to +everything that could happen. What did happen? A veritable Massacre +of the Innocents. Consequently the few parents in fairly easy +circumstances, workpeople or suburban tradesfolk, who, tempted by the +advertisements, had severed themselves from their children, very soon +took them home again, and there only remained in the establishment some +little unfortunates picked up on doorsteps or in out-of-the-way places, +sent from the foundling hospitals, doomed to all evil things from their +birth. As the mortality continued to increase, even these came to be +scarce, and the omnibus which had posted to the railway station would +return bouncing and light as an empty hearse. How long would the thing +last? How long would the twenty-five or thirty little ones who remained +take to die? This was what Monsieur the Director, or rather, to give +him the nickname which he had himself invented, Monsieur the +Grantor-of-Certificates-of-death Pondevez, was asking himself one +morning as he sat opposite Mme. Polge's venerable ringlets, taking a +hand in this lady's favourite game. + +"Yes, my good Mme. Polge, what is to become of us? Things cannot go on +much longer as they are. Jenkins will not give way; the children are as +obstinate as mules. There is no denying it, they will all slip through +our fingers. There is the little Wallachian--I mark the king, Mme. +Polge--who may die from one moment to another. Just think, the poor +little chap for the last three days has had nothing in his stomach. It +is useless for Jenkins to talk. You cannot improve children like snails +by making them go hungry. It is disheartening all the same not to be +able to save one of them. The infirmary is full. It is really a wretched +outlook. Forty and bezique." + +A double ring at the entrance gate interrupted his monologue. The +omnibus was returning from the railway station and its wheels were +grinding on the sand in an unusual manner. + +"What an astonishing thing," remarked Pondevez, "the conveyance is not +empty." + +Indeed it did draw up at the foot of the steps with a certain pride, and +the man who got out of it sprang up the staircase at a bound. He was +a courier from Jenkins bearing a great piece of news. The doctor would +arrive in two hours to visit the Home, accompanied by the Nabob and +a gentleman from the Tuileries. He urgently enjoined that everything +should be ready for their reception. The thing had been decided at such +short notice that he had not had the time to write; but he counted on M. +Pondevez to do all that was necessary. + +"That is good!--necessary!" murmured Pondevez in complete dismay. The +situation was critical. This important visit was occurring at the worst +possible moment, just as the system had utterly broken down. The poor +Pompon, exceedingly perplexed, tugged at his beard, thoughtfully gnawing +wisps of it. + +"Come," said he suddenly to Mme. Polge, whose long face had grown still +longer between her ringlets, "we have only one course to take. We must +remove the infirmary and carry all the sick into the dormitory. They +will be neither better nor worse for passing another half-day there. As +for those with the rash, we will put them out of the way in some corner. +They are too ugly, they must not be seen. Come along, you up there! I +want every one on the bridge." + +The dinner-bell being violently rung, immediately hurried steps are +heard. Seamstresses, infirmary-nurses, servants, goatherds, issue from +all directions, running, jostling each other across the court-yards. +Others fly about, cries, calls; but that which dominates is the noise +of a mighty cleansing, a streaming of water as though Bethlehem had been +suddenly attacked by fire. And those groanings of sick children snatched +from the warmth of their beds, all those little screaming bundles +carried across the damp park, their coverings fluttering through the +branches, powerfully complete the impression of a fire. At the end of +two hours, thanks to a prodigious activity, the house is ready from top +to bottom for the visit which it is about to receive, all the staff at +their posts, the stove lighted, the goats picturesquely sprinkled over +the park. Mme. Polge has donned her green silk dress, the director a +costume somewhat less _neglige_ than usual, but of which the simplicity +excluded all idea of premeditation. The Departmental Secretary may come. + +And here he is. + +He alights with Jenkins and Jansoulet from a splendid coach with the +red and gold livery of the Nabob. Feigning the deepest astonishment, +Pondevez rushes forward to meet his visitors. + +"Ah, M. Jenkins, what an honour! What a surprise!" + +Greetings are exchanged on the flight of steps, bows, shakings of hands, +introductions. Jenkins with his flowing overcoat wide open over +his loyal breast, beams his best and most cordial smile; there is +a significant wrinkle on his brow, however. He is uneasy about the +surprises which may be held in store for them by the establishment, of +the distressful condition of which he is better aware than any one. If +only Pondevez had taken proper precautions. Things begin well, at any +rate. The rather theatrical view from the entrance, of those white +fleeces frisking about among the bushes, have enchanted M. de la +Perriere, who himself, with his honest eyes, his little white beard, +and the continual nodding of his head, resembles a goat escaped from its +tether. + +"In the first place, gentlemen, the apartment of principal importance +in the house, the nursery," said the director, opening a massive door at +the end of the entrance-hall. His guests follow him, go down a few +steps and find themselves in an immense, low room, with a tiled floor, +formerly the kitchen of the mansion. The most striking object on +entering is a lofty and vast fireplace built on the antique model, +of red brick, with two stone benches opposite one another beneath the +chimney, and the singer's coat of arms--an enormous lyre barred with +a roll of music--carved on the monumental pediment. The effect is +startling; but a frightful draught comes from it, which joined to the +coldness of the tile floor and the dull light admitted by the little +windows on a level with the ground, may well terrify one for the +health of the children. But what was do be done? The nursery had to +be installed in this insalubrious spot on account of the sylvan and +capricious nurses, accustomed to the unconstraint of the stable. You +only need to notice the pools of milk, the great reddish puddles drying +up on the tiles, to breathe in the strong odour that meets you as +you enter, a mingling of whey, of wet hair, and of many other things +besides, in order to be convinced of the absolute necessity of this +arrangement. + +The gloomy-walled apartment is so large that to the visitors at first +the nursery seems to be deserted. However, at the farther end, a group +of creatures, bleating, moaning, moving about, is soon distinguished. +Two peasant women, hard and brutalized in appearance, with dirty faces, +two "dry-nurses," who well deserve the name, are seated on mats, +each with an infant in her arms and a big nanny-goat in front of her, +offering its udder with legs parted. The director seems pleasantly +surprised. + +"Truly, gentlemen, this is lucky. Two of our children are having their +little luncheon. We shall see how well the nurses and infants understand +each other." + +"What can he be doing? He is mad," said Jenkins to himself in +consternation. + +But the director on the contrary knows very well what he is doing and +has himself skilfully arranged the scene, selecting two patient and +gentle beasts and two exceptional subjects, two little desperate mortals +who want to live at any price and open their mouths to swallow, no +matter what food, like young birds still in the nest. + +"Come nearer, gentlemen, and observe." + +Yes, they are indeed sucking, these little cherubs! One of them, lying +close to the ground, squeezed up under the belly of the goat, is going +at it so heartily that you can hear the gurglings of the warm milk +descending, it would seem, even into the little limbs that kick with +satisfaction at the meal. The other, calmer, lying down indolently, +requires some little encouragement from his Auvergnoise attendant. + +"Suck, will you suck then, you little rogue!" And at length, as though +he had suddenly come to a decision, he begins to drink with such avidity +that the woman leans over to him, surprised by this extraordinary +appetite, and exclaims laughing: + +"Ah, the rascal, is he not cunning?--it is his thumb that he is sucking +instead of the goat." + +The angel has hit on that expedient so that he may be left in peace. +The incident does not create a bad impression. M. de la Perriere is much +amused by this notion of the nurse that the child was trying to +take them all in. He leaves the nursery, delighted. "Positively +de-e-elighted," he repeats, nodding his head as they ascend the great +staircase with its echoing walls decorated with the horns of stags, +leading to the dormitory. + +Very bright, very airy, is this vast room, running the whole length of +one side of the house, with numerous windows and cots, separated one +from another by a little distance, hung with fleecy white curtains like +clouds. Women go and come through the large arch in the centre, with +piles of linen on their arms, or keys in their hands, nurses with the +special duty of washing the babies. + +Here too much has been attempted and the first impression of the +visitors is a bad one. All this whiteness of muslin, this polished +parquet, the brightness of the window-panes reflecting the sky sad at +beholding these things, seem to throw into bold relief the thinness, the +unhealthy pallor of these dying little ones, already the colour of their +shrouds. Alas! the oldest are only aged some six months, the youngest +barely a fortnight, and already there is in all these faces, these faces +in embryo, a disappointed expression, a scowling, worn look, a suffering +precocity visible in the numerous lines on those little bald foreheads, +cramped by linen caps edged with poor, narrow hospital lace. What are +they suffering? What diseases can they have? They have everything, +everything that one can have: diseases of children and diseases of +men. The fruit of vice and poverty, they bring into the world hideous +phenomena of heredity at their very birth. This one has a perforated +palate, and this great copper-coloured patches on the forehead, all +of them rickety. Then they are dying of hunger. Notwithstanding the +spoonfuls of milk, of sweetened water, which are forced down their +throats, notwithstanding the feeding-bottle employed now and then, +though against orders, they perish of inanition. These little +creatures, worn out before birth, require the most tender and the most +strengthening food; the goats might perhaps be able to give it, but +apparently they have sworn not to suck the goats. And this is what +makes the dormitory mournful and silent, not one of those little +clinched-fisted tempers, one of those cries showing the pink and firm +gums in which the child makes trial of his lungs and strength; only a +plaintive moaning, as it were the disquiet of a soul that turns over +and over in a little sick body, without being able to find a comfortable +place to rest there. + +Jenkins and the director, who have seen the bad impression produced on +their guests by this inspection of the dormitory, try to put a little +life into the situation, talk very loudly in a good-natured, complacent, +satisfied way. Jenkins shakes hands warmly with the superintendent. + +"Well, Mme. Polge, and how are our little nurslings getting on?" + +"As you see, M. le Docteur," she replies, pointing to the beds. + +This tall Mme. Polge is funereal in her green dress, the ideal of +dry-nurses. She completes the picture. + +But where has Monsieur the Departmental Secretary gone? He has stopped +before a cot which he examines sadly, as he stands nodding his head. + +"_Bigre de bigre!_" says Pompon in a low voice to Mme. Polge. "It is the +Wallachian." + +The little blue placard hung over the cot, as in the foundling +hospitals, states the child's nationality: "Moldo, Wallachian." What a +piece of ill-luck that Monsieur the Secretary's attention should have +been attracted to that particular child! Oh, that poor little head lying +on the pillow, its linen cap askew, with pinched nostrils, and mouth +half opened by a quick, panting respiration, the breathing of the newly +born, of those also who are about to die. + +"Is he ill?" asked Monsieur the Secretary softly of the director, who +has come up to him. + +"Not the least in the world," the shameless Pompon replies, and, +advancing to the side of the cot, he tries to make the little one laugh +by tickling him with his finger, straightens the pillow, and says in a +hearty voice, somewhat overcharged with tenderness: "Well, old fellow?" +Shaken out of his torpor, escaping for a moment from the shades which +already are closing on him, the child opens his eyes on those faces +leaning over him, glances at them with a gloomy indifference, then, +returning to his dream which he finds more interesting, clinches his +little wrinkled hands and heaves an elusive sigh. Mystery! Who shall say +for what end that baby had been born into life? To suffer for two months +and to depart without having seen anything, understood anything, without +any one even knowing the sound of his voice. + +"How pale he is!" murmurs M. de la Perriere, very pale himself. The +Nabob is livid also. A cold breath seems to have passed over the place. +The director assumes an air of unconcern. + +"It is the reflection. We are all of us green here." + +"Yes, yes, that is so," remarks Jenkins, "it is the reflection of the +lake. Come and look, Monsieur the Secretary." And he draws him to the +window to point out to him the large sheet of water with its dipping +willows, while Mme. Polge makes haste to draw over the eternal dream of +the little Wallachian the parted curtains of his cradle. + +The inspection of the establishment must be continued very quickly in +order to destroy this unfortunate impression. + +To begin with, M. de la Perriere is shown a splendid laundry, with +stoves, drying-rooms, thermometers, immense presses of polished walnut, +full of babies' caps and frocks, labelled and tied up in dozens. When +the linen has been warmed, the linen-room maid passes it out through +a little door in exchange for the number left by the nurse. A perfect +order reigns, one can see, and everything, down to its healthy smell of +soap-suds, gives to this apartment a wholesome and rural aspect. There +is clothing here for five hundred children. That is the number which +Bethlehem can accommodate, and everything has been arranged upon a +corresponding scale; the vast pharmacy, glittering with bottles and +Latin inscriptions, pestles and mortars of marble in every corner, the +hydropathic installation, its large rooms built of stone, with gleaming +baths possessing a huge apparatus including pipes of all dimensions for +douches, upward and downward, spray, jet, or whip-lash, and the kitchens +adorned with superb kettles of copper, and with economical coal and gas +ovens. Jenkins wished to institute a model establishment; and he found +the thing easy, for the work was done on a large scale, as it can be +when funds are not lacking. You feel also over it all the experience and +the iron hand of "our intelligent superintendent," to whom the director +cannot refrain from paying a public tribute. This is the signal for +general congratulations. M. de la Perriere, delighted with the manner in +which the establishment is equipped, congratulates Dr. Jenkins upon his +fine creations, Jenkins compliments his friend Pondevez, who, in his +turn, thanks the Departmental secretary for having consented to honour +Bethlehem with a visit. The good Nabob makes his voice heard in this +chorus of eulogy, finds a kind word for each one, but is a little +surprised all the same that he has not been congratulated himself, since +they were about it. It is true that the best of congratulations awaits +him on the 16th March on the front page of the _Official Journal_ in +a decree which flames in advance before his eyes and makes him glance +every now and then at his buttonhole. + +These pleasant words are exchanged as the party passes along a big +corridor in which the voices ring out in all their honest accents; but +suddenly a frightful noise interrupts the conversation and the advance +of the visitors. It seems to be made up of the mewing of cats in +delirium, of bellowings, of the howlings of savages performing a +war-dance, an appalling tempest of human cries, reverberated, swelled, +and prolonged by the echoing vaults. It rises and falls, ceases +suddenly, then goes on again with an extraordinary effect of unanimity. + +Monsieur the Director begins to be uneasy, makes an inquiry. Jenkins +rolls furious eyes. + +"Let us go on," says the director, rather anxious this time. "I know +what it is." + +He knows what it is; but M. de la Perriere wishes to know also what it +is, and, before Pondevez has had the time to unfasten it, he pushes open +the massive door whence this horrible concert proceeds. + +In a sordid kennel which the great cleansing has passed over, for, in +fact, it was not intended to be exhibited, on mattresses ranged on the +floor, a dozen little wretches are laid, watched over by an empty chair +on which the beginning of a knitted vest lies with an air of dignity, +and by a little broken saucepan, full of hot wine, boiling on a smoky +wood fire. These are the children with ringworm, with rashes, the +disfavoured of Bethlehem, who had been hidden in this retired corner +with recommendation to their dry-nurse to rock them, to soothe them, to +sit on them, if need were, in order to keep them from crying; but whom +this country-woman, stupid and inquisitive, had left alone there in +order to see the fine carriage standing in the court-yard. Her back +turned, the infants had very quickly grown weary of their horizontal +position; and then all these little scrofulous patients raised their +lusty concert, for they, by a miracle, are strong, their malady saves +and nourishes them. Bewildered and kicking like beetles when they are +turned on their backs, helping themselves with their hips and their +elbows, some fallen on one side and unable to regain their balance, +others raising in the air their little benumbed, swaddled legs, +spontaneously they cease their gesticulations and cries as they see the +door open; but M. de la Perrier's nodding goatee beard reassures them, +encourages them anew, and in the renewed tumult the explanation given +by the director is only heard with difficulty: "Children kept +separate--Contagion--Skin-diseases." This is quite enough for Monsieur +the Departmental Secretary; less heroic than Bonaparte on his visit to +the plague-stricken of Jaffa, he hastens towards the door, and in his +timid anxiety, wishing to say something and yet not finding words, +murmurs with an ineffable smile: "They are char-ar-ming." + +Next, the inspection at an end, see them all gathered in the salon on +the ground floor, where Mme. Polge has prepared a little luncheon. The +cellar of Bethlehem is well stocked. The keen air of the table-land, +these climbs up and downstairs have given the old gentleman from the +Tuileries an appetite such as he has not known for a long time, so that +he chats and laughs as if he were at a picnic, and at the moment of +departure, as they are all standing, raises his glass, nodding his head, +to drink, "To Be-Be-Bethlehem!" Those present are moved, glasses are +touched, then, at a quick trot, the carriage bears the party away down +the long avenue of limes, over which a red and cold sun is just setting. +Behind them the park resumes its dismal silence. Great dark masses +gather in the depths of the copses, surround the house, gain little by +little the paths and open spaces. Soon all is lost in gloom save the +ironical letters embossed above the entrance-gate, and, away over +yonder, at a first-floor window, one red and wavering spot, the light of +a candle burning by the pillow of the dead child. + + "By a decree dated the 12th March, 1865, issued upon the proposal + of the Minister of the Interior, Monsieur the Doctor Jenkins, + President and Founder of the Bethlehem Society is named a + Chevalier of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour. Great + devotion to the cause of humanity." + +As he read these words on the front page of the _Official Journal_, on +the morning of the 16th, the poor Nabob felt dazed. + +Was it possible? + +Jenkins decorated, and not he! + +He read the paragraph twice over, distrusting his own eyes. His ears +buzzed. The letters danced double before his eyes with those great red +rings round them which they have in strong sunlight. He had been so +confident of seeing his name in this place; Jenkins, only the evening +before, had repeated to him with so much assurance, "It is already +done!" that he still thought his eyes must have deceived him. But no, +it was indeed Jenkins. The blow was heavy, deep, prophetic, as it were a +first warning from destiny, and one that was felt all the more intensely +because for years this man had been unaccustomed to failure. Everything +good in him learned mistrust at the same time. + +"Well," said he to de Gery as he came as usual every morning into his +room, and found him visibly affected, holding the newspaper in his hand, +"have you seen? I am not in the _Official_." + +He tried to smile, his features puckered like those of a child +restraining his tears. Then, suddenly, with that frankness which was +such a pleasing quality in him: "It is a great disappointment to me. I +was looking forward to it too confidently." + +The door opened upon these words, and Jenkins rushed in, out of breath, +stammering, extraordinarily agitated. + +"It is an infamy, a frightful infamy! The thing cannot be, it shall not +be!" + +The words stumbled over each other in disorder on his lips, all trying +to get out at once; then he seemed to despair of finding expression for +his thoughts and in disgust threw on the table a small box and a large +envelope, both bearing the stamp of the chancellor's office. + +"There are my cross and my brevet. They are yours, friend. I could not +keep them." + +At bottom the words did not signify much. Jansoulet adorning himself +with Jenkins's ribbon might very well have been guilty of illegality. +But a piece of theatrical business is not necessarily logical; this one +brought about between the two men an effusion of feeling, embraces, a +generous battle, at the end of which Jenkins replaced the objects in his +pocket, speaking of protests, letters to the newspapers. The Nabob was +again obliged to check him. + +"Be very careful you do no such thing. To begin with, it would be to +injure my chances for another time--who knows, perhaps on the 15th of +August, which will soon be here." + +"Oh, as to that," said Jenkins, jumping at this idea, and stretching out +his arm as in the _Oath_ of David, "I solemnly swear it." + +The matter was dropped at this point. At luncheon the Nabob was as gay +as usual. This good humour was maintained all day, and de Gery, for whom +the scene had been a revelation of the true Jenkins, the explanation of +the ironies and the restrained wrath of Felicia Ruys whenever she spoke +of the doctor, asked himself in vain how he could enlighten his dear +patron about such hypocrisy. He should have been aware, however, that +in southerners, with all their superficiality and effusion, there is no +blindness, no enthusiasm, so complete as to remain insensible before +the wisdom of reflection. In the evening the Nabob had opened a shabby +little letter-case, worn at the corners, in which for ten years he had +been accustomed to work out the calculations of his millions, writing +down in hieroglyphics understood only by himself his receipts and +expenditures. He buried himself in his accounts for a moment, then +turning to de Gery: + +"Do you know what I am doing, my dear Paul?" he asked. + +"No, sir." + +"I am just calculating"--and his mocking glance thoroughly +characteristic of his race, rallied the good nature of his smile--"I +am just calculating that I have spend four hundred and thirty thousand +francs to get a decoration for Jenkins." + +Four hundred and thirty thousand francs! And that was not the end. + + + + +BONNE MAMAN + +Paul de Gery went three times a week in the evening to take his lesson +in bookkeeping in the Joyeuses' dining-room, not far from that little +parlour in which he had seen the family the first day, and while with +his eyes fixed on his teacher he was being initiated into all the +mysteries of "debtor and creditor," he used to listen, in spite of +himself, for the light sounds coming from the industrious group behind +the door, with thoughts dwelling regretfully on the vision of all those +pretty brows bent in the lamplight. M. Joyeuse never said a word of his +daughters; jealous of their charms as a dragon watching over beautiful +princesses in a tower, and excited by the fantastic imaginings of his +excessive affection for them, he would answer with marked brevity the +inquiries of his pupil regarding the health of "the young ladies," so +that at last the young man ceased to mention them. + +He was surprised, however, at not once seeing that Bonne Maman whose +name was constantly recurring in the conversation of M. Joyeuse, +entering into the least details of his existence, hovering over the +household like the emblem of its perfect ordering and of its peace. + +So great a reserve on the part of a venerable lady who must assuredly +have passed the age at which the interest of young men is to be feared, +seemed to him exaggerated. The lessons, however, were good ones, +given with great clearness, the teacher having an excellent system +of demonstration, and only one fault, that of becoming absorbed in +silences, broken by sudden starts and exclamations let off like rockets. +Apart from this, he was the best of masters, intelligent, patient, and +conscientious, and Paul learned to know his way through the complex +labyrinth of commercial books and resigned himself to ask nothing +beyond. + +One evening, towards nine o'clock, as the young man had risen to go, M. +Joyeuse asked him if he would do him the honour of taking a cup of tea +with his family, a custom dating from the time when Mme. Joyeuse, _nee_ +de Saint-Amand, was alive, she having been used to receive her friends +on Thursdays. Since her death and the change in the financial position, +the friends had become dispersed; but his little weekly function had +been kept up. + +Paul having accepted, the good old fellow opened the door and called: + +"Bonne Maman!" + +An alert footstep in the passage, and immediately the face of a girl of +twenty, in a halo of abundant brown hair, made its appearance. + +De Gery, stupefied, looked at M. Joyeuse. + +"Bonne Maman?" + +"Yes, it is a name that we gave her when she was a little girl. With her +frilled cap, her authority as the eldest child, she had a quaint little +air. We thought her like her grandmother. The name has clung to her." + +From the honest fellow's tone as he spoke thus, one felt that to him +this grandparent's title applied to such an embodiment of attractive +youth seemed the most natural thing in the world. Every one else thought +as he did on the point; both her sisters, who had hastened to their +father's side, grouping themselves round him somewhat as in the portrait +exhibited in the window on the ground floor, and the old servant +who placed on the table in the little drawing-room a magnificent +tea-service, a relic of the former splendours of the household. Every +one called the girl "Bonne Maman" without her ever once having grown +tired of it, the influence of that sacred title touching the affection +of each one with a deference which flattered her and gave to her ideal +authority a singular gentleness of protection. + +Whether or not it were by reason of this appellation of grandmother +which as a child he had learned to reverence, de Gery felt an +inexpressible attraction towards this young girl. It was not like the +sudden shock which he had received from that other, that emotional +agitation in which were mingled the desire to flee, to escape from a +possession and the persistent melancholy of the morrow of a festivity, +extinguished candles, the lost refrains of songs, perfumes vanished +into the night. In the presence of this young girl as she stood +superintending the family table, seeing if anything were wanting, +enveloping her children, her grandchildren, with the active tenderness +of her eyes, there came to him a longing to know her, to be counted +among her old friends, to confide to her things which he confessed only +to himself; and when she offered him his cup of tea without any of the +mincings of society or drawing-room affectations, he would have liked to +say with the rest a "Thank you, Bonne Maman," in which he would have put +all his heart. + +Suddenly, a cheerful knock at the door made everybody start. + +"Ah, here comes M. Andre. Elise, a cup quickly. Jaia, the little cakes." +At the same time, Mlle. Henriette, the third of M. Joyeuse's daughters, +who had inherited from her mother, _nee_ de Saint-Amand, a certain +instinct for society, observing the number of visitors who seemed likely +to crowd their rooms that evening, rushed to light the two candles on +the piano. + +"My fifth act is finished," cried the newcomer as he entered, then he +stopped short. "Ah, pardon," and his face assumed a rather discomfited +expression in the presence of the stranger. M. Joyeuse introduced +them to each other: "M. Paul de Gery--M. Andre Maranne," not without +a certain solemnity. He remembered the receptions held formerly by +his wife, and the vases on the chimneypiece, the two large lamps, the +what-not; the easy chairs grouped in a circle had an air of joining in +this illusion, and seemed more brilliant by reason of this unaccustomed +throng. + +"So your play is finished?" + +"Finished, M. Joyeuse, and I hope to read it to you one of these +evenings." + +"Oh, yes, M. Andre. Oh, yes," said all the girls in chorus. + +Their neighbour was in the habit of writing for the stage, and no one +here doubted of his success. Photography, in any case, promised fewer +profits. Clients were very rare, passers-by little disposed to business. +To keep his hand in and to save his new apparatus from rusting, M. Andre +was accustomed to practise anew on the family of his friends on +each succeeding Sunday. They lent themselves to his experiments +with unequalled long-suffering; the prosperity of this suburban +photographer's business was for them all an affair of _amour propre_, +and awakened, even in the girls, that touching confraternity of feeling +which draws together the destinies of people as insignificant in +importance as sparrows on a roof. Andre Maranne, with the inexhaustible +resources of his great brow full of illusion, used to explain without +bitterness the indifference of the public. Sometimes the season was +unfavourable, or, again, people were complaining of the bad state of +business generally, and he would always end with the same consoling +reflection, "When _Revolt_ is produced!" That was the title of his play. + +"It is surprising all the same," said the fourth of M. Joyeuse's +daughters, twelve years old, with her hair in a pigtail, "it is +surprising that with such a good balcony so little business should +result." + +"And, if he were established on the Boulevard des Italiens," remarks M. +Joyeuse thoughtfully, and he is launched forth!--riding his chimera +till it is brought to the ground suddenly with a gesture and these words +uttered sadly: "Closed on account of bankruptcy." In the space of a +moment the terrible visionary has just installed his friend in splendid +quarters on the Boulevard, where he gains enormous sums of money, at the +same time, however, increasing his expenditure to so disproportionate an +extent that a fearful failure in a few months engulfs both photographer +and his photography. They laugh heartily when he gives this explanation; +but all agree that the Rue Saint-Ferdinand, although less brilliant, is +much more to be depended upon than the Boulevard des Italiens. Besides, +it happens to be quite near the Bois de Boulogne, and if once the +fashionable world got into the way of passing through it--That exalted +society which was so much sought by her mother, is Mlle. Henriette's +fixed idea, and she is astonished that the thought of receiving "le +high-life" in his little apartment on the fifth floor makes their +neighbour laugh. The other week, however, a carriage with livery had +called on him. Only just now, too, he had a very "swell" visit. + +"Oh, quite a great lady!" interrupts Bonne Maman. "We were at the window +on the lookout for father. We saw her alight from her carriage and look +at the show-frame; we made sure that her visit was for you." + +"It was for me," said Andre, a little embarrassed. + +"For a moment we were afraid that she was going to pass on like so many +others, on account of your five flights of stairs. So all four of us +tried to attract her without her knowing it, by the magnetism of our +four staring pairs of eyes. We drew her gently by the feathers of her +hat and the laces of her cape. 'Come up then, madame, come up,' and +finally she entered. There is so much magnetism in eyes that are kindly +disposed." + +Magnetism she certainly had, the dear creature, not only in her glances, +indeterminate of colour, veiled or gay like the sky of her Paris, but in +her voice, in the draping of her dress, in everything about her, even to +the long curl, falling over the neck erect and delicate as a statue's. + +Tea having been served, while the gentlemen finished their cups and +talked--old Joyeuse was always very long over everything he did, by +reason of his sudden expeditions to the moon--the girls brought out +their work, the table became covered with wicker baskets, embroideries, +pretty wools that rejuvenated with their bright tints the faded flowers +of the old carpet, and the group of the other evening gathered once +more within the bright circle defined by the lamp-shade, to the great +satisfaction of Paul de Gery. It was the first evening of the kind that +he had spent in Paris; it recalled to him others of a like sort very far +away, lulled by the same innocent laughter, the peaceful sound produced +by scissors as they are put down on the table, by a needle as it pierces +through linen, or the rustle of a page turned over, and dear faces, +disappeared for ever, gathered also around the family lamp, alas! so +abruptly extinguished. + +Having been admitted to this charming intimacy, he remained in it, took +his lessons in the presence of the girls and was encouraged to chat with +them when the good old man closed his big book. Here everything rested +him after the whirl of that life into which he was thrown by the +luxurious social existence of the Nabob; he come to renew his strength +in this atmosphere of honesty, of simplicity, tried, too, to find +healing there for the wounds with which a hand more indifferent than +cruel stabbed his heart mercilessly. + +"Some women have hated me, other women have loved me. She who has hurt +me most never either loved or hated me." Paul had met that woman of whom +Henri Heine speaks. Felicia was full of welcome and cordiality for him. +There was no one whom she treated with more favour. She used to reserve +for him a special smile wherein one felt the kindliness of an artist's +eye arrested by and dwelling on a pleasing type, and the satisfaction of +a jaded mind amused by anything new, however simple in appearance it may +be. She liked that reserve, suggestive in a southerner, the honesty +of that judgment, independent of every artistic or social formula and +enlivened by a touch of provincial accent. These things were a change +for her from the zigzag stroke of the thumb illustrating a eulogy with +its gesture of the studio, from the compliments of comrades on the way +in which she would snub some old fellow, or again from those affected +admirations, from the "char-ar-ming, very nice indeed's" with which +young men about town, sucking the knobs of their canes, were accustomed +to regale her. This young man at any rate did not say such things as +that to her. She had nicknamed him Minerva, on account of his apparent +tranquility and the regularity of his profile; and the moment she saw +him, however far-off, she would call: + +"Ah, here comes Minerva. Hail, beautiful Minerva! Put down your helmet +and let us have a chat." + +But this familiar, almost fraternal, tone convinced the young man that +he would make no further advance into that feminine comradeship in +which tenderness was wanting, and that he lost each day something of +his charm--the charm of the unforeseen--in the eyes of that woman born +weary, who seemed to have already lived her life and found in all that +she heard or saw the insipidity of a repetition. Felicia was bored. +Her art alone could distract her, carry her away, transport her into a +dazzling fairyland, whence she would fall back worn out, surprised +each time by this awakening like a physical fall. She used to draw +a comparison between herself and those jelly-fish whose transparent +brilliancy, so much alive in the cool movements of the waves, drift to +their death on the shore in little gelatinous pools. During those +times devoid of inspiration, when the artist's hand was heavy on +his instrument, Felicia, deprived of the one moral support of her +intellectual being, became unsociable, unapproachable, a tormenting +mocker--the revenge taken of human weakness on the tired brains of +genius. After having brought tears to the eyes of every one who cared +for her, raking up painful recollections or enervating anxieties, she +reached the lowest depths of her fatigue, and as there was always some +fun in her, even in her _ennui_ in a kind of caged wild-beast's howl, +which she called "the cry of the jackal in the desert," and which used +to make the good Crenmitz turn pale. + +Poor Felicia! That life of hers was indeed a frightful desert when art +did not beguile it with its illusions; a desert mournful and flat, where +everything was lost, reduced to one level, beneath the same monotonous +immensity, the naive love of a child of twenty, a passionate duke's +caprice, in which all was overwhelmed by an arid sand driven by blasting +fates. Paul was conscious of that void, desired to escape it; but +something held him back, like a weight which unrolls a chain, and in +spite of the calumnies he heard, and notwithstanding the odd whims of +the strange creature, he dallied deliciously after her, at the price +of bearing away with him from this long lover's contemplation only the +despair of a believer reduced to the adoring of images alone. + +The refuge lay down there, in that remote quarter of the town where the +wind blew so hard, yet without preventing the flame from mounting white +and straight--it was the family circle presided over by Bonne Maman. Oh! +she at least was not bored, she never uttered the cry of the "jackal +in the desert." Her life was far too full; the father to encourage, to +sustain, the children to teach, all the material cares of a home where +the mother's hand is wanting, those preoccupations that awake with the +dawn and are put to sleep by the evening, unless indeed it bring them +back in dream, one of those devotions, tireless but without apparent +effort, very pleasant for poor human egotism, because they dispense from +all gratitude and hardly make themselves felt, so light is their hand. +She was not the courageous daughter who works to support her parents, +gives private lessons from morning to night, forgets in the excitement +of a profession all the troubles of the household. No, she had +understood her task in a different sense, a sedentary bee restricting +her cares to the hive, without once humming out of doors in the open air +among the flowers. A thousand functions: tailoress, milliner, mender +of clothes, bookkeeper also for M. Joyeuse, who, incapable of all +responsibility, left to her the free disposal of their means, to be +pianoforte-teacher, governess. + +As it happens in families that have been in a good position, Aline, +as the eldest daughter, had been educated at one of the best +boarding-schools in Paris. Elise had been with her there for two years; +but the last two, born too late, and sent to small day-schools in the +locality, had all their studies yet to complete, and this was no easy +matter, the youngest laughing upon every occasion from sheer good +health, warbling like a lark intoxicated with the delight of green corn, +and flying away far out of sight of desk and exercises, while Mlle. +Henriette, ever haunted by her ideas of grandeur, her love of luxurious +things, took to work hardly less unwillingly. This young person of +fifteen, to whom her father had transmitted something of his imaginative +faculties, was already arranging her life in advance and declared +formally that she should marry one of the nobility, and would never +have more than three children: "A boy to inherit the name and two little +girls--so as to be able to dress them alike." + +"Yes, that's right," Bonne Maman would say, "you shall dress them alike. +In the meantime, let us attend to our participles a little." + +But the one who caused the most concern was Elise, with her examination +taken thrice without success, always failing in history and preparing +herself anew, seized by a deep fear and a mistrust of herself which +made her carry about with her everywhere and open every moment that +unfortunate history of France, in the omnibus, in the street, even at +the luncheon-table; she was already a grown girl and very pretty, and +she no longer possessed that little mechanical memory of childhood +wherein dates and events lodge themselves for the whole of one's life. +Beset by other preoccupations, the lesson was forgotten in an instant, +despite the apparent application of the pupil, with her long lashes +fringing her eyes, her curls sweeping over the pages, and her rosy +mouth animated by a little quiver of attention, repeating ten times in +succession: "Louis, surnamed le Hutin, 1314-1316; Philip V, surnamed +the Long, 1316-1322. Ah, Bonne Maman, it's no good; I shall never know +them." Whereupon Bonne Maman would come to her assistance, help her +to concentrate her attention, to store up a few of those dates of the +Middle Ages, barbarous and sharp as the helmets of the warriors of the +period. And in the intervals of these occupations, of this general +and constant superintendence, she yet found time to do some pretty +needlework, to extract from her work-basket some delicate crochet lace +or a piece of tapestry on which she was engaged and to which she clung +as closely as the young Elise to her history of France. Even when she +talked, her fingers never remained unoccupied for a moment. + +"Do you never take any rest?" said de Gery to her, as she counted under +her breath the stitches of her tapestry, "three, four, five," to secure +the right variation in the shading of the colours. + +"But this is a rest from work," she answered. "You men cannot understand +how good needlework is for a woman's mind. It gives order to the +thoughts, fixes by a stitch the moment that passes what would otherwise +pass with it. And how many griefs are calmed, anxieties forgotten, +thanks to this wholly physical act of attention, to this repetition of +an even movement, in which one finds--of necessity and very quickly--the +equilibrium of one's whole being. It does not hinder me from following +the conversation around me, from listening to you still better than I +should if I were doing something. Three, four, five." + +Oh, yes, she listened. That was apparent in the animation of her face, +in the way in which she would suddenly straighten herself as she sat, +needle in air, the thread taut over her raised little finger. Then she +would quickly resume her work, sometimes after putting in a thoughtful +word, which agreed generally with the opinions of friend Paul. + +An affinity of nature, responsibilities and duties similar in character, +drew these two young people together, interested each of them in the +other's occupations. She knew the names of his two brothers Pierre and +Louis, his plans for their future when they should have left school. +Pierre wanted to be a sailor. "Oh, no, not a sailor," Bonne Maman would +say, "it will be much better for him to come to Paris with you." And +when he admitted that he was afraid of Paris for them, she laughed at +his fears, called him provincial, full of affection for the city +in which she had been born, in which she had grown to chaste young +womanhood, and that gave her in return those vivacities, those natural +refinements, that jesting good-humour which incline one to believe +that Paris, with its rain, its fogs, its sky which is no sky, is the +veritable fatherland of woman, whose nerves it heals gently and whose +qualities of intelligence and patience it develops. + +Each day Paul de Gery came to appreciate Mlle. Aline better--he was the +only person in the house who so called her--and, strange circumstance, +it was Felicia who completed the cementing of their intimacy. What +relations could there exist between the artist's daughter, moving in the +highest spheres, and this little middle-class girl buried in the +depths of a suburb? Relations of childhood and of friendship, common +recollections, the great court-yard of the Institution Belin, where +they had played together for three years. Paris is full of these +juxtapositions. A name uttered by chance in the course of a conversation +brought out suddenly the bewildered question: + +"You know her then?" + +"Do I know Felicia? Why, our desks were next each other in the first +form. We had the same garden. Such a nice girl, and so handsome and +clever!" + +And, observing the pleasure with which she was listened to, Aline used +to recall the times which already formed a past for her, seductive and +melancholy like all pasts. She was very much alone in life, the little +Felicia. On Thursdays, when the visitors' names were called out in the +parlour, there was no one for her; except from time to time a good but +rather absurd lady, formerly a dancer, it was said, whom Felicia called +the Fairy. In the same way she used to have pet names for all the people +she cared for and whom she transformed in her imaginations. In the +holidays they used to see each other. Mme. Joyeuse, while she refused to +allow Aline to visit the studio of M. Ruys, used to invite Felicia over +for whole days, very short days they seemed, minglings of study, music, +dual dreams, young intimate conversations. "Oh, when she used to talk to +me of her art, with that enthusiasm which she put into everything, how +delighted I was to listen to her! How many things I have understood +through her, of which I should never have had any idea. Even now when we +go to the Louvre with papa, or to the exhibition of the 1st of May, +that special feeling I have about a beautiful piece of sculpture, a good +picture, carries me back immediately to Felicia. In my early girlhood +she represented art to me, and it corresponded with her beauty. Her +nature was a little vague, but so kind, I always felt she was something +superior to myself, that bore me to great heights without frightening +me. Suddenly she stopped coming to see me. I wrote to her; no reply. +Later on, fame came to her; to me great sorrows, absorbing duties. And +of all that friendship, which was very deep, however, since I cannot +speak of it without--'three, four, five'--nothing now remains except old +memories like dead ashes." + +Bending over her work, the brave girl made haste to count her stitches, +to imprison her regret in the capricious designs of her tapestry, while +de Gery, moved as he heard the testimony of those pure lips against the +calumnies of rejected young dandies or of jealous comrades, felt himself +raised, restored to the proud dignity of his love. This sensation was +so sweet to him that he returned in search of it very often, not only +on the evenings of the lessons, but on other evenings, too, and almost +forgot to go to see Felicia for the pleasure of hearing Aline talk about +her. + +One evening, as he was leaving the Joyeuses' home, Paul met the +neighbour, M. Andre, on the landing, who was waiting for him and took +his arm feverishly. + +"Monsieur de Gery," he said in a trembling voice, with eyes that +glittered behind their spectacles, the one feature of his face that was +visible in the darkness. "I have an explanation to ask from you. Will +you come up to my rooms for a moment?" + +There had only been between this young man and himself the banal +relations of two persons accustomed to frequent the same house, whom no +tie unites, who seem ever separated by a certain antipathy of nature, of +manner of life. What explanation could there be called for between them? +He followed him with much perplexed curiosity. + +The aspect of the little studio, chilly under its top-light, the empty +fireplace, the wind blowing as though they were out of doors and making +the candle flicker, the solitary light on the scene of the night's +labour of a poor and lonely man, reflected on sheets of paper scribbled +over and scattered about, in short, this atmosphere of habitations +wherein the soul of the inhabitants lives on its own aspirations, caused +de Gery to understand the visionary air of Andre Maranne, his long hair +thrown back and streaming loose, that somewhat excessive appearance, +very excusable when it is paid for by a life of sufferings and +privations, and his sympathy immediately went out to this courageous +fellow whose intrepidity of spirit he guessed at a glance. But the +other was too deeply moved by emotion to notice the progress of these +reflections. As soon as the door was closed upon them, he said, with the +accent of a stage hero addressing the perfidious seducer, "M. de Gery, I +am not yet a Cassandra." + +And seeing the stupefaction of de Gery: + +"Yes, yes," he went on, "we understand each other. I have known +perfectly well what it is that draws you to M. Joyeuse's house, and +the eager welcome with which you are received there has not escaped my +notice either. You are rich, you are of noble birth, there can be no +hesitation between you and the poor poet who follows a ridiculous trade +in order to give himself full time to reach a success which perhaps will +never come. But I shall not allow my happiness to be stolen from me. +We must fight, monsieur, we must fight," he repeated, excited by the +peaceful calm of his rival. "For long I have loved Mlle. Joyeuse. That +love is the end, the joy, and the strength of an existence which is very +hard, in many respects painful. I have only it in the world, and I would +rather die than give it up." + +Strangeness of the human soul! Paul did not love the charming Aline. His +whole heart belonged to the other. He thought of her simply as a friend, +the most adorable of friends. But the idea that Maranne was interested +in her, that she no doubt returned this regard, gave him the jealous +shiver of an annoyance, and it was with some considerable sharpness that +he inquired whether Mlle. Joyeuse was aware of this sentiment of Andre's +and had in any way authorized him thus to proclaim his rights. + +"Yes, monsieur, Mlle. Elise knows that I love her, and before your +frequent visits--" + +"Elise? It is of Elise you are speaking?" + +"And of whom, then, should I be speaking? The two others are too young." + +He fully entered into the traditions of the family, this Andre. For him, +Bonne Maman's age of twenty years, her triumphant grace, were obscured +by a surname full of respect and the attributes of a Providence which +seemed to cling to her. + +A very brief explanation having calmed Andre Maranne's mind, he offered +his apologies to de Gery, begged him to sit down in the arm-chair +of carved wood which was used by his sitters, and their conversation +quickly assumed an intimate and sympathetic character, brought about by +the so abrupt avowal at its opening. Paul confessed that he, too, was in +love, and that he came so often to M. Joyeuse's only in order to speak +of her whom he loved with Bonne Maman, who had known her formerly. + +"That is my case, too," said Andre. "Bonne Maman knows all my secrets; +but we have not yet ventured to say anything to the father. My position +is too unsatisfactory. Ah, when I shall have got _Revolt_ produced!" + +Then they talked of that famous drama, _Revolt_, upon which he had been +at work for six months, day and night, which had kept him warm all the +winter, a very severe winter, but whose rigours the magic of composition +had tempered in the little studio, which it transformed. It was there, +within that narrow space, that all the heroes of his piece had appeared +to his poet's vision like familiar gnomes dropped from the roof or +riding moon-beams, and with them the gorgeous tapestries, the glittering +chandeliers, the park scenes with their gleaming flights of steps, all +the luxurious circumstance expected in stage effects, as well as +the glorious tumult of his first night, the applause of which was +represented for him by the rain beating on the glass roof and the boards +rattling in the door, while the wind, driving below over the murky +timber-yard with a noise as of far-off voices, borne near and anew +carried off into the distance, resembled the murmurs from the boxes +opened on the corridor to let the news of his success circulate among +the gossip and wonderment of the crowd. It was not only fame and money +that it was destined to procure him, this thrice-blessed play, but +something also more precious still. With what care accordingly did he +not turn over the leaves of the manuscript in five thick books, all +bound in blue, books like those that the Levantine was accustomed to +strew about on the divan where she took her siestas, and that she marked +with her managerial pencil. + +Paul, having in his turn approached the table in order to examine the +masterpiece had his glance attracted by a richly framed portrait of a +woman, which, placed so near to the artist's work, seemed to be there to +preside over it. Elise, doubtless? Oh, no, Andre had not yet the right +to bring out from its protecting case the portrait of his little friend. +This was a woman of about forty, gentle of aspect, fair, and extremely +elegant. As he perceived her, de Gery could not suppress an exclamation. + +"You know her?" asked Andre Maranne. + +"Why, yes. Mme. Jenkins, the wife of the Irish doctor. I have had supper +at their house this winter." + +"She is my mother." And the young man added in a lower tone: + +"Mme. Maranne made a second marriage with Dr. Jenkins. You are +surprised, are you not, to see me in these poor surroundings, while my +relatives are living in the midst of luxury? But, you know, the chances +of family life sometimes group together natures that differ very widely. +My stepfather and I have never been able to understand each other. He +wished to make me a doctor, whereas my only taste was for writing. So at +last, in order to avoid the continual discussions which were painful to +my mother, I preferred to leave the house and plough my furrow alone, +without the help of anybody. A rough business. Funds were wanting. The +whole fortune has gone to that--to M. Jenkins. The question was to +earn a livelihood, and you are aware what a difficult thing that is for +people like ourselves, supposed to be well brought-up. To think that +among all the accomplishments gained from what we are accustomed to call +a complete education, this child's play was the only thing I could find +by which I could hope to earn my bread. A few savings, my own purse, +slender like that of most young men, served to buy my first outfit and +I installed myself here far away, in the remotest region of Paris, in +order not to embarrass my relatives. Between ourselves, I don't expect +to make a fortune out of photography. The first days especially were +very difficult. Nobody came, or if by chance some unfortunate wight did +mount, I made a failure of him, got on my plate only an image blurred +and vague as a phantom. One day, at the very beginning, a wedding-party +came up to me, the bride all in white, the bridegroom with a +waistcoat--like that! And all the guests in white gloves, which they +insisted on keeping on for the portrait on account of the rarity of such +an event with them. No, I thought I should go mad. Those black +faces, the great white patches made by the dresses, the gloves, the +orange-blossoms, the unlucky bride, looking like a queen of Niam-niam +under her wreath merging indistinguishably into her hair. And all of +them so full of good-will, of encouragements to the artist. I began them +over again at least twenty times, and kept them till five o'clock in the +evening. And then they only left me because it was time for dinner. Can +you imagine that wedding-day passed at a photographer's?" + +While Andre was recounting to him with this good humour the troubles of +his life, Paul recalled the tirade of Felicia that day when Bohemians +had been mentioned, and all that she had said to Jenkins of their lofty +courage, avid of privations and trials. He thought also of Aline's +passion for her beloved Paris, of which he himself was only acquainted, +for his part, with the unwholesome eccentricities, while the great city +hid in its recesses so many unknown heroisms and noble illusions. This +last impression, already experienced within the sheltered circle of the +Joyeuse's great lamp, he received perhaps still more vividly in this +atmosphere, less warm, less peaceful, wherein art also entered to add +its despairing or glorious uncertainty; and it was with a moved heart +that he listened to Andre Maranne as he spoke to him of Elise, of +the examinations which it was taking her so long to pass, of the +difficulties of photography, of all that unforeseen element in his life +which would end certainly "when he could have secured the production +of _Revolt_," a charming smile accompanying on the poet's lips this so +often expressed hope, which he was wont himself to hasten to make fun +of, as though to deprive others of the right to do so. + + + + +MEMOIRS OF AN OFFICE PORTER SERVANTS + +Truly Fortune in Paris has bewildering turns of the wheel! + +To have seen the Territorial Bank as I have seen it, the rooms without +fires, never swept, the desert with its dust, protested bills piled high +as _that_ on the desks, every week a notice of sale posted at the door, +my stew spreading throughout the whole place the odour of a poor man's +kitchen; and then to witness now the reconstitution of our company in +its newly furnished halls, in which I have orders to light fires big +enough for a Government department, amid a busy crowd, blowings of +whistles, electric bells, gold pieces piled up till they fall over; it +savours of miracle. I need to look at myself in the glass before I can +believe it, to see in the mirror my iron-gray coat, trimmed with silver, +my white tie, my usher's chain like the one I used to wear at the +Faculty on the days when there were sittings. And to think that to work +this transformation, to bring back to our brows gaiety, the mother of +concord, to restore to our scrip its value ten times over, to our dear +governor the esteem and confidence of which he had been so unjustly +deprived, one man has sufficed, the being of supernatural wealth whom +the hundred voices of renown designate by the name of the Nabob. + +Oh, the first time that he came to the office, with his fine presence, +his face a little worn perhaps, but so distinguished, his manners of one +accustomed to frequent courts, upon terms of the utmost familiarity with +all the princes of the Orient--in a word, that indescribable quality of +assurance and greatness which is bestowed by immense wealth--I felt my +heart bursting beneath the double row of buttons on my waistcoat. People +may mouth in vain their great words of equality and fraternity; there +are men who stand so surely above the rest that one would like to +bow one's self down flat in their presence, to find new phrases of +admiration in order to compel them to take a practical interest in one. +Let us hasten to add that I had need of nothing of the kind to attract +the attention of the Nabob. As I rose at his passage--moved to some +emotion, but with dignity, you may trust Passajon for that--he looked +at me with a smile and said in an undertone to the young man who +accompanied him: "What a fine head, like a--" Then there came a word +which I did not catch very well, a word ending in _art_, something like +_leopard_. No, however, it cannot have been that. _Jean-Bart_, perhaps, +although even then I hardly see the connection. However that be, in +any case he did say, "What a fine head," and this condescension made me +proud. Moreover, all the directors show me a marked degree of kindness +and politeness. It seems that there was a discussion with regard to me +at the meeting of the board, to determine whether I should be kept or +dismissed like our cashier, that ill-tempered fellow who was always +talking of getting everybody sent to the galleys, and whom they have +now invited to go elsewhere to manufacture his cheap shirt-fronts. +Well done! That will teach him to be rude to people. So far as I +am concerned, Monsieur the Governor kindly consented to overlook my +somewhat hasty words, in consideration of my record of service at the +Territorial and elsewhere; and at the conclusion of the board meeting, +he said to me with his musical accent: "Passajon, you remain with us." +It may be imagined how happy I was and how profuse in the expression +of my gratitude. But just think! I should have left with my few pence +without hope of ever saving any more; obliged to go and cultivate my +vineyard in that little country district of Montbars, a very narrow +field for a man who has lived in the midst of all the financial +aristocracy of Paris, and among those great banking operations by which +fortunes are made at a stroke. Instead of that, here I am established +afresh in a magnificent situation, my wardrobe renewed, and my savings, +which I spent a whole day in fingering over, intrusted to the kind +care of the governor, who has undertaken to invest them for me +advantageously. I think that is a manoeuvre which he is the very man +to execute successfully. And no need for the least anxiety. Every fear +vanishes before the word which is in vogue just now at all the councils +of administration, in all shareholders' meetings, on the Bourse, the +boulevards, and everywhere: "The Nabob is in the affair." That is to +say, gold is being poured out abundantly, the worst _combinazioni_ are +excellent. + +He is so rich, that man! + +Rich to a degree one cannot imagine. Has he not just lent fifteen +million francs as a simple loan passing from hand to hand, to the Bey +of Tunis? I repeat, fifteen millions. It was a trick he played on the +Hemerlingues, who wished to embroil him with that monarch and cut the +grass under his feet in those fine regions of the Orient where it grows +golden, high, and thick. It was an old Turk whom I know, Colonel Brahim, +one of our directors at the Territorial, who arranged the affair. +Naturally, the Bey, who happened to be, it appears, short of +pocket-money, was very much touched by the alacrity of the Nabob to +oblige him, and he has just sent him through Brahim a letter of thanks +in which he announces that upon the occasion of his next visit to +Vichy, he will stay a couple of days with him at that fine Chateau de +Saint-Romans, which the former Bey, the brother of this one, honoured +with a visit once before. You may fancy, what an honour! To receive a +reigning prince as a guest! The Hemerlingues are in a rage. They who had +manoeuvred so carefully--the son at Tunis, the father in Paris--to get +the Nabob into disfavour. And then it is true that fifteen millions is +a big sum. And do not say, "Passajon is telling us some fine tales." The +person who acquainted me with the story has held in his hands the paper +sent by the Bey in an envelope of green silk stamped with the royal +seal. If he did not read it, it was because this paper was written in +Arabic, otherwise he would have made himself familiar with its contents +as in the case of all the rest of the Nabob's correspondence. This +person is his _valet de chambre_, M. Noel, to whom I had the honour +of being introduced last Friday at a small evening-party of persons in +service which he gave to all his friends. I record an account of this +function in my memoirs as one of the most curious things which I have +seen in the course of my four years of sojourn in Paris. + +I had thought at first when M. Francis, Monpavon's _valet de chambre_, +spoke to me of the thing, that it was a question of one of those little +clandestine junketings such as are held sometimes in the garrets of our +boulevards with the fragments of food brought up by Mlle. Seraphine and +the other cooks in the building, at which you drink stolen wine, and +gorge yourself, sitting on trunks, trembling with fear, by the light +of a couple of candles which are extinguished at the least noise in the +corridors. These secret practices are repugnant to my character. But +when I received, as for the regular servants' ball, an invitation +written in a very beautiful hand upon pink paper: + +"M. Noel rekwests M---- to be present at his evenin-party on the 25th +instent. Super will be provided" + +I saw clearly, not withstanding the defective spelling, that it was a +question of something serious and authorized. I dressed myself therefore +in my newest frock-coat, my finest linen, and arrived at the Place +Vendome at the address indicated by the invitation. + +For the giving of his party, M. Noel had taken advantage of a +first-night at the opera, to which all fashionable society was +thronging, thus giving the servants a free rein, and putting the entire +place at our disposal until midnight. Notwithstanding this, the host +had preferred to receive us upstairs in his own bed-chamber, and this I +approved highly, being in that matter of the opinion of the old fellow +in the rhyme: + + Fie on the pleasure + That fear may corrupt! + +But my word, the luxury on the Place Vendome! A felt carpet on the +floor, the bed hidden away in an alcove, Algerian curtains with red +stripes, an ornamental clock in green marble on the chimneypiece, the +whole lighted by lamps of which the flames can be regulated at will. Our +oldest member, M. Chalmette, is not better lodged at Dijon. I arrived +about nine o'clock with Monpavon's old Francis, and I must confess that +my entry made a sensation, preceded as I was by my academical past, my +reputation for politeness, and great knowledge of the world. My fine +presence did the rest, for it must be said that I know how to go into a +room. M. Noel, in a dress-coat, very dark skinned and with mutton-chop +whiskers, came forward to meet us. + +"You are welcome, M. Passajon," said he, and taking my cap with silver +galloons which, according to the fashion, I had kept in my right hand +while making my entry, he gave it to a gigantic negro in red and gold +livery. + +"Here, Lakdar, hang that up--and that," he added by way of a joke, +giving him a kick in a certain region of the back. + +There was much laughter at this sally, and we began to chat together +in very friendly fashion. An excellent fellow, this M. Noel, with his +accent of the Midi, his pronounced style of dress, the smoothness and +the simplicity of his manners. He reminded me of the Nabob, without +his distinction, however. I noticed, moreover, that evening, that these +resemblances are frequently to be observed in _valets de chambre_ who, +living in the intimacy of their masters, by whom they are always a +little dazzled, end by acquiring their manners and habits. Thus, M. +Francis has a certain way of straightening his body when displaying his +linen-front, a mania for raising his arms in order to pull his cuffs +down--it is Monpavon to a T. Now one, for instance, who bears no +resemblance to his master is Joey, the coachman of Dr. Jenkins. I call +him Joey, but at the party every one called him Jenkins; for, in that +world, the stable folk among themselves give to each other the names +of their masters, call each other Bois l'Hery, Monpavon, and Jenkins, +without ceremony. Is it in order to degrade their superiors, to raise +the status of menials? Every country has its customs; it is only a fool +who will be surprised by them. To return to Joey Jenkins, how can the +doctor, affable as he is, so polished in every particular, keep in his +service that brute, bloated with _porter_ and _gin_, who will remain +silent for hours at a time, then, at the first mounting of liquor to +his head, begins to howl and to wish to fight everybody, as witness the +scandalous scene which had just occurred when we entered? + +The marquis's little groom, Tom Bois l'Hery, as they call him here, had +desired to have a jest with this uncouth creature of an Irishman, who +had replied to a bit of Parisian urchin's banter with a terrible Belfast +blow of his fist right in the lad's face. + +"A sausage with paws, I! A sausage with paws, I!" repeated the coachman, +choking with rage, while his innocent victim was being carried into the +adjoining room, where the ladies and girls found occupation in bathing +his nose. The disturbance was quickly appeased, thanks to our arrival, +thanks also to the wise words of M. Barreau, a middle-aged man, sedate +and majestic, with a manner resembling my own. He is the Nabob's cook, +a former _chef_ of the Cafe Anglais, whom Cardailhac, the manager of +the Nouveautes, has procured for his friend. To see him in a dress-coat, +with white tie, his handsome face full and clean-shaven, you would have +taken him for one of the great functionaries of the Empire. It is true +that a cook in an establishment where the table is set every morning +for thirty persons, in addition to madame's special meal, and all eating +only the very finest and most delicate of food, is not the same as the +ordinary preparer of a _ragout_. He is paid the salary of a colonel, +lodged, boarded, and then the perquisites! One has hardly a notion +of the extent of the perquisites in a berth like this. Every one +consequently addressed him respectfully, with the deference due to a man +of his importance. "M. Barreau" here, "My dear M. Barreau" there. For +it is a great mistake to imagine that servants among themselves are all +cronies and comrades. Nowhere do you find a hierarchy more prevalent +than among them. Thus at M. Noel's party I distinctly noticed that the +coachmen did not fraternize with their grooms, nor the valets with the +footmen and the lackeys, any more than the steward or the butler would +mix with the lower servants; and when M. Barreau emitted any little +pleasantry it was amusing to see how exceedingly those under his orders +seemed to enjoy it. I am not opposed to this kind of thing. Quite on +the contrary. As our oldest member used to say, "A society without +a hierarchy is like a house without a staircase." The observation, +however, seems to me one worth setting down in these memoirs. + +The party, I need scarcely say, did not shine with its full splendour +until after the return of its most beauteous ornaments, the ladies and +girls who had gone to nurse the little Tom, ladies'-maids with shining +and pomaded hair, chiefs of domestic departments in bonnets adorned with +ribbons, negresses, housekeepers, a brilliant assembly in which I was +immediately given great prestige, thanks to my dignified bearing and to +the surname of "Uncle" which the younger among these delightful persons +saw fit to bestow upon me. + +I fancy there was in the room a good deal of second-hand frippery in +the way of silk and lace, rather faded velvet, even, eight-button +gloves that had been cleaned several times, and perfumes abstracted from +madame's dressing-table, but the faces were happy, thoughts given wholly +to gaiety, and I was able to make a little corner for myself, which was +very lively, always within the bounds of propriety--that goes without +saying--and of a character suitable for an individual in my position. +This was, moreover, the general tone of the party. Until towards the end +of the entertainment I heard none of those unseemly jests, none of those +scandalous stories which give so much amusement to the gentlemen of +our Board; and I take pleasure in remarking that Bois l'Hery the +coachman--to cite only one example--is much more observant of the +proprieties than Bois l'Hery the master. + +M. Noel alone was conspicuous by his familiar tone and by the liveliness +of his repartees. In him you have a man who does not hesitate to call +things by their names. Thus he remarked aloud to M. Francis, from one +end of the room to the other: "I say, Francis, that old swindler of +yours has made a nice thing out of us again this week." And as the other +drew himself up with a dignified air, M. Noel began to laugh. + +"No offence, old chap. The coffer is solid. You will never get to the +bottom of it." + +And it was on this that he told us of the loan of fifteen millions, to +which I alluded above. + +I was surprised, however, to see no sign of preparation for the supper +which was mentioned on the cards of invitation, and I expressed my +anxiety on the point to one of my charming nieces, who replied: + +"They are waiting for M. Louis." + +"M. Louis?" + +"What! you do not know M. Louis, the _valet de chambre_ of the Duc de +Mora?" + +I then learned who this influential personage was, whose protection is +sought by prefects, senators, even ministers, and who must make them pay +stiffly for it, since with his salary of twelve hundred francs from +the duke he has saved enough to produce him an income of twenty-five +thousand, sends his daughters to the convent school of the Sacre Coeur, +his son to the College Bourdaloue, and owns a chalet in Switzerland +where all his family goes to stay during the holidays. + +At this juncture the personage in question arrived; but nothing in his +appearance would have suggested the unique position in Paris which is +his. Nothing of majesty in his deportment, a waistcoat buttoned up to +the collar, a mean-looking and insolent manner, and a way of speaking +without moving the lips which is very impolite to those who are +listening to you. + +He greeted the assembly with a slight nod of the head, extended a finger +to M. Noel, and we were sitting there looking at each other, frozen by +his grand manners, when a door opened at the farther end of the room and +we beheld the supper laid out with all kinds of cold meats, pyramids +of fruit, and bottles of all shapes beneath the light falling from two +candelabra. + +"Come, gentlemen, give the ladies your hands." In a minute we were at +table, the ladies seated next the eldest or the most important among +us all, the rest on their feet, serving, chattering, drinking from +everybody's glass, picking a morsel from any plate. I had M. Francis +for my neighbour and I had to listen to his grudges against M. Louis, of +whose place he was envious, so brilliant was it in comparison with that +which he occupied under the noble but worn-out old gambler who was his +master. + +"He is a _parvenu_," he muttered to me in a low voice. "He owes his +fortune to his wife, to Mme. Paul." + +It appears that this Mme. Paul is a housekeeper, who has been in the +duke's establishment for twenty years, and who excels beyond all others +in the preparation for him of a certain ointment for an affection to +which he is subject. She is indispensable to Mora. Recognising this, M. +Louis made love to the old lady, married her though much younger than +she, and in order not to lose his sick-nurse and her ointments, his +excellency engaged the husband as _valet de chambre_. At bottom, in +spite of what I said to M. Francis, for my own part I thought the +proceeding quite praiseworthy and conformable to the loftiest morality, +since the mayor and the priest had a finger in it. Moreover, that +excellent meal, composed of delicate and very expensive foods with +which I was unacquainted even by name, had strongly disposed my mind to +indulgence and good-humour. But every one was not similarly inclined, +for from the other side of the table I could hear the bass voice of M. +Barreau, complaining: + +"Why can he not mind his own business? Do I go pushing my nose into +his department? To begin with, the thing concerns Bompain, not him. And +then, after all, what is it that I am charged with? The butcher sends me +five baskets of meat every morning. I use only two of them and sell the +three others back to him. Where is the _chef_ who does not do the same? +As if, instead of coming to play the spy in my basement, he would not +do better to look after the great leakage up there. When I think that +in three months that gang on the first floor has smoked twenty-eight +thousand francs' worth of cigars. Twenty-eight thousand francs! Ask +Noel if I am not speaking the truth. And on the second floor, in the +apartments of madame, that is where you should look to see a fine +confusion of linen, of dresses thrown aside after being worn once, +jewels by the handful, pearls that you crush on the floor as you walk. +Oh, but wait a little. I shall get my own back from that same little +gentleman." + +I understood that the allusion was to M. de Gery, that young secretary +of the Nabob who often comes to the Territorial, where he is always +occupied rummaging into the books. Very polite, certainly, but a very +haughty young man, who does not know how to push himself forward. From +all round the table there came nothing but a concert of maledictions +on him. M. Louis himself addressed some remarks to the company upon the +subject with his grand air: + +"In our establishment, my dear M. Barreau, the cook quite recently had +an affair, similar to yours, with the chief of his excellency's Cabinet, +who had permitted himself to make some comments upon the expenditure. +The cook went up to the duke's apartments upon the instant in his +professional costume, and with his hand on the strings of his apron, +said, 'Let your excellency choose between monsieur and myself.' The duke +did not hesitate. One can find as many Cabinet leaders as one desires, +while the good cooks, you can count them. There are in Paris four +altogether. I include you, my dear Barreau. We dismissed the chief +of our Cabinet, giving him a prefecture of the first class by way of +consolation; but we kept the _chef_ of our kitchen." + +"Ah, you see," said M. Barreau, who rejoiced to hear this story, +"you see what it is to serve in the house of a _grand seigneur_. But +_parvenus_ are _parvenus_--what will you have?" + +"And that is all Jansoulet is," added M. Francis, tugging at his cuffs. +"A man who used to be a street porter at Marseilles." + +M. Noel took offence at this. + +"Hey, down there, old Francis, you are very glad all the same to have +him to pay your card-debts, the street porter of La Cannebriere. You may +well be embarrassed by _parvenus_ like us who lend millions to kings, +and whom _grand seigneurs_ like Mora do not blush to admit to their +tables." + +"Oh, in the country," chuckled M. Francis, with a sneer that showed his +old tooth. + +The other rose, quite red in the face. He was about to give way to his +anger when M. Louis made a gesture with his hand to signify that he had +something to say, and M. Noel sat down immediately, putting his hand to +his ear like all the rest of us in order to lose nothing that fell from +those august lips. + +"It is true," remarked the personage, speaking with the slightest +possible movement of his mouth and continuing to take his wine in little +sips, "it is true that we received the Nabob at Grandbois the other +week. There even happened something very funny on the occasion. We have +a quantity of mushrooms in the second park, and his excellency amuses +himself sometimes by gathering them. Now at dinner was served a large +dish of fungi. There were present, what's his name--I forget, what is +it?--Marigny, the Minister of the Interior, Monpavon, and your master, +my dear Noel. The mushrooms went the round of the table, they looked +nice, the gentlemen helped themselves freely, except M. le Duc, who +cannot digest them and out of politeness feels it his duty to remark to +his guests: 'Oh, you know, it is not that I am suspicious of them. They +are perfectly safe. It was I myself who gathered them.' + +"'_Sapristi!_' said Monpavon, laughing, 'then, my dear Auguste, allow me +to be excused from tasting them.' Marigny, less familiar, glanced at his +plate out of the corner of his eye. + +"'But, yes, Monpavon, I assure you. They look extremely good, these +mushrooms. I am truly sorry that I have no appetite left.' + +"The duke remained very serious. + +"'Come, M. Jansoulet, I sincerely hope that you are not going to offer +me this affront, you also. Mushrooms selected by myself.' + +"'Oh, Excellency, the very idea of such a thing! Why, I would eat them +with my eyes closed.' + +"So you see what sort of luck he had, the poor Nabob, the first time +that he dined with us. Duperron, who was serving opposite him, told us +all about it in the pantry. It seems there could have been nothing more +comic than to see the Jansoulet stuffing himself with mushrooms, and +rolling terrified eyes, while the others sat watching him curiously +without touching their plates. He sweated under the effort, poor wretch. +And the best of it was that he took a second portion, he actually found +the courage to take a second portion. He kept drinking off glasses of +wine, however, like a mason, between each mouthful. Ah, well, do you +wish to hear my opinion? What he did there was very clever, and I am no +longer surprised that this fat cow-herd should have become the +favourite of sovereigns. He knows where to flatter them in those little +pretensions which no man avows. In brief, the duke has been crazy over +him since that day." + +This little story caused much laughter and scattered the clouds which +had been raised by a few imprudent words. So then, since the wine had +untied people's tongues, and they knew each other better, elbows were +leaned on the table and the conversation fell on masters, on the places +in which each of them had served, on the amusing things he had seen in +them. Ah! of how many such adventures did I not hear, how much of the +interior life of those establishments did I not see pass before me. +Naturally I also made my own little effect with the story of my larder +at the Territorial, the times when I used to keep my stew in the empty +safe, which circumstance, however, did not prevent our old cashier, a +great stickler for forms, from changing the key-word of the lock every +two days, as though all the treasures of the Bank of France had been +inside. M. Louis appeared to find my anecdote entertaining. But the +most astonishing was what the little Bois l'Hery, with his Parisian +street-boy's accent, related to us concerning the household of his +employers. + +Marquis and Marquise de Bois l'Hery, second floor, Boulevard Haussmann. +Furniture rich as at the Tuileries, blue satin on all the walls, +Chinese ornaments, pictures, curiosities, a veritable museum, indeed, +overflowing even on to the stairway. The service very smart: six +men-servants, chestnut livery in winter, nankeen livery in summer. +These people are seen everywhere at the small Mondays, at the races, at +first-nights, at embassy balls, and their name always in the newspapers +with a remark upon the handsome toilettes of Madame, and Monsieur's +remarkable chic. Well! all that is nothing at all but pretence, plated +goods, show, and when the marquis wants five francs nobody would +lend them to him upon his possessions. The furniture is hired by +the fortnight from Fitily, the upholsterer of the demi-monde. The +curiosities, the pictures, belong to old Schwalbach, who sends his +clients round there and makes them pay doubly dear, since people don't +bargain when they think they are dealing with a marquis, an amateur. +As for the toilettes of the marquise, the milliner and the dressmaker +provide her with them each season gratis, get her to wear the new +fashions, a little ridiculous sometimes but which society subsequently +adopts because Madame is still a very handsome woman and reputed for +her elegance; she is what is called a _launcher_. Finally, the servants! +Makeshifts like the rest, changed each week at the pleasure of the +registry office which sends them there to do a period of probation by +way of preliminary to a serious engagement. If you have neither sureties +nor certificates, if you have just come out of prison or anything of +that kind, Glanand, the famous agent of the Rue de la Paix, sends you +off to the Boulevard Haussmann. You remain in service there for a +week or two, just the time necessary to buy a good reference from the +marquis, who, of course, it is understood, pays you nothing and barely +boards you; for in that house the kitchen-ranges are cold most of the +time, Monsieur and Madame dining out nearly every evening or going to +balls, where a supper is included in the entertainment. It is positive +fact that there are people in Paris who take the sideboard seriously and +make the first meal of their day after midnight. The Bois l'Herys, in +consequence, are well-informed with regard to the houses that provide +refreshments. They will tell you that you get a very good supper at the +Austrian Embassy, that the Spanish Embassy rather neglects the wines, +and that it is at the Foreign Office again that you find the best +_chaud-froid de volailles_. And that is the life of this curious +household. Nothing that they possess is really theirs; everything is +tacked on, loosely fastened with pins. A gust of wind and the whole +thing blows away. But at least they are certain of losing nothing. It is +this assurance which gives to the marquis that air of raillery worthy of +a Father Tranquille which he has when he looks at you with both hands in +his pockets, as much as to say: "Ah, well, and what then? What can they +do to me?" + +And the little groom, in the attitude which I have just mentioned, with +his head like that of a prematurely old and vicious child, imitated his +master so well that I could fancy I saw himself as he looks at our board +meetings, standing in front of the governor and overwhelming him with +his cynical pleasantries. All the same, one must admit that Paris is +a tremendously great city, for a man to be able to live thus, through +fifteen, twenty years of tricks, artifice, dust thrown in people's eyes, +without everybody finding him out, and for him still to be able to make +a triumphal entry into a drawing-room in the rear of his name announced +loudly and repeatedly, "Monsieur le Marquis de Bois l'Hery." + +No, look you, the things that are to be learned at a servants' party, +what a curious spectacle is presented by the fashionable world of Paris, +seen thus from below, from the basements, you need to go to one +before you can realize. Here, for instance, is a little fragment of +conversation which, happening to find myself between M. Francis and M. +Louis, I overheard about the worthy sire de Monpavon. + +"You are making a mistake, Francis. You are in funds just now. You +ought to take advantage of the occasion to restore that money to the +Treasury." + +"What will you have?" replied M. Francis with a despondent air. "Play is +devouring us." + +"Yes, I know it well. But take care. We shall not always be there. We +may die, fall from power. Then you will be asked for accounts by the +people down yonder. And it will be a terrible business." + +I had often heard whispered the story of a forced loan of two hundred +thousand francs which the marquis was reputed to have secured from the +State at the time when he was Receiver-General; but the testimony of his +_valet de chambre_ was worse than all. Ah! if masters had any suspicion +of how much servants know, of all the stories that are told in the +servants' hall, if they could see their names dragged among the +sweepings of the house and the refuse of the kitchen, they would never +again dare to say even "shut the door" or "harness the horses." Why, for +instance, take Dr. Jenkins, with the most valuable practice in Paris, +ten years of life in common with a magnificent woman, who is sought +after everywhere; it is in vain that he has done everything to +dissimulate his position, announced his marriage in the newspapers after +the English fashion, admitted to his house only foreign servants knowing +hardly three words of French. In those three words, seasoned with vulgar +oaths and blows of his fist on the table, his coachman Joey, who hates +him, told us his whole history during supper. + +"She is going to kick the bucket, his Irish wife, the real one. Remains +to be seen now whether he will marry the other. Forty-five, she is, Mrs. +Maranne, and not a shilling. You should see how afraid she is of being +left in the lurch. Whether he marries her or whether he does not marry +her--kss, kss--we shall have a good laugh." + +And the more drink he was given, the more he told us about her, speaking +of his unfortunate mistress as though she were the lowest of the low. +For my own part, I confess that she interested me, this false Mme. +Jenkins, who goes about weeping in every corner, implores her lover +as though he were the executioner, and runs the chance of being thrown +overboard altogether, when all society believes her to be married, +respectable, and established in life. The others only laughed over the +story, the women especially. Dame! it is amusing when one is in service +to see that the ladies of the upper ten have their troubles also and +torments that keep them awake at night. + +Our festal board at this stage presented the most lively aspect, a +circle of gay faces stretched towards this Irishman whose story was +adjudged to have won the prize. The fact excited envy; the rest sought +and hunted through their memories for whatever they might hold in the +way of old scandals, adventures of deceived husbands, of those intimate +privacies which are emptied on the kitchen-table along with the scraps +from the plates and the dregs from the bottles. The champagne was +beginning to claim its own among the guests. Joey wanted to dance a jig +on the table-cloth. The ladies, at the least word that was a little gay, +threw themselves back with the piercing laughter of people who are being +tickled, allowing their embroidered skirts to trail beneath the table, +loaded with the remains of the food and covered with spilt grease. M. +Louis had discreetly retired. Glasses were filled up before they had +been emptied; one of the housekeepers dipped a handkerchief in hers, +filled with water, and bathed her forehead with it, because her head was +swimming, she said. It was time that the festivity should end; and, +in fact, an electric bell ringing in the corridor warned us that the +footman, on duty at the theatre, had come to summon the coachmen. +Thereupon Monpavon proposed the health of the master of the house, +thanking him for his little party. M. Noel announced that he proposed +to give another at Saint-Romans, in honour of the visit of the Bey, to +which most of those present would probably be invited. And I was about +to rise in my turn, being sufficiently accustomed to social banquets +to know that on such an occasion the oldest man present is expected to +propose the health of the ladies, when the door opened abruptly, and +a tall footman, bespattered with mud, a dripping umbrella in his hand, +perspiring, out of breath, cried to us, without respect for the company: + +"But come on then, you set of idiots! What are you sticking here for? +Don't you know it is over?" + + + + +THE FESTIVITIES IN HONOUR OF THE BEY + +In the regions of the Midi, of bygone civilization, historical castles +still standing are rare. Only at long intervals on the hillsides some +old abbey lifts its tottering and dismembered front, perforated by holes +that once were windows, whose empty spaces look now only to the sky. +A monument of dust, burnt up by the sun, dating from the time of the +Crusades or of the Courts of Love, without a trace of man among its +stones, where even the ivy no longer clings nor the acanthus, but which +the dried lavenders and the ferns embalm. In the midst of all those +ruins the castle of Saint-Romans is an illustrious exception. If you +have travelled in the Midi you have seen it, and you are to see it again +now. It is between Valence and Montelimart, on a site just where the +railway runs alongside the Rhone, at the foot of the rich slopes +of Baume, Raucoule, and Mercurol, where the far-famed vineyards of +l'Ermitage, spreading out for five miles in close-planted rows of vines, +which seem to grow as one looks, roll down almost into the river, which +is there as green and full of islands as the Rhine at Basle, but under +a sun the Rhine has never known. Saint-Romans is opposite on the other +side of the river; and, in spite of the brevity of the vision, the +headlong rush of the train, which seems trying to throw itself madly +into the Rhone at each turning, the castle is so large, so well situated +on the neighbouring hill, that it seems to follow the crazy race of the +train, and stamps on your mind forever the memory of its terraces, its +balustrades, its Italian architecture; two low stories surmounted by a +colonnaded gallery and flanked by two slate-roofed pavilions dominating +the great slopes where the water of the cascades rebounds, the network +of gravel walks, the perspective of long hedges, terminated by some +white statue which stands out against the blue sky as on the luminous +ground of a stained-glass window. Quite at the top, in the middle of the +vast lawns whose green turf shines ironically under the scorching sun, +a gigantic cedar uplifts its crested foliage, enveloped in black and +floating shadows--an exotic silhouette, upright before this former +dwelling of some Louis XIV farmer of revenue, which makes one think of a +great negro carrying the sunshade of a gentleman of the court. + +From Valence to Marseilles, throughout all the Valley of the Rhone, +Saint-Romans of Bellaignes is famous as an enchanted palace; and, +indeed, in that country burnt up by the fiery wind, this oasis of +greenness and beautiful rushing water is a true fairy-land. + +"When I am rich, mamma," Jansoulet used to say, as quite a small boy, +to his mother whom he adored, "I shall give you Saint-Romans of +Bellaignes." And as the life of the man seemed the fulfilment of a story +from the Arabian Nights, as all his wishes came true, even the most +disproportionate, as his maddest chimeras came to lie down before him, +to lick his hands like familiar and obedient spaniels, he had bought +Saint-Romans to offer it, newly furnished and grandiosely restored, to +his mother. Although it was ten years since then, the dear old woman was +not yet used to her splendid establishment. "It is the palace of Queen +Jeanne that you have given me, my dear Bernard," she wrote to her son. +"I shall never live there." She never did live there, as a matter of +fact, having stayed at the steward's house, an isolated building of +modern construction, situated quite at the other end of the grounds, +so as to overlook the outbuildings and the farm, the sheepfolds and the +oil-mills, with their rural horizon of stacks, olive-trees and vines, +extending over the plain as far as one could see. In the great castle +she would have imagined herself a prisoner in one of those enchanted +dwellings where sleep seizes you in the midst of your happiness and +does not let you go for a hundred years. Here, at least, the +peasant-woman--who had never been able to accustom herself to +this colossal fortune, come too late, from too far, and like a +thunder-clap--felt herself linked to reality by the coming and going of +the work-people, the letting-out and taking-in of the cattle, their slow +movement to the drinking pond, all that pastoral life which woke her by +the familiar call of the cocks and the sharp cries of the peacocks, and +brought her down the corkscrew staircase of the pavilion before dawn. +She looked upon herself only as the trustee of this magnificent estate, +which she was taking care of for her son, and wished to give back to him +in perfect condition on the day when, rich enough and tired of living +with the Turks, he would come, according to his promise, to live with +her beneath the shade of Saint-Romans. + +Then, too, what universal and indefatigable supervision! Through the +mists of early morning the farm-servants heard her rough and husky +voice: "Olivier, Peyrol, Audibert. Come on! It is four o'clock." Then +she would hasten to the immense kitchen, where the maids, heavy with +sleep, were heating the porridge over the crackling, new-lit fire. +They gave her a little dish of red Marseilles-ware full of boiled +chestnuts--frugal breakfast of bygone times, which nothing would have +induced her to change. At once she was off, hurrying with great strides, +her large silver keyring at her belt, whence jingled all her keys, her +plate in her hand, balanced by the distaff which she held, in working +order, under her arm, for she spun all day long, and did not stop even +to eat her chestnuts. On the way, a glance at the stables, still dark, +where the animals were moving duly, at the stifling pens with their rows +of impatient and outstretched muzzles; and the first glimmers of light +creeping over the layers of stones that supported the embankment of the +park, lit up the figure of the old woman, running in the dew, with the +lightness of a girl, despite her seventy years--verifying exactly each +morning all the wealth of the domain, anxious to make sure that the +night had not taken away the statues and the vases, uprooted the +hundred-year-old quincunx, dried up the springs which filtered into +their resounding basins. Then the full sunlight of midday, humming and +vibrating, showed still, on the sand of an alley, against the white wall +of a terrace, the long figure of the old woman, elegant and straight +as her spindle, picking up bits of dead wood, breaking off some uneven +branch of a shrub, careless of the shock it caused her and the sweat +which broke out over her skin. Towards this hour another figure was to +be seen in the park also--less active, less noisy, dragging rather than +walking, leaning against the walls and railings--a poor round-shouldered +being, shaky and stiff, a figure from which life seemed to have gone +out, never speaking, when he was tired giving a little plaintive cry +towards the servant, who was always near, who helped him to sit down, to +crouch upon some step, where he would stay for hours, motionless, mute, +his mouth hanging, his eyes blinking, hushed by the strident monotony of +the grasshopper's cry--a blotch of humanity in the splendid horizon. + +This, this was the first-born, Bernard's brother, the darling child of +his father and mother, the glorious hope of the nail-maker's family. +Slaves, like so many others in the Midi, to the superstition of the +rights of primogeniture, they had made every possible sacrifice to send +to Paris their fine, ambitious lad, who set out assured of success, the +admiration of all the young women of the town; and Paris, after having +for six years, beaten, twisted, and squeezed in its great vat the +brilliant southern stripling, after having burnt him with all its +vitriol, rolled him in all its mud, finished by sending him back in +this state of wreckage, stupefied and paralyzed--killing his father with +sorrow, and forcing his mother to sell her all, and live as a sort of +char-woman in the better-class houses of her own country-side. Lucky it +was that just then, when this broken piece of humanity, discharged +from all the hospitals of Paris, was sent back by public charity to +Bourg-Saint-Andeol, Bernard--he whom they called Cadet, as in these +southern families, half Arab as they are, the eldest always takes the +family name, and the last-comer that of Cadet--Bernard was at Tunis +making his fortune, and sending home money regularly. But what pain it +was for the poor mother to owe everything, even the life, the comfort +of the sad invalid, to the robust and courageous boy whom his father and +she had loved without any tenderness; who, since he was five years old, +they had treated as a "hand," because he was very strong, woolly-headed, +and ugly, and even then knew better than any one in the house how to +deal in old nails. Ah! how she longed to have him near her, her Cadet, +to make some return to him for all the good he did, to pay at last the +debt of love and motherly tenderness that she owed him! + +But, you see, these princely fortunes have the burdens, the wearinesses +of royal lives. This poor mother, in her dazzling surroundings, was very +like a real queen: familiar with long exiles, cruel separations, and the +trials which detract from greatness; one of her sons forever stupefied, +the other far away, seldom writing, absorbed in his business, saying, +"I will come," and never coming. She had only seen him once in twelve +years, and then in the whirl of a visit of the Bey to Saint-Romans--a +rush of horses and carriages, of fireworks, and of banquets. He had gone +in the suite of his monarch, having scarcely time to say good-bye to his +old mother, to whom there remained of this great joy only a few pictures +in the illustrated papers, showing Bernard Jansoulet arriving at the +castle with Ahmed, and presenting his mother. Is it not thus that kings +and queens have their family feelings exploited in the journals? There +was also a cedar of Lebanon, brought from the other end of the world, a +regular mountain of a tree, whose transport had been as difficult and as +costly as that of Cleopatra's needle, and whose erection as a souvenir +of the royal visit by dint of men, money, and teams had shaken the very +foundations. But this time, at least, knowing him to be in France for +several months--perhaps for good--she hoped to have her Bernard to +herself. And now he returned to her, one fine evening, enveloped in the +same triumphant glory, in the same official display, surrounded by a +crowd of counts, of marquises, of fine gentlemen from Paris, filling, +they and their servants, the two large wagonettes she had sent to meet +them at the little station of Giffas on the other side of the Rhone. + +"Come, give me a kiss, my dear mother. There is nothing to be ashamed +of in giving a good hug to the boy you haven't seen all these years. +Besides, all these gentlemen are our friends. This is the Marquis +de Monpavon, the Marquis de Bois d'Hery. Ah! the time is past when +I brought you to eat vegetable soup with us, little Cabassu and +Jean-Batiste Bompain. You know M. de Gery? With my old friend +Cardailhac, whom I now present, that makes the first batch. There are +others to come. Prepare yourself for a fine upsetting. We entertain the +Bey in four days." + +"The Bey again!" said the old woman, astounded. "I thought he was dead." + +Jansoulet and his guests could not help laughing at this comical terror, +accentuated by her southern intonation. + +"It is another, mamma. There is always a Bey--thank goodness. But +don't be afraid. You won't have so much bother this time. Our friend +Cardailhac has undertaken everything. We are going to have magnificent +celebrations. In the meantime, quick--dinner and our rooms. Our +Parisians are worn out." + +"Everything is ready, my son," said the old lady quietly, stiff and +straight under her Cambrai cap, the head-dress with its yellowing flaps, +which she never left off even for great occasions. Good fortune had not +changed her. She was a true peasant of the Rhone valley, independent and +proud, without any of the sly humilities of Balzac's country folk, too +artless to be purse-proud. One pride alone she had--that of showing her +son with what scrupulous care she had discharged her duties as guardian. +Not an atom of dust, not a trace of damp on the walls. All the splendid +ground-floor, the reception-rooms with their hangings of iridescent silk +new out of the dust sheets, the long summer galleries cool and sonorous, +paved with mosaics and furnished with a flowery lightness in the +old-fashioned style, with Louis XIV sofas in cane and silk, the immense +dining-room decorated with palms and flowers, the billiard-room with its +rows of brilliant ivory balls, its crystal chandeliers and its suits +of armour--all the length of the castle, through its tall windows, wide +open to the stately terrace, lay displayed for the admiration of the +visitors. The marvellous beauty of the horizon and the setting sun, its +own serene and peaceful richness, were reflected in the panes of glass +and in the waxed and polished wood with the same clearness as in the +mirror-like ornamental lakes, the pictures of the poplars and the swans. +The setting was so lovely, the whole effect so grand, that the clamorous +and tasteless luxury melted away, disappeared, even to the most +hypercritical eyes. + +"There is something to work on," said Cardailhac, the manager, his glass +in his eye, his hat on one side, combining already his stage-effect. +And the haughty air of Monpavon, whom the head-dress of the old woman +receiving them on the terrace had shocked, gave way to a condescending +smile. Here was something to work on, certainly, and, guided by persons +of taste, their friend Jansoulet could really give his Moorish Highness +an exceedingly suitable reception. All the evening they talked of +nothing else. In the sumptuous dining-room, their elbows on the table, +full of meat and drink, they planned and discussed. Cardailhac, who had +great ideas, had already his plan complete. + +"First of all, you give me _carte-blanche_, don't you, Nabob? +_Carte-blanche_, old fellow, and make that fat Hemerlingue burst with +envy." + +Then the manager explained his scheme. The festivities were to be +divided into days, as at Vaux, when Fouquet entertained Louis XIV. One +day a play; another day Provencal games, dances, bull-fights, +local bands; the third day--And already the manager's hand sketched +programmes, announcements; while Bois l'Hery slept, his hands in his +pockets, his chair tilted back, his cigar sunk in the corner of +his sneering mouth; and the Marquis de Monpavon, always on his best +behaviour, straightened his shirt-front to keep himself awake. + +De Gery had left them early. He had sought refuge beside the old +mother--who had known him as a boy, him and his brothers--in the humble +parlour of the brightly decorated, white-curtained house, where the +Nabob's mother tried to perpetuate her humble past with the help of a +few relics saved from its wreck. + +Paul chatted quietly with the fine old woman, admiring her severe and +regular features, her white hair massed together like the hemp of her +distaff, as she sat holding herself straight in her seat--never in her +life having leaned back or sat in an arm-chair--a little green shawl +folded tightly across her flat breast. He called her Francoise, and she +called him M. Paul. They were old friends. And guess what they talked +about? Of her grandchildren, of Bernard's three sons, whom she did not +know and so much longed to know. + +"Ah, M. Paul, if you knew how I long to see them! I should have been +so happy if he had brought them, my three little ones, instead of these +fine gentlemen. Think, I have never seen them, only their portraits +which are over there. I am a little afraid of their mother, she is quite +a great lady, a Miss Afchin. But them, the children, I am sure they are +not proud, and they would love their old granny. It would be like having +their father a little boy again, and I would give to them what I did not +give to him. You see, M. Paul, parents are not always just. They have +their favourites. But God is just, he is. The ones that are most petted +and spoiled at the expense of the others, you should see what he does to +them for you! And the favour of the old often brings misfortune to the +young!" + +She sighed, looking towards the large recess from behind the curtains of +which there came, at intervals, a long sobbing breath like the sleeping +wail of a beaten child who has cried bitterly. + +A heavy step on the staircase, a loud, sweet voice saying, very softly, +"It is I; don't move," and Jansoulet appeared. He knew his mother's +habits, how her lamp was the last to go out, so when every one in the +castle was in bed, he came to see her, to chat with her for a little, to +rejoice her heart with an affection he could not show before the others. +"Oh, stay, my dear Paul; we don't mind you," and once more a child in +his mother's presence, with loving gestures and words that were really +touching, the huge man threw himself on the ground at her feet. She was +very happy to have him there, so dearly near, but she was just a little +shy. She looked upon him as an all-powerful being, extraordinary, +raising him, in her simplicity, to the greatness of an Olympian +commanding the thunder and lightning. She spoke to him, asking about his +friends, his business, but not daring to put the question she had asked +de Gery: "Why haven't my grandchildren come?" But he spoke of them +himself. "They are at school, mother. Whenever the holidays begin they +shall be sent with Bompain. You remember Jean-Baptiste Bompain? And you +shall keep them for two long months. They will come to you and make you +tell them stories, and they will go to sleep with their heads on your +lap--there, like that." + +And he himself, putting his heavy, woolly head on her knee, remembered +the happy evenings of his childhood when he would go to sleep so, if she +would let him, and his brother had not taken up all the room. He tasted +for the first time since his return to France a few minutes of delicious +peace away from his restless and artificial life, as he lay pressed to +his old mother's heart, in the deep silence of night and of the country +which one feels hovering over him in limitless space; the only sounds +the beating of that old faithful heart and the swing of the pendulum of +the ancient clock in the corner. Suddenly came the same long sigh, as of +a child fallen asleep sobbing. Jansoulet lifted his head and looked at +his mother, and softly asked: "Is it--?" "Yes," she said, "I make him +sleep there. He might need me in the night." + +"I would like to see him, to embrace him." + +"Come, then." She rose very gravely, took the lamp and went to the +alcove, of which she softly drew the large curtain, making a sign to her +son to draw near quietly. + +He was sleeping. And no doubt something lived in him while he slept that +was not there when he waked, for instead of the flaccid immobility in +which he was congealed all day, he was now shaken by sudden starts, and +on the inexpressive and death-like face there were lines of pain and the +contractions of suffering life. Jansoulet, much affected, looked long +at those wasted features, faded and sickly, where the beard grew with a +surprising vigour. Then he bent down, put his lips to the damp brow, and +feeling him move, said very gravely and respectfully, as one speaks to +the head of the family, "Good-night, my brother." Perhaps the captive +soul had heard it from the depths of its dark and abject limbo. For the +lips moved and a long moan answered him, a far-away wail, a despairing +cry, which filled with helpless tears the glance exchanged between +Francoise and her son, and tore from them both the same cry in which +their sorrow met, "Pecaire," the local word which expressed all pity and +all tenderness. + +The next day, from early morning, the commotion began with the arrival +of the actors, an avalanche of hats and wigs and big boots, of short +skirts and affected cries, of floating veils and fresh make-ups. The +women were in a great majority, as Cardailhac thought that for a Bey +the play was of little consequence, and that all that was needful was to +have catchy tunes in pretty mouths, to show fine arms and shapely legs +in the easy costume of light opera. All the well-made celebrities of his +theatre were there, Amy Ferat at the head of them, a bold young woman +who had already had her teeth in the gold of several crowns. There +were two or three well-known men whose pale faces made the same kind of +chalky and spectral spots amid the green of the trees as the plaster of +the statues. All these people, enlivened by the journey, the surprise of +the country, the overflowing hospitality, as well as the hope of making +something out of this sojourn of Beys and Nabobs and other gilded fools, +wanted only to play, to jest and sing with the vulgar boisterousness +of a crew of freshly discharged Seine boatmen. But Cardailhac meant +otherwise. No sooner were they unpacked, freshened up, and luncheon over +than, quick, the parts, the rehearsals! There was no time to lose. They +worked in the small drawing-room next the summer gallery, where the +theatre was already being fitted up; and the noise of hammers, the songs +from the burlesque, the shrill voices, the conductor's fiddle, mingled +with the loud trumpet-like calls of the peacocks, and rose upon the hot +southern wind, which, not recognising it as only the mad rattle of its +own grasshoppers, shook it all disdainfully on the trailing tip of its +wings. + +Seated in the centre of the terrace, as in the stage-box of his theatre, +Cardailhac watched the rehearsals, gave orders to a crowd of workmen +and gardeners, had trees cut down as spoiling the view, designed the +triumphal arches, sent off telegrams, express messengers to mayors, to +sub-prefects, to Arles--to arrange for a deputation of girls in national +costume; to Barbantane, where the best dancers are; to Faraman, famous +for its wild bulls and Camargue horses. And as the name of Jansoulet, +joined to that of the Bey of Tunis, flared at the end of all these +messages, on all sides they hastened to obey; the telegraph wires were +never still, messengers wore out horses on the roads. And this little +Sardanapalus of the stage called Cardailhac repeated ever, "There's +something to work on here," happy to scatter gold at random like +handfuls of seed, to have a stage of forty leagues to stir about--the +whole of Provence, of which this rabid Parisian was a native and whose +picturesque resources he knew to the core. + +Dispossessed of her office, the old mother never appeared. She occupied +herself with the farm, and her invalid. She was terrified by this crowd +of visitors, these insolent servants whom it was difficult to know from +the masters, these women with their impudent and elegant airs, these +clean-shaven men who looked like bad priests--all these mad-caps who +chased each other at night in the corridors with pillows, with wet +sponges, with curtain tassels they had torn down, for weapons. Even +after dinner she no longer had her son; he was obliged to stay with his +guests, whose number grew each day as the _fetes_ approached; not even +the resource of talking to M. Paul about her grandchildren was left, for +Jansoulet, a little embarrassed by the seriousness of his friend, +had sent him to spend a few days with his brothers. And the careful +housekeeper, to whom they came every minute asking the keys for linen, +for a room, for extra silver, thought of her piles of beautiful dishes, +of the sacking of her cupboards and larders, remembered the state +in which the old Bey's visit had left the castle, devastated as by a +cyclone, and said in her _patois_ as she feverishly wet the linen on her +distaff: "May lightning strike them, this Bey and all the Beys!" + +At last the day came, the great day which is still spoken of in all the +country-side. Towards three o'clock in the afternoon, after a sumptuous +luncheon at which the old mother presided, this time in a new cap, over +a company composed of Parisian celebrities, prefects, deputies, all in +full uniform, mayors with their sashes, priests newshaven, Jansoulet in +full dress stepped out on to the terrace surrounded by his guests. He +saw before him in that splendid frame of magnificent natural scenery, in +the midst of flags and arches and coats of arms, a vast swarm of people, +a flare of brilliant costumes in rows on the slopes, at corners of the +walks; here, grouped in beds, like flowers on a lawn, the prettiest +girls of Arles, whose little dark heads showed delicately from beneath +their lace fichus; farther down were the dancers from Barbantane--eight +tambourine players in a line, ready to begin, their hands joined, +ribbons flying, hats cocked, and the red scarves round their hips; +beyond them, on the succeeding terraces were the choral societies in +rows, dressed in black with red caps, their standard-bearer in front, +grave, important, his teeth clinched, holding high his carved staff; +farther down still, on a vast circular space now arranged as an +amphitheatre, were the black bulls, and the herdsmen from Camargue +seated on their long-haired white horses, their high boots over their +knees, at their wrists an uplifted spear; then more flags, helmets, +bayonets, and decorations right down to the triumphal arch at the gates; +as far as the eye could see, on the other side of the Rhone (across +which the two railways had made a pontoon bridge that they might +come straight from the station to Saint-Romans), whole villages were +assembling from every side, crowding to the Giffas road in a cloud of +dust and a confusion of cries, sitting at the hedge-sides, clinging to +the elms, squeezed in carts--a living wall for the procession. Above all +a great white sun which scintillated in every direction--on the copper +of a tambourine, on the point of a trident, on the fringe of a banner; +and in the midst the great proud Rhone carrying to the sea the moving +picture of this royal feast. Before these marvels, where shone all the +gold of his coffers, the Nabob had a sudden feeling of admiration and of +pride. + +"This is beautiful," he said, paling; and behind him his mother +murmured, "It is too beautiful for man. It is as if God were coming." +She was pale, too, but with an unutterable fear. + +The sentiment of the old Catholic peasant was indeed that which was +vaguely felt by all those people massed upon the roads as though for the +passing of a gigantic Corpus Christi procession, and whom this visit +of an Eastern prince to a child of their own country reminded of the +legends of the Magi, or the advent of Gaspard the Moor, bringing to the +carpenter's son myrrh and the triple crown. + +As Jansoulet was being warmly congratulated by every one, Cardailhac, +who had not been seen since morning, suddenly appeared, triumphant and +perspiring. "Didn't I tell you there was something to work on! Eh? Isn't +it fine? What a scene! I bet our Parisians would pay dear to be at such +a first performance as this!" And lowering his voice, on account of the +mother who was quite near, "Have you seen our country girls? No? Examine +them more closely--the first, the one in front, who is to present the +bouquet." + +"Why, it is Amy Ferat!" + +"Just so. You see, old fellow, if the Bey should throw his handkerchief +amid that group of loveliness there must be some one to pick it up. They +wouldn't understand, these innocents. Oh, I have thought of everything, +you will see. Everything is prepared and regulated just as on the stage. +Garden side--farm side." + +Here, to give an idea of the perfect organization, the manager raised +his stick. Immediately his gesture was repeated from the top to the +bottom of the park, and from the choral societies, from the brass bands, +from the tambourines, there burst forth the majestic strains of the +popular southern song, _Grand Soleil de la Provence_. Voices and +instruments rose in the sunlight, the banners filled, the dancers swayed +to their first movement, while on the other side of the river a report +flew like a breeze that the Bey had arrived unexpectedly by another +route. The manager made another gesture, and the immense orchestra was +hushed. The response was slower this time, there were little delays, a +hail of words lost in the leaves; but one could not expect more from a +concourse of three thousand people. Just then the carriages appeared, +the state coaches which had been used on the occasion of the last Bey's +visit--two large chariots, pink and gold as at Tunis. Mme. Jansoulet +had tended them almost as holy relics, and they had come out of their +coverings, with their panels, their hangings and their gold fringes, +as shining and new as the day they were made. Here again Cardailhac's +ingenuity had been freely exercised. He had thought horses looked too +heavy for those unreal fragilities, so he had harnessed instead eight +mules, with white reins, decorated with bows and pompons and bells, and +caparisoned from head to foot in that marvellous Esparto work--an art +Provence has borrowed from the Moors and perfected. How could the Bey +not be pleased! + +The Nabob, Monpavon, the prefect, and one of the generals got into the +first coach; the others filled the succeeding carriages. The priests and +the mayors, swelling with importance, rushed to the head of the choral +societies of their villages which were to go in front, and all moved off +along the road to Giffas. + +The weather was magnificent, but hot and heavy, three months in advance +of the season, as often happens in this impetuous country, where +everything is in a hurry and comes too soon. Although there was not a +cloud to be seen, the stillness of the atmosphere--the wind had +fallen suddenly like a loose sail--dazzling and heated white, a silent +solemnity hanging over all, foretold a storm brewing in some corner +of the horizon. The immense torpor of things gradually influenced the +living beings. One heard too distinctly the tinkling mule-bells, the +heavy steps in the dust of the band of singers whom Cardailhac was +placing at regular distances in the seething human hedge which bordered +the road and was lost in the distance; a sudden call, children's voices, +and the cry of the water-seller, that necessary accompaniment of all +open-air festivals in the Midi. + +"Open your window, general, it is stifling," said Monpavon, crimson, +fearing for his paint, and the lowered windows exposed to the populace +these high functionaries mopping their august faces, strained, agonized, +by the same expression of waiting--waiting for the Bey, for the storm, +waiting for something, in short. + +Still another trimphal arch. It was at Giffas, its long, stony street +strewn with green palms, and its sordid houses gay with flowers and +bright hangings. The station was outside the village, white and square, +stuck like a thimble on the roadside--true type of a little country +station, lost in the midst of vineyards, never having any one in it +except perhaps sometimes an old woman and her parcels waiting in a +corner, come three hours before the time. + +In honour of the Bey this slight building had been rigged out with +flags, adorned with rugs and divans; a splendid buffet had been fitted +up with sherbets, all ready for his Highness. Once there and out of the +carriage the Nabob tried to dispel the feeling of uneasiness which he, +too, had begun to suffer from. Prefects, generals, deputies, people +in dress-coats and uniforms, were standing about on the platform in +imposing groups, their faces solemn, their mouths pursed, their bodies +swaying and jerking in the knowing way of public functionaries who feel +people are looking at them. And you can imagine how noses were flattened +against the windows to see all this hierarchical swelldom. There +was Monpavon, his shirt-front bulging like a whipped egg. Cardailhac +breathlessly giving his last orders, and the honest face of Jansoulet, +whose sparkling eyes, set over his fat, sunburnt cheeks, looked like two +gold nails in a goffering of Spanish leather. Suddenly an electric +bell rang. The station-master, in a new uniform, ran down the line: +"Gentlemen, the train is signalled. It will be here in eight minutes." +Every one started, and with the same instinctive movement pulled out +their watches. Only six minutes more. Then in the great silence some one +said: "Look over there!" To the right, on the side from which the train +was to come, two great slopes, covered with vines, made a sort of funnel +into which the track disappeared as though swallowed up. Just then all +this hollow was as black as ink, darkened by an enormous cloud, a bar of +gloom, cutting the blue of the sky perpendicularly, throwing out banks +that resembled cliffs of basalt on which the light broke all white like +moonshine. In the solemnity of the deserted track, over the lines of +silent rails where one felt that everything was ready for the coming +of the prince, it was terrifying to see this aerial crag approaching, +throwing its shadow before it, to watch the play of the perspective +which gave the cloud a slow, majestic movement, and the shadow the +rapidity of a galloping horse. "What a storm we shall have directly!" +was the thought which came to every one, but none had voice to express +it, for a strident whistle sounded and the train appeared at the end of +the dark funnel. A real royal train, rapid and short, and decorated with +flags. The smoking, roaring engine carried a large bouquet of roses on +its breastplate, like a bridesmaid at some leviathan wedding. + +It came out of the funnel at full speed, but slowed down as it +approached. The functionaries grouped themselves, straightened their +backs, hitched their swords and eased their collars, while Jansoulet +went down the track to meet the train, an obsequious smile on his lips, +his back curved ready for the "Salam Alek." The train proceeded very +slowly. Jansoulet thought it had stopped, and put his hand on the door +of the royal carriage, glittering with gold under the black sky. But, +doubtless, the impetus had been too strong, and the train continued to +advance, the Nabob walking beside it, trying to open the accursed door +which was stuck fast, and making signs to the engine-driver. The +engine was not answering. "Stop, stop, there!" It did not stop. Losing +patience, he jumped on to the velvet-covered step, and in that fiery, +impulsive manner of his which had so delighted the old Bey, he cried, +his woolly head at the door, "Saint-Romans station, your Highness." + +You know the sort of vague light there is in dreams, the colourless +empty atmosphere where everything has the look of a phantom. Jansoulet +was suddenly enveloped in this, stricken, paralyzed. He wanted to speak, +words would not come, his nerveless hand held the door so feebly that +he almost fell backward. What had he seen? On a divan at the back of +the saloon, reposing on his elbow, his beautiful dark head with its +long silky beard leaning on his hand, was the Bey, close wrapped in +his Oriental coat, without other ornaments than the large ribbon of the +Legion of Honour across his breast and the diamond in the aigrette +of his fez. He was fanning himself impassively with a little fan of +gold-embroidered strawwork. Two aides-de-camp and an engineer of the +railway company were standing beside him. Opposite, on another divan, +in a respectful attitude, but favoured evidently, as they were the only +ones seated in the Bey's presence, were two owl-like men, their long +whiskers falling on their white ties, one fat and the other thin. They +were the Hemerlingues, father and son, who had won over his Highness +and were bearing him off in triumph to Paris. What a horrible dream! All +three men, who knew Jansoulet well, looked at him coldly as though his +face recalled nothing. Piteously white, his forehead covered with sweat, +he stammered, "But, your Highness, are you not going to--" A vivid flash +of lightning, followed by a terrible peal of thunder, stopped the +words. But the lightning in the eyes of his sovereign seemed to him as +terrible. Sitting up, his arm outstretched, in guttural voice as of one +accustomed to roll the hard Arab syllables, but in pure French, the +Bey struck him down with the slow, carefully prepared words: "Go home, +swindler. The feet go where the heart guides. Mine will never enter the +house of the man who has cheated my country." + +Jansoulet tried to say something. The Bey made a sign: "Go on." The +engineer pressed a button, a whistle replied, the train, which had never +really stopped, seemed to stretch itself, making all its iron muscles +crack, to take a bound and start off at full speed, the flags fluttering +in the storm-wind, and the black smoke meeting the lightning flashes. + +Jansoulet, left standing on the track, staggering, stunned, ruined, +watched his fortune fly away and disappear, oblivious of the large +drops of rain which were falling on his bare head. Then, when the others +rushed upon him, surrounded him, rained questions upon him, he stuttered +some disconnected words: "Court intrigues--infamous plot." And suddenly, +shaking his fist after the train, with eyes that were bloodshot, and a +foam of rage upon his lips, he roared like a wild beast, "Blackguards!" + +"You forget yourself, Jansoulet, you forget yourself." You guess who it +was that uttered those words, and, taking the Nabob's arm, tried to pull +him together, to make him hold his head as high as his own, conducted +him to the carriage through the rows of stupefied people in uniform, +and made him get in, exhausted and broken, like a near relation of the +deceased that one hoists into a mourning-coach after the funeral. The +rain began to fall, peals of thunder followed one another. Every one now +hurried into the carriages, which quickly took the homeward road. Then +there occurred a heart-rending yet comical thing, one of the cruel +farces played by that cowardly destiny which kicks its victims after +they are down. In the falling day and the growing darkness of the +cyclone, the crowd, squeezed round the approaches of the station, +thought they saw his Highness somewhere amid the gorgeous trappings, and +as soon as the wheels started an immense clamour, a frightful bawling, +which had been hatching for an hour in all those breasts, burst out, +rose, rolled, rebounded from side to side and prolonged itself in the +valley. "Hurrah, hurrah for the Bey!" This was the signal for the first +bands to begin, the choral societies started in their turn, and the +noise growing step by step, the road from Giffas to Saint-Romans was +nothing but an uninterrupted bellow. Cardailhac and all the gentlemen, +Jansoulet himself, leant in vain out of the windows making desperate +signs, "That will do! That's enough!" Their gestures were lost in the +tumult and the darkness; what the crowd did see seemed to act only as +an excitant. And I promise you there was no need of that. All these +meridionals, whose enthusiasm had been carefully led since early +morning, excited the more by the long wait and the storm, shouted with +all the force of their voices and the strength of their lungs, mingling +with the song of Provence the cry of "Hurrah for the Bey!" till it +seemed a perpetual chorus. Most of them had no idea what a Bey was, +did not even think about it. They accentuated the appellation in an +extraordinary manner as though it had three b's and ten y's. But it made +no difference, they excited themselves with the cry, holding up their +hands, waving their hats, becoming agitated as a result of their own +activity. Women wept and rubbed their eyes. Suddenly, from the top of an +elm, the shrill voice of a child made itself heard: "Mamma, mamma--I see +him!" He saw him! They all saw him, for that matter! Now even, they will +all swear to you they saw him! + +Confronted by such a delirium, in the impossibility of imposing silence +and calm on such a crowd, there was only one thing for the people in the +carriages to do: to leave them alone, pull up the windows and dash along +at full speed. It would at least shorten a bitter martyrdom. But this +was even worse. Seeing the procession hurrying, all the road began to +gallop with it. To the dull booming of their tambourines the dancers +from Barbantane, hand in hand, sprang--a living garland--round the +carriage doors. The choral societies, breathless with singing as they +ran, but singing all the same, dragged on their standard-bearers, the +banners now hanging over their shoulders; and the good, fat priests, red +and panting, shoving their vast overworked bellies before them, still +found strength to shout into the very ear of the mules, in an unctuous, +effusive voice, "Long live our noble Bey!" The rain on all this, the +rain falling in buckets, discolouring the pink coaches, precipitating +the disorder, giving the appearance of a rout to this triumphal return, +but a comic rout, mingled with songs and laughs, mad embraces, and +infernal oaths. It was something like the return of a religious +procession flying before a storm, cassocks turned up, surplices over +heads, and the Blessed Sacrament put back in all haste, under a porch. + +The dull roll of the wheels over the wooden bridge told the poor Nabob, +motionless and silent in a corner of his carriage, that they were almost +there. "At last!" he said, looking through the clouded windows at the +foaming waters of the Rhone, whose tempestuous rush seemed calm after +what he had just suffered. But at the end of the bridge, when the first +carriage reached the great triumphal arch, rockets went off, drums beat, +saluting the monarch as he entered the estates of his faithful subject. +To crown the irony, in the gathering darkness a gigantic flare of gas +suddenly illuminated the roof of the castle, and in spite of the wind +and the rain, these fiery letters could still be seen very plainly, +"Long liv' th' B'Y 'HMED!" + +"That--that is the wind-up," said the poor Nabob, who could not help +laughing, though it was a very piteous and bitter laugh. But no, he was +mistaken. The end was the bouquet waiting at the castle door. Amy Ferat +came to present it, leaving the group of country maidens under the +veranda, where they were trying to shelter the shining silks of their +skirts and the embroidered velvets of their caps as they waited for +the first carriage. Her bunch of flowers in her hand, modest, her eyes +downcast, but showing a roguish leg, the pretty actress sprang forward +to the door in a low courtesy, almost on her knees, a pose she had +worked at for a week. Instead of the Bey, Jansoulet got out, stiff and +troubled, and passed without even seeing her. And as she stayed there, +bouquet in hand, with the silly look of a stage fairy who has missed her +cue, Cardailhac said to her with the ready chaff of the Parisian who +is never at a loss: "Take away your flowers, my dear. The Bey is not +coming. He had forgotten his handkerchief, and as it is only with that +he speaks to ladies, you understand--" + + +Now it is night. Everything is asleep at Saint-Romans after the +tremendous uproar of the day. Torrents of rain continue to fall; and in +the park, where the triumphal arches and the Venetian masts still lift +vaguely their soaking carcasses, one can hear streams rushing down the +slopes transformed into waterfalls. Everything streams or drips. A noise +of water, an immense noise of water. Alone in his sumptuous room, with +its lordly bed all hung with purple silks, the Nabob is still awake, +turning over his own black thoughts as he strides to and fro. It is not +the affront, that public outrage before all these people, that occupies +him, it is not even the gross insult the Bey had flung at him in the +presence of his mortal enemies. No, this southerner, whose sensations +were all physical and as rapid as the firing of new guns, had already +thrown off the venom of his rancour. And then, court favourites, by +famous examples, are always prepared for these sudden falls. What +terrifies him is that which he guesses to lie behind this affront. +He reflects that all his possessions are over there, firms, +counting-houses, ships, all at the mercy of the Bey, in that lawless +East, that country of the ruler's good-pleasure. Pressing his burning +brow to the streaming windows, his body in a cold sweat, his hands icy, +he remains looking vaguely out into the night, as dark, as obscure as +his own future. + +Suddenly a noise of footsteps, of precipitate knocks at the door. + +"Who is there?" + +"Sir," said Noel, coming in half dressed, "it is a very urgent telegram +that has been sent from the post-office by special messenger." + +"A telegram! What can there be now?" + +He takes the envelope and opens it with shaking fingers. The god, struck +twice already, begins to feel himself vulnerable, to know the fears, +the nervous weakness of other men. Quick--to the signature. MORA! Is +it possible? The duke--the duke to him! Yes, it is indeed--M-O-R-A. +And above it: "Popolasca is dead. Election coming in Corsica. You are +official candidate." + +Deputy! It was salvation. With that, nothing to fear. No one dares treat +a representative of the great French nation as a mere swindler. The +Hemerlingues were finely defeated. + +"Oh, my duke, my noble duke!" + +He was so full of emotion that he could not sign his name. Suddenly: +"Where is the man who brought this telegram?" + +"Here, M. Jansoulet," replied a jolly south-country voice from the +corridor. + +He was lucky, that postman. + +"Come in," said the Nabob. And giving him the receipt, he took in a +heap from his pockets--ever full--as many gold pieces as his hands could +hold, and threw them into the cap of the poor fellow, who stuttered, +distracted and dazzled by the fortune showered upon him, in the night of +this fairy palace. + + + + +A CORSICAN ELECTION + +Pozzonegro--near Sartene. + +At last I can give you my news, dear M. Joyeuse. During the five days +we have been in Corsica we have rushed about so much, made so many +speeches, so often changed carriages and mounts--now on mules, now on +asses, or even on the backs of men for crossing the torrents--written so +many letters, noted so many requests, visited so many schools, +presented chasubles, altar-cloths, renewed cracked bells, and founded +kindergartens; we have inaugurated so many things, proposed so many +toasts, listened to so many harangues, consumed so much Talano wine and +white cheese, that I have not found time to send even a greeting to the +little family circle round the big table, from which I have been missing +these two months. Happily my absence will not be for much longer, as we +expect to leave the day after to-morrow, and are coming straight back +to Paris. From the electioneering point of view, I think our journey has +been a success. Corsica is an admirable country, indolent and poor, a +mixture of poverty and pride, which makes both the nobles and the middle +classes strive to keep up an appearance of easy circumstances at the +price of the most painful privations. They speak quite seriously of +Popolasca's fortune--that needy deputy whom death robbed of the four +thousand pounds his resignation in favour of the Nabob would have +brought him. All these people have, as well, an administrative mania, a +thirst for places which give them any sort of uniform, and a cap to +wear with the words "Government official" written on it. If you gave a +Corsican peasant the choice between the richest farm in France and the +shabbiest sword-belt of a village policeman, he would not hesitate and +would take the belt. In that conditions of things, you may imagine +what chances of election a candidate has who can dispose of a personal +fortune and the Government favours. Thus, M. Jansoulet will be elected; +and especially if he succeeds in his present undertaking, which has +brought us here to the only inn of a little place called Pozzonegro +(black well). It is a regular well, black with foliage, consisting of +fifty small red-stone houses clustered round a long Italian church, at +the bottom of a ravine between rigid hills and coloured sandstone rocks, +over which stretch immense forests of larch and juniper trees. From my +open window, at which I am writing, I see up above there a bit of blue +sky, the orifice of the well; down below on the little square--which +a huge nut-tree shades as though the shadows were not already thick +enough--two shepherds clothed in sheep-skins are playing at cards, with +their elbows on the stone of a fountain. Gambling is the bane of this +land of idleness, where they get men from Lucca to do their harvesting. +The two poor wretches I see probably haven't a farthing between them, +but one bets his knife against a cheese wrapped up in vine leaves, and +the stakes lie between them on the bench. A little priest smokes his +cigar as he watches them, and seems to take the liveliest interest in +their game. + +And that is not all. Not a sound anywhere except the drops of water on +the stone, the oaths of one of the players who swears by the _sango +del seminaro_, and from underneath my room in the inn parlour the eager +voice of our friend mingling with the sputterings of the illustrious +Paganetti, who is interpreter, in his conversation with the not less +illustrious Piedigriggio. + +M. Piedigriggio (gray feet) is a local celebrity. He is a tall, old man +of seventy-five, with a flowing beard and a straight back. He wears a +little pilot coat, a brown wool Catalonian cap on his white locks. At +his belt he carries a pair of scissors to cut the long leaves of the +green tobacco he smokes into the hollow of his hand. A venerable-looking +person in fact, and when he crossed the square, shaking hands with +the priest, smiling protectingly at the gamblers, I would never have +believed that I was looking at the famous brigand Piedigriggio, who held +the woods in Monte-Rotondo from 1840 to 1860, outwitted the police and +the military, and who to-day, thanks to the proscription by which he +benefits, after seven or eight cold-blooded murders, moves peaceably +about the country which witnessed his crimes, and enjoys a considerable +importance. This is why: Piedigriggio has two sons who, nobly following +in his footsteps, have taken to the carbine and the woods, in their +turn not to be found, not to be caught, as their father was, for twenty +years; warned by the shepherds of the movements of the police, when the +latter leave a village, they make their appearance in it. The eldest, +Scipio, came to mass last Sunday at Pozzonegro. To say they love them, +and that the bloody hand-shake of those wretches is a pleasure to all +who harbour them, would be to calumniate the peaceful inhabitants of +this parish. But they fear them, and their will is law. + +Now, these Piedigriggios have taken it into their heads to favour our +opponent in the election. And their influence is a formidable power, for +they can make two whole cantons vote against us. They have long +legs, the rascals, as long in proportion as the reach of their guns. +Naturally, we have the police on our side, but the brigands are far more +powerful. As our innkeeper said this morning: "The police, they go away; +_ma_ the _banditti_ they stay." In the face of this logical reasoning +we understood that the only thing to be done was to treat with the +Gray-feet, to try a "job," in fact. The mayor said something of this to +the old man, who consulted his sons, and it is the conditions of this +treaty they are discussing downstairs. I hear the voice of our general +director, "Come, my dear fellow, you know I am an old Corsican myself," +and then the other's quiet replies, broken, like his tobacco, by the +irritating noise of his scissors. The "dear fellow" does not seem to +have much confidence, and until the coin is ringing upon the table I +fancy there will not be any advance. + +You see, Paganetti is known in his native country. The worth of his word +is written on the square in Corte, still waiting for the monument to +Paoli, on the vast fields of carrots which he has managed to plant +on the Island of Ithaca, in the gaping empty purses of all those +unfortunate small tradesmen, village priests, and petty nobility, whose +poor savings he has swallowed up dazzling their eyes with chimerical +_combinazioni_. Truly, for him to dare to come back here, it needed all +his phenomenal audacity, as well as the resources now at his disposal to +satisfy all claims. + +And, indeed, what truth is there in the fabulous works undertaken by the +Territorial Bank? + +None. + +Mines, which produce nothing and never will produce anything, for they +exist only on paper; quarries, which are still innocent of pick or +dynamite, tracts of uncultivated sandy land that they survey with a +gesture, telling you, "We begin here, and we go right over there, as +far as you like." It is the same with the forests. The whole of a wooded +hill in Monte-Rotondo belongs to us, it seems, but the felling of the +trees is impossible unless aeronauts undertake the woodman's work. It is +the same with the watering-places, among which this miserable hamlet +of Pozzonegro is one of the most important, with its fountain whose +astonishing ferruginous properties Paganetti advertises. Of the +streamers, not a shadow. Stay--an old, half-ruined Genoese tower on the +shore of the Gulf of Ajaccio bears on a tarnished escutcheon, above +its hermetically sealed doors, this inscription: "Paganetti's Agency. +Maritime Company. Inquiry Office." Fat, gray lizards tend the office in +company with an owl. As for the railways, all these honest Corsicans to +whom I spoke of it smiled knowingly, replied with winks and mysterious +hints, and it was only this morning that I had the exceedingly +buffoonish explanation of all this reticence. + +I had read among the documents which the director-general flaunts in our +eyes from time to time, like a fan to puff up his impostures, the bill +of sale of a marble quarry at a place said to be "Taverna," two hours' +distance from Pozzonegro. Profiting by our stay here, I got on a mule +this morning, without telling any one, and guided by a tall scamp of +a fellow with legs like a deer--true type of a Corsican poacher or +smuggler, his thick, red pipe in his mouth, his gun in a bandoleer--I +went to Taverna. After a fearful progress across cracked rocks and bogs, +past abysses of unsoundable depths--on the very edges of which my +mule maliciously walked as though to mark them out with her shoes--we +arrived, by an almost perpendicular descent, at the end of our journey. +It was a vast desert of rocks, absolutely bare, all white with the +droppings of gulls and sea-fowl, for the sea is at the bottom, quite +near, and the silence of the place was broken only by the flow of the +waves and the shrill cries of the wheeling circles of birds. My guide, +who has a holy horror of excisemen and the police, stayed above on the +cliff, because of a little coastguard station posted like a watchman on +the shore. I made for a large red building which still maintained, in +this burning solitude its three stories, in spite of broken windows +and ruinous tiles. Over the worm-eaten door was an immense sign-board: +"Territorial Bank. Carr----bre----54." The wind, the sun, the rain, have +wiped out the rest. + +There has been there, certainly, a commencement of operations, for a +large square, gaping hole, cut out with a punch, is still open in the +ground, showing along its crumbling sides, like a leopard's spots, red +slabs with brown veins, and at the bottom, in the brambles, enormous +blocks of the marble, called in the trade "black-heart" (marble spotted +with red and brown), condemned blocks that no one could make anything of +for want of a road leading to the quarry or a harbour to make the coast +accessible for freight ships, and for want, above all, of subsidies +considerable enough to carry out one or the other of these two projects. +So the quarry remains abandoned, at a few cable-lengths from the +shore, as cumbrous and useless as Robinson Crusoe's canoe in the same +unfortunate circumstances. These details of the heart-rending story of +our sole territorial wealth were furnished by a miserable caretaker, +shaking with fever, whom I found in the low-ceilinged room of the yellow +house trying to roast a piece of kid over the acrid smoke of a pistachio +bush. + +This man, who in himself is the whole staff of the Territorial Bank in +Corsica, is Paganetti's foster-father, an old lighthouse-keeper upon +whom the solitude does not weigh. Our director-general leaves him there +partly for charity and partly because letters dated from the Taverna +quarry, now and again, make a good show at the shareholders' meetings. +I had the greatest difficulty extracting a little information from this +poor creature, three parts savage, who looked upon me with cautious +mistrust, half hidden behind the long hair of his goat-skin _pelone_. He +told me, however, without intending it, what the Corsicans understand by +the word "railway," and why they put on mysterious airs when they speak +of it. As I was trying to find out if he knew anything about the scheme +for a railway in the country, this old man, instead of smiling knowingly +like his compatriots, said, quite naturally, in passable French, his +voice rusty and benumbed like an ancient, little-used lock: + +"Oh, sir, no need of a railway here." + +"But it would be most valuable, most useful; it would facilitate +communications." + +"I don't say no; but with the police we have enough here." + +"The policemen?" + +"Certainly." + +This _quid pro quo_ went on for some five minutes before I discovered +that here the secret police service is called "the railway." As there +are many Corsican policemen on the Continent they use this euphemism to +designate the ignoble calling they follow. You inquire of the relations, +"Where is your brother Ambrosini? What is your uncle Barbicaglia doing?" +They will answer with a little wink, "He has a place on the railway," +and every one knows what that means. Among the people, the peasants, +who have never seen a railway and don't know what it is, it is quite +seriously believed that the great occult administration of the Imperial +police has no other name than that. Our principal agent in the country +shares this touching simplicity of belief. It shows you the real +state of the "Line from Ajaccio to Bastia, passing by Bonifacio, Porto +Vecchio, etc.," as it is written on the big, green-backed books of +the house of Paganetti. In fact all the goods of the Territorial Bank +consist of a few sign-boards and two ruins, the whole not worthy of +lying in the "old materials" yard in the Rue Saint-Ferdinand; every +night as I go to sleep I hear the old vanes grating and the old doors +banging on emptiness. + +But in this case, where have gone, where are going now, the enormous +sums M. Jansoulet has spent during the last five months--not to count +what came from the outside, attracted by the magic of his name? I +thought, as you did, that all these soundings, borings, purchasings of +land that the books set forth in fine round-hand were exaggerated beyond +measure. But who could suspect such effrontery? This is why the director +was so opposed to the idea of bringing me on the electioneering trip. +I don't want to have an explanation now. My poor Nabob has quite enough +trouble in this election. Only, whenever we get back, I shall lay before +him all the details of my long inquiry, and, whether he wants it or not, +I will get him out of this den of thieves. They have finished below. +Old Piedigriggio is crossing the square, pulling up the slip-knot of +his long peasant's purse, which looks to me well filled. The bargain is +made, I conclude. Good-bye, hurriedly, my dear M. Joyeuse; remember me +to your daughters and ask them to keep a tiny little place for me round +the work-table. + +PAUL DE GERY. + +The electioneering whirlwind which had enveloped them in Corsica, +crossed the sea behind them like a blast of the sirocco and filled the +flat in the Place Vendome with a mad wind of folly. It was overrun from +morning to night by the habitual element, augmented now by a constant +arrival of little dark men, brown as the locust-bean, with regular +features and thick beards, some turbulent and talkative, like Paganetti, +others silent, self-contained and dogmatic: the two types of the race +upon which the same climate produces different effects. All these +famished islanders, in the depths of their savage country, promised +each other to meet at the Nabob's table. His house had become an inn, a +restaurant, a market-place. In the dining-room, where the table was +kept constantly laid, there was always to be found some newly arrived +Corsican, with the bewildered and greedy appearance of a country cousin, +having something to eat. + +The boasting, clamorous race of election agents is the same everywhere; +but these were unusually fiery, had a zeal even more impassioned and +the vanity of turkey-cocks, all worked up to white heat. The most +insignificant recorder, inspector, mayor's secretary, village +schoolmaster, spoke as if he had the whole country behind him, and the +pockets of his threadbare black coat full of votes. And it is a fact, +in Corsican parishes (Jansoulet had seen it for himself) families are +so old, have sprung from so little, have so many ramifications, that any +poor fellow breaking stones on the road is able to claim relationship +with the greatest personages of the island, and is thereby able to exert +a serious influence. These complications are aggravated still more +by the national temperament, which is proud, secretive, scheming, and +vindictive; so it follows that one has to be careful how one walks amid +the network of threads stretching from one extremity of the people to +the other. + +The worst was that all these people were jealous of each other, +detested each other, and quarrelled across the table about the election, +exchanging black looks and grasping the handles of their knives at the +least contradiction. They spoke very loud and all at once, some in the +hard, sonorous Genoese dialect, and others in the most comical French, +all choking with suppressed oaths. They threw in each other's teeth +names of unknown villages, dates of local scandals, which suddenly +revived between two fellow guests two centuries of family hatreds. The +Nabob was afraid of seeing his luncheons end tragically, and strove to +calm all this violence and conciliate them with his large good-natured +smile. But Paganetti reassured him. According to him, the vendetta, +though still existing in Corsica, no longer employs the stiletto or the +rifle except very rarely, and among the lowest classes. The anonymous +letter had taken their place. Indeed, every day unsigned letters were +received at the Place Vendome written in this style: + +"M. Jansoulet, you are so generous that I cannot do less than point out +to you that the Sieur Bornalinco (Ange-Marie) is a traitor, bought by +your enemies. I could say very differently about his cousin Bornalinco +(Louis-Thomas), who is devoted to the good cause, etc." + +Or again: + +"M. Jansoulet, I fear your chances of election will come to nothing, and +are on a poor foundation for success if you continue to employ one named +Castirla (Josue), of the parish of Omessa. His relative, Luciani, is the +man you need." + +Although he no longer read any of these missives, the poor candidate +suffered from the disturbing effect of all these doubts and of all these +unchained passions. Caught in the gearing of those small intrigues, full +of fears, mistrustful, curious, feverish, he felt in every aching nerve +the truth of the Corsican proverb, "The greatest ill you can wish your +enemy is an election in his house." + +It may be imagined that the check-book and the three deep drawers in +the mahogany cabinet were not spared by this hoard of devouring locusts +which had fallen upon "Moussiou Jansoulet's" dwelling. Nothing could +be more comic than the haughty manner in which these good islanders +effected their loans, briskly, and with an air of defiance. At the same +time it was not they who were the worst--except for the boxes of cigars +which sank in their pockets as though they all meant to open a "Civette" +on their return to their own country. For just as the very hot +weather inflames and envenoms old sores, so the election had given +an astonishing new growth to the pillaging already established in the +house. Money was demanded for advertising expenses, for Moessard's +articles, which were sent to Corsica in bales of thousands of copies, +with portraits, biographies, pamphlets--all the printed clamour that +it was possible to raise round a name. And always the usual work of the +suction-pumps went on, those pumps now fixed to this great reservoir of +millions. Here, the Bethlehem Society, a powerful machine working with +regular, slow-recurring strokes, full of impetus; the Territorial Bank, +a marvellous exhauster, indefatigable, with triple and quadruple rows +of pumps, several thousand horse-power, the Schwalbach pump, the Bois +l'Hery pump, and how many others as well? Some enormous and noisy +with screaming pistons, some quite dumb and discreet with clack-valves +knowingly oiled, pumps with tiny valves, dear little pumps as fine +as the sting of insects, and like them, leaving a poison in the place +whence they have drawn life; all working together and bound to bring +about if not a complete drought, at least a serious lowering of level. + +Already evil rumours, vague as yet, were going the round of the Bourse. +Was this a move of the enemy? For Jansoulet was waging a furious money +war against Hemerlingue, trying to thwart all his financial operations, +and was losing considerable sums at the game. He had against him his own +fury, his adversary's coolness, and the blunderings of Paganetti, who +was his man of straw. In any case his golden star was no longer in +the ascendant. Paul de Gery knew this through Joyeuse, who was now a +stock-broker's accountant and well up in the doings on the Bourse. What +troubled him most, however, was the Nabob's singular agitation, his need +of constant distraction which had succeeded his former splendid calm of +strength and security, the loss, too, of his southern sobriety. He kept +himself in a continual state of excitement, drinking great glasses +of _raki_ before his meals, laughing long, talking loud, like a rough +sailor ashore. You felt that here was a man overdoing himself to escape +from some heavy care. It showed, however, in the sudden contraction of +all the muscles of his face, as some unhappy thought crossed his +mind, or when he feverishly turned the pages of his little gilt-edged +note-book. The serious interview that Paul wanted so much Jansoulet +would not give him at any price. He spent his nights at the club, his +mornings in bed, and from the moment he awoke his room was full of +people who talked to him as he dressed, and to whom he replied, sponge +in hand. If, by a miracle, de Gery caught him alone for a second, he +fled, stopping his words with a "Not now, not now, I beg of you." In the +end the young man had recourse to drastic measures. + +One morning, towards five o'clock, when Jansoulet came home from his +club, he found a letter on the table near his bed. At first he took it +to be one of the many anonymous denunciations he received daily. It +was indeed a denunciation, but it was signed and undisguised; and it +breathed in every word the loyalty and the earnest youthfulness of him +who wrote it. De Gery pointed out very clearly all the infamies and all +the double dealing which surrounded him. With no beating about the bush +he called the rogues by their names. There was not one of the usual +guests whom he did not suspect, not one who came with any other object +than to steal and to lie. From the top to the bottom of the house all +was pillage and waste. Bois l'Hery's horses were unsound, Schwalbach's +gallery was a swindle, Moessard's articles a recognised blackmail. De +Gery had made a long detailed memorandum of these scandalous abuses, +with proofs in support of it. But he specially recommended to +Jansoulet's attention the accounts of the Territorial Bank as the real +danger of the situation. Attracted by the Nabob's name, as chairman +of the company, hundreds of shareholders had fallen into the infamous +trap--poor seekers of gold, following the lucky miner. In the other +matters it was only money he lost; here his honour was at stake. +He would discover what a terrible responsibility lay upon him if he +examined the papers of the business, which was only deception and +cheatery from one end to the other. + +"You will find the memorandum of which I speak," said Paul de Gery, at +the end of his letter, "in the top drawer of my desk along with sundry +receipts. I have not put them in your room, because I mistrust Noel +like the rest. When I go away to-night I will give you the key. For I +am going away, my dear benefactor and friend, I am going away full of +gratitude for the good you have done me, and heartbroken that your blind +confidence has prevented me from repaying you even in part. As things +are now, my conscience as an honest man will not let me stay any longer +useless at my post. I am looking on at a disaster, at the sack of a +palace, which I can do nothing to prevent. My heart burns at all I see. +I give handshakes which shame me. I am your friend, and I seem their +accomplice. And who knows that if I went on living in such an atmosphere +I might not become one?" + +This letter, which he read slowly and carefully, even between the lines +and through the words, made so great an impression on the Nabob that, +instead of going to bed, he went at once to find his young secretary. De +Gery had a study at the end of the row of public rooms where he slept on +a sofa. It had been a provisional arrangement, but he had preferred not +to change it. + +The house was still asleep. As he was crossing the lofty rooms, filled +with the vague light of a Parisian dawn (those blinds were never +lowered, as no evening receptions were held there), the Nabob stopped, +struck by the look of sad defilement his luxury wore. In the heavy +odour of tobacco and various liqueurs which hung over everything, the +furniture, the ceilings, the woodwork could be seen, already faded and +still new. Spots on the crumpled satins, ashes staining the beautiful +marbles, dirty footmarks on the carpets. It reminded one of a huge +first-class railway carriage incrusted with all the laziness, the +impatience, the boredom of a long journey, and all the wasteful, +spoiling disdain of the public for a luxury for which it has paid. +In the middle of this set scene, still warm from the atrocious comedy +played there every day, his own image, reflected in twenty cold and +staring looking-glasses, stood out before him, forbidding yet comical, +in absolute contrast to his elegant clothes, his eyes swollen, his face +bloated and inflamed. + +What an obvious and disenchanting to-morrow to the mad life he was +leading! + +He lost himself for a moment in dreary thought; then he gave his +shoulders a vigorous shake, a movement frequent with him--it was like a +peddler shifting his pack--as though to rid himself of too cruel cares, +and again took up the burden every man carried with him, which bows his +back, more or less, according to his courage or his strength, and went +into de Gery's room, who was already up, standing at his desk sorting +papers. + +"First of all, my friend," said Jansoulet, softly shutting the door for +their interview, "answer me frankly. Is it really for the motives given +in your letter that you have resolved to leave me? Is there not, beneath +it all, one of those scandals that I know are being circulated in Paris +against me? I am sure you would be loyal enough to warn me and to give +me the opportunity of--of clearing myself to you." + +Paul assured him that he had no other reasons for going, but that those +were surely sufficient, since it was a matter of conscience. + +"Then, my boy, listen to me, and I am sure of keeping you. Your letter, +so eloquent of honesty and sincerity, has told me nothing that I have +not been convinced of for three months. Yes, my dear Paul, you were +right. Paris is more complicated than I thought. What I needed, when I +arrived, was an honest and disinterested cicerone to put me on my guard +against people and things. I met only swindlers. Every worthless rascal +in the town has left the mud of his boots on my carpets. I was looking +at them just now--my poor drawing-rooms. They need a fine sweeping out. +And I swear to you they shall have it, by God, and with no light hand! +But I must wait for that until I am a deputy. All these scoundrels are +of use to me for the election, and this election is far too necessary +now for me to risk losing the smallest chance. In a word, this is the +situation: Not only does the Bey mean to keep the money I lent him three +months ago, but he has replied to my summons by a counter action for +eighty millions, the sum out of which he says I cheated his brother. It +is a frightful theft, an audacious libel. My fortune is mine, my own. I +made it by my trade as a merchant. I had Ahmed's favour; he gave me the +opportunity of becoming rich. It is possible I may have put on the screw +a little tightly sometimes. But one must not judge these things from +a European standpoint. Over there, the enormous profits the Levantines +make is an accepted fact--a known thing. It is the ransom those savages +pay for the western comfort we bring them. That wretch Hemerlingue, who +is suggesting all this persecution against me, has done just as much. +But what is the use of talking? I am in the lion's jaws. While waiting +for me to go to defend myself at his tribunals--and how I know it, +justice of the Orient!--the Bey has begun by putting an embargo on all +my goods, ships, and palaces, and what they contain. The affair was +conducted quite regularly by a decree of the Supreme Court. Young +Hemerlingue had a hand in that, you can see. If I am made a deputy, it +is only a joke. The court takes back its decree and they give me back +my treasure with every sort of excuse. If I am not elected I lose +everything, sixty, eighty millions, even the possibility of making +another fortune. It is ruin, disgrace, dishonour. Are you going to +abandon me in such a crisis? Think--I have only you in the whole world. +My wife--you have seen her, you know what help, what support she is +to her husband. My children--I might as well not have any. I never see +them; they would scarcely know me in the street. My horrible wealth +has killed all affection around me and has enveloped me with shameless +self-seeking. I have only my mother to love me, and she is far away, and +you who came to me from my mother. No, you will not leave me alone amid +all the scandals that are creeping around me. It is awful--if you only +knew! At the club, at the play, wherever I go I seem to see the little +viper's head of the Baroness Hemerlingue, I hear the echo of her hiss, +I feel the venom of her bite. Everywhere mocking looks, conversation +stopped when I appear, lying smiles, or kindness mixed with a little +pity. And then the deserters, and the people who keep out of the way as +at the approach of a misfortune. Look at Felicia Ruys: just as she had +finished my bust she pretends that some accident, I know not what, has +happened to it, in order to avoid having to send it to the _Salon_. I +said nothing, I affected to believe her. But I understood that there +again was some new evil report. And it is such a disappointment to me. +In a crisis as grave as this everything has its importance. My bust in +the exhibition, signed by that famous name, would have helped me greatly +in Paris. But no, everything falls away, every one fails me. You see now +that I cannot do without you. You must not desert me." + + + + +A DAY OF SPLEEN + +Five o'clock in the afternoon. Rain since morning and a gray sky low +enough to be reached with an umbrella; the close weather which sticks. +Mess, mud, nothing but mud, in heavy puddles, in shining trails in the +gutters, vainly chased by the street-scrapers and the scavengers, heaved +into enormous carts which carry it slowly towards Montreuil--promenading +it in triumph through the streets, always moving, and always springing +up again, growing through the pavements, splashing the panels of the +carriages, the breasts of the horses, the clothes of the passers-by, +spattering the windows, the door-steps, the shop-fronts, till one feared +that the whole of Paris would sink and disappear under this sorrowful, +miry soil where everything dissolves and is lost in mud. And it moves +one to pity to see the invasion of this dirt on the whiteness of the new +houses, on the parapets of the quays, and on the colonnades of the stone +balconies. There is some one, however, who rejoices at the sight, a +poor, sick, weary being, lying all her length on a silk-embroidered +divan, her chin on her clinched fists. She is looking out gladly through +the dripping windows and delighting in all the ugliness. + +"Look, my fairy! this is indeed the weather I wanted to-day. See them +draggling along! Aren't they hideous? Aren't they dirty? What mire! It +is everywhere--in the streets, on the quays, right down to the Seine, +right up to the heavens. I tell you, mud is good when one is sad. I +would like to play in it, to make sculpture with it--a statue a hundred +feet high, that should be called 'My weariness.'" + +"But why are you so miserable, dearest?" said the old dancer gently, +amiable and pink, and sitting straight in her seat for fear of +disarranging her hair, which was even more carefully dressed than usual. +"Haven't you everything to make you happy?" And for the hundredth time +she enumerated in her tranquil voice the reasons for her happiness: her +glory, her genius, her beauty, all the men at her feet, the handsomest, +the greatest--oh! yes, the very greatest, as this very day--But a +terrible howl, like the heart-rending cry of the jackal exasperated by +the monotony of his desert, suddenly made all the studio windows shake, +and frightened the old and startled little chrysalis back into her +cocoon. + +A week ago, Felicia's group was finished and sent to the exhibition, +leaving her in a state of nervous prostration, moral sickness, and +distressful exasperation. It needs all the tireless patience of the +fairy, all the magic of her memories constantly evoked, to make life +supportable beside this restlessness, this wicked anger, which growls +beneath the girl's long silences and suddenly bursts out in a bitter +word or in an "Ugh!" of disgust at everything. All the critics are +asses. The public? An immense goitre with three rows of chains. And yet, +the other Sunday, when the Duc de Mora came with the superintendent of +the art section to see her exhibits in the studio, she was so happy, so +proud of the praise they gave her, so fully delighted with her own work, +which she admired from the outside, as though the work of some one else, +now that her tools no longer created between her and her work that bond +which makes impartial judgment so hard for the artist. + +But it is like this every year. The studio stripped of her recent work, +her glorious name once again thrown to the unexpected caprice of the +public, Felicia's thoughts, now without a visible object, stray in the +emptiness of her heart and in the hollowness of her life--that of the +woman who leaves the quiet groove--until she be engrossed in some new +work. She shuts herself up and will see no one, as though she mistrusted +herself. Jenkins is the only person who can help her during these +attacks. He seems even to court them, as though he expected something +therefrom. She is not pleasant with him, all the same, goodness knows. +Yesterday, even, he stayed for hours beside this wearied beauty without +her speaking to him once. If that be the welcome she is keeping for the +great personage who is doing them the honour of dining with them--Here +the good Crenmitz, who is quietly turning over all these thoughts as she +gazes at the bows on the pointed toes of her slippers, remembers that +she has promised to make a dish of Viennese cakes for the dinner of the +personage in question, and goes out of the studio, silently, on the tips +of her little feet. + +The rain falls, the mud deepens; the beautiful sphinx lies still, her +eyes lost in the dull horizon. What is she thinking of? What does she +see coming there, over those filthy roads, in the falling night, that +her lip should take that curve of disgust and her brow that frown? Is +she waiting for her fate? A sad fate, that sets forth in such weather, +fearless of the darkness and the dirt. + +Some one comes into the studio with a heavier tread than the mouse-like +step of Constance--the little servant, doubtless; and, without looking +round, Felicia says roughly, "Go away! I don't want any one in." + +"I should have liked to speak to you very much, all the same," says a +friendly voice. + +She starts, sits up. Mollified and almost smiling at this unexpected +visitor, she says: + +"What--you, young Minerva! How did you get in?" + +"Very easily. All the doors are open." + +"I am not surprised. Constance is crazy, since this morning, over her +dinner." + +"Yes, I saw. The anteroom is full of flowers. Who is coming?" + +"Oh! a stupid dinner--an official dinner. I don't know how I could--Sit +down here, near me. I am so glad to see you." + +Paul sat down, a little disturbed. She had never seemed to him so +beautiful. In the dusk of the studio, amid the shadowy brilliance of the +works of art, bronzes, and tapestries, her pallor was like a soft light, +her eyes shone like precious stones, and her long, close-fitting gown +revealed the unrestraint of her goddess-like body. Then, she spoke so +affectionately, she seemed so happy because he had come. Why had he +stayed away so long? It was almost a month since they had seen him. Were +they no longer friends? He excused himself as best he could--business, +a journey. Besides, if he hadn't been there, he had often spoken of +her--oh, very often, almost every day. + +"Really? And with whom?" + +"With----" + +He was going to say "With Aline Joyeuse," but a feeling of restraint +stopped him, an undefinable sentiment, a sense of shame at pronouncing +her name in the studio which had heard so many others. There are things +that do not go together, one scarcely knows why. Paul preferred to reply +with a falsehood, which brought him at once to the object of his visit. + +"With an excellent fellow to whom you have given very unnecessary pain. +Come, why have you not finished the poor Nabob's bust? It was a great +joy to him, such a very proud thing for him, to have that bust in the +exhibition. He counted upon it." + +At the Nabob's name she was slightly troubled. + +"It is true," she said, "I broke my word. But what do you expect? I am +made of caprice. See, the cover is over it; all wet, so that the clay +does not harden." + +"And the accident? You know, we didn't believe in it." + +"Then you were wrong. I never lie. It had a fall, a most awful upset; +only the clay was fresh, and I easily repaired it. Look!" + +With a sweeping gesture she lifted the cover. The Nabob suddenly +appeared before them, his jolly face beaming with the pleasure of being +portrayed; so like, so tremendously himself, that Paul gave a cry of +admiration. + +"Isn't it good?" she said artlessly. "Still a few touches here and +there--" She had taken the chisel and the little sponge and pushed the +stand into what remained of the daylight. "It could be done in a few +hours. But it couldn't go to the exhibition. To-day is the 22nd; all the +exhibits have been in a long time." + +"Bah! With influence----" + +She frowned, and her bad expression came back, her mouth turning down. + +"That's true. The _protege_ of the Duc de Mora. Oh! you have no need to +apologize. I know what people say, and I don't care _that_--" and she +threw a little ball of clay at the wall, where it stuck, flat. "Perhaps +men, by dint of supposing the thing which is not--But let us leave these +infamies alone," she said, holding up her aristocratic head. "I really +want to please you, Minerva. Your friend shall go to the _Salon_ this +year." + +Just then a smell of caramel and warm pastry filled the studio, where +the shadows were falling like a fine gray dust, and the fairy appeared, +a dish of sweetmeats in her hand. She looked more fairy-like than ever, +bedecked and rejuvenated; dressed in a white gown which showed her +beautiful arms through sleeves of old lace; they were beautiful still, +for the arm is the beauty that fades last. + +"Look at my _kuchen_, dearie; they are such a success this time. Oh! I +beg your pardon. I did not see you had friends. And it is M. Paul! How +are you M. Paul? Taste one of my cakes." + +And the charming old lady, whose dress seemed to lend her an +extraordinary vivacity, came towards him, balancing the plate on the +tips of her tiny fingers. + +"Don't bother him. You can give him some at dinner," said Felicia +quietly. + +"At dinner?" + +The dancer was so astonished that she almost upset her pretty pastries, +which looked as light and airy and delicious as herself. + +"Yes, he is staying to dine with us. Oh! I beg it of you," she added, +with a particular insistence as she saw he was going to refuse, "I beg +you to stay. Don't say no. You will be rendering me a real service by +staying to-night. Come--I didn't hesitate a few minutes ago." + +She had taken his hand; and in truth might have been struck by a strange +disproportion between her request and the supplicating, anxious tone in +which it was made. Paul still attempted to excuse himself. He was not +dressed. How could she propose it!--a dinner at which she would have +other guests. + +"My dinner? But I will countermand it! That is the kind of person I am. +We shall be alone, just the three of us, with Constance." + +"But, Felicia, my child, you can't really think of such a thing. Ah, +well! And the--the other who will be coming directly. + +"I am going to write to him to stay at home, _parbleu_!" + +"You unlucky being, it is too late." + +"Not at all. It is striking six o'clock. The dinner was for half past +seven. You must have this sent to him quickly." + +She was writing hastily at a corner of the table. + +"What a strange girl, _mon Dieu! mon Dieu!_" murmured the dancer in +bewilderment, while Felicia, delighted, transfigured, was joyously +sealing her letter. + +"There! my excuse is made. Headaches have not been invented for Kadour." + +Then, the letter having been despatched: + +"Oh, how pleased I am! What a jolly evening we shall have! Do kiss me, +Constance! It will not prevent us from doing honour to your _kuchen_, +and we shall have the pleasure of seeing you in a pretty toilette which +makes you look younger than I do." + +This was more than was required to cause the dancer to forgive this new +caprice of her dear demon, and the crime of _lese-majeste_ in which she +had just been involved against her will. To treat so great a personage +so cavalierly! There was no one like her in the world--there was no one +like her. As for Paul de Gery, he no longer tried to resist, under the +spell once more of that attraction from which he had been able to fancy +himself released by absence, but which, from the moment he crossed the +threshold of the studio, had put chains on his will, delivered him over, +bound and vanquished, to the sentiment which he was quite resolved to +combat. + +Evidently the dinner--a repast for a veritable _gourmet_, superintended +by the Austrian lady in its least details--had been prepared for a guest +of great mark. From the lofty Kabyle chandelier with its seven branches +of carved wood, which cast its light over the table-cloth covered with +embroidery, to the long-necked decanters holding the wines within their +strange and exquisite form, the sumptuous magnificence of the service, +the delicacy of the meats, to which edge was given by a certain +unusualness in their selection, revealed the importance of the expected +visitor, the anxiety which there had been to please him. The table was +certainly that of an artist. Little silver, but superb china, much unity +of effect, without the least attempt at matching. The old Rouen, the +pink Sevres, the Dutch glass mounted in old filigree pewter met on this +table as on a sideboard devoted to the display of rare curios collected +by a connoisseur exclusively for the satisfaction of his taste. A little +disorder naturally, in this household equipped at hazard, as choice +things could be picked up. The wonderful cruet-stand had lost its +stoppers. The chipped salt-cellar allowed its contents to escape on the +table-cloth, and at every moment you would hear, "Why! what is become of +the mustard-pot?" "What has happened to this fork?" This embarrassed de +Gery a little on account of the young mistress of the house, who for her +part took no notice of it. + +But something made Paul feel still more ill at ease--his anxiety, +namely, to know who the privileged guest might be whom he was replacing +at this table, who could be treated at once with so much magnificence +and so complete an informality. In spite of everything, he felt +him present, an offence to his personal dignity, that visitor whose +invitation had been cancelled. It was in vain that he tried to forget +him; everything brought him back to his mind, even the fine dress of the +good fairy sitting opposite him, who still maintained some of the grand +airs with which she had equipped herself in advance for the solemn +occasion. This thought troubled him, spoiled for him the pleasure of +being there. + +On the other hand, by contrast, as it happens in all friendships +between two people who meet very rarely, never had he seen Felicia so +affectionate, in such happy temper. It was an overflowing gaiety that +was almost childish, one of those warm expansions of feeling that are +experienced when a danger has been passed, the reaction of a bright +roaring fire after the emotion of a shipwreck. She laughed heartily, +teased Paul about his accent and what she called his _bourgeois_ ideas. +"For you are a terrible _bourgeois_, you know. But it is that that I +like in you. It is an effect of contraries, doubtless; it is because I +myself was born under a bridge, in a gust of wind, that I have always +liked sedate, reasonable natures." + +"Oh, my child, what are you going to have M. Paul think, that you were +born under a bridge?" said the good Crenmitz, who could not accustom +herself to the exaggeration of certain metaphors, and always took +everything literally. + +"Let him think what he likes, my fairy. We are not trying to catch him +for a husband. I am sure he would not want one of those monsters who are +known as female artists. He would think he was marrying the devil. You +are quite right, Minerva. Art is a despot. One has to give one's self +entirely up to him. To toil in his service, one devotes all the ideal, +all the energy, honesty, conscience, that one possesses, so that you +have none of these things left for real life, and the completed labour +throws you down, strengthless and without a compass, like a dismantled +hulk at the mercy of every wave. A sorry acquisition, such a wife!" + +"And yet," the young man hazarded timidly, "it seems to me that art, +however exigent it be, cannot for all that entirely absorb a woman. +What would she do with her affections, of that need to love, to devote +herself, which in her, much more than in us, is the spring of all her +actions?" + +She mused a moment before replying. + +"Perhaps you are right, wise Minerva. It is true that there are days +when my life rings terribly hollow. I am conscious of abysses, profound +chasms in it. Everything that I throw in to fill it up disappears. My +finest enthusiasms of the artist are engulfed there and die each time +in a sigh. And then I think of marriage. A husband; children--a swarm of +children, who would roll about the studio; a nest to look after for them +all; the satisfaction of that physical activity which is lacking in +our existences of artists; regular occupations; high spirits, songs, +innocent gaieties, which would oblige you to play instead of thinking in +the air, in the dark--to laugh at a wound to one's self-love, to be +only a contented mother on the day when the public should see you as a +worn-out, exhausted artist." + +And before this tender vision the girl's beauty took on an expression +which Paul had never seen in it before, an expression which gripped his +whole being, and gave him a mad longing to carry off in his arms that +beautiful wild bird, dreaming of the home-cote, to protect and shelter +it in the sure love of an honest man. + +She, without looking at him, continued: + +"I am not so erratic as I appear; don't think it. Ask my good godmother +if, when she sent me to boarding-school, I did not observe the rules. +But what a muddle in my life afterward. If you knew what sort of an +early youth I had; how precocious an experience tarnished my mind, in +the head of the little girl I was, what a confusion of the permitted and +the forbidden, of reason and folly! Art alone, extolled and discussed, +stood out boldly from among it all, and I took refuge in it. That is +perhaps why I shall never be anything but an artist, a woman apart +from others, a poor Amazon with heart imprisoned in her iron cuirass, +launched into the conflict like a man, and as a man condemned to live +and die." + +Why did he not say to her, at this: + +"Beauteous lady-warrior, lay down your arms, resume the flowing robe and +the graces of the woman's sphere. I love you! Marry me, I implore you, +and win happiness both for yourself and for me." + +Ah, there it is! He was afraid lest the other--you know him, the man who +was to have come to dinner that evening and who remained between them +despite his absence--should hear him speak thus and be in a position to +jest at or to pity him for that fine outburst. + +"In any case, I firmly swear one thing," she resumed, "and it is that if +ever I have a daughter, I will try to make a true woman of her, and not +a poor lonely creature like myself. Oh! you know, my fairy, it is not +for you that I say that. You have always been kind to your demon, full +of attentions and tenderness. But just see how pretty she is, how young +she looks this evening." + +Animated by the meal, the bright lights, one of those white dresses the +reflection from which effaces wrinkles, the Crenmitz, leaning back +in her chair, held up on a level with her half-closed eyes a glass of +Chateau-Yquem, come from the cellar of the neighbouring Moulin-Rouge; +and her dainty little rosy face, her flowing garments, like those you +might see in some pastel, reflected in the golden wine, which lent to +them its own piquant fervour, recalled to mind the quondam heroine of +gay little suppers after the theatre, the Crenmitz of the brave old +days--not an audacious creature after the manner of the stars of our +modern opera, but unconscious, and wrapped in her luxury like a fine +pearl in the delicate whiteness of its shell. Felicia, who decidedly +that evening was anxious to please everybody, turned her mind gently +to the chapter of recollections; got her to recount once more her great +triumphs in _Gisella_, in the _Peri_, and the ovations of the public; +the visit of the princes to her dressing-room; the present of Queen +Amelia, accompanied by such a charming little speech. The recalling of +these glories intoxicated the poor fairy; her eyes shone; they heard +her little feet moving impatiently under the table as though seized by +a dancing frenzy. And in effect, dinner over, when they had returned to +the studio, Constance began to walk backward and forward, now and +then half executing a step, a pirouette, while continuing to talk, +interrupting herself to hum some ballad air of which she would keep +the rhythm with a movement of the head; then suddenly she bent herself +double, and with a bound was at the other end of the studio. + +"Now she is off!" said Felicia in a low voice to de Gery. "Watch! It is +worth your while; you are going to see the Crenmitz dance." + +It was charming and fairy-like. Against the background of the immense +room lost in shadow and receiving almost no light save through the +arched glass roof over which the moon was climbing in a pale sky of +night blue, a veritable sky of the opera, the silhouette of the famous +dancer stood out all white, like a droll little shadow, light and +imponderable, which seemed rather to be flying in the air than springing +over the floor; then, erect upon the tips of her toes, supported in the +air only by her extended arms, her face lifted in an elusive pose, which +left nothing visible but the smile, she advanced quickly towards the +light or fled away with little rushes so rapid that you were constantly +expecting to hear a slight shivering of glass and to see her thus mount +backward the slope of the great moonbeam that lay aslant the studio. +That which added a charm, a singular poetry, to this fantastic ballet +was the absence of music, the sound alone of the rhythmical beat the +force of which was accentuated by the semi-darkness, of that quick and +light tapping not heavier on the parquet floor than the fall, petal by +petal, of a dahlia going out of bloom. + +Thus it went on for some minutes, at the end of which they knew, by +hearing her shorter breathing, that she was becoming fatigued. + +"Enough! enough! Sit down now," said Felicia. Thereupon the little white +shadow halted beside an easy chair, and there remained posed, ready +to start off again, smiling and breathless, until sleep overcame her, +rocking and balancing her gently without disturbing her pretty pose, +as of a dragon-fly on the branch of a willow dipping in the water and +swayed by the current. + +While they watched her, dozing on her easy chair: + +"Poor little fairy!" said Felicia, "hers is what I have had best and +most serious in my life in the way of friendship, protection, and +guardianship. Can you wonder now at the zig-zags, the erratic nature of +my mind? Fortunate at that, to have gone no further." + +And suddenly, with a joyous effusion of feeling: + +"Ah, Minerva, Minerva, I am very glad that you came this evening! But +you must not leave me to myself for so long again, mind. I need to have +near me an honest mind like yours, to see a true face among the masks +that surround me. A fearful _bourgeois_, all the same," she added, +laughing, "and a provincial into the bargain. But no matter! It is you, +for all that, whom it gives me the most pleasure to see. And I believe +that my liking for you is due especially to one thing: you remind me of +some one who was the great affection of my youth, a sedate and sensible +little being she also, chained to the matter-of-fact side of existence, +but tempering it with that ideal element which we artists set aside +exclusively for the profit of our work. Certain things which you say +seem to me as though they had come from her. You have the same mouth, +like an antique model's. Is it that that gives this resemblance to your +words? I have no idea, but most certainly you are like each other. You +shall see." + +On the table laden with sketches and albums, at which she was sitting +facing him, she drew, as she talked, with brow inclined and her rather +wild curly hair shading her graceful little head. She was no longer the +beautiful couchant monster, with the anxious and gloomy countenance, +condemning her own destiny, but a woman, a true woman, in love, and +eager to beguile. This time Paul forgot all his mistrusts in presence +of so much sincerity and such passing grace. He was about to speak, to +persuade. The minute was decisive. But the door opened and the little +page appeared. M. le Duc had sent to inquire whether mademoiselle was +still suffering from her headache of earlier in the evening. + +"Still just as much," she said with irritation. + +When the servant had gone out, a moment of silence fell between them, +a glacial coldness. Paul had risen. She continued her sketch, with her +head still bowed. + +He took a few paces in the studio; then, having come back to the table, +he asked quietly, astonished to feel himself so calm: + +"It was the Duc de Mora who was to have dined here?" + +"Yes. I was bored--a day of spleen. Days of that kind are bad for me." + +"Was the duchess to have come?" + +"The duchess? No. I don't know her." + +"Well, in your place I would never receive in my house, at my table, a +married man whose wife I did not meet. You complain of being deserted; +why desert yourself? When one is without reproach, one should avoid the +very suspicion of it. Do I vex you?" + +"No, no, scold me, Minerva. I have no objection to your ethics. They +are honest and frank, yours; they do not blink uncertain, like those of +Jenkins. I told you, I need some one to guide me." + +And tossing over to him the sketch which she had just finished: + +"See, that is the friend of whom I was speaking to you. A profound and +sure affection, which I was foolish enough to allow to be lost to me, +like the bungler I am. She it was to whom I appealed in moments of +difficulty, when a decision required to be taken, some sacrifice made. I +used to say to myself, 'What will she think of this?' just as we artists +may stop in the midst of a piece of work to refer it mentally to some +great man, one of our masters. I must have you take her place for me. +Will you?" + +Paul did not answer. He was looking at the portrait of Aline. It was +she, herself to the letter; her pure profile, her mocking and kindly +mouth, and the long curl like a caress on the delicate neck. Felicia had +ceased to exist for him. + +Poor Felicia, endowed with superior talents, she was indeed like those +magicians who knot and unknot the destinies of men, without possessing +any power over their own happiness. + +"Will you give me this sketch?" he said in a low, quivering voice. + +"Most willingly. She is nice--isn't she? Ah! her indeed, if you should +meet, love her, marry her. She is worth more than all the rest of +womankind together. And yet, failing her--failing her----" + +And the beautiful sphinx, tamed, raised to him, moist and laughing, her +great eyes, in which an enigma had ceased to be indecipherable. + + + + +THE EXHIBITION + + +"SUPERB!" + +"A tremendous success! Barye has never done anything so good before." + +"And the bust of the Nabob! What a marvel. How happy Constance Crenmitz +is! Look at her trotting about!" + +"What! That little old lady in the ermine cape is the Crenmitz? I +thought she had been dead twenty years ago." + +Oh, no! Very much alive, on the contrary. Delighted, made young again +by the triumph of her goddaughter, who had made what is decidedly the +success of the exhibition, she passes about among the crowd of artists +and fashionable people, who, wedged together and stifling themselves in +order to get a look at the two points where the works sent by Felicia +are exhibited, form as it were two solid masses of black backs and +jumbled dresses. Constance, ordinarily so timid, edges her way into the +front rank, listens to the discussions, catches, as they fly, disjointed +phrases, formulas which she takes care to remember, approves with a +nod, smiles, raises her shoulders when she hears a stupid remark made, +inclined to murder the first person who should not admire. + +Whether it be the good Crenmitz or another, you will always see it at +every opening of the _Salon_, that furtive silhouette, prowling near +wherever a conversation is going on, with an anxious manner and alert +ear; sometimes a simple old fellow, some father, whose glance thanks you +for any kind word said in passing, or assumes a grieved expression by +reason of some epigram, flung at the work of art, that may wound some +heart behind you. A figure not to be forgotten, certainly, if ever +it should occur to any painter with a passion for modernity to fix on +canvas that very typical manifestation of Parisian life, the opening of +an exhibition in that vast conservatory of sculpture, with its paths +of yellow sand, and its immense glass roof beneath which, half-way up, +stand out the galleries of the first floor, lined by heads bent over to +look down, and decorated with improvised flowing draperies. + +In a rather cold light, made pallid by those green curtains that +hang all around, in which one would fancy that the light-rays become +rarefied, in order to give to the vision of the people walking about +the room a certain contemplative justice, the slow crowd goes and comes, +pauses, disperses itself over the seats in serried groups, and yet +mixing up different sections of society more thoroughly than any other +assembly, just as the weather, uncertain and changeable at this time of +the year, produces a confusion in the world of clothes, causes to brush +each other as they pass, the black laces, the imperious train of the +great lady come to see how her portrait looks, and the Siberian furs of +the actress just back from Russia and anxious that everybody should know +it. + +Here, no boxes, no stalls, no reserved seats, and it is this that gives +to this _premiere_ in full daylight so great a charm of curiosity. +Genuine ladies of fashion are able to form an opinion of those painted +beauties who receive so much commendation in an artificial light; +the little hat, following a new mode of the Marquise de Bois l'Hery, +confronts the more than modest toilette of some artist's wife or +daughter; while the model who posed for that beautiful Andromeda at the +entrance, goes by victoriously, clad in too short a skirt, in wretched +garments that hide her beauty beneath all the false lines of fashion. +People observe, admire, criticise each other, exchange glances +contemptuous, disdainful, or curious, interrupted suddenly at the +passage of a celebrity, of that illustrious critic whom we seem still to +see, tranquil and majestic, his powerful head framed in its long hair, +making the round of the exhibits in sculpture followed by a dozen young +disciples eager to hear the verdict of his kindly authority. If the +sound of voices is lost beneath that immense dome, sonorous only under +the two vaults of the entrance and the exit, faces take on there an +astonishing intensity, a relief of movement and animation concentrated +especially in the huge, dark bay where refreshments are served, crowded +to overflowing and full of gesticulation, the brightly coloured hats +of the women and the white aprons of the waiters gleaming against the +background of dark clothes, and in the great space in the middle where +the oval swarming with visitors makes a singular contrast with +the immobility of the exhibited statues, producing the insensible +palpitation with which their marble whiteness and their movements as of +apotheosis are surrounded. + +There are wings poised in giant flight, a sphere supported by four +allegorical figures whose attitude of turning suggests some vague +waltz-measure--a total effect of equilibrium well conveying the illusion +of the sweeping onward of the earth; and there are arms raised to give +the signal, bodies heroically risen, containing an allegory, a symbol +which stamps them with death and immortality, secures to them a place in +history, in legend, in that ideal world of museums which is visited by +the curiosity or the admiration of the nations. + +Although Felicia's group in bronze had not the proportions of these +large pieces, its exceptional merit had caused it to be selected to +adorn one of the open spaces in the middle, from which at this moment +the public was holding itself at a respectful distance, watching, over +the hedge of custodians and policemen, the Bey of Tunis and his suite, +an array of long bernouses falling in sculptural folds, which had the +effect of placing living statues opposite the other ones. + +The Bey, who had been in Paris since a few days before, and was the +lion of all the _premieres_, had desired to see the opening of the +exhibition. He was "an enlightened prince, a friend of art," who +possessed at the Bardo a gallery of remarkable Turkish paintings and +chromo-lithographic reproductions of all the battles of the First +Empire. The moment he entered, the sight of the big Arab greyhound +had struck him as he passed. It was the _sleughi_ all over, the true +_sleughi_, delicate and nervous, of his own country, the companion of +all his hunting expeditions. He laughed in his black beard, felt the +loins of the animal, stroked its muscles, seemed to want to urge it on +still faster, while with nostrils open, teeth showing, all its +limbs stretched out and unwearying in their vigorous elasticity, the +aristocratic beast, the beast of prey, ardent in love and the chase, +intoxicated with their double intoxication, its eyes fixed, was already +enjoying a foretaste of its capture with a little end of its tongue +which hung and seemed to sharpen the teeth with a ferocious laugh. When +you only looked at the hound you said to yourself, "He has got him!" But +the sight of the fox reassured you immediately. Beneath the velvet of +his lustrous coat, cat-like almost lying along the ground, covering it +rapidly without effort, you felt him to be a veritable fairy; and his +delicate head with its pointed ears, which as he ran he turned towards +the hound, had an expression of ironical security which clearly marked +the gift received from the gods. + +While an Inspector of Fine Arts, who had rushed up in all haste, with +his official dress in disorder, and a head bald right down to his back, +explained to Mohammed the apologue of "The Dog and the Fox," related in +the descriptive catalogue with these words inscribed beneath, "Now it +happened that they met," and the indication, "The property of the Duc +de Mora," the fat Hemerlingue, perspiring and puffing by his Highness's +side, had great difficulty to convince him that this masterly piece +of sculpture was the work of the beautiful young lady whom they had +encountered the previous evening riding in the Bois. How could a woman, +with her feeble hands, thus mould the hard bronze, and give to it the +very appearance of the living body? Of all the marvels of Paris, this +was the one which caused the Bey the most astonishment. He inquired +consequently from the functionary if there was nothing else to see by +the same artist. + +"Yes, indeed, monseigneur, another masterpiece. If your Highness will +deign to step this way I will conduct you to it." + +The Bey commenced to move on again with his suite. They were all +admirable types, with chiselled features and pure lines, warm pallors of +complexion of which even the reflections were absorbed by the whiteness +of their _haiks_. Magnificently draped, they contrasted with the busts +ranged on either side of the aisle they were following, which, perched +on their high columns, looking slender in the open air, exiled from +their own home, from the surroundings in which doubtless they would +have recalled severe labours, a tender affection, a busy and courageous +existence, had the sad aspect of people gone astray in their path, and +very regretful to find themselves in their present situation. Excepting +two or three female heads, with opulent shoulders framed in petrified +lace, and hair rendered in marble with that softness of touch which +gives it the lightness of a powdered wig, excepting, too, a few profiles +of children with their simple lines, in which the polish of the stone +seems to resemble the moistness of the living flesh, all the rest +were only wrinkles, crow's-feet, shrivelled features and grimaces, our +excesses in work and in movement, our nervousness and our feverishness, +opposing themselves to that art of repose and of beautiful serenity. + +The ugliness of the Nabob had at least energy in its favour, the vulgar +side of him as an adventurer, and that expression of benevolence, so +well rendered by the artist, who had taken care to underlay her plaster +with a layer of ochre, which gave it almost the weather-beaten and +sunburned tone of the model. The Arabs, when they saw it, uttered a +stifled exclamation, "Bou-Said!" (the father of good fortune). This was +the surname of the Nabob in Tunis, the label, as it were, of his luck. +The Bey, for his part, thinking that some one had wished to play a trick +on him in thus leading him to inspect the bust of the hated trader, +regarded his guide with mistrust. + +"Jansoulet?" said he in his guttural voice. + +"Yes, Highness: Bernard Jansoulet, the new deputy for Corsica." + +This time the Bey turned to Hemerlingue, with a frown on his brow. + +"Deputy?" + +"Yes, monseigneur, since this morning; but nothing is yet settled." + +And the banker, raising his voice, added with a stutter: + +"No French Chamber will ever admit that adventurer." + +No matter. The stroke had fallen on the blind faith of the Bey in his +baron financier. The latter had so confidently affirmed to him that the +other would never be elected and that their action with regard to him +need not be fettered or in any way hampered by the least fear. And +now, instead of a man ruined and overthrown, there rose before him +a representative of the nation, a deputy whose portrait in stone the +Parisians were coming to admire; for in the eyes of the Oriental, an +idea of distinction being mingled in spite of everything with this +public exhibition, that bust had the prestige of a statue dominating +a square. Still more yellow than usual, Hemerlingue internally accused +himself of clumsiness and imprudence. But how could he ever have dreamed +of such a thing? He had been assured that the bust was not finished. And +in fact it had been there only since morning, and seemed quite at +home, quivering with satisfied pride, defying its enemies with the +good-tempered smile of its curling lip. A veritable silent revenge for +the disaster of Saint-Romans. + +For some minutes the Bey, cold and impassible as the sculptured image, +gazed at it without saying anything, his forehead divided by a straight +crease wherein his courtiers alone could read his anger; then, after +two quick words in Arabic, to order the carriages and to reassemble his +scattered suite, he directed his steps gravely towards the door of exit, +without consenting to give even a glance to anything else. Who shall +say what passes in these august brains surfeited with power? Even our +sovereigns of the West have incomprehensible fantasies; but they are +nothing compared with Oriental caprices. Monsieur the Inspector of Fine +Arts, who had made sure of taking his Highness all round the +exhibition and of thus winning the pretty red-and-green ribbon of the +Nicham-Iftikahr, never knew the secret of this sudden flight. + +At the moment when the white _haiks_ were disappearing under the porch, +just in time to see the last wave of their folds, the Nabob made his +entry by the middle door. In the morning he had received the news, +"Elected by an overwhelming majority"; and after a sumptuous luncheon, +at which the new deputy for Corsica had been extensively toasted, he +came, with some of his guests, to show himself, to see himself also, to +enjoy all his new glory. + +The first person whom he saw as he arrived was Felicia Ruys, standing, +leaning on the pedestal of a statue, surrounded by compliments and +tributes of admiration, to which he made haste to add his own. She was +simply dressed, clad in a black costume embroidered and trimmed with +jet, tempering the severity of her attire with a glittering of reflected +lights, and with a delightful little hat all made of downy plumes, the +play of colour in which her hair, curled delicately on her forehead and +drawn back to the neck in great waves, seemed to continue and to soften. + +A crowd of artists and fashionable people were assiduous in their +attentions to so great a genius allied to so much beauty; and Jenkins, +bareheaded, and puffing with warm effusiveness, was going from one to +the other, stimulating their enthusiasm but widening the circle around +this young fame of which he constituted himself at once the guardian and +the trumpeter. His wife during this time was talking to the young girl. +Poor Mme. Jenkins! She had heard that savage voice, which she alone +knew, say to her, "You must go and greet Felicia." And she had gone to +do so, controlling her emotion; for she knew now what it was that hid +itself at the bottom of that paternal affection, although she avoided +all discussion of it with the doctor, as if she had been fearful of the +issue. + +After Mme. Jenkins, it is the turn of the Nabob to rush up, and taking +the artist's two long, delicately-gloved hands between his fat paws, he +expresses his gratitude with a cordiality which brings the tears to his +own eyes. + +"It is a great honour that you have done me, mademoiselle, to associate +my name with yours, my humble person with your triumph, and to prove +to all this vermin gnawing at my heels that you do not believe the +calumnies which have been spread with regard to me. Yes, truly, I shall +never forget it. In vain I may cover this magnificent bust with gold and +diamonds, I shall still be your debtor." + +Fortunately for the good Nabob, with more feeling than eloquence, he is +obliged to make way for all the others attracted by a dazzling talent, +the personality in view; extravagant enthusiasms which, for want of +words to express themselves, disappear as they come; the conventional +admirations of society, moved by good-will, by a lively desire to +please, but of which each word is a douche of cold water; and then the +hearty hand-shakes of rivals, of comrades, some very frank, others that +communicate to you the weakness of their grasp; the pretentious great +booby, at whose idiotic eulogy you must appear to be transported with +gladness, and who, lest he should spoil you too much, accompanies it +with "a few little reserves," and the other, who, while overwhelming +you with compliments, demonstrates to you that you have not learned the +first word of your profession; and the excellent busy fellow, who stops +just long enough to whisper in your ear "that so-and-so, the famous +critic, does not look very pleased." Felicia listened to it all with the +greatest calm, raised by her success above the littleness of envy, and +quite proud when a glorious veteran, some old comrade of her father, +threw to her a "You've done very well, little one!" which took her back +to the past, to the little corner reserved for her in the old days in +her father's studio, when she was beginning to carve out a little glory +for herself under the protection of the renown of the great Ruys. But, +taken altogether, the congratulations left her rather cold, because +there lacked one which she desired more than any other, and which she +was surprised not to have yet received. Decidedly he was more often in +her thoughts than any other man had ever been. Was it love at last, the +great love which is so rare in an artist's soul, incapable as that is +of giving itself entirely up to the sway of sentiment, or was it perhaps +simply a dream of honest _bourgeoise_ life, well sheltered against +_ennui_, that spiritless _ennui_, the precursor of storms, which she had +so much reason to dread? In any case, she was herself taken in by it, +and had been living for some days past in a state of delicious trouble, +for love is so strong, so beautiful a thing, that its semblances, its +mirages, allure and can move us as deeply as itself. + +Has it ever happened to you in the street, when you have been +preoccupied with thoughts of some one dear to you, to be warned of his +approach by meeting persons with a vague resemblance to him, preparatory +images, sketches of the type to appear directly afterward, which stand +out for you from the crowd like successive appeals to your overexcited +attention? Such presentiments are magnetic and nervous impressions at +which one should not be too disposed to smile, since they constitute +a faculty of suffering. Already, in the moving and constantly renewed +stream of visitors, Felicia had several times thought to recognise the +curly head of Paul de Gery, when suddenly she uttered a cry of joy. It +was not he, however, this time again, but some one who resembled him +closely, whose regular and peaceful physiognomy was always now connected +in her mind with that of her friend Paul through the effect of a +likeness more moral than physical, and the gentle authority which both +exercised over her thoughts. + +"Aline!" + +"Felicia!" + +If nothing is more open to suspicion than the friendship of two +fashionable ladies sharing the prerogatives of drawing-room royalty and +lavishing on each other epithets, and the trivial graces of feminine +fondness, the friendships of childhood keep in the grown woman +a frankness of manner which distinguishes them, and makes them +recognisable among all others, bonds woven naively and firm as the +needlework of little girls in which an experienced hand had been +prodigal of thread and big knots; plants reared in fresh soil, in +flower, but with strong roots, full of vitality and new shoots. And what +a joy, hand in hand--you glad dances of boarding-school days, where are +you?--to retrace some steps of one's way with somebody who has an equal +acquaintance with it and its least incidents, and the same laugh of +tender retrospection. A little apart, the two girls, for whom it has +been sufficient to find themselves once more face to face to forget five +years of separation, carry on a rapid exchange of recollections, while +the little _pere_ Joyeuse, his ruddy face brightened by a new cravat, +straightens himself in pride to see his daughter thus warmly welcomed by +such an illustrious person. Proud certainly he had reason to be, for +the little Parisian, even in the neighbourhood of her brilliant friend, +holds her own in grace, youth, fair candour, beneath her twenty smooth +and golden years, which the gladness of this meeting brings to fresh +bloom. + +"How happy you must be! For my part, I have seen nothing yet; but I hear +everybody saying it is so beautiful." + +"Happy above all to see you again, little Aline. It is so long--" + +"I should think so, you naughty girl! Whose the fault?" + +And from the saddest corner of her memory, Felicia recalls the date of +the breaking off of their relations, coinciding for her with another +date on which her youth came to its end in an unforgettable scene. + +"And what have you been doing, darling, all this time?" + +"Oh, I, always the same thing--or, nothing to speak of." + +"Yes, yes, we know what you call doing nothing, you brave little thing! +Giving your life to other people, isn't it?" + +But Aline was no longer listening. She was smiling affectionately to +some one straight in front of her; and Felicia, turning round to see who +it was, perceived Paul de Gery replying to the shy and tender greeting +of Mlle. Joyeuse. + +"You know each other, then?" + +"Do I know M. Paul! I should think so, indeed. We talk of you very +often. He has never told you, then?" + +"Never. He must be a terribly sly fellow." + +She stopped short, her mind enlightened by a flash; and quickly without +heed to de Gery, who was coming up to congratulate her on her triumph, +she leaned over towards Aline and spoke to her in a low voice. That +young lady blushed, protested with smiles and words under her breath: +"How can you think of such a thing? At my age--a 'grandmamma'!" and +finally seized her father's arm in order to escape some friendly +teasing. + +When Felicia saw the two young people going off together, when she had +realized the fact, which they had not yet grasped themselves, that they +were in love with each other, she felt as it were a crumbling all +around her. Then upon her dream, now fallen to the ground in a thousand +fragments, she set herself to stamp furiously. After all, he was quite +right to prefer this little Aline to herself. Would an honest man +ever dare to marry Mlle. Ruys? She, a home, a family--what nonsense! A +harlot's daughter you are, my dear; you must be a harlot too if you want +to become anything at all. + +The day wore on. The crowd, more active now that there were empty spaces +here and there, commenced to stream towards the door of exit after great +eddyings round the successes of the year, satisfied, rather tired, but +excited still by that air charged with the electricity of art. A great +flood of sunlight, such as sometimes occurs at four o'clock in the +afternoon, fell on the stained-glass rose-window, threw on the sand +tracks of rainbow-coloured lights, softly bathing the bronze or the +marble of the statues, imparting an iridescent hue to the nudity of a +beautiful figure, giving to the vast museum something of the luminous +life of a garden. Felicia, absorbed in her deep and sad reverie, did not +notice the man who advanced towards her, superb, elegant, fascinating, +through the respectfully opened ranks of the public, while the name of +"Mora" was everywhere whispered. + +"Well, mademoiselle, you have made a splendid success. I only regret one +thing about it, and that is the cruel symbol which you have hidden in +your masterpiece." + +As she saw the duke before her, she shuddered. + +"Ah, yes, the symbol," she said, lifting her face towards his with a +smile of discouragement; and leaning against the pedestal of the large, +voluptuous statue near which they happened to be standing, with the +closed eyes of a woman who gives or abandons herself, she murmured low, +very low: + +"Rabelais lied, as all men lie. The truth is that the fox is utterly +wearied, that he is at the end of his breath and his courage, ready to +fall into the ditch, and that if the greyhound makes another effort----" + +Mora started, became a shade paler, all the blood he had in his body +rushing back to his heart. Two sombre flames met with their eyes, two +rapid words were exchanged by lips that hardly moved; then the duke +bowed profoundly, and walked away with a step gay and light, as though +the gods were bearing him. + +At that moment there was in the palace only one man as happy as he, and +that was the Nabob. Escorted by his friends, he occupied, quite filled +up, the principal bay with his own party alone, speaking loudly, +gesticulating, proud to such a degree that he looked almost handsome, as +though by dint of naive and long contemplation of his bust he had been +touched by something of the splendid idealization with which the +artist had haloed the vulgarity of his type. The head, raised to the +three-quarters position, standing freely out from the wide, loose +collar, drew contradictory remarks on the resemblance from the +passers-by; and the name of Jansoulet, so many times repeated by the +electoral ballot-boxes, was repeated over again now by the prettiest +mouths, by the most authoritative voices, in Paris. Any other than the +Nabob would have been embarrassed to hear uttered, as he passed, +these expressions of curiosity which were not always friendly. But the +platform, the springing-board, well suited that nature which became +bolder under the fire of glances, like those women who are beautiful or +witty only in society, and whom the least admiration transfigures and +completes. + +When he felt this delirious joy growing calmer, when he thought to +have drunk the whole of its proud intoxication, he had only to say to +himself, "Deputy! I am a Deputy!" And the triumphal cup foamed once more +to the brim. It meant the embargo raised from all his possessions, the +awakening from a nightmare that had lasted two months, the puff of cool +wind sweeping away all his anxieties, all his inquietudes, even to the +affront of Saint-Romans, very heavy though that was in his memory. + +Deputy! + +He laughed to himself as he thought of the baron's face when he learned +the news, of the stupefaction of the Bey when he had been led up to his +bust; and suddenly, upon the reflection that he was no longer merely +an adventurer stuffed with gold, exciting the stupid admiration of +the crowd, as might an enormous rough nugget in the window of a +money-changer, but that people saw in him, as he passed, one of the +men elected by the will of the nation, his simple and mobile face grew +thoughtful with a deliberate gravity, there suggested themselves to him +projects of a career, of reform, and the wish to profit by the lessons +that had been latterly taught by destiny. Already, remembering the +promise which he had given to de Gery, for the household troop that +wriggled ignobly at his heels, he made exhibition of certain disdainful +coldnesses, a deliberate pose of authoritative contradiction. He called +the Marquis de Bois l'Hery "my good fellow," imposed silence very +sharply on the governor, whose enthusiasm was becoming scandalous, and +made a solemn vow to himself to get rid as soon as possible of all that +mendicant and promising Bohemian set, when he should have occasion to +begin the process. + +Penetrating the crowd which surrounded him, Moessard--the handsome +Moessard, in a sky-blue cravat, pale and bloated like a white embodiment +of disease, and pinched at the waist in a fine frock-coat--seeing that +the Nabob, after having gone twenty times round the hall of sculpture, +was making for the door, dashed forward, and passing his arm through +his, said: + +"You are taking me with you, you know." + +Especially of late, since the time of the election, he had assumed, in +the establishment of the Place Vendome, an authority almost equal to +that of Monpavon, but more impudent; for, in point of impudence, the +Queen's lover was without his equal on the pavement that stretches from +the Rue Drouot to the Madeleine. This time he had gone too far. The +muscular arm which he pressed was shaken violently, and the Nabob +answered very dryly: + +"I am sorry, _mon cher_, but I have not a place to offer you." + +No place in a carriage that was as big as a house, and which five of +them had come in! + +Moessard gazed at him in stupefaction. + +"I had, however, a few words to say to you which are very urgent. With +regard to the subject of my note--you received it, did you not?" + +"Certainly; and M. de Gery should have sent you a reply this very +morning. What you ask is impossible. Twenty thousand francs! _Tonnerre +de Dieu!_ You go at a fine rate!" + +"Still, it seems to me that my services--" stammered the beauty-man. + +"Have been amply paid for. That is how it seems to me also. Two hundred +thousand francs in five months! We will draw the line there, if you +please. Your teeth are long, young man; you will have to file them down +a little." + +They exchanged these words as they walked, pushed forward by the surging +wave of the people going out. Moessard stopped: + +"That is your last word?" + +The Nabob hesitated for a moment, seized by a presentiment as he looked +at that pale, evil mouth; then he remembered the promise which he had +given to his friend: + +"That is my last word." + +"Very well! We shall see," said the handsome Moessard, whose switch-cane +cut the air with the hiss of a viper; and, turning on his heel, he made +off with great strides, like a man who is expected somewhere on very +urgent business. + +Jansoulet continued his triumphal progress. That day much more would +have been required to upset the equilibrium of his happiness; on the +contrary, he felt himself relieved by the so-quickly achieved fulfilment +of his purpose. + +The immense vestibule was thronged by a dense crowd of people whom the +approach of the hour of closing was bringing out, but whom one of those +sudden showers, which seem inseparable from the opening of the _Salon_, +kept waiting beneath the porch, with its floor beaten down and sandy +like the entrance to the circus where the young dandies strut about. The +scene that met the eye was curious, and very Parisian. + +Outside, great rays of sunshine traversing the rain, attaching to +its limpid beads those sharp and brilliant blades which justify the +proverbial saying, "It rains halberds"; the young greenery of the +Champs-Elysees, the clumps of rhododendrons, rustling and wet, the +carriages ranged in the avenue, the mackintosh capes of the coachmen, +all the splendid harness-trappings of the horses receiving from the +rain and the sunbeams an added richness and effect, and blue everywhere +looming out, the blue of a sky which is about to smile in the interval +between two downpours. + +Within, laughter, gossip, greetings, impatience, skirts held up, satins +bulging out above the delicate folds of frills, of lace, of flounces +gathered up in the hands of their wearers in heavy, terribly frayed +bundles. Then, to unite the two sides of the picture, these prisoners +framed in by the vaulted ceiling of the porch and in the gloom of its +shadow, with the immense background in brilliant light, footmen running +beneath umbrellas, crying out names of coachmen or of masters, broughams +coming up at walking pace, and flustered couples getting into them. + +"M. Jansoulet's carriage!" + +Everybody turned round, but, as one knows, that did not embarrass him. +And while the good Nabob, waiting for his suite, stood posing a little +amid these fashionable and famous people, this mixed _tout Paris_ which +was there, with its every face bearing a well-known name, a nervous and +well-gloved hand was stretched out to him, and the Duc de Mora, on his +way to his brougham, threw to him, as he passed, these words, with that +effusion which happiness gives to the most reserved of men: + +"My congratulations, my dear deputy." + +It was said in a loud voice, and every one could hear it: "My dear +deputy." + + +There is in the life of all men one golden hour, one luminous peak, +whereon all that they can hope of prosperity, joy, triumph, waits for +them and is given into their hands. The summit is more or less lofty, +more or less rugged and difficult to climb, but it exists equally for +all, for powerful and humble alike. Only, like that longest day of the +year on which the sun has shone with its utmost brilliance, and of which +the morrow seems a first step towards winter, this _summum_ of human +existences is but a moment given to be enjoyed, after which one can but +redescend. This late afternoon of the first of May, streaked with rain +and sunshine, thou must forget it not, poor man--must fix forever its +changing brilliance in thy memory. It was the hour of thy full summer, +with its flowers in bloom, its fruits bending their golden boughs, its +ripe harvests of which so recklessly thou wast plucking the corn. The +star will now pale, gradually growing more remote and falling, incapable +ere long of piercing the mournful night wherein thy destiny shall be +accomplished. + + + + +MEMOIRS OF AN OFFICE PORTER IN THE ANTCHAMBER + +Great festivities last Saturday in the Place Vendome. In honour of +his election, M. Bernard Jansoulet, the new deputy for Corsica, gave +a magnificent evening party, with municipal guards at the door, +illumination of the entire mansion, and two thousand invitations sent +out to fashionable Paris. + +I owed to the distinction of my manners, to the sonority of my vocal +organ, which the chairman of the board had had occasion to notice at the +meetings at the Territorial Bank, the opportunity of taking part in +this sumptuous entertainment, at which, for three hours, standing in the +vestibule, amid the flowers and hangings, clad in scarlet and gold, with +that majesty peculiar to persons who are rather generously built, and +with my calves exposed for the first time in my life, I launched, like +a cannon-ball, through the five communicating drawing-rooms, the name +of each guest, which a glittering beadle saluted every time with the +"_bing_" of his halberd on the floor. + +How many the curious observations which that evening again I was able +to make; how many the pleasant sallies, the high-toned jests exchanged +among the servants upon all that world as it passed by! Not with +the vine-dressers of Montbars in any case should I have heard such +drolleries. I should remark that the worthy M. Barreau, to begin with, +had caused to be served to us all in his pantry, filled to the ceiling +with iced drinks and provisions, a solid lunch well washed down, which +put each of us in a good humour that was maintained during the evening +by the glasses of punch and champagne pilfered from the trays when +dessert was served. + +The masters, indeed, seemed in less joyous mood than we. So early as +nine o'clock, when I arrived at my post, I was struck by the uneasy +nervousness apparent on the face of the Nabob, whom I saw walking with +M. de Gery through the lighted and empty drawing-rooms, talking quickly +and making large gestures. + +"I will kill him!" he said; "I will kill him!" + +The other endeavoured to soothe him; then madame came in, and the +subject of their conversation was changed. + +A mighty fine woman, this Levantine, twice as stout as I am, dazzling to +look at with her tiara of diamonds, the jewels with which her huge +white shoulders were laden, her back as round as her bosom, her waist +compressed within a cuirass of green gold, which was continued in long +braids down the whole length of her stiff skirt. I have never seen +anything so imposing, so rich. She suggested one of those beautiful +white elephants that carry towers on their backs, of which we read in +books of travel. When she walked, supporting herself with difficulty +by means of clinging to the furniture, her whole body quivered, her +ornaments clattered like a lot of old iron. Added to this, a small, +very piercing voice, and a fine red face which a little negro boy +kept cooling for her all the time with a white feather fan as big as a +peacock's tail. + +It was the first time that this indolent and retiring person had showed +herself to Parisian society, and M. Jansoulet seemed very happy and +proud that she had been willing to preside over his party; which +undertaking, for that matter, did not cost the lady much trouble, for, +leaving her husband to receive the guests in the first drawing-room, +she went and lay down on the divan of the small Japanese room, wedged +between two piles of cushions, motionless, so that you could see her +from a distance right in the background, looking like an idol, beneath +the great fan which her negro waved regularly like a piece of clockwork. +These foreign women possess an assurance! + +All the same, the Nabob's irritation had struck me, and seeing the +_valet de chambre_ go by, descending the staircase four steps at a time, +I caught him on the wing and whispered in his ear: + +"What's the matter, then, with your governor, M. Noel?" + +"It is the article in the _Messenger_," was his reply, and I had to +give up the idea of learning anything further for the moment, the +loud ringing of a bell announcing that the first carriage had arrived, +followed soon by a crowd of others. + +Wholly absorbed in my occupation, careful to utter clearly the names +which were given to me, and to make them echo from salon to salon, I +had no longer a thought for anything besides. It is no easy business to +announce in a proper manner persons who are always under the impression +that their name must be known, whisper it under their breath as they +pass, and then are surprised to hear you murder it with the finest +accent, and are almost angry with you on account of those entrances +which, missing fire and greeted with little smiles, follow upon an +ill-made announcement. At M. Jansoulet's, what made the work still +more difficult for me was the number of foreigners--Turks, Egyptians, +Persians, Tunisians. I say nothing of the Corsicans, who were very +numerous that day, because during my four years at the Territorial I +have become accustomed to the pronunciation of those high-sounding, +interminable names, always followed by that of the locality: "Paganetti +de Porto Vecchio, Bastelica di Bonifacio, Paianatchi de Barbicaglia." + +It was always a pleasure to me to modulate these Italian syllables, to +give them all their sonority, and I saw clearly, from the bewildered +airs of these worthy islanders, how charmed and surprised they were to +be introduced in such a manner into the high society of the Continent. +But with the Turks, these pashas, beys, and effendis, I had much +more trouble, and I must have happened often to fall on a wrong +pronunciation; for M. Jansoulet, on two separate occasions, sent word +to me to pay more attention to the names that were given to me, and +especially to announce in a more natural manner. This remark, uttered +aloud before the whole vestibule with a certain roughness, annoyed me +greatly, and prevented me--shall I confess it?--from pitying this rich +_parvenu_ when I learned, in the course of the evening, what cruel +thorns lay concealed in his bed of roses. + +From half past ten until midnight the bell was constantly ringing, +carriages rolling up under the portico, guests succeeding one another, +deputies, senators, councillors of state, municipal councillors, +who looked much rather as though they were attending a meeting of +shareholders than an evening-party of society people. What could account +for this? I had not succeeded in finding an explanation, but a remark of +the beadle Nicklauss opened my eyes. + +"Do you notice, M. Passajon," said that worthy henchman, as he stood +opposite me, halberd in hand, "do you notice how few ladies we have?" + +That was it, egad! Nor were we the only two to observe the fact. As each +new arrival made his entry I could hear the Nabob, who was standing near +the door, exclaim, with consternation in his thick voice like that of a +Marseillais with a cold in his head: + +"What! all alone?" + +The guest would murmur his excuses. "Mn-mn-mn--his wife a trifle +indisposed. Certainly very sorry." Then another would arrive, and the +same question call forth the same reply. + +By its constant repetition this phrase "All alone?" had eventually +become a jest in the vestibule; lackeys and footmen threw it at each +other whenever there entered a new guest "all alone!" And we laughed +and were put in good-humour by it. But M. Nicklauss, with his great +experience of the world, deemed this almost general abstention of the +fair sex unnatural. + +"It must be the article in the _Messenger_," said he. + +Everybody was talking about it, this rascally article, and before the +mirror garlanded with flowers, at which each guest gave a finishing +touch to his attire before entering, I surprised fragments of whispered +conversation such as this: + +"You have read it?" + +"It is horrible!" + +"Do you think the thing possible?" + +"I have no idea. In any case, I preferred not to bring my wife." + +"I have done the same. A man can go everywhere without compromising +himself." + +"Certainly. While a woman----" + +Then they would go in, opera hat under arm, with that conquering air of +married men when they are unaccompanied by their wives. + +What, then, could there be in this newspaper, this terrible article, to +menace to this degree the influence of so wealthy a man? Unfortunately, +my duties took up the whole of my time. I could go down neither to the +pantry nor to the cloak-room to obtain information, to chat with the +coachmen and valets and lackeys whom I could see standing at the foot +of the staircase, amusing themselves by jests upon the people who were +going up. What will you? Masters give themselves great airs also. How +not laugh to see go by with an insolent manner and an empty stomach the +Marquis and the Marquise de Bois l'Hery, after all that we have been +told about the traffickings of Monsieur and the toilettes of Madame? And +the Jenkins couple, so tender, so united, the doctor carefully putting +a lace shawl over his lady's shoulders for fear she should take cold +on the staircase; she herself smiling and in full dress, all in velvet, +with a great long train, leaning on her husband's arm with an air that +seems to say, "How happy I am!" when I happened to know that, in fact, +since the death of the Irishwoman, his real, legitimate wife, the doctor +is thinking of getting rid of the old woman who clings to him, in order +to be able to marry a chit of a girl, and that the old woman passes her +nights in lamentation, and in spoiling with tears whatever beauty she +has left. + +The humorous thing is that not one of these people had the least +suspicion of the rich jests and jeers that were spat over their backs +as they passed, not a notion of the filth which those long trains drew +after them as they crossed the carpet of the antechamber, and they all +would look at you so disdainfully that it was enough to make you die of +laughing. + +The two ladies whom I have just named, the wife of the governor, a +little Corsican, to whom her bushy eyebrows, her white teeth, and her +shining cheeks, dark beneath the skin, give the appearance of a woman of +Auvergne with a washed face, a good sort, for the rest, and laughing all +the time except when her husband is looking at other women; in addition, +a few Levantines with tiaras of gold or pearls, less perfect specimens +of the type than our own, but still in a similar style, wives of +upholsterers, jewellers, regular tradesmen of the establishment, with +shoulders as large as shop-fronts, and expensive toilettes; finally, +sundry ladies, wives of officials of the Territorial, in sorry, badly +creased dresses; these constituted the sole representation of the fair +sex in the assembly, some thirty ladies lost among a thousand black +coats--that is to say, practically none at all. From time to time +Cassagne, Laporte, Grandvarlet, who were serving the refreshments in +trays, stopped to inform us of what was passing in the drawing-rooms. + +"Ah, my boys, if you could see it! it has a gloom, a melancholy. The men +don't stir from the buffets. The ladies are all at the back, seated in a +circle, fanning themselves and saying nothing. The fat old lady does +not speak to a soul. I fancy she is sulking. You should see the look on +Monsieur! Come, _pere_ Passajon, a glass of Chateau-Larose; it will pick +you up a bit." + +They were charmingly kind to me, all these young people, and took a +mischievous pleasure in doing me the honours of the cellar so often and +so copiously, that my tongue commenced to become heavy, uncertain, and +as the young folk said to me, in their somewhat free language. "Uncle, +you are babbling." Happily the last of the effendis had just arrived, +and there was nobody else to announce; for it was in vain that I sought +to shake off the impression, every time I advanced between the curtains +to send a name hurtling through the air at random, I saw the chandeliers +of the drawing-rooms revolving with hundreds of dazzling lights, and the +floors slipping away with sharp and perpendicular slopes like Russian +mountains. I was bound to get my speech mixed, it is certain. + +The cool night-air, sundry ablutions at the pump in the court-yard, +quickly got the better of this small discomfort, and when I entered the +cloak-room nothing of it was any longer apparent. I found a numerous and +gay company collected round a _marquise au champagne_, of which all +my nieces, wearing their best dresses, with their hair puffed out +and cravats of pink ribbon, took their full share notwithstanding +exclamations and bewitching little grimaces that deceived nobody. +Naturally, the conversation turned on the famous article, an article by +Moessard, it appears, full of frightful occupations which the Nabob was +alleged to have followed fifteen or twenty years ago, at the time of his +first sojourn in Paris. + +It was the third attack of the kind which the _Messenger_ had published +in the course of the last week, and that rogue of a Moessard had the +spite to send the number each time done up in a packet to the Place +Vendome. + +M. Jansoulet received it in the morning with his chocolate; and at the +same hour his friends and his enemies--for a man like the Nabob could +be regarded with indifference by none--would be reading, commenting, +tracing for themselves the relation to him a line of conduct designed to +save them from becoming compromised. Today's article must be supposed to +have struck hard all the same; for Jansoulet, the coachman, recounted +to us a few hours ago, in the Bois, his master had not exchanged ten +greetings in the course of ten drives round the lake, while ordinarily +his hat is as rarely on his head as a sovereign's when he takes the air. +Then, when they got back, there was another trouble. The three boys had +just arrived at the house, all in tears and dismay, brought home from +the College Bourdaloue by a worthy father in the interest of the poor +little fellows themselves, who had received a temporary leave of absence +in order to spare them from hearing in the parlour or the playground +any unkind story or painful allusion. Thereupon the Nabob flew into a +terrible passion, which caused him to destroy a service of porcelain, +and it appears that, had it not been for M. de Gery, he would have +rushed off at once to punch Moessard's head. + +"And he would have done very well," remarked M. Noel, entering at these +last words, very much excited. "There is not a line of truth in that +rascal's article. My master had never been in Paris before last year. +From Tunis to Marseilles, from Marseilles to Tunis, those were his only +journeys. But this knave of a journalist is taking his revenge because +we refused him twenty thousand francs." + +"There you acted very unwisely," observed M. Francis upon +this--Monpavon's Francis, Monpavon the old beau whose solitary tooth +shakes about in the centre of his mouth at every word he says, but whom +the young ladies regard with a favourable eye all the same on account of +his fine manners. "Yes, you were unwise. One must know how to conciliate +people, so long as they are in a position to be useful to us or to +injure us. Your Nabob has turned his back too quickly upon his friends +after his success; and between you and me, _mon cher_, he is not +sufficiently firmly established to be able to disregard attacks of this +kind." + +I thought myself able here to put in a word in my turn: + +"That is true enough, M. Noel, your governor is no longer the same since +his election. He has adopted a tone and manners which I can hardly but +describe as reprehensible. The day before yesterday, at the Territorial, +he raised a commotion which you can hardly imagine. He was heard to +exclaim before the whole board: 'You have lied to me; you have robbed +me, and made me a robber as much as yourselves. Show me your books, you +set of rogues!' If he has treated Moessard in the same sort of fashion, +I am not surprised any longer that the latter should be taking his +revenge in his newspaper." + +"But what does this article say?" asked M. Barreau. "Who is present that +has read it?" + +Nobody answered. Several had tried to buy it, but in Paris scandal sells +like bread. At ten o'clock in the morning there was not a single copy +of the _Messenger_ left in the office. Then it occurred to one of my +nieces--a sharp girl, if ever there was one--to look in the pocket of +one of the numerous overcoats in the cloak-room, folded carefully in +large pigeon-holes. At the first which she examined: + +"Here it is!" exclaimed the charming child with an air of triumph, as +she drew out a _Messenger_ crumpled in the folding like a paper that has +just been read. + +"Here is another!" cried Tom Bois l'Hery, who was making a search on his +own account. A third overcoat, a third _Messenger_. And in every one the +same thing: pushed down to the bottom of a pocket, or with its titlepage +protruding, the newspaper was everywhere, just as its article must +have been in every memory; and one could imagine the Nabob up above +exchanging polite phrases with his guests, while they could have reeled +off by heart the atrocious things that had been printed about him. We +all laughed much at this idea; but we were anxious to make acquaintance +in our own turn with this curious article. + +"Come, _pere_ Passajon, read it aloud to us." + +It was the general desire, and I assented. + +I don't know if you are like me, but when I read aloud I gargle my +throat with my voice; I introduce modulations and flourishes to such an +extent that I understand nothing of what I am saying, like those singers +to whom the sense of the words matters little, provided the notes be +true. The thing was entitled "The Boat of Flowers"--a sufficiently +complicated story, with Chinese names, about a very rich mandarin, who +had at one time in the past kept a "boat of flowers" moored quite at the +far end of the town near a barrier frequented by the soldiers. At the +end of the article we were not farther on than at the beginning. We +tried certainly to wink at each other, to pretend to be clever; but, +frankly, we had no reason. A veritable puzzle without solution; and we +should still be stuck fast at it if old Francis, a regular rascal who +knows everything, had not explained to us that this meeting place of +the soldiers must stand for the Military School, and that the "boat of +flowers" did not bear so pretty a name as that in good French. And this +name, he said it aloud notwithstanding the presence of the ladies. +There was an explosion of cries, of "Ah's!" and "Oh's!" some saying, "I +suspected it!" others, "It is impossible!" + +"Pardon me," added Francis, formerly a trumpeter in the Ninth +Lancers--the regiment of Mora and of Monpavon--"pardon me. Twenty years +ago, during the last half year of my service, I was in barracks in the +Military School, and I remember very well that near the fortifications +there was a dirty dancing-hall known as the Jansoulet Rooms, with a +little furnished flat above and bedrooms at twopence-halfpenny the hour, +to which one could retire between two quadrilles." + +"You are an infamous liar!" said M. Noel, beside himself with rage--"a +thief and a liar like your master. Jansoulet has never been in Paris +before now." + +Francis was seated a little outside our circle engaged in sipping +something sweet, because champagne has a bad effect on his nerves and +because, too, it is not a sufficiently distinguished beverage for him. +He rose gravely, without putting down his glass, and, advancing towards +M. Noel, said to him very quietly: + +"You are wanting in manners, _mon cher_. The other evening I found +your tone coarse and unseemly. To insult people serves no good purpose, +especially in this case, since I happen to have been an assistant to a +fencing-master, and, if matters were carried further between us, could +put a couple of inches of steel into whatever part of your body I might +choose. But I am good-natured. Instead of a sword-thrust, I prefer to +give you a piece of advice, which your master will do well to follow. +This is what I should do in your place: I should go and find Moessard, +and I should buy him, without quibbling about price. Hemerlingue has +given him twenty thousand francs to speak; I would offer him thirty +thousand to hold his tongue." + +"Never! never!" vociferated M. Noel. "I should rather go and knock the +rascally brigand's head off." + +"You will do nothing of the kind. Whether the calumny be true or false, +you have seen the effect of it this evening. This is a sample of the +pleasures in store for you. What can you expect, _mon cher_? You have +thrown away your crutches too soon, and thought to walk by yourselves. +That is all very well when one is well set up and firm on the legs; but +when one had not a very solid footing, and has also the misfortune +to feel Hemerlingue at his heels, it is a bad business. Besides, your +master is beginning to be short of money; he has given notes of hand to +old Schwalbach--and don't talk to me of a Nabob who gives notes of hand. +I know well that you have millions over yonder, but your election must +be declared valid before you can touch them; a few more articles like +to-day's, and I answer for it that you will not secure that declaration. +You set yourselves up to struggle against Paris, _mon bon_, but you are +not big enough for such a match; you know nothing about it. Here we +are not in the East, and if we do not wring the necks of people who +displease us, if we do not throw them into the water in a sack, we have +other methods of effecting their disappearance. Noel, let your master +take care. One of these mornings Paris will swallow him as I swallow +this plum, without spitting out either the stone or skin." + +He was terrible, this old man, and notwithstanding the paint on his +face, I felt a certain respect for him. While he was speaking, we could +hear the music upstairs, and the horses of the municipal guards shaking +their curb-chains in the square. From without, our festivities must have +seemed very brilliant, all lighted up by their thousands of candles, +and with the great portico illuminated. And when one reflected that ruin +perhaps lay beneath it all! We sat there in the vestibule like rats that +hold counsel with each other at the bottom of a ship's hold, when the +vessel is beginning to leak and before the crew has found it out, and I +saw clearly that all the lackeys and chambermaids would not be long in +decamping at the first note of alarm. Could such a catastrophe indeed be +possible? And in that case what would become of me, and the Territorial, +and the money I had advanced, and the arrears due to me? + +That Francis has left me with a cold shudder down my back. + + + + +A PUBLIC MAN + +The bright warmth of a clear May afternoon heated the lofty casement +windows of the Mora mansion to the temperature of a greenhouse. The +blue silk curtains were visible from outside through the branches of the +trees, and the wide terraces, where exotic flowers were planted out of +doors for the first time of the season, ran in borders along the whole +length of the quay. The raking of the garden paths traced the light +footprints of summer in the sand, while the soft fall of the water from +the hoses on the lawns was its refreshing song. + +All the luxury of the princely residence lay sunning itself in the soft +warmth of the temperature, borrowing a beauty from the silence, the +repose of this noontide hour, the only hour when the roll of carriages +was not to be heard under the arches, nor the banging of the great doors +of the antechamber, and that perpetual vibration which the ringing of +bells upon arrivals or departures sent coursing through the very ivy on +the walls; the feverish pulse of the life of a fashionable house. It was +well known that up to three o'clock the duke held his reception at the +Ministry, and that the duchess, a Swede still benumbed by the snows +of Stockholm, had hardly issued from her drowsy curtains; consequently +nobody came to call, neither visitors or petitioners, and only the +footmen, perched like flamingoes on the deserted flight of steps in +front of the house, gave the place a touch of animation with the slim +shadows of their long legs and their yawning weariness of idlers. + +As an exception, however, that day Jenkins's brougham was standing +waiting in a corner of the court-yard. The duke, unwell since the +previous evening, had felt worse after leaving the breakfast-table, and +in all haste had sent for the man of the pearls in order to question him +on his singular condition. Pain nowhere, sleep and appetite as usual; +only an inconceivable lassitude, and a sense of terrible chill which +nothing could dissipate. Thus at that moment, notwithstanding the +brilliant spring sunshine which flooded his chamber and almost +extinguished the fire flaming in the grate, the duke was shivering +beneath his furs, surrounded by screens; and while signing papers for an +_attache_ of his cabinet on a low table of gold lacquer, placed so near +to the fire that it frizzled, he kept holding out his numb fingers +every moment toward the blaze, which might have burned the skin without +restoring circulation. + +Was it anxiety caused by the indisposition of his illustrious client? +Jenkins appeared nervous, disquieted, walked backward and forward with +long strides over the carpet, hunting about right and left, seeking +in the air something which he believed to be present, a subtle and +intangible something like the trace of a perfume or the invisible track +left by a bird in its flight. You heard the crackling of the wood in +the fireplace, the rustle of papers hurriedly turned over, the indolent +voice of the duke indicating in a sentence, always precise and clear, a +reply to a letter of four pages, and the respectful monosyllables of +the _attache_--"Yes, M. le Ministre," "No, M. le Ministre"; then the +scraping of a rebellious and heavy pen. Out of doors the swallows were +twittering merrily over the water, the sound of a clarinet was wafted +from somewhere near the bridges. + +"It is impossible," suddenly said the Minister of State, rising. "Take +that away, Lartigues; you must return to-morrow. I cannot write. I am +too cold. See, doctor; feel my hands--one would think that they had just +come out of a pail of iced water. For the last two days my whole body +has been the same. Isn't it too absurd, in this weather!" + +"I am not surprised," muttered the Irishman, in a sullen, curt tone, +rarely heard from that honeyed personage. + +The door had closed upon the young _attache_, bearing off his papers +with majestic dignity, but very happy, I imagine, to feel himself free +and to be able to stroll for an hour or two, before returning to the +Ministry, in the Tuileries gardens, full of spring frocks and pretty +girls sitting near the still empty chairs round the band, under the +chestnut-trees in flower, through which from root to summit there ran +the great thrill of the month when nests are built. The _attache_ was +certainly not frozen. + +Jenkins, silently, examined his patient, sounded him, and tapped his +chest; then, in the same rough tone which might be explained by his +anxious devotion, the annoyance of the doctor who sees his orders +transgressed: + +"Ah, now, my dear duke, what sort of life have you been living lately?" + +He knew from the gossip of the antechamber--in the case of his regular +clients the doctor did not disdain this--he knew that the duke had a new +favourite, that this caprice of recent date possessed him, excited him +in an extraordinary measure, and the fact, taken together with +other observations made elsewhere, had implanted in Jenkins's mind a +suspicion, a mad desire to know the name of this new mistress. It +was this that he was trying to read on the pale face of his patient, +attempting to fathom the depth of his thoughts rather than the origin +of his malady. But he had to deal with one of those faces which are +hermetically sealed, like those little coffers with a secret spring +which hold jewels and women's letters, one of those discreet natures +closed by a cold, blue eye, a glance of steel by which the most astute +perspicacity may be baffled. + +"You are mistaken, doctor," replied his excellency tranquilly. "I have +made no changes in my habits." + +"Very well, M. le Duc, you have done wrong," remarked the Irishman +abruptly, furious at having made no discovery. + +And then, feeling that he was going too far, he gave vent to his bad +temper and to the severity of his diagnosis in words which were a tissue +of banalities and axioms. One ought to take care. Medicine was not +magic. The power of the Jenkins pearls was limited by human strength, +by the necessities of age, by the resources of nature, which, +unfortunately, are not inexhaustible. The duke interrupted him in an +irritable tone: + +"Come, Jenkins, you know very well that I don't like phrases. I am not +all right, then? What is the matter with me? What is the reason of this +chilliness?" + +"It is anaemia, exhaustion--a sinking of the oil in the lamp." + +"What must I do?" + +"Nothing. An absolute rest. Eat, sleep, nothing besides. If you could go +and spend a few weeks at Grandbois." + +Mora shrugged his shoulders: + +"And the Chamber--and the Council--and--? Nonsense! how is it possible?" + +"In any case, M. le Duc, you must put the brake on; as somebody said, +renounce absolutely--" + +Jenkins was interrupted by the entry of the servant on duty, who, +discreetly, on tiptoe, like a dancing-master, came in to deliver a +letter and a card to the Minister of State, who was still shivering +before the fire. At the sight of that satin-gray envelope of a peculiar +shape the Irishman started involuntarily, while the duke, having opened +and glanced over his letter, rose with new vigor, his cheeks wearing +that light flush of artificial health which all the heat of the stove +had not been able to bring there. + +"My dear doctor, I must at any price--" + +The servant still stood waiting. + +"What is it? Ah, yes; this card. Take the visitor to the gallery. I +shall be there directly." + +The gallery of the Duke de Mora, open to visitors twice a week, was for +himself, as it were, a neutral ground, a public place where he could see +any one without binding or compromising himself in any way. Then, the +servant having withdrawn: + +"Jenkins, _mon bon_, you have already worked miracles for me. I ask you +for one more. Double the dose of my pearls; find something, whatever +you will. But I must be feeling young by Sunday. You understand me, +altogether young." + +And on the little letter in his hand, his fingers, warm once more and +feverish, clinched themselves with a thrill of eager desire. + +"Take care, M. le Duc," said Jenkins, very pale and with compressed +lips. "I have no wish to alarm you unnecessarily with regard to the +feeble state of your health, but it becomes my duty--" + +Mora gave a smile of pretty arrogance: + +"Your duty and my pleasure are two separate things, my worthy friend. +Let me burn the candle at both ends, if it amuses me. I have never had +so fine an opportunity as this time." + +He started: + +"The duchess!" + +A door concealed behind a curtain had just opened to give passage to a +merry little head with fair curls in disorder, quite fairy-like amid the +laces and frills of a dressing-jacket worthy of a princess: + +"What do I hear? You have not gone out? But do scold him, doctor. He is +wrong, isn't he, to have so many fancies about himself? Look at him--a +picture of health!" + +"There--you see," said the duke, laughing, to the Irishman. "You will +not come in, duchess?" + +"No, I am going to carry you off, on the contrary. My uncle d'Estaing +has sent me a cage full of tropical birds. I want to show them to you. +Wonderful creatures, of all colours, with little eyes like black pearls. +And so sensitive to cold--nearly as much so as you are." + +"Let us go and have a look at them," said the minister. "Wait for me, +Jenkins. I shall be back in a moment." + +Then, noticing that he still had his letter in his hand, he threw it +carelessly into the drawer of the little table at which he had been +signing papers, and left the room behind the duchess, with the fine +coolness of a husband accustomed to these changes of situation. + +What prodigious mechanic, what incomparable manufacturer of toys, +must it have been who succeeded in endowing the human mask with its +suppleness, its marvellous elasticity! How interesting to observe +the face of this great seigneur surprised in the very planning of his +adultery, with cheeks flushed in the anticipation of promised delights, +calming down at a moment's notice into the serenity of conjugal +tenderness; how fine the devout obsequiousness, the paternal smile, +after the Franklin method, of Jenkins, in the presence of the duchess, +giving place suddenly, when he found himself alone, to a savage +expression of anger and hatred, the pallor of a criminal, the pallor of +a Castaing or of a Lapommerais hatching his sinister treasons. + +One rapid glance towards each of the two doors, and he stood before the +drawer full of precious papers, the little gold key still remaining in +the lock with an arrogant carelessness, which seemed to say, "No one +will dare." + +Jenkins dared. + +The letter lay there, the first on a pile of others. The grain of +the paper, an address of three words dashed off in a simple, bold +handwriting, and then the perfume, that intoxicating, suggestive +perfume, the very breath of her divine lips--It was true, then, his +jealous love had not deceived him, nor the embarrassment she had shown +in his presence for some time past, nor the secretive and rejuvenated +airs of Constance, nor those bouquets magnificently blooming in the +studio as in the shadow of an intrigue. That indomitable pride had +surrendered, then, at last? But in that case, why not to him, Jenkins? +To him who had loved her for so long--always; who was ten years +younger than the other man, and who certainly was troubled with no cold +shiverings! All these thoughts passed through his head like arrows shot +from a tireless bow. And, stabbed through and through, torn to pieces, +his eyes blinded, he stood there looking at the little satiny and cold +envelope which he did not dare open for fear of dismissing a final +doubt, when the rustling of a curtain warned him that some one had just +come in. He threw the letter back quickly, and closed the wonderfully +adjusted drawer of the lacquered table. + +"Ah! it is you, Jansoulet. How is it you are here?" + +"His excellency told me to come and wait for him in his room," replied +the Nabob, very proud of being thus introduced into the privacy of the +apartments, at an hour, especially, when visitors were not generally +received. As a fact, the duke was beginning to show a real liking for +this savage, for several reasons: to begin with, he liked audacious +people, adventurers who followed their lucky star. Was he not one of +them himself? Then, the Nabob amused him; his accent, his frank manners, +his rather coarse and impudent flattery, were a change for him from +the eternal conventionality of his surroundings, from that scourge +of administrative and court life which he held in horror--the set +speech--in such great horror that he never finished a sentence which he +had begun. The Nabob had an unforeseen way of finishing his which was +sometimes full of surprises. A fine gambler as well, losing games of +_ecarte_ at five thousand francs the fish without flinching. And so +convenient when one wanted to get rid of a picture, always ready to +buy, no matter at what price. To these motives of condescending kindness +there had come to be joined of late a sentiment of pity and indignation +in the face of the tenacity with which the unfortunate man was being +persecuted, the cowardly and merciless war so ably managed, that public +opinion, always credulous and with neck outstretched to see which way +the wind is blowing, was beginning to be seriously influenced. One +must do to Mora the justice of admitting that he was no follower of the +crowd. When he had seen in a corner of the gallery the simple but rather +piteous and discomfited face of the Nabob, he had thought it cowardly to +receive him there, and had sent him up to his private room. + +Jenkins and Jansoulet, sufficiently embarrassed by each other's +presence, exchanged a few commonplace words. Their great friendship +had recently cooled, Jansoulet having refused point-blank all further +subsidies to the Bethlehem Society, leaving the business on the +Irishman's hands, who was furious at this defection, and much more +furious still at this moment because he had not been able to open +Felicia's letter before the arrival of the intruder. The Nabob, on his +side, was asking himself whether the doctor was going to be present at +the conversation which he wished to have with the duke on the subject of +the infamous insinuations with which the _Messenger_ was pursuing him; +anxious also to know whether these calumnies might not have produced a +coolness in that sovereign good-will which was so necessary to him at +the moment of the verification of his election. The greeting which he +had received in the gallery had half reassured him on this point; he +was entirely satisfied when the duke entered and came towards him with +outstretched hand: + +"Well, my poor Jansoulet, I hope Paris is making you pay dearly enough +for your welcome. What brawling and hate and spite one finds!" + +"Ah, M. le Duc, if you knew--" + +"I know. I have read it," said the minister, moving closer to the fire. + +"I sincerely hope that your excellency does not believe these infamies. +Besides, I have here--I bring the proof." + +With his strong hairy hands, trembling with emotion, he hunted among the +papers in an enormous shagreen portfolio which he had under his arm. + +"Never mind that--never mind. I am acquainted with the whole affair. I +know that, wilfully or not, they have mixed you up with another person, +whom family considerations--" + +The duke could not restrain a smile at the bewilderment of the Nabob, +stupefied to find him so well informed. + +"A Minister of State has to know everything. But don't worry. Your +election will be declared valid all the same. And once declared valid--" + +Jansoulet heaved a sigh of relief. + +"Ah, M. le Duc, how it cheers me to hear you speak thus! I was beginning +to lose all confidence. My enemies are so powerful. And a piece of bad +luck into the bargain. Do you know that it is Le Merquier himself who is +charged with the report on my election?" + +"Le Merquier? The devil!" + +"Yes, Le Merquier, Hemerlingue's agent, the dirty hypocrite who +converted the baroness, no doubt because his religion forbade him to +have a Mohammedan for a mistress." + +"Come, come, Jansoulet." + +"Well, M. le Duc? One can't help being angry. Think of the situation +in which these wretches are placing me. Here I ought to have had my +election made valid a week ago, and they arrange the postponement of the +sitting expressly because they know the terrible position in which I am +placed--my whole fortune paralyzed, the Bey waiting for the decision of +the Chamber to decide whether or not he can plunder me. I have eighty +millions over there, M. le Duc, and here I begin to be short of money. +If the thing goes on only a little longer--" + +He wiped away the big drops of sweat that trickled down his cheeks. + +"Ah, well, I will look after this validation myself," said the minister +sharply. "I will write to what's-his-name to hurry up with his report; +and even if I have to be carried to the Chamber--" + +"Your excellency is unwell?" asked Jansoulet, in a tone of interest +which, I swear to you, had no affectation about it. + +"No--a little weakness. I am rather anaemic--wanting blood; but Jenkins +is going to put me right. Aren't you, Jenkins?" + +The Irishman, who had not been listening, made a vague gesture. + +"_Tonnerre!_ And here am I with only too much of it." + +And the Nabob loosened his cravat about his neck, swollen like an +apoplexy by his emotion and the heat of the room. "If I could only +transfer a little to you, M. le Duc!" + +"It would be an excellent thing for both," said the Minister of State +with pale irony. "For you, especially, who are a violent fellow, and +who at this moment need so much self-control. Take care on that point, +Jansoulet. Beware of the hot retorts, the steps taken in a fit of temper +to which they would like to drive you. Repeat to yourself now that you +are a public man, on a platform, all of whose actions are observed from +far. The newspapers are abusing you; don't read them, if you cannot +conceal the emotion which they cause you. Don't do what I did, with my +blind man of the Pont de la Concorde, that frightful clarinet-player, +who for the last ten years has been blighting my life by playing all +day 'De tes fils, Norma.' I have tried everything to get him away from +there--money, threats. Nothing has succeeded in inducing him to go. The +police? Ah, yes, indeed. With modern ideas, it becomes quite a business +to clear off a blind man from a bridge. The Opposition newspapers would +talk of it, the Parisians would make a story out of it--'_The Cobbler +and the Financier_.' 'The Duke and the Clarinet.' No, I must resign +myself. It is, besides, my own fault. I never ought to have let this +man see that he annoyed me. I am sure that my torture makes half the +pleasure of his life now. Every morning he comes forth from his wretched +lodging with his dog, his folding-stool, his frightful music, and says +to himself, 'Come, let us go and worry the Duc de Mora.' Not a day +does he miss, the wretch! Why, see, if I were but to open the window a +trifle, you would hear his deluge of little sharp notes above the noise +of the water and the traffic. Well, this journalist of the _Messenger_, +he is your clarinet; if you allow him to see that his music wearies you, +he will never finish. And with this, my dear deputy, I will remind you +that you have a meeting at three o'clock at the office, and I must send +you back to the Chamber." + +Then turning to Jenkins: + +"You know what I asked of you, doctor--pearls for the day after +to-morrow; and let them be extra strong!" + +Jenkins started, shook himself as at the sudden awakening from a dream: + +"Certainly, my dear duke. You shall be given some stamina--oh, yes; +stamina, breath enough to win the great Derby stakes." + +He bowed, and left the room laughing, the veritable laugh of a wolf +showing its gleaming white teeth. The Nabob took leave in his turn, his +heart filled with gratitude, but not daring to let anything of it appear +in the presence of this sceptic in whom all demonstrativeness aroused +distrust. And the Minister of State, left alone, rolled up in his wraps +before the crackling and blazing fire, sheltered in the padded warmth of +his luxury, doubled that day by the feverish caress of the May sunshine, +began to shiver with cold again, to shiver so violently that Felicia's +letter which he had reopened and was reading rapturously shook in his +hands. + +A deputy is in a very singular situation during the period which follows +his election and precedes--as they say in parliamentary jargon--the +verification of its validity. It is a little like the position of the +newly married man during the twenty-four hours separating the civil +marriage from its consecration by the Church. Rights of which he cannot +avail himself, a half-happiness, a semi-authority, the embarrassment +of keeping the balance a little on this side or on that, the lack of a +defined footing. One is married and yet not married, a deputy and yet +not perfectly sure of being it; only, for the deputy, this uncertainty +is prolonged over days and weeks, and since the longer it lasts the more +problematical does the validation become, it is like torture for the +unfortunate representative on probation to be obliged to attend the +Chamber, to occupy a place which he will perhaps not keep, to listen to +discussions of which it is possible that he will never hear the end, to +fix in his eyes and ears the delicious memory of parliamentary sittings +with their sea of bald or apoplectic foreheads, their confused noise of +rustling papers, the cries of attendants, wooden knives beating a tattoo +on the tables, private conversations from amid which the voice of +the orator issues, a thundering or timid solo with a continuous +accompaniment. + +This situation, at best so trying to the nerves, was complicated in +the Nabob's case by these calumnies, at first whispered, now printed, +circulated in thousands of copies by the newspapers, with the +consequence that he found himself tacitly put in quarantine by his +colleagues. + +The first days he went and came in the corridors, the library, the +dining-room, the lecture-hall, like the rest, delighted to roam through +all the corners of that majestic labyrinth; but he was unknown to most +of his associates, unacknowledged by a few members of the Rue Royale +Club, who avoided him, detested by all the clerical party of which +Le Merquier was the head. The financial set was hostile to this +multi-millionaire, powerful in both "bull" and "bear" market, like those +vessels of heavy tonnage which displace the water of a harbour, and +thus his isolation only became the more marked by the change in his +circumstances and the same enmity followed him everywhere. + +His gestures, his manner, showed trace of it in a certain constraint, +a sort of hesitating distrust. He felt he was watched. If he went for a +minute into the _buffet_, that large bright room opening on the gardens +of the president's house, which he liked because there, at the broad +counter of white marble laden with bottles and provisions, the deputies +lost their big, imposing airs, the legislative haughtiness allowed +itself to become more familiar, even there he knew that the next day +there would appear in the _Messenger_ a mocking, offensive paragraph +exhibiting him to his electors as a wine-bibber of the most notorious +order. + +Those terrible electors added to his embarrassments. + +They arrived in crowds, invaded the Salle des Pas-Perdus, galloped all +over the place like little fiery black kids, shouting to each other from +one end to the other of the echoing room, "O Pe! O Tche!" inhaling with +delight the odour of government, of administration, pervading the air, +watching admiringly the ministers as they passed, following in their +trail with keen nose, as though from their respected pockets, from their +swollen portfolios, there might fall some appointment; but especially +surrounding "Moussiou" Jansoulet with so many exacting petitions, +reclamations, demonstrations, that, in order to free himself from the +gesticulating uproar which made everybody turn round, and turned him +as it were into the delegate of a tribe of Tuaregs in the midst of +civilized folk, he was obliged to implore with a look the help of some +attendant on duty familiar with such acts of rescue, who would come to +him with an air of urgency to say "that he was wanted immediately in +Bureau No. 8." So at last, embarrassed everywhere, driven from the +corridors, from the Pas-Perdus, from the refreshment-room, the poor +Nabob had adopted the course of never leaving his seat, where he +remained motionless and without speaking during the whole time of the +sitting. + +He had, however, one friend in the Chamber, a deputy newly elected for +the Deux-Sevres, called M. Sarigue, a poor man sufficiently resembling +the inoffensive and ill-favoured animal whose name he bore, with his red +and scanty hair, his timorous eyes, his hopping walk, his white gaiters; +he was so timid that he could not utter two words without stuttering, +almost voiceless, continually sucking jujubes, which completed the +confusion of his speech. One asked what such a weakling as he had come +to do in the Assembly, what feminine ambition run mad had urged into +public life this being useless for no matter what private activity. + +By an amusing irony of fate, Jansoulet, himself agitated by all the +anxieties of his own validation, was chosen in Bureau no. 8 to draw up +the report on the election in the Deux-Sevres; and M. Sarigue, humble +and supplicating, conscious of his incapacity and filled by a horrible +dread of being sent back to his home in disgrace, used to follow about +this great jovial fellow with the curly hair and big shoulder blades +that moved like the bellows of a forge beneath a light and tightly +fitting frock-coat, without any suspicion that a poor anxious being like +himself lay concealed within that solid envelope. + +As he worked at the report on the Deux-Sevres election, as he examined +the numerous protests, the accusations of electioneering trickery, meals +given, money spent, casks of wine broached at the doors of the mayors' +houses, the usual accompaniments of an election in those days, Jansoulet +used to shudder on his own account. "Why, I did all that myself," he +would say to himself, terrified. Ah! M. Sarigue need not be afraid; +never could he have put his hand on an examiner with kinder intentions +or more indulgent, for the Nabob, taking pity on the sufferer, knowing +by experience how painful is the anguish of waiting, had made haste +through his labour; and the enormous portfolio which he carried under +his arm, as he left the Mora mansion, contained his report ready to be +sent in to the bureau. + +Whether it were this first essay in a public function, the kind words +of the duke, or the magnificent weather out of doors, keenly enjoyed by +this southerner, with his susceptibility to wholly physical impressions +and accustomed to life under a blue sky and the warmth of the +sunshine--however that may have been, certain it is that the attendants +of the legislative body beheld that day a proud and haughty Jansoulet +whom they had not previously known. The fat Hemerlingue's carriage, +caught sight of at the gate, recognisable by the unusual width of its +doors, completed his reinstatement in the possession of his true nature +of assurance and bold audacity. "The enemy is there. Attention!" As +he crossed the Salle des Pas-Perdus, he caught sight of the financier +chatting in a corner with Le Merquier, the examiner; he passed quite +near them, and looked at them with a triumphant air which made people +wonder: + +"What is the meaning of this?" + +Then, highly pleased at his own coolness, he passed on towards the +committee-rooms, big and lofty apartments opening right and left on a +long corridor, and having large tables covered with green baize, and +heavy chairs all of a similar pattern and bearing the impress of a dull +solemnity. People were beginning to come in. Groups were taking up their +positions, discussing matters, gesticulating, with bows, shakings +of hands, inclinations of the head, like Chinese shadows against the +luminous background of the windows. + +Men were there who walked about with bent back, solitary, as it were +crushed down beneath the weight of the thoughts which knitted their +brow. Others whispering in their neighbour's ears, confiding to each +other exceedingly mysterious and terribly important pieces of news, +finger on lip, eyes opened wide in silent recommendation to discretion. +A provincial flavour characterized it all, varieties of intonation, the +violence of southern speech, drawling accents of the central districts, +the sing-song of Brittany, fused into one and the same imbecile +self-conceit, frock-coats as they cut them at Landerneau, mountain +shoes, home-spun linen, and a self-assurance begotten in a village or in +the club of some insignificant town, local expressions, provincialisms +abruptly introduced into the speech of the political and administrative +world, that flabby and colourless phraseology which has invented such +expressions as "burning questions that come again to the surface" and +"individualities without mandate." + +To see these excited or thoughtful people, you might have supposed them +the greatest apostles of ideas in the world; unfortunately, on the days +of the sittings they underwent a transformation, sat in hushed silence +in their places, laughing in servile fashion at the jests of the +clever man who presided over them, or only rising to make ridiculous +propositions, the kind of interruption which would tempt one to believe +that it is not a type only, but a whole race, that Henri Monnier has +satirized in his immortal sketch. Two or three orators in all the +Chamber, the rest well qualified to plant themselves before the +fireplace of a provincial drawing-room, after an excellent meal at the +Prefect's, and to say in nasal voice, "The administration, gentlemen," +or "The Government of the Emperor," but incapable of anything further. + +Ordinarily the good Nabob had been dazzled by these poses, that buzzing +as of an empty spinning-wheel which is made by would-be important +people; but to-day he found his own place, and fell in with the general +note. Seated at the centre of the green table, his portfolio open before +him, his elbows planted well forward upon it, he read the report +drawn up by de Gery, and the members of the committee looked at him in +amazement. + +It was a concise, clear, and rapid summary of their fortnight's +proceedings, in which they found their ideas so well expressed that they +had great difficulty in recognising them. Then, as two or three among +them considered the report too favourable, that it passed too lightly +over certain protests that had reached the committee, the examiner +addressed the meeting with an astonishing assurance, with the prolixity, +the verbosity of his own people, demonstrated that a deputy ought not +to be held responsible beyond a certain point for the imprudence of +his election agents, that no election, otherwise, would bear a minute +examination, and since in reality it was his own cause that he +was pleading, he brought to the task a conviction, an irresistible +enthusiasm, taking care to let out now and then one of those long, dull +substantives with a thousand feet, such as the committee loved. + +The others listened to him thoughtfully, communicating their sentiments +to each other by nods of the head, making flourishes, in order the +better to concentrate their attention, and drawing heads on their +blotting-pads--a proceeding which harmonized well with the schoolboyish +noises in the corridors, a murmur of lessons in course of repetition, +and those droves of sparrows which you could hear chirping under the +casements in a flagged court-yard, just like the court-yard of a school. +The report having been adopted, M. Sarigue was summoned in order that +he might offer some supplementary explanations. He arrived, pale, +emaciated, stuttering like a criminal before conviction, and you +would have laughed to see with what an air of authority and protection +Jansoulet encouraged and reassured him. "Calm yourself, my dear +colleague." But the members of Committee No. 8 did not laugh. They were +all, or nearly all, Sarigues in their way, two or three of them +being absolutely broken down, stricken by partial paralysis. So much +assurance, such great eloquence, had moved them to enthusiasm. + +When Jansoulet issued from the legislative assembly, reconducted to +his carriage by his grateful colleague, it was about six o'clock. +The splendid weather--a beautiful sunset over the Seine, which lay +stretching away like molten gold on the Trocadero side--was a temptation +to a walk for this robust plebeian, on whom it was imposed by the +conventions that he should ride in a carriage and wear gloves, but who +escaped such encumbrances as often as he possibly could. He dismissed +his servants, and, with his portfolio under his arm, set forth across +the Pont de la Concorde. + +Since the first of May he had not experienced such a sense of +well-being. With rolling gait, hat a little to the back of his head, +in the position in which he had seen it worn by overworked politicians +harassed by pressure of business, allowing all the laborious fever +of their brain to evaporate in the coolness of the air, as a factory +discharges its steam into the gutter at the end of a day's work, he +moved forward among other figures like his own, evidently coming +too from that colonnaded temple which faces the Madeleine above the +fountains of the _Place_. As they passed, people turned to look after +them, saying, "Those are deputies." And Jansoulet felt the delight of a +child, a plebeian joy, compounded of ignorance and naive vanity. + +"Ask for the _Messenger_, evening edition." + +The words came from a newspaper kiosk at the corner of the bridge, full +at that hour of fresh printed sheets in heaps, which two women were +quickly folding, and which smelt of the damp press--late news, the +success of the day or its scandal. + +Nearly all the deputies bought a copy as they passed, and glanced over +it quickly in the hope of finding their name. Jansoulet, for his part, +feared to see his in it and did not stop. Then suddenly he reflected: +"Must not a public man be above these weaknesses? I am strong enough now +to read everything." He retraced his steps and took a newspaper like +his colleagues. He opened it, very calmly, right at the place usually +occupied by Moessard's articles. As it happened, there was one. Still +the same title: "_Chinoiseries_," and an _M._ for signature. + +"Ah! ah!" said the public man, firm and cold as marble, with a fine +smile of disdain. Mora's lesson still rung in his ears, and, had he +forgotten it, the air from _Norma_ which was being slowly played in +little ironical notes not far off would have sufficed to recall it +to him. Only, after all calculations have been made amid the fleeting +happenings of our existence, there is always the unforeseen to be +reckoned with; and that is how it came that the poor Nabob suddenly felt +a wave of blood blind him, a cry of rage strangle itself in the sudden +contraction of his throat. This time his mother, his old Frances, had +been dragged into the infamous joke of the "Bateau de fleurs." How well +he aimed his blows, this Moessard, how well he knew the really sensitive +spots in that heart, so frankly exposed! + +"Be quiet, Jansoulet; be quiet." + +It was in vain that he repeated the words to himself again and again: +anger, a wild anger, that intoxication of the blood that demands blood, +took possession of him. His first impulse was to hail a cab, that +he might escape from the irritating street, free his body from the +preoccupation of walking and maintaining a physical composure--to hail a +cab as for a wounded man. But the carriages which thronged the square +at that hour of general home-going were victorias, landaus, private +broughams, hundreds of them, passing down from the lurid splendour +of the Arc de Triomphe towards the violet shadows of the Tuileries, +rushing, it seemed, one over another, in the sloping perspective of +the avenue, down to the great square where the motionless statues, with +their circular crowns on their brows, watched them as they separated +towards the Faubourg Saint-Germain, the Rue Royale and the Rue de +Rivoli. + +Jansoulet, his newspaper in his hand, traversed this tumult without +giving it a thought, carried by force of habit towards the club where he +went every day for his game of cards from six to seven. A public man, he +was that still; but excited, speaking aloud, muttering oaths and threats +in a voice that had suddenly grown tender again at the memory of the +dear old woman. To have dragged her into that--her also! Oh, if she +should read it, if she should understand! What punishment could he +invent for such an infamy? He had reached the Rue Royale, up which were +disappearing with the speed of horses that knew they were going home +and with glancings of shining axles, visions of veiled women, heads of +fair-haired children, equipages of all kinds returning from the Bois, +depositing a little genuine earth upon the Paris pavement, and bringing +odours of spring mingled with the scent of _poudre de riz_. + +Opposite the Ministry of Marine, a very high phaeton on light wheels, +rather like a great spider, its body represented by the little groom +hanging on to the box and the two persons occupying the front seat, just +missed a collision with the curb as it turned the corner. + +The Nabob raised his head and stifled a cry. + +Beside a painted woman, with red hair and wearing a tiny hat with wide +strings, who, perched on her leathern cushion, sat leaning stiffly +forward, hands, eyes, her whole factitious person intent on driving the +horse, there sat, pink and made-up also, grown fat with the same vices, +Moessard, the handsome Moessard--the harlot and the journalist; and of +the two, it was not the woman who had sold herself the most. High above +those women reclining in their open carriages, those men opposite them +half buried beneath the flounces of their gowns, all those poses of +fatigue and weariness which the overfed exhibit in public as in contempt +of pleasure and riches, they lorded it insolently, she very proud to be +seen driving with the lover of the Queen, and he without the least shame +in sitting beside a creature who hooked men in the drives of the Bois +with the lash of her whip, removed on her high-perched seat from all +fear of the salutary raids of the police. Perhaps, in order to whet the +appetite of his royal mistress, he chose to parade beneath her windows +in company of Suzanne Bloch, known as Suze the Red. + +"Hep! hep, then!" + +The horse, a high trotter with slim legs, just such a horse as a +_cocotte_ would care to own, recovered from its swerve and resumed its +proper place with dancing steps, graceful pawings executed on the same +spot without advancing. Jansoulet let fall his portfolio, and as though +he had dropped with it all his gravity, his prestige as a public man, +he made a terrible spring, and dashed to the bit of the animal, which he +held firm with his strong, hairy hands. + +A carriage forcibly stopped in the Rue Royale, and in broad +daylight--only this Tartar would have dared such a stroke as that! + +"Get down!" said he to Moessard, whose face had turned green and yellow +when he saw him. "Get down immediately!" + +"Will you let go my horse, you bloated idiot! Whip up Suzanne; it is the +Nabob." + +She tried to gather up the reins, but the animal, held firmly, reared +so sharply that a little more and like a sling the fragile vehicle would +have sent everybody in it flying far away. At this, furious with one of +those plebeian rages which in women of her kind shatter all the veneer +of their luxury, she dealt the Nabob two stinging lashes with her whip, +which left little trace on his tanned and hardened face, but which +brought there a ferocious expression, accentuated by the short nose +which had turned white and was slit at the end like that of a sporting +terrier. + +"Come down, or, by God, I will upset the whole thing!" + +Amid an eddy of carriages arrested by the block in the traffic, or that +passed slowly round the obstacle, with thousands of curious eyes, amid +cries of coachmen and clinking of bits, two wrists of iron shook the +entire vehicle. + +"Jump--but jump, I tell you! Don't you see he will have us over? What a +grip!" + +And the woman looked at the Hercules with interest. + +Hardly had Moessard set foot to the ground, and before he could take +refuge on the pavement, whither the black military caps of policemen +could be seen hastening, Jansoulet threw himself upon him, lifted him by +the back of the neck like a rabbit, and, careless of his protestations +and his terrified stammerings: + +"Yes, yes, I will give you satisfaction, you blackguard! But, first, I +intend to do to you what is done to dirty beasts to prevent them from +repeating the same offence." + +And roughly he set to work rubbing his nose and face all over with his +newspaper, which he had rolled into a ball, stifling him, blinding him +with it, and making scratches from which the blood trickled over his +skin. The man was dragged from his hands, crimson, suffocated. A little +more and he would have killed him. + +The struggle over, pulling down his sleeves, adjusting his crumpled +linen, picking up his portfolio out of which the papers of the Sarigue +election were flying scattered even to the gutter, the Nabob answered +the policemen who were asking him for his name in order to draw up a +summons: + +"Bernard Jansoulet, Deputy for Corsica." + +A public man! + +Only then did he remember that he was one. Who would have suspected +it, seeing him breathless and bare-headed, like a porter after a street +fight, under the eager, coldly mocking glances of the crowd? + + + + +THE APPARITION + +If you want simple and sincere feeling, if you would see overflowing +affection, tenderness, laughter--the laughter born of great happiness +which, at a tiny movement of the lips, is brought to the verge of +tears--and the beautiful wild joy of youth illumined by bright eyes +transparent to the very depths of the souls behind them--all these +things you may find this Sunday morning in a house that you know of, a +new house, down yonder, right at the end of the old faubourg. The glass +door on the ground floor shines more brightly than usual. More gaily +than ever dance the letters over the door, and from the open windows +comes the sound of glad cries, flowing from a stream of happiness. + +"Accepted! it is accepted! Oh, what good luck! Henriette, Elise, do come +here! M. Maranne's play is accepted!" + +Andre heard the news yesterday. Cardailhac, the manager of the +_Nouveautes_, sent for him to inform him that his play was to be +produced immediately--that it would be put on next month. They passed +the evening discussing scenic arrangements and the distribution of +parts; and, as it was too late to knock at his neighbour's door when he +got home from the theatre, the happy author waited for the morning in +feverish impatience, and then, as soon as he heard people stirring below +and the shutters open with a click against the house-front, he made +haste to go down to announce the good news to his friends. Just now they +are all assembled together, the young ladies in pretty _deshabille_, +their hair hastily twisted up, and M. Joyeuse, whom the announcement +had surprised in the midst of shaving, presenting under his embroidered +night-cap a strange face divided into two parts, one side shaved, the +other not. But Andre Maranne is the most excited, for you know what the +acceptance of _Revolt_ means for him; what was agreed between them and +Bonne Maman. The poor fellow looks at her as if to find an encouragement +in her eyes; and the rather mischievous, kind eyes seem to say, "Make +the experiment, in any case. What is the risk?" To give himself +courage he looks also at Mlle. Elise, pretty as a flower, with her long +eyelashes drooped. At last, making up his mind: + +"M. Joyeuse," said he thickly, "I have a very serious communication to +make to you." + +M. Joyeuse expresses astonishment. + +"A communication? Ah, _mon Dieu_, you alarm me!" + +And lowering his voice: + +"Are the girls in the way?" + +"No. Bonne Maman knows what I mean. Mlle. Elise also must have some +suspicion of it. It is only the children." + +Mlle. Henriette and her sister are asked to retire, which they +immediately do, the one with a dignified and annoyed air, like a true +daughter of the Saint-Amands, the other, the young Chinese Yaia, hardly +hiding a wild desire to laugh. + +Thereupon a great silence; after which, the lover begins his little +story. + +I quite believe that Mlle. Elise has some suspicion in her mind, for +as soon as their young neighbour spoke of a communication, she drew her +_Ansart et Rendu_ from her pocket and plunged precipitately into the +adventures of somebody surnamed the Hutin, thrilling reading which makes +the book tremble in her hands. There is reason for trembling, certainly, +before the bewilderment, the indignant stupefaction into which M. +Joyeuse receives this request for his daughter's hand. + +"Is it possible? How has it happened? What an extraordinary event! Who +could ever have suspected such a thing?" + +And suddenly the good old man burst into a great roar of laughter. Well, +no, it is not true. He had heard of the affair; knew about it, a long +time ago. + +Her father knew all about it! Bonne Maman had betrayed them then! And +before the reproachful glances cast in her direction, the culprit comes +forward smiling: + +"Yes, my dears, it is I. The secret was too much for me. I found I could +not keep it to myself alone. And then, father is so kind--one cannot +hide anything from him." + +As she says this she throws her arms round the little man's neck; but +there is room enough for two, and when Mlle. Elise in her turn takes +refuge there, there is still an affectionate, fatherly hand stretched +out towards him whom M. Joyeuse considers thenceforward as his son. +Silent embraces, long looks meeting each other full of emotion, blessed +moments that one would like to hold forever by the fragile tips of +their wings. There is chat, and gentle laughter when certain details +are recalled. M. Joyeuse tells how the secret was revealed to him in the +first instance by tapping spirits, one day when he was alone in +Andre's apartment. "How is business going, M. Maranne?" the spirits had +inquired, and he himself had replied in Maranne's absence: "Fairly well, +for the season, Sir Spirit." The little man repeats, "Fairly well for +the season," in a mischievous way, while Mlle. Elise, quite confused +at the thought that it was with her father that she talked that day, +disappears under her fair curls. + +After the first stress of emotion they talk more seriously. It is +certain that Mme. Joyeuse, _nee_ de Saint-Amand, would never have +consented to this marriage. Andre Maranne is not rich, still less noble; +but the old accountant, luckily, has not the same ideas of grandeur that +his wife possessed. They love each other; they are young, healthy, and +good-looking--qualities that in themselves constitute fine dowries, +without involving any heavy registration fees at the notary's. The new +household will be installed on the floor above. The photography will +be continued, unless _Revolt_ should produce enormous receipts. (The +Visionary may be trusted to see to that.) In any case, the father will +still remain near them; he has a good place at his stockbroker's office, +some expert business in the courts; provided that the little ship +continue to sail in deep enough water, all will go well, with the aid of +wave, wind, and star. + +Only one question preoccupies M. Joyeuse: "Will Andre's parents consent +to this marriage? How will Dr. Jenkins, so rich, so celebrated, take +it?" + +"Let us not speak of that man," said Andre, turning pale; "he is a +wretch to whom I owe nothing--who is nothing to me." + +He stops, embarrassed by this explosion of anger, which he was unable to +restrain and cannot explain, and goes on more gently: + +"My mother, who comes to see me sometimes in spite of the prohibition +laid upon her, was the first to be told of our plans. She already loves +Mlle. Elise as her daughter. You will see, mademoiselle, how good she +is, and how beautiful and charming. What a misfortune that she belongs +to such a wicked man, who tyrannizes over her, and tortures her even to +the point of forbidding her to utter her son's name." + +Poor Maranne heaves a sign that speaks volumes on the great grief which +he hides in the depths of his heart. But what sadness would not have +been vanquished in presence of that dear face lighted up with its fair +curls and the radiant perspective of the future? These serious questions +having been settled, they are able to open the door and recall the two +exiles. In order to avoid filling their little heads with thoughts above +their age, it has been agreed to say nothing about the prodigious event, +to tell them nothing except that they have all to make haste and dress, +breakfast still more quickly, so as to be able to spend the afternoon in +the Bois, where Maranne will read his play to them, before they go on to +Suresnes to have dinner at Kontzen's: a whole programme of delights in +honour of the acceptance of _Revolt_, and of another piece of good news +which they will hear later. + +"Ah, really--what is it, then?" ask the two little girls, with an +innocent air. + +But if you fancy they don't know what is in the air, if you think that +when Mlle. Elise used to give three raps on the ceiling they imagined +that it was for information on business, you are more ingenuous even +than _le pere_ Joyeuse. + +"That's all right--that's all right, children; go and dress, in any +case." + +Then there begins another refrain: + +"What frock must I put on, Bonne Maman--the gray?" + +"Bonne Maman, there is a string off my hat." + +"Bonne Maman, my child, have I no more starched cravats left?" + +For ten minutes the charming grandmother is besieged with questions and +entreaties. Every one needs her help in some way; it is she who had the +keys of everything, she who gives out the pretty, white, fine goffered +linen, the embroidered handkerchiefs, the best gloves, all the dainty +things which, taken out from drawers and wardrobes, spread over the bed, +fill a house with a bright Sunday gaiety. + +The workers, the people with tasks to fulfil, alone know that delight +which returns each week consecrated by the customs of a nation. For +these prisoners of the week, the almanac with its closed prison-like +gratings opens at regular intervals into luminous spaces, with +breaths of refreshing air. It is Sunday, the day that seems so long +to fashionable folk, to the Parisians of the boulevard whose habits it +disturbs, so gloomy to people far from their homes and relatives, that +constitutes for a multitude of human beings the only recompense, the one +aim of the desperate efforts of six days of toil. Neither rain nor hail, +nothing makes any difference, nothing will prevent them from going +out, from closing behind them the door of the deserted workshop, of the +stuffy little lodging. But when the springtime is come, when the May +sunshine glitters on it as this morning, and it can deck itself out in +gay colours, then indeed Sunday is the holiday of holidays. + +If one would know it well, it must be seen especially in the working +quarters of the town, in those gloomy streets which it lights up and +enlarges by closing the shops, keeping in their sheds the heavy drays +and trucks, leaving the space free for wandering bands of children +washed and in their Sunday clothes, and for games of battledore and +shuttlecock played amid the great circlings of the swallows beneath some +porch of old Paris. It must be seen in the densely populated, feverishly +toiling suburbs, where, as soon as morning is come, you may feel it +hovering, resposeful and sweet, in the silence of the factories, passing +with the ringing of church-bells and that sharp whistle of the railways, +and filling the horizon, all around the outskirts of the city, with +an immense song, as it were, of departure and of deliverance. Then one +understands it and loves it. + +O Sunday of Paris, Sunday of the toilers and the humble, often have I +cursed thee without reason, I have poured whole streams of abusive ink +over thy noisy and extravagant joys, over the dust of railway stations +filled by thy uproar and the maddening omnibuses that thou takest by +assault, over thy tavern songs bawled everywhere from carts adorned with +green and pink dresses, on thy barrel-organs grinding out their tunes +beneath the balconies of deserted court-yards; but to-day, abjuring my +errors, I exalt thee, and I bless thee for all the joy and relief thou +givest to courageous and honest labour, for the laughter of the children +who greet thee with acclamation, the pride of mothers happy to dress +their little ones in their best clothes in thy honour, for the dignity +thou dost preserve in the homes of the poorest, the glorious raiment set +aside for thee at the bottom of the old shaky chest of drawers; I bless +thee especially by reason of all the happiness thou hast brought that +morning to the great new house in the old faubourg. + +Toilettes having been completed, the _dejeuner_ finished, taken on +the thumb, as they say--and you can imagine what quantity these young +ladies' thumbs would carry--they came to put on their hats before the +mirror in the drawing-room. Bonne Maman threw around her supervising +glance, inserted a pin here, retied a ribbon there, straightened her +father's cravat; but while all this little world was stamping with +impatience, beckoned out of doors by the beauty of the day, there came a +ring at the bell, echoing through the apartment and disturbing their gay +proceedings. + +"Suppose we don't open the door?" propose the children. + +And what a relief, with a cry of delight, they see their friend Paul +come in! + +"Quick! quick! Come and let us tell you the good news." + +He knew well, before any of them, that the play had been accepted. He +had had a good deal of trouble to get it read by Cardailhac, who, the +moment he saw its "short lines," as he called verse, wished to send the +manuscript to the Levantine and her _masseur_, as he was wont to do in +the case of all beginners in the writing of drama. But Paul was careful +not to refer to his own intervention. As for the other event, the one of +which nothing was said, on account of the children, he guessed it easily +by the trembling greeting of Maranne, whose fair mane was standing +straight up over his forehead by reason of the poet's two hands having +been pushed through it so many times, a thing he always did in his +moments of joy, by the slightly embarrassed demeanour of Elise, by the +triumphant airs of M. Joyeuse, who was standing very erect in his new +summer clothes, with all the happiness of his children written on his +face. + +Bonne Maman alone preserved her usual peaceful air; but one noticed, +in the eager alacrity with which she forestalled her sister's wants, a +certain attention still more tender than before, an anxiety to make her +look pretty. And it was delicious to watch the girl of twenty as she +busied herself about the adornment of others, without envy, without +regret, with something of the gentle renunciation of a mother welcoming +the young love of her daughter in memory of a happiness gone by. Paul +saw this; he was the only one who did see it; but while admiring Aline, +he asked himself sadly if in that maternal heart there would ever be +place for other affections, for preoccupations outside the tranquil and +bright circle wherein Bonne Maman presided so prettily over the evening +work. + +Love is, as one knows, a poor blind creature, deprived of hearing +and speech, and only led by presentiments, divinations, the nervous +faculties of a sick man. It is pitiable indeed to see him wandering, +feeling his way, constantly making false steps, passing his hands over +the supports by which he guides himself with the distrustful awkwardness +of the infirm. At the very moment when Paul was doubting Aline's +sensibility, in announcing to his friends that he was about to start on +a journey which would occupy several days, perhaps several weeks, did +not remark the girl's sudden paleness, did not hear the distressed cry +that escaped her lips: + +"You are going away?" + +He was going away, going to Tunis, very much troubled at leaving his +poor Nabob in the midst of the pack of furious wolves that surrounded +him. Mora's protection, however, gave him some reassurance; and then, +the journey in question was absolutely necessary. + +"And the Territorial?" asked the old accountant, ever returning to the +subject in his mind. "How are things standing there? I see Jansoulet's +name still at the head of the board. You cannot get him out, then, from +that Ali-Baba's cave? Take care--take care!" + +"Ah, I know all about that, M. Joyeuse. But, to leave it with honour, +money is needed, much money, a fresh sacrifice of two or three millions, +and we have not got them. That is exactly the reason why I am going to +Tunis to try to wrest from the rapacity of the Bey a slice of that great +fortune which he is retaining in his possession so unjustly. At present +I have still some chance of succeeding, while later on, perhaps--" + +"Go, then, and make haste, my dear lad, and if you return, as I wish you +may, with a heavy bag, see that you deal first of all with the Paganetti +gang. Remember that one shareholder less patient than the rest has the +power to smash the whole thing up, to demand an inquiry; and you know +what the inquiry would reveal. Now I come to think of it," added M. +Joyeuse, whose brow had contracted a frown, "I am even surprised that +Hemerlingue, in his hatred for you, has not secretly brought up a few +shares." + +He was interrupted by the chorus of imprecations which the name of +Hemerlingue raised from all the young people, who detested the fat +banker for the injury he had done their father, and for the ill-will he +bore that good Nabob, who was adored in the house through Paul de Gery. + +"Hemerlingue, the heartless monster! Wretch! That wicked man!" + +But amid all these exclamations, the Visionary was following up his +idea of the fat baron becoming a shareholder in the Territorial for the +purpose of dragging his enemy into the courts. And you may imagine the +stupefaction of Andre Maranne, a complete stranger to the whole affair, +when he saw M. Joyeuse turn to him, and, with face purple and swollen +with rage, point his finger at him, with these terrible words: + +"The greatest rascal, after all, in this affair, is you, sir!" + +"Oh, papa, papa! what are you saying?" + +"Eh, what? Ah, forgive me, my dear Andre. I was fancying myself in the +examining magistrate's private room, face to face with that rogue. It is +my confounded brain that is always running away with me." + +All broke into uproarious laughter, which escaped into the outer air +through the open windows, and went to mingle with the thousand noises of +moving vehicles and people in their Sunday clothes going up the Avenue +des Ternes. The author of _Revolt_ took advantage of the diversion to +ask whether they were not soon going to start. It was late--the good +places would be taken in the Bois. + +"To the Bois de Boulogne, on Sunday!" exclaimed Paul de Gery. + +"Oh, our Bois is not yours," replied Aline with a smile. "Come with us, +and you will see." + +Did it ever happen to you, in the course of a solitary and contemplative +walk, to lie down on your face in the undergrowth of a forest, amid that +vegetation which springs up, various and manifold, through the fallen +autumn leaves, and allow your eyes to wander along the level of the +ground before you? Little by little the sense of height is lost, the +interwoven branches of the oaks above your head form an inaccessible +sky, and you behold a new forest extending beneath the other, opening +its deep avenues filled by a green and mysterious light, and formed +of tiny shrubs or root fibres taking the appearance of the stems +of sugar-canes, of severely graceful palm-trees, of delicate cups +containing a drop of water, of many-branched candlesticks bearing little +yellow lights which the wind blows on as it passes. And the miraculous +thing is, that beneath these light shadows live minute plants and +thousand of insects whose existence, observed from so near at hand, is +a revelation to you of all the mysteries. An ant, bending like a +wood-cutter under his burden, drags after it a splinter of bark bigger +than itself; a beetle makes its way along a blade of grass thrown like a +bridge from one stem to another; while beneath a lofty bracken standing +isolated in the middle of a patch of velvety moss, a little blue or red +insect waits, with antennae at attention, for another little insect +on its way through some desert path over there to arrive at the +trysting-place beneath the giant tree. It is a small forest beneath a +great one, too near the soil to be noticed by its big neighbours, too +humble, too hidden to be reached by its great orchestra of song and +storm. + +A similar revelation awaits in the Bois de Boulogne. Behind those sanded +drives, watered and clean, whereon files of carriage-wheels moving +slowly round the lake trace all day long a worn and mechanical furrow, +behind that admirably set scene of trimmed green hedges, of captive +water, of flowery rocks, the true Bois, a wild wood with perennial +undergrowth, grows and flourishes, forming impenetrable recesses +traversed by narrow paths and bubbling springs. + +This is the Bois of the children, the Bois of the humble, the little +forest beneath the great one. And Paul, who knew only the long avenues +of the aristocratic Parisian promenades, the sparkling lake perceived +from the depths of a carriage or from the top of a coach in a drive back +from Longchamps, was astonished to see the deliciously sheltered nook to +which his friends had led him. It was on the banks of a pond lying like +a mirror under willow-trees, covered with water-lilies, with here and +there large white shimmering spaces where sunbeams fell and lay on the +bright surface. + +On the sloping bank, sheltered by the boughs of trees where the leaves +were already thick, they sat down to listen to the reading of the play, +and the pretty, attentive faces, the skirts lying puffed out over the +grass, made one think of some Decameron, more innocent and chaste, in +a peaceful atmosphere. To complete this pleasant country scene, two +windmill-sails seen through an opening in the branches were revolving +over in the direction of Suresnes, while of the dazzling and luxurious +vision to be met at every cross-roads in the Bois there reached them +only a confused and perpetual murmur, which one ended by ceasing to +notice. The poet's voice alone rose in the silence, the verses fell on +the air tremblingly, repeated below the breath by other moved lips, and +stifled sounds of approbation greeted them, with shudders at the tragic +passages. Bonne Maman was even seen to wipe away a big tear. That comes, +you see, from having no embroidery in one's hand! + +His first work! That was what the _Revolt_ was for Andre, that first +work always too exuberant and ornate, into which the author throws, to +begin with, whole arrears of ideas and opinions, pent up like the waters +of a river-lock; that first work which is often the richest if not the +best of its writer's productions. As for the fate that awaited it, no +one could predict it; and the uncertainty that hovered over the reading +of the drama added to its own emotion that of each auditor, the hopes, +all arrayed in white, of Mlle. Elise, the fantastic hallucinations of +M. Joyeuse, and the more positive desires of Aline as she installed +in advance the modest fortune of her sister in the nest of an artist's +household, beaten by the winds but envied by the crowd. + +Ah, if one of those idle people, taking a turn for the hundredth time +round the lake, overwhelmed by the monotony of his habitual promenade, +had come and parted the branches, how surprised he would have been at +this picture! But would he ever have suspected how much passion, how +many dreams, what poetry and hope there could be contained in that +little green corner, hardly larger than the shadow a fern throws on the +moss? + +"You were right; I did not know the Bois," said Paul in a low voice to +Aline, who was leaning on his arm. + +They were following a narrow path overarched by the boughs of trees, and +as they talked were moving forward at a quick pace, well in advance +of the others. It was not, however, _pere_ Kontzen's terrace nor his +appetizing fried dishes that drew them on. No; the beautiful lines +which they had just heard had carried them away, lifting them to great +heights, and they had not yet come down to earth again. They walked +straight on towards the ever-retreating end of the road, which opened +out at its extremity into a luminous glory, a mass of sunbeams, as if +all the sunshine of that beautiful day lay waiting for them where it had +fallen on the outskirts of the wood. Never had Paul felt so happy. That +light arm that lay on his arm, that child's step by which his own was +guided, these alone would have made life sweet and pleasant to him, no +less than this walk over the mossy turf of a green path. He would have +told the girl so, simply, as he felt it, had he not feared to alarm that +confidence which Aline placed in him, no doubt because of the sentiments +which she knew he possessed for another woman, and which seemed to hold +at a distance from them every thought of love. + +Suddenly, right before them, against the bright background, a group +of persons riding on horseback came in sight, at first vague and +indistinct, then appearing as a man and a woman, handsomely mounted, and +entered the mysterious path among the bars of gold, the leafy shadows, +the thousand dots of light with which the ground was strewn, and which, +displaced by their progress as they cantered along, rose and covered +them with flowery patterns from the chests of the horses to the blue +veil of the lady rider. They came along slowly, capriciously, and the +two young people, who had drawn back into the copse, could see pass +close by them, with a clinking of bits proudly shaken and white with +foam as though after a furious gallop, two splendid animals carrying a +pair of human beings brought very near together by the narrowing of the +path; he, supporting with one arm the supple figure moulded in a dark +cloth habit; she, with a hand resting on the shoulder of her cavalier +and her small head seen in retreating profile beneath the half-dropped +tulle of her veil, resting on it tenderly. This embrace, half disturbed +by the impatience of the horses, that kiss on which their reins became +confused, that passion which stalked in broad day through the Bois with +so great a contempt for public opinion, would have been enough to betray +the duke and Felicia, if the haughty and charming mein of the lady and +the aristocratic ease of her companion, his pallor slightly tinged with +colour as the result of his ride and of Jenkins's miraculous pearls, had +not already betrayed them. + +It is not an extraordinary thing to meet Mora in the Bois on a Sunday. +Like his master, he loved to show himself to the Parisians, to advertise +his popularity with all sections of the public; and then the duchess +never accompanied him on that day, and he could make a halt quite at his +ease in that little villa of Saint-James, known to all Paris, whose red +towers, outlined among the trees schoolboys used to point out to each +other in whispers. But only a mad woman, a daring affronter of society +like this Felicia, could have dreamt of advertising herself like this, +with the loss of her reputation forever. A sound of hoofs dying away in +the distance, of shrubs brushed in passing; a few plants that had been +pressed down and were straightening themselves again; branches pushed +out of the way resuming their places--that was all that remained of the +apparition. + +"You saw?" said Paul; speaking first. + +She had seen, and she had understood, notwithstanding the candour of her +innocence, for a blush spread over her features, one of those feelings +of shame experienced for the faults of those we love. + +"Poor Felicia!" she said in a low voice, pitying not only the unhappy +woman who had just passed them, but also him whom this defection must +have smitten to the very heart. The truth is that Paul de Gery had felt +no surprise at this meeting, which justified previous suspicions and the +instinctive aversion which he had felt for Felicia at their dinner some +days before. But he found it pleasant to be pitied by Aline, to feel the +compassion in that voice becoming more tender, in that arm leaning upon +his. Like children who pretend to be ill for the sake of the pleasure +of being fondled by their mother, he allowed his consoler to strive to +appease his grief, speaking to him of his brothers, of the Nabob, and +of his forthcoming trip to Tunis--a fine country, they said. "You must +write to us often, and long letters about the interesting things on the +journey, the place you stay in. For one can see those who are far away +better when one imagines the kind of place they are inhabiting." + +So talking, they reached the end of the bowered path terminating in an +immense open glade through which there moved the tumult of the Bois, +carriages and riders on horseback alternating with each other, and the +crowd at that distance seeming to be tramping through a flaky dust +which blended it into a single confused herd. Paul slackened his pace, +emboldened by this last minute of solitude. + +"Do you know what I am thinking of?" he said, taking Aline's hand. "I am +thinking that it would be a pleasure to be unhappy so as to be comforted +by you. But however precious your pity may be to me, I cannot allow +you to waste your compassion on an imaginary pain. No, my heart is not +broken, but more alive, on the contrary, and stronger. And if I were to +tell you what miracle it is that has preserved it, what talisman--" + +He held out before her eyes a little oval frame in which was set +a simple profile, a pencil outline wherein she recognised herself, +surprised to see herself so pretty, reflected, as it were, in the magic +mirror of Love. Tears came into her eyes without her knowing the reason, +an open spring whose stream beat within her chaste breast. He continued: + +"This portrait belongs to me. It was drawn for me. And yet, at the +moment of starting on this journey I have a scruple. I do not wish to +have it except from yourself. Take it, then, and if you find a worthier +friend, some one who loves you with a love deeper and more loyal than +mine, I am willing that you should give it to him." + +She had regained her composure, and looking de Gery full in the face +with a serious tenderness, she said: + +"If I listened only to my heart, I should feel no hesitation about my +reply: for, if you love me as you say, I am sure that I love you too. +But I am not free; I am not alone in the world. Look yonder." + +She pointed to her father and her sisters, who were beckoning to them in +the distance and hastening to come up with them. + +"Well, and I myself?" answered Paul quickly. "Have I not similar duties, +similar responsibilities? We are like two widowed heads of families. +Will you not love mine as much as I love yours?" + +"True? is it true? You will let me stay with them? I shall be Aline for +you, and Bonne Maman for all our children? Oh! then," exclaimed the dear +creature, beaming with joy, "there is my portrait--I give it to you! And +all my soul with it, too, and forever." + + + + +THE JENKINS PEARLS + +About a week after his adventure with Moessard, that new complication in +the terrible muddle of his affairs, Jansoulet, on leaving the Chamber, +one Thursday, ordered his coachman to drive him to Mora's house. He had +not paid a visit there since the scuffle in the Rue Royale, and the idea +of finding himself in the duke's presence gave him, through his thick +skin, something of the panic that agitates a boy on his way upstairs +to see the head-master after a fight in the schoolroom. However, the +embarrassment of this first interview had to be gone through. They said +in the committee-rooms that Le Merquier had completed his report, a +masterpiece of logic and ferocity, that it meant an invalidation, and +that he was bound to carry it with a high hand unless Mora, so powerful +in the Assembly, should himself intervene and give him his word of +command. A serious matter, and one that made the Nabob's cheeks flush, +while in the curved mirrors of his brougham he studied his appearance, +his courtier's smiles, trying to think out a way of effecting a +brilliant entry, one of those strokes of good-natured effrontery which +had brought him fortune with Ahmed, and which served him likewise in his +relations with the French ambassador. All this accompanied by beatings +of the heart and by those shudders between the shoulder-blades which +precede decisive actions, even when these are settled within a gilded +chariot. + +When he arrived at the mansion by the river, he was much surprised to +notice that the porter on the quay, as on the days of great receptions, +was sending carriages up the Rue de Lille, in order to keep a door free +for those leaving. Rather anxious, he wondered, "What is there going +on?" Perhaps a concert given by the duchess, a charity bazaar, some +festivity from which Mora might have excluded him on account of the +scandal of his last adventure. And this anxiety was augmented still +further when Jansoulet, after having passed across the principal +court-yard amid a din of slamming doors and a dull and continuous rumble +of wheels over the sand, found himself--after ascending the steps--in +the immense entrance-hall filled by a crowd which did not extend beyond +any of the doors leading to the rooms; centring its anxious going +and coming around the porter's table, where all the famous names of +fashionable Paris were being inscribed. It seemed as though a disastrous +gust of wind had gone through the house, carrying off a little of its +calm, and allowing disquiet and danger to filter into its comfort. + +"What a misfortune!" + +"Ah! it is terrible." + +"And so suddenly!" + +Such were the remarks that people were exchanging as they met. + +An idea flashed into Jansoulet's mind: + +"Is the duke ill?" he inquired of a servant. + +"Ah, monsieur, he is dying! He will not live through the night!" + +If the roof of the palace had fallen in upon his head he would not +have been more utterly stunned. Red lights flashed before his eyes, he +tottered, and let himself drop into a seat on a velvet-covered bench +beside the great cage of monkeys. The animals, over-excited by all this +bustle, suspended by their tails, by their little long-thumbed +hands, were hanging to the bars in groups, and came, inquisitive and +frightened, to make the most ludicrous grimaces at this big, stupefied +man as he sat staring at the marble floor, repeating aloud to himself, +"I am ruined! I am ruined!" + +The duke was dying. He had been seized suddenly with illness on the +Sunday after his return from the Bois. He had felt intolerable burnings +in his bowels, which passed through his whole body, searing as with a +red-hot iron, and alternating with a cold lethargy and long periods of +coma. Jenkins, summoned at once, did not say much, but ordered certain +sedatives. The next day the pains came on again with greater intensity +and followed by the same icy torpor, also more accentuated, as if life, +torn up by the roots, were departing in violent spasms. Among those +around him, none was greatly concerned. "The day after a visit to +Saint-James Villa," was muttered in the antechamber, and Jenkins's +handsome face preserved its serenity. He had spoken to two or +three people, in the course of his morning rounds, of the duke's +indisposition, and that so lightly that nobody had paid much attention +to the matter. + +Mora himself, notwithstanding his extreme weakness, although he felt his +head absolutely blank, and, as he said, "not an idea anywhere," was far +from suspecting the gravity of his condition. It was only on the third +day, on waking in the morning, that the sight of a tiny stream of blood, +which had trickled from his mouth over his beard and the stained pillow, +had frightened this fastidious man, who had a horror of all human +ills, especially sickness, and now saw it arrive stealthily with its +pollutions, its weaknesses, and the loss of physical self-control, +the first concession made to death. Monpavon, entering the room behind +Jenkins, surprised the anxious expression of the great seigneur faced +by the terrible truth, and at the same time was horrified by the +ravages made in a few hours upon Mora's emaciated face, in which all the +wrinkles of age, suddenly evident, were mingled with lines of suffering, +and those muscular depressions which tell of serious internal lesions. +He took Jenkins aside, while the duke's toilet necessaries were carried +to him--a whole apparatus of crystal and silver contrasting with the +yellow pallor of the invalid. + +"Look here, Jenkins, the duke is very ill." + +"I am afraid so," said the Irishman, in a low voice. + +"But what is the matter with him?" + +"What he wanted, _parbleu_!" answered the other in a fury. "One cannot +be young at his age with impunity. This intrigue will cost him dear." + +Some evil passion was getting the better of him but he subdued it +immediately, and, puffing out his cheeks as though his head were full of +water, he sighed deeply as he pressed the old nobleman's hands. + +"Poor duke! poor duke! Ah, my friend, I am most unhappy!" + +"Take care, Jenkins," said Monpavon coldly, disengaging his hands, "you +are assuming a terrible responsibility. What! is the duke as bad +as that?--ps--ps--ps--Will you see nobody? You have arranged no +consultation?" + +The Irishman raised his hands as if to say, "What good can it do?" + +The other insisted. It was absolutely necessary that Brisset, +Jousseline, Bouchereau, all the great physicians should be called in. + +"But you will frighten him." + +De Monpavon expanded his chest, the one pride of the old broken-down +charger. + +"_Mon Cher_, if you had seen Mora and me in the trenches of +Constantine--ps--ps. Never looked away. We don't know fear. Give notice +to your colleagues. I undertake to inform him." + +The consultation took place in the evening with great privacy, the duke +having insisted on this from a singular sense of shame produced by his +illness, by that suffering which discrowned him, making him the equal of +other men. Like those African kings who hide themselves in the recesses +of their palaces to die, he would have wished that men should believe +him carried off, transfigured, become a god. Then, too, he dreaded above +all things the expressions of pity, the condolences, the compassion with +which he knew that his sick-bed would be surrounded; the tears because +he suspected them to be hypocritical, and because, if sincere, they +displeased him still more by their grimacing ugliness. + +He had always detested scenes, exaggerated sentiments, everything that +could move him to emotion or disturb the harmonious equilibrium of his +life. Every one knew this, and the order was to keep away from him the +distress, the misery, which from one end of France to the other flowed +towards Mora as to one of those forest refuges lighted during the +night at which all wanderers may knock. Not that he was hard to the +unfortunate; perhaps he may have been too easily moved to the pity which +he regarded as an inferior sentiment, a weakness unworthy of the strong, +and, refusing it to others, he dreaded it for himself, for the integrity +of his courage. Nobody in the palace, then, except Monpavon and Louis +the _valet de chambre_, knew of the visit of those three personages +introduced mysteriously into the Minister of State's apartments. The +duchess herself was ignorant of it. Separated from her husband by the +barriers frequently placed by the political and fashionable life of +the great world between married people, she believed him slightly +indisposed, nervous more than anything else; and had so little suspicion +of a catastrophe that at the very hour when the doctors were mounting +the great, dimly lit staircase at the other end of the palace, her +private apartments were being lit up for a girls' dance, one of those +_bals blancs_ which the ingenuity of the idle world had begun to make +fashionable in Paris. + +This consultation was like all others: solemn and sinister. Doctors no +longer wear their great periwigs of the time of Moliere, but they still +assume the same gravity of the priests of Isis, of astrologers bristling +with cabalistic formulae pronounced with sage noddings of the head, to +which, for comical effect, there is only wanting the high pointed cap of +former days. In this case the scene borrowed an imposing aspect from its +setting. In the vast bed-chamber, transformed, heightened, as it were, +in dignity by the immobility of the owner, these grave figures came +forward round the bed on which the light was concentrated, illuminating +amid the whiteness of the linen and the purple of the hangings a face +worn into hollows, pale from lips to eyes, but wrapped in serenity as in +a veil, as in a shroud. The consultants spoke in low tones, cast furtive +glances as each other, or exchanged some barbarous word, remaining +impassive, without even a frown. But this mute and reticent expression +of the doctor and magistrate, this solemnity with which science and +justice hedge themselves about to hide their frailty or ignorance, had +no power to move the duke. + +Sitting up in bed, he continued to talk quietly, with the upward glance +of the eye in which it seems as if thought rises before it finally takes +wing, and Monpavon coldly followed his cue, hardening himself against +his own emotion, taking from his friend a last lesson in "form"; while +Louis, in the background, stood leaning against the door leading to the +duchess's apartment, the spectre of a silent domestic in whom detached +indifference is a duty. + +The most agitated, nervous man present was Jenkins. Full of obsequious +attentions for his "illustrious colleagues," as he called them, with his +lips pursed up, he hung round their consultation and attempted to +take part in it; but the colleagues kept him at a distance and hardly +answered him, as Fagon--the Fagon of Louis XIV--might have addressed +some empiric summoned to the royal bedside. Old Bouchereau especially +had black looks for the inventor of the Jenkins pearls. Finally, when +they had thoroughly examined and questioned their patient, they retired +to deliberate among themselves in a little room with lacquered ceilings +and walls, filled by an assortment of _bric-a-brac_ the triviality of +which contrasted strangely with the importance of the discussion. + +Solemn moment! Anguish of the accused awaiting the decision of his +judges--life, death, reprieve, or pardon! + +With his long, white hand Mora continued to stroke his mustache with a +favourite gesture, to talk with Monpavon of the club, of the foyer +of the _Varietes_, asking news of the Chamber, how matters stood with +regard to the Nabob's election--all this coldly, without the least +affectation. Then, tired, no doubt, or fearing lest his glance, +constantly drawn to that curtain opposite him, from behind which the +sentence was to come presently, should betray the emotion which he must +have felt in the depths of his soul, he laid his head on the pillow, +closed his eyes, and did not open them again until the return of the +doctors. Still the same cold and sinister faces, veritable physiognomies +of judges having on their lips the terrible decree of human fate, the +final word which the courts pronounce fearlessly, but which the doctors, +whose science it mocks, elude, and express in periphrases. + +"Well, gentlemen, what says the faculty?" demanded the sick man. + +There were sundry murmurs of hypocritical encouragement, vague +recommendations; then the three learned physicians hastened to depart, +eager to escape from the responsibility of this disaster. Monpavon +rushed after them. Jenkins remained at the bedside, overwhelmed by the +cruel truths which he had just heard during the consultation. In vain +had he laid his hand on his heart, quoted his famous motto; Bouchereau +had not spared him. It was not the first of the Irishman's clients whom +he had seen thus suddenly collapse; but he fervently hoped that the +death of Mora would act as a salutary warning to the world of fashion, +and that the prefect of police, after this great calamity, would send +the "dealer in cantharides" to retail his drugs on the other side of the +Channel. + +The duke understood immediately that neither Jenkins nor Louis would +tell him the true issue of the consultation. He abstained, therefore, +from any insistence in his questionings of them, submitted to their +pretended confidence, affected even to share it, to believe the most +hopeful things they announced to him. But when Monpavon returned, he +summoned him to his bedside, and, confronted by the lie visible even +beneath the make-up of the decrepit old man, remarked: + +"Oh, you know--no humbug! From you to me, truth. What do they say? I am +in a very bad way, eh?" + +Monpavon prefaced his reply with a significant silence; then brutally, +cynically, for fear of breaking down as he spoke: + +"Done for, my poor Augustus!" + +The duke received the sentence full in the face without flinching. + +"Ah!" he said simply. + +He pulled his mustache with a mechanical gesture, but his features +remained motionless. And immediately he made up his mind. + +That the poor wretch who dies in a hospital, without home or family, +without other name than the number of his bed, that he should accept +death as a deliverance or bear it as his last trial; that the old +peasant who passes away, bent double, worn out, in his dark and smoky +cellar, that he should depart without regret, savouring in advance +the taste of that fresh earth which he has so many times dug over and +over--that is intelligible. And yet how many, even among such, cling to +existence despite all their misery! how many there are who cry, holding +on to their sordid furniture and to their rags, "I don't want to die!" +and depart with nails broken and bleeding from that supreme wrench. But +here there was nothing of the kind. + +To possess all, and to lose all. What a catastrophe! + +In the first silence of that dreadful moment, while he heard the sound +of the music coming faintly from the duchess's ball at the other end of +the palace, whatever attached this man to life, power, honour, wealth, +all that splendour must have seemed to him already far away and in an +irrevocable past. A courage of a quite exceptional temper must have +been required to bear up under such a blow without any spur of personal +vanity. No one was present save the friend, the doctor, the servant, +three intimates acquainted with all his secrets; the lights moved back, +left the bed in shadow, and the dying man might quite well have turned +his face to the wall in lamentation of his own fate without being +noticed. But not an instant of weakness, nor of useless demonstration. +Without breaking a branch of the chestnut-trees in the garden, without +withering a flower on the great staircase of the palace, his footsteps +muffled on the thick pile of the carpets, Death had opened the door of +this man of power and signed to him "Come!" And he answered simply, "I +am ready." The true exit of a man of the world, unforeseen, rapid, and +discreet. + +Man of the world! Mora was nothing if not that. Passing through life +masked, gloved, breast-plated--breast-plate of white satin, such as +the masters of fence wear on great days; preserving his fighting dress +immaculate and clean; sacrificing everything to that irreproachable +exterior which with him did duty for armour; he had determined on his +_role_ as statesman in the passage from the drawing-room to a wider +scene, and made, indeed, a statesman of the first rank on the strength +alone of his qualities as a man about town, the art of listening and of +smiling, knowledge of men, scepticism, and coolness. That coolness did +not leave him at the supreme moment. + +With eyes fixed on the time, so short, which still remained to him--for +the dark visitor was in a hurry, and he could feel on his face the +draught from the door which he had not closed behind him--his one +thought now was to occupy the time well, to satisfy all the obligations +of an end like his, which must leave no devotion unrecompensed nor +compromise any friend. He gave a list of certain persons whom he wished +to see and who were sent for immediately, summoned the head of his +cabinet, and, as Jenkins ventured the opinion that it was a great +fatigue for him, said: + +"Can you guarantee that I shall wake to-morrow morning? I feel strong at +this moment; let me take advantage of it." + +Louis inquired whether the duchess should be informed. The duke, before +replying, listened to the sounds of music that reached his room through +the open windows from the little ball, sounds that seemed prolonged in +the night on an invisible bow, then answered: + +"Let us wait a little. I have something to finish." + +They brought to his bedside the little lacquered table that he might +himself sort out the letters which were to be destroyed; but feeling his +strength give way, he called Monpavon. + +"Burn everything," said he to him in a faint voice; and seeing him move +towards the fireplace, where a fire was burning despite the warmth of +the season. + +"No," he added, "not here. There are too many of them. Some one might +come." + +Monpavon took up the writing-table, which was not heavy, and signed to +the _valet de chambre_ to go before him with a light. But Jenkins sprang +forward: + +"Stay here, Louis; the duke may want you." + +He took hold of the lamp; and moving carefully down the whole length of +the great corridor, exploring the waiting-rooms, the galleries, in which +the fireplaces proved to be filled with artificial plants and quite +emptied of ashes, they wandered like spectres in the silence and +darkness of the vast house, alive only over yonder on the right, were +pleasure was singing like a bird on a roof which is about to fall in +ruins. + +"There is no fire anywhere. What is to be done with all this?" they +asked each other in great embarrassment. They might have been two +thieves dragging away a chest which they did not know how to open. At +last Monpavon, out of patience, walked straight to a door, the only one +which they had not yet opened. + +"_Ma foi_, so much the worse! Since we cannot burn them, we will drown +them. Hold the light, Jenkins." + +And they entered. + +Where were they? Saint-Simon relating the downfall of one of those +sovereign existences, the disarray of ceremonies, of dignities, +of grandeurs, caused by death and especially by sudden death, only +Saint-Simon might have found words to tell you. With his delicate, +carefully kept hands, the Marquis de Monpavon did the pumping. The other +passed to him the letters after tearing them into small pieces, packets +of letters, on satin paper, tinted, perfumed, adorned with crests, coats +of arms, small flags with devices, covered with handwritings, fine, +hurried, scrawling, entwining, persuasive; and all those flimsy pages +went whirling one over the other in eddying streams of water which +crumpled them, soiled them, washed out their tender links before +allowing them to disappear with a gurgle down the drain. + +They were love-letters and of every kind, from the note of the +adventuress, "_I saw you pass yesterday in the Bois, M. le Duc_," to the +aristocratic reproaches of the last mistress but one, and the complaints +of ladies deserted, and the page, still fresh, of recent confidences. +Monpavon was in the secret of all these mysteries--put a name on each of +them: "That is Mme. Moor. Hallo! Mme. d'Athis!" A confusion of coronets +and initials, of caprices and old habits, sullied by the promiscuity of +this moment, all engulfed in the horrid closet by the light of a lamp, +with the noise of an intermittent gush of water, departing into oblivion +by a shameful road. Suddenly Jenkins paused in his work of destruction. +Two satin-gray letters trembled as he held them in his fingers. + +"Who is that?" asked Monpavon, noticing the unfamiliar handwriting and +the Irishman's nervous excitement. "Ah, doctor, if you want to read them +all, we shall never have finished." + +Jenkins, his cheeks flushed, the two letters in his hand, was consumed +by a desire to carry them away, to pore over them at his ease, to +martyrize himself with delight by reading them, perhaps also to forge +out of this correspondence a weapon for himself against the imprudent +woman who had signed her name. But the rigorous correctness of the +marquis made him afraid. How could he distract his attention--get him +away? The opportunity occurred of its own accord. Among the letters, a +tiny page written in a senile and shaky hand, caught the attention +of the charlatan, who said with an ingenuous air: "Oh, oh! here is +something that does not look much like a _billet-doux. 'Mon Duc, to the +rescue--I am sinking! The Court of Exchequer has once more stuck its +nose into my affairs.'_" + +"What are you reading there?" exclaimed Monpavon abruptly, snatching the +letter from his hands. And immediately, thanks to Mora's negligence in +thus allowing such private letters to lie about, the terrible situation +in which he would be left by the death of his protector returned to his +mind. In his grief, he had not yet given it a thought. He told himself +that in the midst of all his preparations for his departure, the duke +might quite possibly overlook him; and, leaving Jenkins to complete the +drowning of Don Juan's casket by himself, he returned precipitately +in the direction of the bed-chamber. Just as he was on the point of +entering, the sound of a discussion held him back behind the lowered +door-curtain. It was Louis's voice, tearful like that of a beggar in +a church-porch, trying to move the duke to pity for his distress, and +asking permission to take certain bundles of bank-notes that lay in a +drawer. Oh, how hoarse, utterly wearied, hardly intelligible the answer, +in which there could be detected the effort of the sick man to turn over +in his bed, to bring back his vision from a far-off distance already +half in sight: + +"Yes, yes; take them. But for God's sake, let me sleep--let me sleep!" + +Drawers opened, closed again, a short and panting breath. Monpavon heard +no more of what was going on, and retraced his steps without entering. +The ferocious rapacity of his servant had set his pride upon its guard. +Anything rather than degradation to such a point as that. + +The sleep which Mora craved for so insistently--the lethargy, to be more +accurate--lasted a whole night, and through the next morning also, with +uncertain wakings disturbed by terrible sufferings relieved each time by +soporifics. No further attempt was made to nurse him to recovery; they +tried only to soothe his last moments, to help him to slip painlessly +over that terrible last step. His eyes had opened again during this +time, but were already dimmed, fixed in the void on floating shadows, +vague forms like those a diver sees quivering in the uncertain light +under water. + +In the afternoon of the Thursday, towards three o'clock, he regained +complete consciousness, and recognising Monpavon, Cardailhac, and two +or three other intimate friends, he smiled to them, and betrayed in a +sentence his only anxiety: + +"What do they say about it in Paris?" + +They said many things about it, different and contradictory; but very +certainly he was the only subject of conversation, and the news spread +through the town since the morning, that Mora was at his last breath, +agitated the streets, the drawing-rooms, the cafes, the workshops, +revived the question of the political situation in newspaper offices and +clubs, even in porters' lodges and on the tops of omnibuses, in every +place where the unfolded public newspapers commented on this startling +rumour of the day. + +Mora was the most brilliant incarnation of the Empire. One sees from a +distance, not the solid or insecure base of the building, but the gilded +and delicate spire, embellished, carved into hollow tracery, added +for the satisfaction of the age. Mora was what was seen in France and +throughout Europe of the Empire. If he fell, the monument would find +itself bereft of all its elegance, split as by some long and irreparable +crack. And how many lives would be dragged down by that sudden fall, +how many fortunes undermined by the weakened reverberations of +the catastrophe! None so completely as that of the big man sitting +motionless downstairs, on the bench in the monkey-house. + +For the Nabob, this death was his own death, the ruin, the end of all +things. He was so deeply conscious of it that, when he entered the +house, on learning the hopeless condition of the duke, no expression of +pity, no regrets of any sort, had escaped him, only the ferocious word +of human egoism, "I am ruined!" And this word kept recurring to his +lips; he repeated it mechanically each time that he awoke suddenly +afresh to all the horror of his situation, as in those dangerous +mountain storms, when a sudden flash of lightning illumines the abyss +to its depths, showing the wounding spurs and the bushes on its sides, +ready to tear and scratch the man who should fall. + +The rapid clairvoyance which accompanies cataclysms spared him no +detail. He saw the invalidation of his election almost certain, now that +Mora would no longer be there to plead his cause; then the consequences +of the defeat--bankruptcy, poverty, and still worse; for when these +incalculable riches collapse they always bury a little of a man's honour +beneath their ruins. But how many briers, how many thorns, how many +cruel scratches and wounds before arriving at the end! In a week there +would be the Schwalbach bills--that is to say, eight hundred thousand +francs--to pay; indemnity for Moessard, who wanted a hundred thousand +francs, or as the alternative he would apply for the permission of the +Chamber to prosecute him for a misdemeanour, a suit still more sinister +instituted by the families of two little martyrs of Bethlehem against +the founders of the Society; and, on top of all, the complications of +the Territorial Bank. There was one solitary hope, the mission of Paul +de Gery to the Bey, but so vague, so chimerical, so remote! + +"Ah, I am ruined! I am ruined!" + +In the immense entrance-hall no one noticed his distress. The crowd of +senators, of deputies, of councillors of state, all the high officials +of the administration, came and went around him without seeing him, +holding mysterious consultations with uneasy importance near the two +fireplaces of white marble which faced one another. So many ambitions +disappointed, deceived, hurled down, met in this visit _in extremis_, +that personal anxieties dominated every other preoccupation. + +The faces, strangely enough, expressed neither pity nor grief, rather a +sort of anger. All these people seemed to have a grudge against the duke +for dying, as though he had deserted them. One heard remarks of this +kind: "It is not surprising, with such a life as he has lived!" And +looking out of the high windows, these gentlemen pointed out to each +other, amid the going and coming of the equipages in the court-yard, the +drawing up of some little brougham from within which a well-gloved hand, +with its lace sleeve brushing the sash of the door, would hold out a +card with a corner turned back to the footman. + +From time to time one of the _habitues_ of the palace, one of those whom +the dying man had summoned to his bedside, appeared in the medley, gave +an order, then went away, leaving the scared expression of his face +reflected on twenty others. Jenkins showed himself thus for a moment, +with his cravat untied, his waistcoat unbuttoned, his cuffs crumpled, in +all the disorder of the battle in which he was engaged upstairs +against a terrible opponent. He was instantly surrounded, besieged with +questions. + +Certainly the monkeys flattening their short noses against the bars of +their cage, excited by the unaccustomed tumult, and very attentive to +all that passed about them as though they were occupied in making a +methodical study of human hypocrisy, had a magnificent model in the +Irish physician. His grief was superb, a splendid grief, masculine and +strong, which compressed his lips and made him pant. + +"The agony has begun," he said mournfully. "It is only a matter of +hours." + +And as Jansoulet came towards him, he said to him emphatically: + +"Ah, my friend, what a man! What courage! He has forgotten nobody. Only +just now he was speaking to me of you." + +"Really?" + +"'The poor Nabob,' said he, 'how does the affair of his election +stand?'" + +And that was all. The duke had added no further word. + +Jansoulet bowed his head. What had he been hoping? Was it not enough +that at such a moment a man like Mora had given him a thought? He +returned and sat down on his bench, falling back into the stupor which +had been galvanized by one moment of mad hope, and remained until, +without his noticing it, the hall had become nearly deserted. He did not +remark that he was the only and last visitor left, until he heard the +men-servants talking aloud in the waning light of the evening: + +"For my part, I've had enough of it. I shall leave service." + +"I shall stay on with the duchess." + +And these projects, these arrangements some hours in advance of death, +condemned the noble duke still more surely than the faculty. + +The Nabob understood then that it was time for him to go, but, first, he +wished to inscribe his name in the visitors' book kept by the porter. He +went up to the table, and leaned over it to see distinctly. The page was +full. A blank space was pointed out to him below a signature in a very +small, spidery hand, such as is frequently written by very fat fingers, +and when he had signed, it proved to be the name of Hemerlingue +dominating his own, crushing it, clasping it round with insidious +flourish. Superstitious, like the true Latin he was, he was struck by +this omen, and went away frightened by it. + +Where should he dine? At the club? Place Vendome? To hear still more +talk of this death that obsessed him! He preferred to go somewhere by +chance, walking straight before him, like all those who are a prey to +some fixed idea which they hope to conjure away by rapid movement. The +evening was warm, the air full of sweet scents. He walked along the +quays, and reached the trees of the Cours-la-Reine, then found himself +breathing that air in which is mingled the freshness of watered roads +and the odour of fine dust so characteristic of summer evenings in +Paris. At that hour all was deserted. Here and there chandeliers were +being lighted for the concerts, blazes of gaslight flared among the +green trees. A sound of glasses and plates from a restaurant gave him +the idea of going in. + +The strong man was hungry despite all his troubles. He was served under +a veranda with glazed walls backed by shrubs, and facing the great +porch of the Palais de l'Industrie, where the duke, in the presence of a +thousand people, had greeted him as a deputy. The refined, aristocratic +face rose before his memory in the darkness of the sky, while he could +see it also as it lay over yonder on the funereal whiteness of the +pillow; and suddenly, as he ran his eye over the bill of fare presented +to him by the waiter, he noticed with stupefaction that it bore the date +of the 20th of May. So a month had not elapsed since the opening of the +exhibition. It seemed to him like ten years ago. Gradually, however, the +warmth of the meal cheered him. In the corridor he could hear waiters +talking: + +"Has anybody heard news of Mora? It appears he is very ill." + +"Nonsense! He will get over it, you will see. Men like him get all the +luck." + +And so deeply is hope implanted in the human soul, that, despite what +Jansoulet had himself seen and heard, these few words, helped by two +bottles of burgundy and a few glasses of cognac, sufficed to restore +his courage. After all, people had been known to recover from illnesses +quite as desperate. Doctors often exaggerate the ill in order to get +more credit afterward for curing it. "Suppose I called to inquire." He +made his way back towards the house, full of illusion, trusting to that +chance which had served him so many times in his life. And indeed the +aspect of the princely abode had something about it to fortify his +hope. It presented the reassuring and tranquil appearance of ordinary +evenings, from the avenue with its lights at long intervals, majestic +and deserted, to the steps where stood waiting a huge carriage of +old-fashioned shape. + +In the antechamber, peaceful also, two enormous lamps were burning. A +footman slept in a corner; the porter was reading before the fireplace. +He looked at the new arrival over his spectacles, made no remark, and +Jansoulet dared ask no question. Piles of newspapers lying on the table +in their wrappers, addressed to the duke, seemed to have been thrown +there as useless. The Nabob took up one of them, opened it, and tried +to read, but quick and gliding steps, a muttered chanting, made him lift +his eyes, and he saw a white-haired and bent old man, decked out in lace +as though he had been an altar, who was praying aloud as he departed +with a long priestly stride, his ample red cassock spreading in a train +over the carpet. It was the Archbishop of Paris, accompanied by two +assistants. The vision, with its murmur as of an icy north wind, +passed quickly before Jansoulet, plunged into the great carriage and +disappeared, carrying away with it his last hope. + +"Doing the right thing, _mon cher_," remarked Monpavon, appearing +suddenly at his side. "Mora is an epicurean, brought up in the ideas of +how do you say--you know--what is it you call it? Eighteenth century. +Very bad for the masses, if a man in his position--ps--ps--ps--Ah, he is +the master who sets us all an example--ps--ps--irreproachable manners!" + +"Then, it is all over?" said Jansoulet, overwhelmed. "There is no longer +any hope?" + +Monpavon signed to him to listen. A carriage rolled heavily along the +avenue on the quay. The visitors' bell rang sharply several times in +succession. The marquis counted aloud: "One, two, three, four." At the +fifth he rose: + +"No more hope now. Here comes the other," said he, alluding to the +Parisian superstition that a visit from the sovereign was always fatal +to dying persons. From every side the lackeys hastened up, opened the +doors wide, ranged themselves in line, while the porter, his hat cocked +forward and his staff resounding on the marble floor, announced the +passage of two august shadows, of whom Jansoulet only caught a confused +glimpse behind the liveried domestics, but whom he saw beyond a long +perspective of open doors climbing the great staircase, preceded by +a footman bearing a candelabrum. The woman ascended, erect and proud, +enveloped in a black Spanish mantilla; the man supported himself by the +baluster, slower in his movements and tired, the collar of his light +overcoat turned up above a rather bent back, which was shaken by a +convulsive sob. + +"Let us be off, Nabob. Nothing more to be done here," said the old beau, +taking Jansoulet by the arm and drawing him outside. He paused on the +threshold, with raised hand, making a little gesture of farewell in the +direction of the man who lay dying upstairs. "Good-bye old fellow!" The +gesture and the tone were polite, irreproachable, but the voice trembled +a little. + +The club in the Rue Royale, which was famous for its gambling parties, +rarely saw one so desperate as the gaming of that night. It commenced at +eleven o'clock and was still going on at five in the morning. Enormous +sums were scattered over the green cloth, changing hands, moved now to +one side, now to the other, heaped up, distributed, regained. Fortunes +were engulfed in this monster play, at the end of which the Nabob, who +had started it to forget his terrors in the hazards of chance, after +singular alternations and runs of luck enough to turn the hair of a +beginner white, retired with winnings amounting to five hundred thousand +francs. On the boulevard the next day they said five millions, and +everybody cried out on the scandal, especially the _Messenger_, +three-quarters filled by an article against certain adventurers +tolerated in the clubs, and who cause the ruin of the most honourable +families. + +Alas! what Jansoulet had won hardly represented enough to meet the first +Schwalbach bills. + +During this wild play, of which Mora was, however, the involuntary +cause, and, as it were, the soul, his name was not once uttered. Neither +Cardailhac nor Jenkins put in an appearance. Monpavon had taken to his +bed, stricken more deeply than he wished it to be thought. Nobody had +any news. + +"Is he dead?" Jansoulet said to himself as he left the club; and he felt +a desire to make a call to inquire before going home. It was no longer +hope that urged him, but that sort of morbid and nervous curiosity which +after a great fire leads the smitten unfortunate people, ruined and +homeless, back to the wreck of their dwellings. + +Although it was still very early, and a pink mist of dawn hung in the +sky, the whole mansion stood open as if for a solemn departure. The +lamps still smoked over the fire-places, dust floated about the rooms. +The Nabob advanced amid an inexplicable solitude of desertion to the +first floor, where at last he heard a voice he knew, that of Cardailhac, +who was dictating names, and the scratching of pens over paper. The +clever stage-manager of the festivities in honour of the Bey was +organizing with the same ardour the funeral pomps of the Duc de Mora. +What activity! His excellency had died during the evening; when morning +came already ten thousand letters were being printed, and everybody +in the house who could hold a pen was busy with the writing of the +addresses. Without passing through these improvised offices, Jansoulet +reached the waiting-room, ordinarily so crowded, to-day with all its +arm-chairs empty. In the middle, on a table, lay the hat, cane, and +gloves of M. le Duc, always ready in case he should go out unexpectedly, +so as to save him even the trouble of giving an order. The objects that +we always wear keep about them something of ourselves. The curve of the +hat suggested that of the mustache; the light-coloured gloves were ready +to grasp the supple and strong Chinese cane; the total effect was one +of life and energy, as if the duke were about to appear, stretch out his +hand while talking, take up those things, and go out. + +Oh, no. M. le Duc was not going out. Jansoulet had but to approach +the half-open door of the bed-chamber to see on the bed, raised three +steps--always the platform even after death--a rigid, haughty form, a +motionless and aged profile, metamorphosed by the beard's growth of a +night, quite gray; near the sloping pillow, kneeling and burying her +head in the white drapery, was a woman, whose fair hair lay in rippled +disorder, ready to fall beneath the shears of eternal widowhood; then a +priest and a nun, gathered in this atmosphere of watch by the dead, in +which are mingled the fatigue of sleepless nights and the murmurs of +prayer. + +The chamber in which so many ambitions had strengthened their wings, so +many hopes and disappointments had throbbed, was wholly given over +now to the peace of passing Death. Not a sound, not a sigh. Only, +notwithstanding the early hour, away yonder, towards the Pont de la +Concorde, a little clarinet, shrill and sharp, could be heard above +the rumbling of the first vehicles; but its exasperating mockery was +henceforth lost on him who lay there asleep, showing to the terrified +Nabob an image of his own destiny, chilled, discoloured, ready for the +tomb. + +Others besides Jansoulet found that death-chamber lugubrious: the +windows wide open, the night and the wind entering freely from the +garden, making a strong draught; a human form on a table; the body, +which had just been embalmed; the hollow skull filled with a sponge, +the brain in a basin. The weight of this brain of a statesman was truly +extraordinary. It weighed--it weighed--the newspapers of the period +mentioned the figure. But who remembers it to-day? + + + + +THE FUNERAL + +"Don't weep, my fairy, you rob me of all my courage. Come, you will be a +great deal happier when you no longer have your terrible demon. You will +go back to Fontainebleau and look after your chickens. The ten thousand +francs from Brahim will help to get you settled down. And then, don't be +afraid, once you are over there I shall send you money. Since this Bey +wants to have sculpture done by me, he will have to pay for it, as you +may imagine. I shall return rich, rich. Who knows? Perhaps a sultana." + +"Yes, you will be a sultana, but I--I shall be dead and I shall never +see you again." And the good Crenmitz in despair huddled herself into a +corner of the cab so that she would not be seen weeping. + +Felicia was leaving Paris. She was trying to escape the horrible +sadness, the sinister disgust into which Mora's death had thrown her. +What a terrible blow for the proud girl! _Ennui_, pique, had thrown her +into this man's arms; she had given him pride--modesty--all; and now +he had carried all away with him, leaving her tarnished for life, a +tearless widow, without mourning and without dignity. Two or three +visits to Saint-James Villa, a few evenings in the back of some box +at some small theatre, behind the curtain that shelters forbidden and +shameful pleasure, these were the only memories left to her by this +liaison of a fortnight, this loveless intrigue wherein her pride had not +found even the satisfaction of the commotion caused by a big scandal. +The useless and indelible stain, the stupid fall of a woman who does not +know how to walk and who is embarrassed in her rising by the ironical +pity of the passers-by. + +For a moment she thought of suicide, then the reflection that it would +be set down to a broken heart arrested her. She saw in a glance the +sentimental compassion of the drawing-rooms, the foolish figure that her +sham passion would cut among the innumberable love affairs of the duke, +and the Parma violets scattered by the pretty Moessards of journalism +on her grave, dug so near the other. Travelling remained to her--one of +those journeys so distant that they take even one's thoughts into a new +world. Unfortunately the money was wanting. Then she remembered that on +the morrow of her great success at the Exhibition, old Brahim Bey had +called to see her, to make her, in behalf of his master, magnificent +proposals for certain great works to be executed in Tunis. She had +said No at the time, without allowing herself to be tempted by Oriental +remuneration, a splendid hospitality, the finest court in the Bardo for +a studio, with its surrounding facades of stone in lacework carving. But +now she was quite willing. She had to make but a sign, the agreement +was immediately concluded, and after an exchange of telegrams, a hasty +packing and shutting up of the house, she set out for the railway +station as if for a week's absence, astonished herself by her prompt +decision, flattered on all the adventurous and artistic sides of her +nature by the hope of a new life in an unknown country. + +The Bey's pleasure yacht was to await her at Genoa; and in anticipation, +closing her eyes in the cab which was taking her to the station, she +could see the white stone buildings of an Italian port embracing an +iridescent sea where the sunshine was already Eastern, where everything +sang, to the very swelling of the sails on the blue water. Paris, as it +happened, was muddy that day, uniformly gray, flooded by one of those +continuous rains of which it seems to have the special property, rains +that seem to have risen in clouds from its river, from its smoke, from +its monster's breath, and to fall in torrents from its roofs, from +its spouts, from the innumerable windows of its garrets. Felicia +was impatient to get away from this gloomy Paris, and her feverish +impatience found fault with the cabmen who made slow progress with the +horses, two sorry creatures of the veritable cab-horse type, with an +inexplicable block of carriages and omnibuses crowded together in the +vicinity of the Pont de la Concorde. + +"But go on, driver, go on, then." + +"I cannot, madame. It is the funeral procession." + +She put her head out of the window and drew it back again immediately, +terrified. A line of soldiers marching with reversed arms, a confusion +of caps and hats raised from the forehead at the passage of an endless +cortege. It was Mora's funeral procession defiling past. + +"Don't stop here. Go round," she cried to the cabman. + +The vehicle turned about with difficulty, dragging itself regretfully +from the superb spectacle which Paris had been awaiting for four days; +it remounted the avenues, took the Rue Montaigne, and, with its slow +and surly little trot, came out at the Madeleine by the Boulevard +Malesherbes. Here the crowd was greater, more compact. + +In the misty rain, the illuminated stained-glass windows of the church, +the dull echo of the funeral chants beneath the lavishly distributed +black hangings under which the very outline of the Greek temple was +lost, filled the whole square with a sense of the office in course of +celebration, while the greater part of the immense procession was still +squeezed up in the Rue Royale, and as far even as the bridges a long +black line connecting the dead man with that gate of the Legislative +Assembly through which he had so often passed. Beyond the Madeleine +the highway of the boulevard stretched away empty, and looking bigger +between two lines of soldiers with arms reversed, confining the curious +to the pavements black with people, all the shops closed, and the +balconies, in spite of the rain, overflowing with human beings all +leaning forward in the direction of the church, as if to see a mid-Lent +festival or the home-coming of victorious troops. Paris, hungry for the +spectacular, constructs it indifferently out of anything, civil war as +readily as the burial of a statesman. + +It was necessary for the cab to retrace its course again and to make a +new circuit; and it is easy to imagine the bad temper of the driver and +his beasts, all three of them Parisian in soul and passions, at having +to deprive themselves of so fine a show. Then, as all the life of Paris +had been drawn into the great artery of the boulevard, there began +through the deserted and silent streets--a capricious and irregular +drive--the snail-like progress of a cab taken by the hour. First +touching the extreme points of the Faubourg Saint-Martin and the +Faubourg Saint-Denis, returning again towards the centre, and at the +conclusion of circuits and dodges finding always the same obstacle in +ambush, the same crowd, some fragment of the black defile perceived for +a moment at the branching of a street, unfolding itself in the rain to +the sound of muffled drums--a dull and heavy sound, like that of earth +falling on a coffin-lid. + +What torture for Felicia! It was her weakness and her remorse crossing +Paris in this solemn pomp, this funeral train, this public mourning +reflected by the very clouds; and the proud girl revolted against this +affront done her by fate, and tried to escape from it to the back of +the carriage, where she remained exhausted with eyes closed, while old +Crenmitz, believing her nervousness to be grief, did her best to comfort +her, herself wept over their separation, and hiding also, left the +entire window of the cab to the big Algerian hound with his finely +modelled head scenting the wind, and his two paws resting in the +sash with an heraldic stiffness of pose. Finally, after a thousand +interminable windings, the cab suddenly came to a halt, jolted on again +with difficulty amid cries and abuse, then, tossed about, the luggage on +top threatening its equilibrium, it ended by coming to a full stop, held +prisoner, as it were, at anchor. + +"_Bon Dieu!_ what a mass of people!" murmured the Crenmitz, terrified. + +Felicia came out of her stupor. + +"Where are we?" + +Under a colourless, smoky sky, blotted out by a fine network of rain and +stretched like gauze over everything, there lay an immense space filled +by an ocean of humanity surging from all the streets that led to it, +and motionless around a lofty column of bronze, which dominated this sea +like the gigantic mast of a sunken vessel. Cavalry in squadrons, +with swords drawn, guns in batteries stood at intervals along an open +passage, awaiting him who was to come by, perhaps in order to try to +retake him, to carry him off by force from the formidable enemy who was +bearing him away. Alas! all the cavalry charges, all the guns could be +of no avail here. The prisoner was departing, firmly guarded, defended +by a triple wall of hardwood, metal, and velvet, impervious to +grape-shot; and it was not from those soldiers that he could hope for +his deliverance. + +"Get away from this. I will not stay here," said Felicia, furious, +plucking at the wet box-coat of the driver, and seized by a wild dread +at the thought of the nightmare which was pursuing her, of _that_ +which she could hear coming in a frightful rumbling, still distant, +but growing nearer from minute to minute. At the first movement of the +wheels, however, the cries and shouts broke out anew. Thinking that he +would be allowed to cross the square, the driver had penetrated with +great difficulty to the front ranks of the crowd; it now closed behind +him and refused to allow him to go forward. There they had to remain, +to endure those odours of common people and of alcohol, those curious +glances, already fired by the prospect of an exceptional spectacle. They +stared rudely at the beautiful traveller who was starting off with +so many trunks, and a dog of such size for her defender. Crenmitz was +horribly afraid; Felicia, for her part, could think of only one thing, +and that was that _he_ was about to pass before her eyes, that she would +be in the front rank to see him. + +Suddenly a great shout "Here it comes!" Then silence fell on the whole +square at last at the end of three weary hours of waiting. + +It came. + +Felicia's first impulse was to lower the blind on her side, on the side +past which the procession was about to pass. But at the rolling of the +drums close at hand, seized by the nervous wrath at her inability to +escape the obsession of the thing, perhaps also infected by the morbid +curiosity around her, she suddenly let the blind fly up, and her pale +and passionate little face showed itself at the window, supported by her +two clinched hands. + +"There! since you will have it: I am watching you." + +As a funeral it was as fine a thing as can be seen, the supreme honours +rendered in all their vain splendour, as sonorous, as hollow as the +rhythmic accompaniment on the muffled drums. First the white surplices +of the clergy, amid the mourning drapery of the first five carriages; +next, drawn by six black horses, veritable horses of Erebus, there +advanced the funeral car, all beplumed, fringed and embroidered in +silver, with big tears, heraldic coronets surmounting gigantic M's, +prophetic initials which seemed those of Death himself, _La Mort_ made +a duchess decorated with the eight waving plumes. So many canopies and +massive hangings hid the vulgar body of the hearse, as it trembled and +quivered at each step from top to bottom as though crushed beneath the +majesty of its dead burden. On the coffin, the sword, the coat, the +embroidered hat, parade undress--which had never been worn--shone with +gold and mother-of-pearl in the darkened little tent formed by the +hangings and among the bright tints of fresh flowers telling of spring +in spite of the sullenness of the sky. At a distance of ten paces came +the household servants of the duke; then, behind, in majestic isolation, +the cloaked officer bearing the emblems of honour--a veritable display +of all the orders of the whole world--crosses, multicoloured ribbons, +which covered to overflowing the cushion of black velvet with silver +fringe. + +The master of ceremonies came next, in front of the representatives of +the Legislative Assembly--a dozen deputies chosen by lot, among them +the tall figure of the Nabob, wearing the official costume for the first +time, as if ironical Fortune had desired to give to the representative +on probation a foretaste of all parliamentary joys. The friends of the +dead man, who followed, formed a rather small group, singularly well +chosen to exhibit in its crudity the superficiality and the void of that +existence of a great personage reduced to the intimacy of a theatrical +manager thrice bankrupt, of a picture-dealer grown wealthy through +usuary, of a nobleman of tarnished reputation, and of a few men about +town without distinction. Up to this point everybody was walking on foot +and bareheaded; among the parliamentary representatives there were only +a few black skull-caps, which had been put on timidly as they approached +the populous districts. After them the carriages began. + +At the death of a great warrior it is the custom for the funeral convoy +to be followed by the favourite horse of the hero, his battle charger, +regulating to the slow step of the procession that dancing step excited +by the smell of powder and the pageantry of standards. In this case, +Mora's great brougham, that "C-spring" which used to bear him to +fashionable or political gatherings, took the place of that companion +in victory, its panels draped with black, its lamps veiled in long +streamers of light crape, floating to the ground with undulating +feminine grace. These veiled lamps constituted a new fashion for +funerals--the supreme "chic" of mourning; and it well became this dandy +to give a last lesson in elegance to the Parisians, who flocked to his +obsequies as to a "Longchamps" of death. + +Three more masters of ceremony; then came the impassive official +procession, always the same for marriages, deaths, baptisms, openings +of Parliament, or receptions of sovereigns, the interminable cortege of +glittering carriages, with large windows and showy liveries bedizened +with gilt, which passed through the midst of the dazzled people, to +whom they recalled fairy-tales, Cinderella chariots, while evoking those +"Oh's!" of admiration that mount and die away with the rockets on the +evenings of firework displays. And in the crowd there was always to be +found some good-natured policeman, some learned little grocer sauntering +round on the lookout for public ceremonies, ready to name in a loud +voice all the people in the carriages, as they defiled past, with their +regulation escorts of dragoons, cuirassiers, or Paris guards. + +First the representatives of the Emperor, the Empress and all the +Imperial family; after these, in the hierarchic order, cunningly +elaborated, and the least infraction of which might have been the cause +of grave conflicts between the various departments of the State--the +members of the Privy Council, the Marshals, the Admirals, the High +Chancellor of the Legion of Honour; then the Senate, the Legislative +Assembly, the Council of State, the whole organization of the law and of +the university, the costumes, the ermine, the headgear of which took +you back to the days of old Paris--an air of something stately and +antiquated, out of date in our sceptical epoch of the workman's blouse +and the dress-coat. + +Felicia, to avoid her thoughts, voluntarily fixed her eyes upon this +monotonous defile, exasperating in its length; and little by little a +torpor stole over her, as if on a rainy day she had been turning over +the leaves of an album of engravings, a history of official costumes +from the most remote times down to our own day. All these people, seen +in profile, still and upright, behind the large glass panes of the +carriage windows, had indeed the appearance of personages in coloured +plates, sitting well forward on the edge of the seats in order that +the spectators should miss nothing of their golden embroideries, their +palm-leaves, their galloons, their braids--puppets given over to the +curiosity of the crowd--and exposing themselves to it with an air of +indifference and detachment. + +Indifference! That was the most special characteristic of this funeral. +It was to be felt everywhere, on people's faces and in their hearts, as +well among these functionaries of whom the greater part had only known +the duke by sight, as in the ranks on foot between his hearse and his +brougham, his closest friends, or those who had been in daily attendance +upon him. The fat minister, Vice-President of the Council, seemed +indifferent, and even glad, as he held in his powerful fist the strings +of the pall and seemed to draw it forward, in more haste than the horses +and the hearse to conduct to his six feet of earth the enemy of twenty +years' standing, the eternal rival, the obstacle to all his ambitions. +The other three dignitaries did not advance with the same vigour, and +the long cords floated loosely in their weary or careless hands with +significant slackness. The priests were indifferent by profession. +Indifferent were the servants of his household, whom he never called +anything but "_chose_," and whom he treated really like "things." +Indifferent was M. Louis, for whom it was the last day of servitude, a +slave become emancipated, rich enough to enjoy his ransom. Even among +the intimate friends of the dead man this glacial cold had penetrated. +Yet some of them had been deeply attached to him. But Cardailhac was too +busy superintending the order and the progress of the procession to give +way to the least emotion, which would, besides, have been foreign to his +nature. Old Monpavon, stricken to the heart, would have considered the +least bending of his linen cuirass and of his tall figure a piece of +deplorably bad taste, totally unworthy of his illustrious friend. His +eyes remained as dry and glittering as ever, since the undertakers +provide the tears for great mournings, embroidered in silver on black +cloth. Some one was weeping, however, away yonder among the members of +the committee; but he was expending his compassion very naively upon +himself. Poor Nabob! softened by that music and splendour, it seemed to +him that he was burying all his ambitions of glory and dignity. And his +was but one more variety of indifference. + +Among the public, the enjoyment of a fine spectacle, the pleasure of +turning a week-day into a Sunday, dominated every other sentiment. +Along the line of the boulevards, the spectators on the balconies almost +seemed disposed to applaud; here, in the populous districts, irreverence +was still more frankly manifest. Jests, blackguardly wit at the expense +of the dead man and his doings, known to all Paris, laughter raised by +the tall hats of the rabbis, the pass-word of the council experts, all +were heard in the air between two rolls of the drum. Poverty, forced +labour, with its feet in the wet, wearing its blouse, its apron, its +cap raised from habit, with sneering chuckle watched this inhabitant of +another sphere pass by, this brilliant duke, severed now from all his +honours, who perhaps while living had never paid a visit to that end of +the town. But there it is. To arrive up yonder, where everybody has to +go, the common route must be taken, the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the Rue +de la Roquette as far as that great gate where the _octroi_ is collected +and the infinite begins. And well! it does one good to see that lordly +persons like Mora, dukes, ministers, follow the same road towards +the same destination. This equality in death consoles for many of the +injustices of life. To-morrow bread will seem less dear, wine better, +the workman's tool less heavy, when he will be able to say to himself +as he rises in the morning, "That old Mora, he has come to it like the +rest!" + +The procession still went on, more fatiguing even than lugubrious. Now +it consisted of choral societies, deputations from the army and the +navy, officers of all descriptions, pressing on in a troop in advance +of a long file of empty vehicles--mourning-coaches, private +carriages--present for reasons of etiquette. Then the troops followed +in their turn, and into the sordid suburb, that long Rue de la Roquette, +already swarming with people as far as eye could reach, there plunged +a whole army, foot-soldiers, dragoons, lancers, carabineers, heavy guns +with their great mouths in the air, ready to bark, making pavement +and windows tremble, but not able to drown the rolling of the drums--a +sinister and savage rolling which suggested to Felicia's imagination +some funeral of an African chief, at which thousands of sacrificed +victims accompany the soul of a prince so that it shall not pass alone +into the kingdom of spirits, and made her fancy that perhaps this +pompous and interminable retinue was about to descend and disappear in +the superhuman grave large enough to receive the whole of it. + +"_Now and in the hour of our death. Amen_," Crenmitz murmured, while the +cab swayed from side to side in the lighted square, and high in space +the golden statue of Liberty seemed to be taking a magic flight; and the +old dancer's prayer was perhaps the one note of sincere feeling called +forth on the immense line of the funeral procession. + +All the speeches are over; three long speeches as icy as the vault +into which the dead man has just descended, three official declamations +which, above all, have provided the orators with an opportunity of +giving loud voice to their own devotion to the interests of the dynasty. +Fifteen times the guns have roused the many echoes of the cemetery, +shaken the wreaths of jet and everlasting flowers--the light _ex-voto_ +offerings suspended at the corners of the monuments--and while a reddish +mist floats and rolls with a smell of gunpowder across the city of the +dead, ascends and mingles slowly with the smoke of factories in the +plebeian district, the innumerable assembly disperses also, scattered +through the steep streets, down the lofty steps all white among the +foliage, with a confused murmur, a rippling as of waves over rocks. +Purple robes, black robes, blue and green coats, shoulder-knots of gold, +slender swords, of whose safety the wearers assure themselves with +their hands as they walk, all hasten to regain their carriages. People +exchange low bows, discreet smiles, while the mourning-coaches tear down +the carriage-ways at a gallop, revealing long lines of black coachmen, +with backs bent, hats tilted forward, the box-coats flying in the wind +made by their rapid motion. + +The general impression is one of thankfulness to have reached the end +of a long and fatiguing performance, a legitimate eagerness to quit the +administrative harness and ceremonial costumes, to unbuckle sashes, to +loosen stand-up collars and neckbands, to slacken the tension of facial +muscles, which had been subject to long restraint. + +Heavy and short, dragging along his swollen legs with difficulty, +Hemerlingue was hastening towards the exit, declining the offers which +were made to him of a seat in this or that carriage, since he knew well +that his own alone was of size adequate to cope with his proportions. + +"Baron, Baron, this way. There is room for you." + +"No, thank you. I want to walk to straighten my legs." + +And to avoid these invitations, which were beginning to embarrass him, +he took an almost deserted pathway, one that proved too deserted indeed, +for hardly had he taken a step along it before he regretted it. Ever +since entering the cemetery he had had but one preoccupation--the fear +of finding himself face to face with Jansoulet, whose violence of temper +he knew, and who might well forget the sacredness of the place, and even +in Pere Lachaise renew the scandal of the Rue Royale. Two or three times +during the ceremony he had seen the great head of his old chum emerge +from among the crowd of insignificant types which largely composed the +company and move in his direction, as though seeking him and desiring +a meeting. Down there, in the main road, there would, at any rate, +have been people about in case of trouble, while here--Brr--It was this +anxiety that made him quicken his short step, his panting breaths, but +in vain. As he looked round, in his fear of being followed, the strong, +erect shoulders of the Nabob appeared at the entrance to the path. +Impossible for the big man to slip away through one of the narrow +passages left between the tombs, which are placed so close together that +there is not even space to kneel. The damp, rich soil slipped and gave +way beneath his feet. He decided to walk on with an air of indifference, +hoping that perhaps the other might not recognise him. But a hoarse and +powerful voice cried behind him: + +"Lazarus!" + +His name--the name of this rich man--was Lazarus. He made no reply, but +tried to catch up a group of officers who were moving on, very far in +front of him. + +"Lazarus! Oh, Lazarus!" + +Just as in old times on the quay of Marseilles. Under the influence of +old habit he was tempted to stop; then the remembrance of his infamies, +of all the ill he had done the Nabob, that he was still occupied in +doing him, came back to him suddenly with a horrible fear so strong +that it amounted to a paroxysm, when an iron hand laid hold of him +unceremoniously. A sweat of terror broke out over all his flabby limbs, +his face became still more yellow, his eyes blinked in anticipation of +the formidable blow which he expected to come, while his fat arms were +instinctively raised to ward it off. + +"Oh, don't be afraid. I wish you no harm," said Jansoulet sadly. "Only I +have come to beg you to do no more to me." + +He stooped to breathe. The banker, bewildered and frightened, opened +wide his round owl's eyes in presence of this suffocating emotion. + +"Listen, Lazarus; it is you who are the stronger in this war we +have been waging on each other for so long. I am down; yes, down. My +shoulders have touched the ground. Now, be generous; spare your old +chum. Give me quarter; come, give me quarter." + +This southerner was trembling, defeated and softened by the emotional +display of the funeral ceremony. Hemerlingue, as he stood facing him, +was hardly more courageous. The gloomy music, the open grave, the +speeches, the cannonade of that lofty philosophy of inevitable death, +all these things had worked on the feelings of this fat baron. The voice +of his old comrade completed the awakening of whatever there remained of +human in that packet of gelatine. + +His old chum! It was the first time for ten years--since their +quarrel--that he had seen him so near. How many things were recalled to +him by those sun-tanned features, those broad shoulders, so ill adapted +for the wearing of embroidered coats! The thin woollen rug full of +holes, in which they used to wrap themselves both to sleep on the bridge +of the _Sinai_, the food shared in brotherly fashion, the wanderings +through the burned-up country round Marseilles, where they used to steal +big onions and eat them raw by the side of some ditch, the dreams, the +schemings, the pence put into a common fund, and, when fortune had begun +to smile on them, the fun they had had together, those excellent quiet +little suppers over which they would tell each other everything, with +their elbows on the table. + +How can one ever reach the point of seriously quarrelling when one knows +the other so well, when they have lived together like two twins at the +breast of the lean and strong nurse, Poverty, sharing her sour milk and +her rough caresses! These thoughts passed through Hemerlingue's mind +like a flash of lightning. Almost instinctively he let his heavy hand +fall into the one which the Nabob was holding out to him. Something of +the primitive animal was roused in them, something stronger than their +enmity, and these two men, each of whom for ten years had been trying +to bring the other to ruin and disgrace, fell to talking without any +reserve. + +Generally, between friends newly met, after the first effusions are +over, a silence comes as if they had no more to tell each other, while +it is in reality the abundance of things, their precipitate rush, that +prevents them from finding utterance. The two chums had touched that +condition; but Jansoulet kept a tight grasp on the banker's arm, fearing +to see him escape and resist the kindly impulse he had just roused. + +"You are not in a hurry, are you? We can take a little walk, if you +like. It has stopped raining, the air is pleasant; one feels twenty +years younger." + +"Yes, it is pleasant," said Hemerlingue; "only I cannot walk for long; +my legs are heavy." + +"True, your poor legs. See, there is a bench over there. Let us go and +sit down. Lean on me, old friend." + +And the Nabob, with brotherly aid, led him to one of those benches +dotted here and there among the tombs, on which those inconsolable +mourners rest who make the cemetery their usual walk and abode. He +settled him in his seat, gazed upon him tenderly, pitied him for his +infirmity, and, following what was quite a natural channel in such a +spot, they came to talking of their health, of the old age that was +approaching. This one was dropsical, the other subject to apoplectic +fits. Both were in the habit of dosing themselves with the Jenkins +pearls, a dangerous remedy--witness Mora, so quickly carried off. + +"My poor duke!" said Jansoulet. + +"A great loss to the country," remarked the banker with an air of +conviction. + +And the Nabob added naively: + +"For me above all, for me; for, if he had lived--Ah! what luck you have, +what luck you have!" + +Fearing to have wounded him, he went on quickly: + +"And then, too, you are clever, so very clever." + +The baron looked at him with a wink so droll, that his little black +eyelashes disappeared amid his yellow fat. + +"No," said he, "it is not I who am clever. It is Marie." + +"Marie?" + +"Yes, the baroness. Since her baptism she has given up her name of +Yamina for that of Marie. She is a real sort of woman. She knows more +than I do myself about banking and Paris and business. It is she who +manages everything at home." + +"You are very fortunate," sighed Jansoulet. His air of gloom told a long +story of qualities missing in Mlle. Afchin. Then, after a silence, the +baron resumed: + +"She has a great grudge against you, Marie, you know. She will not be +pleased when she hears that we have been talking together." + +A frown passed over his heavy brow, as though he were regretting their +reconciliation, at the thought of the scene which he would have with his +wife. Jansoulet stammered: + +"I have done her no harm, however." + +"Come, come, neither of you has been very nice to her. Think of the +affront put upon her when we called after our marriage. Your wife +sending word to us that she was not in the habit of receiving quondam +slaves. As though our friendship ought not to have been stronger than a +prejudice. Women don't forget things of that kind." + +"But no responsibility lay with me for that, old friend. You know how +proud those Afchins are." + +He was not proud himself, poor man. His mien was so woebegone, so +supplicating under his friend's frown, that he moved him to pity. +Decidedly, the cemetery had softened the baron. + +"Listen, Bernard; there is only one thing that counts. If you want us to +be friends, as formerly, and this reconciliation not to be wasted, you +will have to get my wife to consent. Without her nothing can be done. +When Mlle. Afchin shut her door in our faces you let her have her way, +did you not? In the same way, on my side, if Marie said to me when I go +home, 'I will not let you be friends,' all my protestations now would +not prevent me from throwing you overboard. For there is no such thing +as friendship in face of such difficulties. Peace at one's fireside is +better than everything else." + +"But in that case, what is to be done?" asked the Nabob, frightened. + +"I am going to tell you. The baroness is at home every Saturday. Come +with your wife and pay her a visit the day after to-morrow. You will +find the best society in Paris at the house. The past shall not be +mentioned. The ladies will gossip together of chiffons and frocks, talk +of the things women do talk about. And then the whole matter will be +settled. We shall become friends as we used to be; and since you are in +difficulties, well, we will find some way of getting you out of them." + +"Do you think so? The fact is I am in terrible straits," said the other, +shaking his head. + +Hemerlingue's cunning eyes disappeared again beneath the folds of his +cheeks like two flies in butter. + +"Well, yes; I have played a strong game. But you don't lack shrewdness, +all the same. The loan of the fifteen millions to the Bey--it was a good +stroke, that. Ah! you are bold enough; only you hold your cards badly. +One can see your game." + +Till now they had been talking in low tones, impressed by the silence +of the great necropolis; but little by little human interests asserted +themselves in a louder key even there where their nothingness lay +exposed on all those flat stones covered with dates and figures, as if +death was only an affair of time and calculation--the desired solution +of a problem. + +Hemerlingue enjoyed the sight of his friend reduced to such humility, +and gave him advice on his affairs, with which he seemed to be fully +acquainted. According to him the Nabob could still get out of his +difficulties very well. Everything depended on the validation, on the +turning up of a card. The question was to make sure that it should be a +good one. But Jansoulet had no more confidence. In losing Mora, he had +lost everything. + +"You lose Mora, but you regain me; so things are equalized," said the +banker tranquilly. + +"No, do you see it is impossible. It is too late. Le Merquier has +completed the report. It is a dreadful one, I believe." + +"Well, if he has completed his report, he will have to prepare another." + +"How is that to be done?" + +The baron looked at him with surprise. + +"Ah, you are losing your senses. Why, by paying him a hundred, two +hundred, three hundred thousand francs, if necessary. + +"How can you think of such a thing? Le Merquier, that man of integrity! +'My conscience,' as they call him." + +This time Hemerlingue's laugh burst forth with an extraordinary +heartiness, and must have reached the inmost recesses of the +neighbouring mausoleums, little accustomed to such disrespect. + +"'My conscience' a man of integrity! Ah! you amuse me. You don't know, +then, that he is in my pay, conscience and all, and that--" He paused, +and looked behind him, somewhat startled by a sound which he had heard. +"Listen." + +It was the echo of his laughter sent back to them from the depths of a +vault, as if the idea of Le Merquier having a conscience moved even the +dead to mirth. + +"Suppose we walk a little," said he, "it begins to be chilly on this +bench." + +Then, as they walked among the tombs, he went on to explain to him with +a certain pedantic fatuity, that in France bribes played as important a +part as in the East. Only one had to be a little more delicate about +it here. You veiled your bribes. "Thus, take this Le Merquier, for +instance. Instead of offering him your money openly, in a big purse, as +you would to a local pasha, you go about it indirectly. The man is +fond of pictures. He is constantly having dealings with Schwalbach, who +employs him as a decoy for his Catholic clients. Well, you offer him +some picture--a souvenir to hang on a panel in his study. The whole +point is to make the price quite clear. But you will see. I will take +you round to call on him myself. I will show you how the thing is +worked." + +And delighted at the amazement of the Nabob, who, to flatter him, +exaggerated his surprise still further, and opened his eyes wide with an +air of admiration, the banker enlarged the scope of his lesson--made of +it a veritable course of Parisian and worldly philosophy. + +"See, old comrade, what one has to look after in Paris, above everything +else, is the keeping up of appearances. They are the only things that +count--appearances! Now you have not sufficient care for them. You go +about town, your waistcoat unbuttoned, a good-humoured fellow, talking +of your affairs, just what you are by nature. You stroll around just +as you would in the bazaars of Tunis. That is how you have come to get +bowled over, my good Bernard." + +He paused to take breath, feeling quite exhausted. In an hour he had +walked farther and spoken more than he was accustomed to do in the +course of a whole year. They noticed, as they stopped, that their walk +and conversation had led them back in the direction of Mora's grave, +which was situated just above a little exposed plateau, whence looking +over a thousand closely packed roofs, they could see Montmartre, the +Buttes Chaumont, their rounded outline in the distance looking like high +waves. In the hollows lights were already beginning to twinkle, like +ships' lanterns, through the violet mists that were rising; chimneys +seemed to leap upward like masts, or steamer funnels discharging their +smoke. Those three undulations, with the tide of Pere Lachaise, were +clearly suggestive of waves of the sea, following each other at equal +intervals. The sky was bright, as often happens in the evening of a +rainy day, an immense sky, shaded with tints of dawn, against which +the family tomb of Mora exhibited in relief four allegorical figures, +imploring, meditative, thoughtful, whose attitudes were made more +imposing by the dying light. Of the speeches, of the official +condolences, nothing remained. The soil trodden down all around, masons +at work washing the dirt from the plaster threshold, were all that was +left to recall the recent burial. + +Suddenly the door of the ducal tomb shut with a clash of all its +metallic weight. Thenceforth the late Minister of State was to remain +alone, utterly alone, in the shadow of its night, deeper than that which +then was creeping up from the bottom of the garden, invading the winding +paths, the stone stairways, the bases of the columns, pyramids and tombs +of every kind, whose summits were reached more slowly by the shroud. +Navvies, all white with that chalky whiteness of dried bones, were +passing by, carrying their tools and wallets. Furtive mourners, dragging +themselves away regretfully from tears and prayer, glided along the +margins of the clumps of trees, seeming to skirt them as with the silent +flight of night-birds, while from the extremities of Pere Lachaise +voices rose--melancholy calls announcing the closing time. The day of +the cemetery was at its end. The city of the dead, handed over once +more to Nature, was becoming an immense wood with open spaces marked by +crosses. Down in a valley, the window-panes of a custodian's house were +lighted up. A shudder seemed to run through the air, losing itself in +murmurings along the dim paths. + +"Let us go," the two old comrades said to each other, gradually coming +to feel the impression of that twilight, which seemed colder than +elsewhere; but before moving off, Hemerlingue, pursuing his train of +thought, pointed to the monument winged at the four corners by the +draperies and the outstretched hands of its sculptured figures. + +"Look here," said he. "That was the man who understood the art of +keeping up appearances." + +Jansoulet took his arm to aid him in the descent. + +"Ah, yes, he was clever. But you are the most clever of all," he +answered with his terrible Gascon intonation. + +Hemerlingue made no protest. + +"It is to my wife that I owe it. So I strongly recommend you to make +your peace with her, because unless you do----" + +"Oh, don't be afraid. We shall come on Saturday. But you will take me to +see Le Merquier." + +And while the two silhouettes, the one tall and square, the other +massive and short, were passing out of sight among the twinings of the +great labyrinth, while the voice of Jansoulet guiding his friend, "This +way, old fellow--lean hard on my arm," died away by insensible degrees, +a stray beam of the setting sun fell upon and illuminated behind them +in the little plateau, an expressive and colossal bust, with great brow +beneath long swept-back hair, and powerful and ironic lip--the bust of +Balzac watching them. + + + + +LA BARONNE HEMERLINGUE + +Just at the end of the long vault, under which were the offices of +Hemerlingue and Sons, the black tunnel which Joyeuse had for ten years +adorned and illuminated with his dreams, a monumental staircase with a +wrought-iron balustrade, a staircase of mediaeval time, led towards the +left to the reception rooms of the baroness, which looked out on the +court-yard just above the cashier's office, so that in summer, when the +windows were open, the ring of the gold, the crash of the piles of +money scattered on the counters, softened a little by the rich and lofty +hangings at the windows, made a mercantile accompaniment to the buzzing +conversation of fashionable Catholicism. + +The entrance struck at once the note of this house, as of her who did +the honours of it. A mixture of a vague scent of the sacristy, with +the excitement of the Bourse, and the most refined fashion, these +heterogeneous elements, met and crossed each other's path there, but +remained as much apart as the noble faubourg, under whose patronage +the striking conversion of the Moslem had taken place, was from the +financial quarters where Hemerlingue had his life and his friends. +The Levantine colony--pretty numerous in Paris--was composed in great +measure of German Jews, bankers or brokers who had made colossal +fortunes in the East, and still did business here, not to lose the +habit. The colony showed itself regularly on the baroness's visiting +day. Tunisians on a visit to Paris never failed to call on the wife of +the great banker; and old Colonel Brahim, _charge d'affaires_ of +the Bey, with his flabby mouth and bloodshot eyes, had his nap every +Saturday in the corner of the same divan. + +"One seems to smell scorching in your drawing-room, my child," said the +old Princess de Dions smilingly to the newly named Marie, whom M. Le +Merquier and she had led to the font. But the presence of all these +heretics--Jews, Moslems, and even renegades--of these great over-dressed +blotched women, loaded with gold and ornaments, veritable bundles +of clothes, did not hinder the Faubourg Saint-Germain from visiting, +surrounding, and looking after the young convert, the plaything of these +noble ladies, a very obedient puppet, whom they showed, whom they took +out, and whose evangelical simplicities, so piquant by contrast with +her past, they quoted everywhere. Perhaps deep down in the heart of her +amiable patronesses a hope lay of meeting in this circle of returned +Orientals some new subject for conversion, an occasion for filling the +aristocratic Chapel of Missions again with the touching spectacle of one +of those adult baptisms which carry one back to the first days of the +Faith, far away on the banks of the Jordan; baptisms soon to be followed +by a first communion, a confirmation, when baptismal vows are renewed; +occasions when a godmother may accompany her godchild, guide the young +soul, share in the naive transports of a newly awakened belief, and +may also display a choice of toilettes, delicately graduated to the +importance of the sentiment of the ceremony. But not every day does it +happen that one of the leaders of finance brings to Paris an Armenian +slave as his wife. + +A slave! That was the blot in the past of this woman from the East, +bought in the bazaar of Adrianople for the Emperor of Morocco, then +sold, when he died and his harem was dispersed, to the young Bey Ahmed. +Hemerlingue had married her when she passed from this new seraglio, +but she could not be received at Tunis, where no woman--Moor, Turk or +European--would consent to treat a former slave as an equal, on account +of a prejudice like that which separates the creoles from the best +disguised quadroons. Even in Paris the Hemerlingues found this +invincible prejudice among the small foreign colonies, constituted, +as they were, of little circles full of susceptibilities and local +traditions. Yamina thus passed two or three years in a complete solitude +whose leisure and spiteful feelings she well knew how to utilize, +for she was an ambitious woman endowed with extraordinary will and +persistence. She learned French thoroughly, said farewell to her +embroidered vests and pantaloons of red silk, accustomed her figure and +her walk to European toilettes, to the inconvenience of long dresses, +and then, one night at the opera, showed the astonished Parisians +the spectacle, a little uncivilized still, but delicate, elegant, and +original, of a Mohammedan in a costume of _Leonard's_. + +The sacrifice of her religion soon followed that of her costume. Mme. +Hemerlingue had long abandoned the practices of Mohammedan religion, +when M. le Merquier, their friend and mentor in Paris, showed them that +the baroness's public conversion would open to her the doors of +that section of the Parisian world whose access became more and +more difficult as society became more democratic. Once the Faubourg +Saint-Germain was conquered, all the others would follow. And, in fact, +when, after the announcement of the baptism, they learned that the +greatest ladies in France could be seen at the Baroness Hemerlingue's +Saturdays, Mmes. Gugenheim, Furenberg, Caraiscaki, Maurice Trott--all +wives of millionaires celebrated on the markets of Tunis--gave up their +prejudices and begged to be invited to the former slave's receptions. +Mme. Jansoulet alone--newly arrived with a stock of cumbersome Oriental +ideas in her mind, like her ostrich eggs, her narghile pipe, and the +Tunisian _bric-a-brac_ in her rooms--protested against what she called +an impropriety, a cowardice, and declared that she would never set her +foot at _her_ house. Soon a little retrograde movement was felt round +the Gugenheims, the Caraiscaki, and the other people, as happens at +Paris every time when some irregular position, endeavouring to establish +itself, brings on regrets and defections. They had gone too far to draw +back, but they resolved to make the value of their good-will, of their +sacrificed prejudices, felt, and the Baroness Marie well understood the +shade of meaning in the protecting tone of the Levantines, treating her +as "My dear child," "My dear good girl," with an almost contemptuous +pride. Thenceforward her hatred of the Jansoulets knew no bounds--the +complicated ferocious hatred of the seraglio, with strangling and the +sack at the end, perhaps more difficult to arrive at in Paris than +on the banks of the lake of El Bahaira, but for which she had already +prepared the stout sack and the cord. + +One can imagine, knowing all this, what was the surprise and agitation +of this corner of exotic society, when the news spread, not only that +the great Afchin--as these ladies called her--had consented to see the +baroness, but that she would pay her first visit on her next Saturday. +Neither the Fuernbergs nor the Trotts would wish to miss such an +occasion. On her side, the baroness did everything in her power to give +the utmost brilliancy to this solemn reparation. She wrote, she visited, +and succeeded so well, that in spite of the lateness of the season, Mme. +Jansoulet, on arriving at four o'clock at the Faubourg Saint-Honore, +would have seen drawn up before the great arched doorway, side by side +with the discreet russet livery of the Princess de Dion, and of +many authentic _blasons_, the pretentious and fictitious arms, the +multicoloured wheels of a crowd of plutocrat equipages, and the tall +powdered lackeys of the Caraiscaki. + +Above, in the reception rooms, was another strange and resplendent +crowd. In the first two rooms there was a going and coming, a continual +passage of rustling silks up to the boudoir where the baroness sat, +sharing her attentions and cajoleries between two very distinct camps. +On one side were dark toilettes, modest in appearance, whose refinement +was appreciable only to observant eyes; on the other, a wild burst of +vivid colour, opulent figures, rich diamonds, floating scarfs, exotic +fashions, in which one felt a regret for a warmer climate, and more +luxurious life. Here were sharp taps with the fan, discreet whispers +from the few men present, some of the _bien pensant_ youth, silent, +immovable, sucking the handles of their canes, two or three figures, +upright behind the broad backs of their wives, speaking with their heads +bent forward, as if they were offering contraband goods for sale; and +in a corner the fine patriarchal beard and violet cassock of an orthodox +Armenian bishop. + +The baroness, in attempting to harmonize these fashionable diversities, +to keep her rooms full until the famous interview, moved about +continually, took part in ten different conversations, raising +her harmonious and velvety voice to the twittering diapason which +distinguishes Oriental women, caressing and coaxing, the mind supple +as the body, touching on all subjects, and mixing in the requisite +proportions fashion and charity sermons, theatres and bazaars, the +dressmaker and the confessor. The mistress of the house united a great +personal charm with this acquired science--a science visible even in her +black and very simple dress, which brought out her nun-like pallor, her +houri-like eyes, her shining and plaited hair drawn back from a narrow, +child-like forehead, a forehead of which the small mouth accentuated +the mystery, hiding from the inquisitive the former _favourite's_ whole +varied past, she who had no age, who knew not herself the date of her +birth, and never remembered to have been a child. + +Evidently if the absolute power of evil--rare indeed among women, +influenced as they are by their impressionable physical nature by so +many different currents--could take possession of a soul, it would be +in that of this slave, moulded by basenesses, revolted but patient, and +complete mistress of herself, like all those whom the habit of veiling +the eyes has accustomed to lie safely and unscrupulously. + +At this moment no one could have suspected the anguish she suffered; +to see her kneeling before the princess, an old, good, straightforward +soul, of whom the Fuernberg was always saying, "Call that a +princess--that!" + +"I beg of you, godmamma, don't go away yet." + +She surrounded her with all sorts of cajoleries, of graces, of little +airs, without telling her, to be sure, that she wanted to keep her till +the arrival of the Jansoulets, to add to her triumph. + +"But," said the princess, pointing out to her the majestic Armenian, +silent and grave, his tasselled hat on his knees, "I must take this poor +bishop to the _Grand Saint-Christophe_, to buy some medals. He would +never get on without me." + +"No, no, I wish--you must--a few minutes more." And the baroness threw a +furtive look on the ancient and sumptuous clock in a corner of the room. + +Five o'clock already, and the great Afchin not arrived. The Levantines +began to laugh behind their fans. Happily tea was just being served, +also Spanish wines, and a crowd of delicious Turkish cakes which were +only to be had in that house, whose receipts, brought away with her by +the favourite, had been preserved in the harem, like some secrets of +confectionery on our convents. That made a diversion. Hemerlingue, who +on Saturdays came out of his office from time to time to make his bow to +the ladies, was drinking a glass of Madeira near the little table while +talking to Maurice Trott, once the dresser of Said-Pasha, when his wife +approached him, gently and quietly. He knew what anger this impenetrable +calm must cover, and asked her, in a low tone, timidly: + +"No one?" + +"No one. You see to what an insult you expose me." + +She smiled, her eyes half closed, taking with the end of her nail a +crumb of cake from his long black whiskers, but her little transparent +nostrils trembled with a terrible eloquence. + +"Oh, she will come," said the banker, his mouth full. "I am sure she +will come." + +The noise of dresses, of a train rustling in the next room made the +baroness turn quickly. But, to the great joy of the "bundles," looking +on from their corners, it was not the lady they were expecting. + +This tall, elegant blonde, with worn features and irreproachable +toilette, was not like Mlle. Afchin. She was worthy in every way to bear +a name as celebrated as that of Dr. Jenkins. In the last two or three +months the beautiful Mme. Jenkins had greatly changed, become much +older. In the life of a woman who has long remained young there comes a +time when the years, which have passed over her head without leaving a +wrinkle, trace their passage all at once brutally in indelible marks. +People no longer say, on seeing her, "How beautiful she is!" but "How +beautiful she must have been!" And this cruel way of speaking in the +past, of throwing back to a distant period that which was but yesterday +a visible fact, marks a beginning of old age and of retirement, a change +of all her triumphs into memories. Was it the disappointment of +seeing the doctor's wife arrive, instead of Mme. Jansoulet, or did the +discredit which the Duke de Mora's death had thrown on the fashionable +physician fall on her who bore his name? There was a little of each +of these reasons, and perhaps of another, in the cool greeting of the +baroness. A slight greeting on the ends of her lips, some hurried words, +and she returned to the noble battalion nibbling vigorously away. The +room had become animated under the effects of wine. People no longer +whispered; they talked. The lamps brought in added a new brilliance to +the gathering, but announced that it was near its close; some indeed, +not interested in the great event, having already taken their leave. And +still the Jansoulets did not come. + +All at once a heavy, hurried step. The Nabob appeared, alone, buttoned +up in his black coat, correctly dressed, but with his face upset, his +eyes haggard, still trembling from the terrible scene which he had left. + +She would not come. + +In the morning he had told the maids to dress madame for three o'clock, +as he did each time he took out the Levantine with him, when it was +necessary to move this indolent person, who, not being able to accept +even any responsibility whatever, left others to think, decide, act for +her, going willingly where she was desired to go, once she was +started. And it was on this amiability that he counted to take her to +Hemerlingue's. But when, after _dejeuner_, Jansoulet dressed, superb, +perspiring with the effort to put on gloves, asked if madame would soon +be ready, he was told that she was not going out. The matter was grave, +so grave, that putting on one side all the intermediaries of valets and +maids, which they made use of in their conjugal dialogues, he ran up the +stairs four steps at once like a gust of wind, and entered the draperied +rooms of the Levantine. + +She was still in bed, dressed in that great open tunic of silk of +two colours, which the Moors call a _djebba_, and in a little cap +embroidered with gold, from which escaped her heavy long black hair, all +entangled round her moon-shaped face, flushed from her recent meal. The +sleeves of her _djebba_ pushed back showed two enormous shapeless arms, +loaded with bracelets, with long chains wandering through a heap of +little mirrors, of red beads, of scent-boxes, of microscopic pipes, of +cigarette cases--the childish toyshop collection of a Moorish woman at +her rising. + +The room, filled with the heavy opium-scented smoke of Turkish tobacco, +was in similar disorder. Negresses went and came, slowly removing their +mistress's coffee, the favourite gazelle was licking the dregs of a cup +which its delicate muzzle had overturned on the carpet, while seated at +the foot of the bed with a touching familiarity, the melancholy Cabassu +was reading aloud to madame a drama in verse which Cardailhac was +shortly going to produce. The Levantine was stupefied with this reading, +absolutely astounded. + +"My dear," said she to Jansoulet, in her thick Flemish accent, "I don't +know what our manager is thinking of. I am just reading this _Revolt_, +which he is so mad about. But it is impossible. There is nothing +dramatic about it." + +"Don't talk to me of the theatre," said Jansoulet, furious, in spite of +his respect for the daughter of the Afchins. "What, you are not dressed +yet? Weren't you told that we were going out?" + +They had told her, but she had begun to read this stupid piece. And with +her sleepy air: + +"We will go out to-morrow." + +"To-morrow! Impossible. We are expected to-day. A most important visit." + +"But where?" + +He hesitated a second. + +"To Hemerlingue's." + +She raised her great eyes, thinking he was making game of her. Then he +told her of his meeting with the baron at the funeral of de Mora and the +understanding they had come to. + +"Go there, if you like," said she coldly. "But you little know me if you +believe that I, an Afchin, will ever set foot in that slave's house." + +Cabassu, prudently seeing what was likely to happen, had fled into a +neighbouring room, carrying with him the five acts of _The Revolt_ under +his arm. + +"Come," said the Nabob to his wife, "I see that you do not know the +terrible position I am in. Listen." + +Without thinking of the maids or the negresses, with the sovereign +indifference of an Oriental for his household, he proceeded to picture +his great distress, his fortune sequestered over seas, his credit +destroyed over here, his whole career in suspense before the judgment +of the Chamber, the influence of the Hemerlingues on the judge-advocate, +and the necessity of the sacrifice at the moment of all personal feeling +to such important interests. He spoke hotly, tried to convince her, to +carry her away. But she merely answered him, "I shall not go," as if it +were only a matter of some unimportant walk, a little too long for her. + +He said trembling: + +"See, now, it is not possible that you should say that. Think that my +fortune is at stake, the future of our children, the name you bear. +Everything is at stake in what you cannot refuse to do." + +He could have spoken thus for hours and been always met by the same +firm, unshakable obstinacy--an Afchin could not visit a slave. + +"Well, madame," said he violently, "this slave is worth more than you. +She has increased tenfold her husband's wealth by her intelligence, +while you, on the contrary----" + +For the first time in the twelve years of their married life Jansoulet +dared to hold up his head before his wife. Was he ashamed of this crime +of _lese-majeste_, or did he understand that such a remark would place +an impassable gulf between them? He changed his tone, knelt down before +the bed, with that cheerful tenderness when one persuades children to be +reasonable. + +"My little Martha, I beg of you--get up, dress yourself. It is for your +own sake I ask it, for your comfort, for your own welfare. What would +become of you if, for a caprice, a stupid whim, we should become poor?" + +But the word--poor--represented absolutely nothing to the Levantine. One +could speak of it before her, as of death before little children. +She was not moved by it, not knowing what it was. She was perfectly +determined to keep in bed in her _djebba_; and to show her decision, she +lighted a new cigarette at her old one just finished; and while the poor +Nabob surrounded his "dear little wife" with excuses, with prayers, with +supplications, promising her a diadem of pearls a hundred times more +beautiful than her own, if she would come, she watched the heavy smoke +rising to the painted ceiling, wrapping herself up in it as in an +imperturbable calm. At last, in face of this refusal, this silence, this +barrier of headstrong obstinacy, Jansoulet unbridled his wrath and rose +up to his full height: + +"Come," said he, "I wish it." + +He turned to the negresses: + +"Dress your mistress at once." + +And boor as he was at the bottom, the son of a southern nail-maker +asserting itself in this crisis which moved him so deeply, he threw back +the coverlids with a brutal and contemptuous gesture, knocking down the +innumerable toys they bore, and forcing the half-clad Levantine to +bound to her feet with a promptitude amazing in so massive a person. She +roared at the outrage, drew the folds of her dalmatic against her bust, +pushed her cap sideways on her dishevelled hair, and began to abuse her +husband. + +"Never, understand me, never! You may drag me sooner to this----" + +The filth flowed from her heavy lips as from a spout. Jansoulet could +have imagined himself in some frightful den of the port of Marseilles, +at some quarrel of prostitutes and bullies, or again at some open-air +dispute between Genoese, Maltese, and Provencal hags, gleaning on the +quays round the sacks of wheat, and abusing each other, crouched in the +whirlwinds of golden dust. She was indeed a Levantine of a seaport, +a spoiled child, who, in the evening, left alone, had heard from her +terrace or from her gondola the sailors revile each other in every +tongue of the Latin seas, and had remembered it all. The wretched man +looked at her, frightened, terrified at what she forced him to hear, at +her grotesque figure, foaming and gasping: + +"No, I will not go--no, I will not go!" + +And this was the mother of his children, a daughter of the Afchins! +Suddenly, at the thought that his fate was in the hands of this woman, +that it would only cost her a dress to put on to save him--and that time +was flying--that soon it would be too late, a criminal feeling rose to +his brain and distorted his features. He came straight to her, his hands +contracted, with such a terrible expression that the daughter of the +Afchins, frightened, rushed, calling towards the door by which the +_masseur_ had just gone out: + +"Aristide!" + +This cry, the words, this intimacy of his wife with a servant! Jansoulet +stopped, his rage suddenly calmed; then, with a gesture of disgust, he +flung himself out, slamming the doors, more eager to fly the misfortune +and the horror whose presence he divined in his own home, than to seek +elsewhere the help he had been promised. + +A quarter of an hour later he made his appearance at the Hemerlingues', +making a despairing gesture as he entered to the banker, and approached +the baroness stammering the ready-made phrase he had heard repeated so +often the night of his ball, "His wife, very unwell--most grieved not +to have been able to come--" She did not give him time to finish, rose +slowly, unwound herself like a long and slender snake from the pleated +folds of her tight dress, and said, without looking at him, "Oh, I +knew--I knew!" then changed her place and took no more notice of him. He +attempted to approach Hemerlingue, but the good man seemed absorbed in +his conversation with Maurice Trott. Then he went to sit down near Mme. +Jenkins, whose isolation seemed like his own. But, even while talking +to the poor woman, as languid as he was preoccupied, he was watching +the baroness doing the honours of this drawing-room, so comfortable when +compared with his own gilded halls. + +It was time to leave. Mme. Hemerlingue went to the door with some of +the ladies, presented her forehead to the old princess, bent under the +benediction of the Armenian bishop, nodded with a smile to the young men +with the canes, found for each the fitting adieu with perfect ease; and +the wretched man could not prevent himself from comparing this Eastern +slave, so Parisian, so distinguished in the best society of the world, +with the other, the European brutalized by the East, stupefied with +Turkish tobacco, and swollen with idleness. His ambitions, his pride as +a husband, were extinguished and humiliated in this marriage of which +he saw the danger and the emptiness--a final cruelty of fate taking from +him even the refuge of personal happiness from all his public disasters. + +Little by little the room was emptied. The Levantines disappeared one +after another, leaving each time an immense void in their place. Mme. +Jenkins was gone, and only two or three ladies remained whom Jansoulet +did not know, and behind whom the mistress of the house seemed to +shelter herself from him. But Hemerlingue was free, and the Nabob +rejoined him at the moment when he was furtively escaping to his offices +on the same floor opposite his rooms. Jansoulet went out with him, +forgetting in his trouble to salute the baroness, and once on the +antechamber staircase, Hemerlingue, cold and reserved while he was under +his wife's eye, expanded a little. + +"It is very annoying," said he in a low voice, as if he feared to be +overheard, "that Mme. Jansoulet has not been willing to come." + +Jansoulet answered him by a movement of despair and savage helplessness. + +"Annoying, annoying," repeated the other in a whisper, and feeling for +his key in his pocket. + +"Come, old fellow," said the Nabob, taking his hand, "there's no reason, +because our wives don't agree--That doesn't hinder us from remaining +friends. What a good chat the other day, eh?" + +"No doubt" said the baron, disengaging himself, as he opened the door +noiselessly, showing the deep workroom, whose lamp burned solitarily +before the enormous empty chair. "Come, good-bye, I must go; I have my +mail to despatch." + +"_Ya didon, monci_" (But look here, sir) said the poor Nabob, trying to +joke, and using the _patois_ of the south to recall to his old chum all +the pleasant memories stirred up the other evening. "Our visit to Le +Merquier still holds good. The picture we were going to present to him, +you know. What day?" + +"Ah, yes, Le Merquier--true--eh--well, soon. I will write to you." + +"Really? You know it is very important." + +"Yes, yes. I will write to you. Good-bye." + +And the big man shut his door in a hurry, as if he were afraid of his +wife coming. + +Two days after, the Nabob received a note from Hemerlingue, almost +unreadable on account of the complicated scrawls, of abbreviations more +or less commercial, under which the ex-sutler hid his entire want of +spelling: + +MY DEAR OLD COM_--I cannot accom_ you to Le Mer. _Too bus_ just now. +Besid_ y_ will be _bet_ alone to _tal_. Go _th bold_. You are _exp. A_ +Cassette, _ev morn_ 8 to 10. + +Yours _faith_ + +HEM. + + +Below as a postscript, a very small hand had written very legibly: + +"A religious picture, as good as possible." + +What was he to think of this letter? Was there real good-will in it, +or polite evasion? In any case hesitation was no longer possible. Time +pressed. Jansoulet made a bold effort, then--for he was very frightened +of Le Merquier--and called on him one morning. + +Our strange Paris, alike in its population and its aspects, seems a +specimen map of the whole world. In the Marais there are narrow streets, +with old sculptured worm-eaten doors, with overhanging gables +and balconies, which remind you of old Heidelberg. The Faubourg +Saint-Honore, lying round the Russian church with its white minarets and +golden domes, seems a part of Moscow. On Montmartre I know a picturesque +and crowded corner which is simply Algiers. Little, low, clean houses, +each with its brass plate and little front garden, are English streets +between Neuilly and the Champs-Elysees while all behind the apse of +Saint-Sulpice, the Rue Feron, the Rue Cassette, lying peaceably in the +shadow of its great towers, roughly paved, their doors each with its +knocker, seem lifted out of some provincial and religious town--Tours +or Orleans, for example--in the district of the cathedral or the palace, +where the great over-hanging trees in the gardens rock themselves to the +sound of the bells and the choir. + +It was there, in the neighbourhood of the Catholic Club--of which he +had just been made honorary president--that M. Le Merquier lived. He was +_avocat_, deputy for Lyons, business man of all the great communities of +France; and Hemerlingue, moved by a deep-seated instinct, had intrusted +him with the affairs of his firm. + +He arrived before nine o'clock at an old mansion of which the ground +floor was occupied by a religious bookshop, asleep in the odour of the +sacristy, and of the thick gray paper on which the stories of miracles +are printed for hawkers, and mounted the great whitewashed convent +stairway. Jansoulet was touched by this provincial and Catholic +atmosphere, in which revived the souvenirs of his past in the south, +impressions of infancy still intact, thanks to his long absence from +home; and since his arrival at Paris he had had neither the time nor the +occasion to call them in question. Fashionable hypocrisy had presented +itself to him in all its forms save that of religious integrity, and +he refused now to believe in the venality of a man who lived in such +surroundings. Introduced into the _avocat's_ waiting-room--a vast +parlour with fine white muslin curtains, having for its sole ornament +a large and beautiful copy of Tintoretto's Dead Christ--his doubt and +trouble changed into indignant conviction. It was not possible! He had +been deceived as to Le Merquier. There was surely some bold slander in +it, such as so easily spreads in Paris--or perhaps it was one of those +ferocious snares among which he had stumbled for six months. No, this +stern conscience, so well known in Parliament and the courts, this cold +and austere personage, could not be treated like those great swollen +pashas with loosened waist-belts and floating sleeves open to conceal +the bags of gold. He would only expose himself to a scandalous refusal, +to the legitimate revolt of outraged honour, if he attempted such means +of corruption. + +The Nabob told himself all this, as he sat on the oak bench which ran +round the room, a bench polished with serge dresses and the rough cloth +of cassocks. In spite of the early hour several persons were waiting +there with him. A Dominican, ascetic and serene, walking up and down +with great strides; two sisters of charity, buried under their caps, +counting long rosaries which measured their time of waiting; priests +from Lyons, recognisable by the shape of their hats; others reserved and +severe in air, sitting at the great ebony table which filled the middle +of the room, and turning over some of those pious journals printed at +Fouvieres, just above Lyons, the _Echo of Purgatory_, the _Rose-bush +of Mary_, which give as a present to all yearly subscribers pontifical +indulgences and remissions of future sins. Some muttered words, a +stifled cough, the light whispered prayers of the sisters, recalled to +Jansoulet the distant and confused sensation of the hours of waiting in +the corner of his village church round the confessional on the eves of +the great festivals of the Church. + +At last his turn came, and if a doubt as to M. Le Merquier had remained, +he doubted no longer when he saw this great office, simple and severe, +yet a little more ornate than the waiting-room, a fitting frame for +the austerity of the lawyer's principles, and for his thin form, tall, +stooping, narrow-shouldered, squeezed into a black coat too short in +the sleeves, from which protruded two black fists, broad and flat, +two sticks of Indian ink with hieroglyphs of great veins. The clerical +deputy had, with the leaden hue of a Lyonnese grown mouldy between his +two rivers, a certain life of expression which he owed to his double +look--sometimes sparkling, but impenetrable behind the glass of his +spectacles; more often, vivid, mistrustful, and dark, above these same +glasses, surrounded by the shadow which a lifted eye and a stooping head +gives the eyebrow. + +After a greeting almost cordial in comparison with the cold bow which +the two colleagues exchanged at the Chamber, an "I was expecting you" in +which perhaps an intention showed itself, the lawyer pointed the Nabob +into a seat near his desk, told the smug domestic in black not to come +till he was summoned, arranged a few papers, after which, sinking into +his arm-chair with the attitude of a man ready to listen, who becomes +all ears, his legs crossed, he rested his chin on his hand, with his +eyes fixed on a great rep curtain falling to the ground in front of him. + +The moment was decisive, the situation embarrassing. Jansoulet did not +hesitate. It was one of the poor Nabob's pretensions to know men as +well as Mora. And this instinct, which, said he, had never deceived +him, warned him that he was at that moment dealing with a rigid and +unshakable honesty, a conscience in hard stone, untouchable by pick-axe +or powder. "My conscience!" Suddenly he changed his programme, threw to +the winds the tricks and equivocations which embarrassed his open and +courageous disposition, and, head high and heart open, held to this +honest man a language he was born to understand. + +"Do not be astonished, my dear colleague,"--his voice trembled, but soon +became firm in the conviction of his defence--"do not be astonished if +I am come to find you here instead of asking simply to be heard by +the third committee. The explanation which I have to make to you is so +delicate and confidential that it would have been impossible to make it +publicly before my colleagues." + +Maitre Le Merquier, above his spectacles, looked at the curtain with a +disturbed air. Evidently the conversation was taking an unexpected turn. + +"I do not enter on the main question," said the Nabob. "Your report, I +am assured, is impartial and loyal, such as your conscience has dictated +to you. Only there are some heart-breaking calumnies spread about me to +which I have not answered, and which have perhaps influenced the opinion +of the committee. It is on this subject that I wish to speak to you. I +know the confidence with which you are honoured by your colleagues, M. +Le Merquier, and that, when I shall have convinced you, your word will +be enough without forcing me to lay bare my distress to them all. You +know the accusation--the most terrible, the most ignoble. There are so +many people who might be deceived by it. My enemies have given names, +dates, addresses. Well, I bring you the proofs of my innocence. I lay +them bare before you--you only--for I have grave reasons for keeping the +whole affair secret." + +Then he showed the lawyer a certificate from the Consulate of Tunis, +that during twenty years he had only left the principality twice--the +first time to see his dying father at Bourg-Saint Andeol; the second, +to make, with the Bey, a visit of three days to his chateau of +Saint-Romans. + +"How comes it, then, that with a document so conclusive in my hands +I have not brought my accusers before the courts to contradict and +confound them? Alas, monsieur, there are cruel responsibilities in +families. I have a brother, a poor fellow, weak and spoiled, who has for +long wallowed in the mud of Paris, who has left there his intelligence +and his honour. Has he descended to that degree of baseness which I, in +his name, am accused of? I have not dared to find out. All I can say +is, that my poor father, who knew more than any one in the family of +it, whispered to me in dying, 'Bernard, it is your elder brother who has +killed me. I die of shame, my child.'" + +He paused, compelled by his suppressed emotion; then: + +"My father is dead, Maitre Le Merquier, but my mother still lives, and +it is for her sake, for her peace, that I have held back, that I hold +back still, before the scandal of my justification. Up to now, in fact, +the mud thrown at me has not touched her; it only comes from a certain +class, in a special press, a thousand leagues away from the poor woman. +But law courts, a trial--it would be proclaiming our misfortune from +one end of France to the other, the articles of the official paper +reproduced by all the journals, even those of the little district where +my mother lives. The calumny, my defence, her two children covered +with shame by the one stroke, the name--the only pride of the old +peasant--forever disgraced. It would be too much for her. It would be +enough to kill her. And truly, I find it enough, too. That is why I +have had the courage to be silent, to weary, if I could, my enemies by +silence. But I need some one to answer for me in the Chamber. It must +not have the right to expel me for reasons which would dishonour me, and +since it has chosen you as the chairman of the committee, I am come to +tell you everything, as to a confessor, to a priest, begging you not to +divulge anything of this conversation, even in the interests of my case. +I only ask you, my dear colleague, absolute silence; for the rest, I +rely on your justice and your loyalty." + +He rose, ready to go, and Le Merquier did not move, still asking the +green curtain in front of him, as if seeking inspiration for his answer +there. At last he said: + +"It shall be as you desire, my dear colleague. This confidence shall +remain between us. You have told me nothing, I have heard nothing." + +The Nabob, still heated with his burst of confidence, which demanded, +it seemed to him, a cordial response, a pressure of the hand, was seized +with a strange uneasiness. This coolness, this absent look, so unnerved +him that he was at the door with the awkward bow of one who feels +himself importunate, when the other stopped him. + +"Wait, then, my dear colleague. What a hurry you are in to leave me! A +few moments, I beg of you. I am too happy to have a chat with a man like +you. Besides, we have more than one common bond. Our friend Hemerlingue +has told me that you, too, are much interested in pictures." + +Jansoulet trembled. The two words--"Hemerlingue," "pictures"--meeting +in the same phrase so unexpectedly, restored all his doubts, all his +perplexities. He did not give himself away yet, however, and let Le +Merquier advance, word by word, testing the ground for his stumbling +advances. People had told him often of the collection of his honourable +colleague. "Would it be indiscreet to ask the favour of being admitted, +to--" + +"On the contrary, I should feel much honoured," said the Nabob, tickled +in the most sensible--since the most costly--point of his vanity; and +looking round him at the walls of the room, he added with the tone of a +connoisseur, "You have some fine things, too." + +"Oh," said the other modestly, "just a few canvases. Painting is so dear +now, it is a taste so difficult to satisfy, a true passion _de luxe_--a +passion for a Nabob," said he, smiling, with a furtive look over his +glasses. + +They were two prudent players, face to face; but Jansoulet was a little +astray in this new situation, where he who only knew how to be bold, had +to be on his guard. + +"When I think," murmured the lawyer, "that I have been ten years +covering these walls, and that I have still this panel to fill." + +In fact, at the most conspicuous place on the wall there was an empty +place, emptied rather, for a great gold-headed nail near the ceiling +showed the visible, almost clumsy, trace of a snare laid for the poor +simpleton, who let himself be taken in it so foolishly. + +"My dear M. Le Merquier," said he with his engaging, good-natured voice, +"I have a Virgin of Tintoretto's just the size of your panel." + +Impossible to read anything in the eyes of the lawyer, this time hidden +under their overhanging brows. + +"Permit me to hang it there, opposite your table. That will help you to +think sometimes of me." + +"And to soften the severities of my report, too, sir?" cried Le +Merquier, formidable and upright, his hand on the bell. "I have seen +many shameless things in my life, but never anything like this. Such +offers to me, in my own house!" + +"But, my dear colleague, I swear to you----" + +"Show him out," said the lawyer to the hang-dog servant who had just +entered; and from the middle of his office, whose door remained open, +before all the waiting-room, where the paternosters were silent, he +pursued Jansoulet--who slunk off murmuring excuses to the door--with +these terrible words: + +"You have outraged the honour of the Chamber in my person, sir. Our +colleagues shall be informed of it this very day; and, this crime coming +after your others, you will learn to your cost that Paris is not the +East, and that here we do not make shameless traffic of the human +conscience." + +Then, after having chased the seller from the temple, the just man +closed his door, and approaching the mysterious green curtain, said in a +tone that sounded soft amidst his pretended anger: + +"Is that what you wanted, Baroness Marie?" + + + + +THE SITTING + +That morning there were no guests to lunch at 32 Place Vendome, so +that towards one o'clock might have been seen the majestic form of M. +Barreau, gleaming white at the gate, among four or five of his scullions +in their cook's caps, and as many stable-boys in Scotch caps--an +imposing group, which gave to the house the aspect of an hotel where the +staff was taking the air between the arrivals of the trains. To complete +the resemblance, a cab drew up before the door and the driver took down +an old leather trunk, while a tall old woman, her upright figure wrapped +in a little green shawl, jumped lightly to the footpath, a basket on +her arm, looked at the number with great attention, then approached the +servants to ask if it was there that M. Bernard Jansoulet lived. + +"It is here," was the answer; "but he is not in." + +"That does not matter," said the old lady simply. + +She returned to the driver, who put her trunk in the porch, and paid +him, returning her purse to her pocket at once with a gesture that said +much for the caution of the provincial. + +Since Jansoulet had been deputy for Corsica, the domestics had seen +so many strange and exotic figures at his house, that they were not +surprised at this sunburnt woman, with eyes glowing like coals, a +true Corsican under her severe coif, but different from the ordinary +provincial in the ease and tranquility of her manners. + +"What, the master is not here?" said she, with an intonation which +seemed better fitted for farm people in her part of the country, than +for the insolent servants of a great Parisian mansion. + +"No, the master is not here." + +"And the children?" + +"They are at lessons. You cannot see them." + +"And madame?" + +"She is asleep. No one sees her before three o'clock." + +It seemed to astonish the good woman a little that any one could stay +in bed so late; but the tact which guides a refined nature, even without +education, prevented her from saying anything before the servants, and +she asked for Paul de Gery. + +"He is abroad." + +"Bompain Jean-Baptiste, then." + +"He is with monsieur at the sitting." + +Her great gray eyebrows wrinkled. + +"It does not matter; take up my trunk just the same." + +And with a little malicious twinkle of her eye, a proud revenge for +their insolent looks, she added: "I am his mother." + +The scullions and stable-boys drew back respectfully. M. Barreau raised +his cap: + +"I thought I had seen madame somewhere." + +"And I too, my lad," answered Mme. Jansoulet, who shivered still at the +remembrance of the Bey's _fete_. + +"My lad," to M. Barreau, to a man of his importance! It raised her at +once to a very high place in the esteem of the others. + +Well! grandeur and splendour hardly dazzled this courageous old lady. +She did not go into ecstasies over gilding and petty baubles, and as she +walked up the grand staircase behind her trunk, the baskets of flowers +on the landings, the lamps held by bronze statues, did not prevent her +from noticing that there was an inch of dust on the balustrade, and +holes in the carpet. She was taken to the rooms on the second floor +belonging to the Levantine and her children; and there, in an apartment +used as a linen-room, which seemed to be near the school-room (to judge +by the murmur of children's voices), she waited alone, her basket on +her knees, for the return of her Bernard, perhaps the waking of her +daughter-in-law, or the great joy of embracing her grandchildren. What +she saw around her gave her an idea of the disorder of this house +left to the care of the servants, without the oversight and foreseeing +activity of a mistress. The linen was heaped in disorder, piles on +piles in great wide-open cupboards, fine linen sheets and table-cloths +crumpled up, the locks prevented from shutting by pieces of torn lace, +which no one took the trouble to mend. And yet there were many servants +about--negresses in yellow Madras muslin, who came to snatch here +a towel, there a table-cloth, walking among the scattered domestic +treasures, dragging with their great flat feet frills of fine lace +from a petticoat which some lady's-maid had thrown down--thimble here, +scissors there--ready to pick up again in a few minutes. + +Jansoulet's mother was doubly wounded. The half-rustic artisan in her +was outraged in the tenderness, the respect, the sweet unreasonableness +the woman of the provinces feels towards a full linen cupboard--a +cupboard filled piece by piece, full of relics of past struggles, whose +contents grow finer little by little, the first token of comfort, of +wealth, in the house. Besides, she had held the distaff from morning +till night, and if the housewife in her was angry, the spinner could +have wept at the profanation. At last, unable to contain herself longer, +she rose, and actively, her little shawl displaced at each movement, she +set herself to pick up, straighten, and carefully fold this magnificent +linen, as she used to do in the fields of Saint-Romans, when she gave +herself the treat of a grand washing-day, with twenty washerwomen, the +clothes-baskets flowing over with floating whiteness, and the sheets +flapping in the morning wind on the clothes-lines. She was in the midst +of this occupation, forgetting her journey, forgetting Paris, even +the place where she was, when a stout, thick-set, bearded man, with +varnished boots and a velvet jacket, over the torso of a bull, came into +the linen-room. + +"What! Cabassu!" + +"You here, Mme. Francoise! What a surprise!" said the _masseur_, staring +like a bronze figure. + +"Yes, my brave Cabassu, it is I. I have just arrived; and as you see, I +am at work already. It made my heart bleed to see all this muddle." + +"You came up for the sitting, then?" + +"What sitting?" + +"Why, the grand sitting of the legislative body. It's do-day." + +"Dear me, no. What has that got to do with me? I should understand +nothing at all about it. No, I came because I wanted to know my little +Jansoulets, and then, I was beginning to feel uneasy. I have written +several times without getting an answer. I was afraid that there was a +child sick, that Bernard's business was going wrong--all sorts of ideas. +At last I got seriously worried, and came away at once. They are well +here, they tell me." + +"Yes, Mme. Francoise. Thank God, every one is quite well." + +"And Bernard. His business--is that going on as he wants it to?" + +"Well, you know one has always one's little worries in life--still, +I don't think he should complain. But, now I think of it, you must be +hungry. I will go and make them bring you something." + +He was going to ring, more at home and at ease than the old mother +herself. She stopped him. + +"No, no, I don't want anything. I have still something left in my +basket." And she put two figs and a crust of bread on the edge of the +table. Then, while she was eating: "And you, lad, your business? You +look very much sprucer than you did the last time you were at Bourg. How +smart you are! What do you do in the house?" + +"Professor of massage," said Aristide gravely. + +"Professor--you?" said she with respectful astonishment; but she did +not dare ask him what he taught, and Cabassu, who felt such questions a +little embarrassing, hastened to change the subject. + +"Shall I go and find the children? Haven't they told them that their +grandmother is here?" + +"I didn't want to disturb them at their work. But I believe it must be +over now--listen!" + +Behind the door they could hear the shuffling impatience of the children +anxious to be out in the open air, and the old woman enjoyed this state +of things, doubling her maternal desire, and hindering her from doing +anything to hasten its pleasure. At last the door opened. The tutor came +out first--a priest with a pointed nose and great cheek-bones, whom we +have met before at the great _dejeuners_. On bad terms with his bishop, +he had left the diocese where he had been engaged, and in the precarious +position of an unattached priest--for the clergy have their Bohemians +too--he was glad to teach the little Jansoulets, recently turned out of +the Bourdaloue College. With his arrogant, solemn air, overweighted with +responsibilities, which would have become the prelates charged with the +education of the dauphins of France, he preceded three curled and gloved +little gentlemen in short jackets, with leather knapsacks, and great red +stockings reaching half-way up their little thin legs, in complete suits +of cyclist dress, ready to mount. + +"My children," said Cabassu, "that is Mme. Jansoulet, your grandmother, +who has come to Paris expressly to see you." + +They stopped in a row, astonished, examining this old wrinkled visage +between the folds of her cap, this strange dress of a simplicity +unknown to them; and their grandmother's astonishment answered theirs, +complicated with a heart-breaking discomfiture and constraint in dealing +with these little gentlemen, as stiff and disdainful as any of the +nobles or ministers whom her son had brought to Saint-Romans. On the +bidding of their tutor "to salute their venerable grandmother," they +came in turn to give her one of those little half-hearted shakes of +the hand of which they had distributed so many in the garrets they +had visited. The fact is that this good woman, with her agricultural +appearance and clean but very simple clothes, reminded them of the +charity visits of the College Bourdaloue. They felt between them the +same unknown quality, the same distance, which no remembrance, no +word of their parents had ever helped to bridge. The abbe felt this +constraint, and tried to dispel it--speaking with the tone of voice and +gestures customary to those who always think they are in the pulpit. + +"Well, madame, the day has come, the great day when Jansoulet will +confound his enemies--_confundantur hostes mei, quia injuste iniquitatem +fecerunt in me_--because they have unjustly persecuted me." + +The old lady bent religiously before the Latin of the Church, but her +face expressed a vague expression of uneasiness at this idea of enemies +and of persecutions. + +"These enemies are powerful and numerous, my noble lady, but let us +not be alarmed beyond measure. Let us have confidence in the decrees of +Heaven and in the justice of our cause. God is in the midst of it, it +shall not be overthrown--_in medio ejus non commovebitur_." + +A gigantic negro, resplendent with gold braid, interrupted him by +announcing that the bicycles were ready for the daily lesson on the +terrace of the Tuileries. Before setting out, the children again +shook solemnly their grandmother's wrinkled and hardened hand. She +was watching them go, stupefied and oppressed, when all at once, by an +adorable spontaneous movement, the youngest turned back when he had got +to the door and, pushing the great negro aside, came to throw himself +head foremost, like a little buffalo, into Mme. Jansoulet's skirts, +squeezing her to him, while holding out his smooth forehead, covered +with brown curls, with the grace of a child offering its kiss like a +flower. Perhaps this one, nearer the warmth of the nest, the cradling +knees of the nurses with their peasant songs, had felt the maternal +influence, of which the Levantine had deprived him, reach his heart. +The old woman trembled all over with the surprise of this instinctive +embrace. + +"Oh! little one, little one," said she, seizing the little silky, curly +head which reminded her so much of another and she kissed it wildly. +Then the child unloosed himself, and ran off without saying anything, +his head moist with hot tears. + +Left alone with Cabassu, the mother, comforted by this embrace, asked +some explanation of the priest's words. Had her son many enemies? + +"Oh!" said Cabassu, "it is not astonishing, in his position." + +"But what is this great day--this sitting of which you all speak?" + +"Well, then, it is to-day that we shall know whether Bernard will be +deputy or no." + +"What? He is not one now, then? And I have told them everywhere in the +country. I illuminated Saint-Romans a month ago. Then they have made me +tell a lie." + +The _masseur_ had a great deal of trouble in explaining to her the +parliamentary formalities of the verification of elections. She only +listened with one ear, walking up and down the linen-room feverishly. + +"That's where my Bernard is now, then?" + +"Yes, madame." + +"And can women go to the Chamber? Then why is his wife not there? For +one does not need telling that it is an important matter for him. On a +day like this he needs to feel all those whom he loves at his side. See, +my lad, you must take me there, to this sitting. Is it far?" + +"No, quite near. Only, it must have begun already. And then," added he, +a little disconcerted, "it is the hour when madame wants me." + +"Ah! Do you teach her this thing you are professor of? What do you call +it?" + +"Massage. We have learned it from the ancients. Yes, there she is +ringing for me, and some one will come to fetch me. Shall I tell her you +are here?" + +"No, no; I prefer to go there at once." + +"But you have no admission ticket." + +"Bah! I will tell them I am Jansoulet's mother, come to hear him +judged." Poor mother, she spoke truer than she knew. + +"Wait, Mme. Francoise. I will give you some one to show you the way, at +least." + +"Oh, you know, I have never been able to put up with servants. I have a +tongue. There are people in the streets. I shall find my way." + +He made a last attempt, without letting her see all his thought. "Take +care; his enemies are going to speak against him in the Chamber. You +will hear things to hurt you." + +Oh, the beautiful smile of belief and maternal pride with which she +answered: "Don't I know better than them all what my child is worth? +Could anything make me mistaken in him? I should have to be very +ungrateful then. Get along with you!" + +And shaking her head with its flapping cap wings, she set off fiercely +indignant. + +With head erect and upright bearing the old woman strode along under the +great arcades which they had told her to follow, a little troubled by +the incessant noise of the carriages, and by the idleness of this walk, +unaccompanied by the faithful distaff which had never quitted her +for fifty years. All these ideas of enmities and persecutions, the +mysterious words of the priest, the guarded talk of Cabassu, frightened +and agitated her. She found in them the meaning of the presentiments +which had so overpowered her as to snatch her from her habits, her +duties, the care of the house and of her invalid. Besides, since Fortune +had thrown on her and her son this golden mantle with its heavy folds, +Mme. Jansoulet had never become accustomed to it, and was always waiting +for the sudden disappearance of these splendours. Who knows if the +break-up was not going to begin this time? And suddenly, through these +sombre thoughts, the remembrance of the scene that had just passed, +of the little one rubbing himself on her woollen gown, brought on her +wrinkled lips a tender smile, and she murmured in her peasant tongue: + +"Oh, for the little one, at any rate." + + +She crossed a magnificent square, immense, dazzling, two fountains +throwing up their water in a silvery spray, then a great stone bridge, +and at the end was a square building with statues on its front, a +railing with carriages drawn up before it, people going on, numbers of +policemen. It was there. She pushed through the crowd bravely and came +up to the high glass doors. + +"Your card, my good woman?" + +The "good woman" had no card, but she said quite simply to one of the +porters in red who were keeping the door: + +"I am Bernard Jansoulet's mother. I have come for the sitting of my +boy." + +It was indeed the sitting of her boy; for everywhere in this crowd +besieging the doors, filling the passages, the hall, the tribune, the +whole palace, the same name was repeated, accompanied with smiles and +anecdotes. A great scandal was expected, terrible revelations from the +chairman, which would no doubt lead to some violence from the barbarian +brought to bay, and they hurried to the spot as to a first night or a +celebrated trial. The old mother would hardly have been heard in the +middle of this crowd, if the stream of gold left by the Nabob wherever +he had passed, marking his royal progress, had not opened all the roads +to her. She went behind the attendant in this tangle of passages, +of folding-doors, of empty resounding halls, filled with a hum which +circulated with the air of the building, as if the walls, themselves +soaked with babble, were joining to the sound of all these voices the +echoes of the past. While crossing a corridor she saw a little dark man +gesticulating and crying to the servants: + +"You will tell Moussiou Jansoulet that it is I, that I am the Mayor of +Sarlazaccio, that I have been condemned to five months' imprisonment for +him. In God's name, surely that is worth a card for the sitting." + +Five months' imprisonment for her son! Why? Very much disturbed, she +arrived at last, her ears singing, at the top of the staircase, where +different inscriptions--"Tribune of the Senate, of the Diplomatic Body, +of the Deputies"--stood above little doors like boxes in a theatre. She +entered, and without seeing anything at first except four or five rows +of seats filled with people, and opposite, very far off, separated from +her by a vast clear space, other galleries similarly filled. She leaned +up against the wall, astonished to be there, exhausted, almost ashamed. +A current of hot air which came to her face, a chatter of rising voices, +drew her towards the slope of the gallery, towards the kind of gulf open +in the middle where her son must be. Oh! how she would like to see him. +So squeezing herself in, and using her elbows, pointed and hard as her +spindle, she glided and slipped between the wall and the seats, taking +no notice of the anger she aroused or the contempt of the well-dressed +women whose lace and fresh toilettes she crushed; for the assembly +was elegant and fashionable. Mme. Jansoulet recognised, by his stiff +shirt-front and aristocratic nose, the marquis who had visited them at +Saint-Romans, who so well suited his name, but he did not look at her. +She was stopped farther progress by the back of a man sitting down, +an enormous back which barred everything and forbade her go farther. +Happily, she could see nearly all the hall from here by leaning forward +a little; and these semi-circular benches filled with deputies, the +green hanging of the walls, the chair at the end, occupied by a bald man +with a severe air, gave her the idea, under the studious and gray light +from the roof, of a class about to begin, with all the chatter and +movement of thoughtless schoolboys. + +One thing struck her--the way in which all looks turned to one side, +to the same point of attraction; and as she followed this current +of curiosity which carried away the entire assembly, hall as well as +galleries, she saw that what they were all looking at--was her son. + +In the Jansoulet's country there is still, in some old churches, at the +end of the choir, half-way up the crypt, a stone cell where lepers were +admitted to hear mass, showing their dark profiles to the curious and +fearful crowd, like wild beasts crouched against the loopholes in the +wall. Francoise well remembered having seen in the village where she had +been brought up the leper, the bugbear of her infancy, hearing mass from +his stone cage, lost in the shade and in isolation. Now, seeing her son +seated, his head in his hands, alone, up there away from the others, +this memory came to her mind. "One might think it was a leper," murmured +the peasant. And, in fact, this poor Nabob was a leper, his millions +from the East weighing on him like some terrible and mysterious disease. +It happened that the bench on which he had chosen to sit had several +recent vacancies on account of holidays or deaths; so that while the +other deputies were talking to each other, laughing, making signs, +he sat silent, alone, the object of attention to all the Chamber; an +attention which his mother felt to be malevolent, ironic, which burned +into her heart. How was she to let him know that she was there, near +him, that one faithful heart beat not far from his? He would not turn to +the gallery. One would have said that he felt it hostile, that he feared +to look there. Suddenly, at the sound of the bell from the presidential +platform, a rustle ran through the assembly, every head leaned forward +with that fixed attention which makes the features unmovable, and a thin +man in spectacles, whose sudden rise among so many seated figures gave +him the authority of attitude at once, said, opening the paper he held +in his hand: + +"Gentlemen, in the name of your third committee, I beg to move that +the election of the second division of the department of Corsica be +annulled." + +In the deep silence following this phrase, which Mme. Jansoulet did not +understand, the giant seated before her began to puff vigorously, and +all at once, in the front row of the gallery, a lovely face turned round +to address him a rapid sign of intelligence and approval. Forehead pale, +lips thin, eyebrows too black for the white framing of her hat, it all +produced in the eyes of the good old lady, without her knowing why, the +effect of the first flash of lightning in a storm and the apprehension +of the thunderbolt following the lightning. + +Le Merquier was reading his report. The slow, dull monotonous voice, +the drawling, weak Lyonnese accent, while the long form of the lawyer +balanced itself in an almost animal movement of the head and shoulders, +made a singular contrast to the ferocious clearness of the brief. First, +a rapid account of the electoral irregularities. Never had universal +suffrage been treated with such primitive and barbarous contempt. At +Sarlazaccio, where Jansoulet's rival seemed to have a majority, the +ballot-box was destroyed the night before it was counted. The same thing +almost happened at Levia, at Saint-Andre, at Avabessa. And it was the +mayors themselves who committed these crimes, who carried the urns home +with them, broke the seals, tore up the voting papers, under cover +of their municipal authority. There had been no respect for the law. +Everywhere fraud, intrigue, even violence. At Calcatoggio an armed +man sat during the election at the window of a tavern in front of +the _mairie_, holding a blunderbuss, and whenever one of Sebastiani's +electors (Sebastiani was Jansoulet's opponent) showed himself, the man +took aim: "If you come in, I will blow out your brains." And when +one saw the inspectors of police, justices, inspectors of weights and +measures, not afraid to turn into canvassing agents, to frighten or +cajole a population too submissive before all these little tyrannical +local influences, was that not proof of a terrible state of things? Even +priests, saintly pastors, led astray by their zeal for the poor-box and +the restoration of an impoverished building, had preached a mission in +favour of Jansoulet's election. But an influence still more powerful, +though less respectable, had been called into play for the good +cause--the influence of the banditti. "Yes, banditti, gentlemen; I am +not joking." And then came a sketch in outline of Corsican banditti in +general, and of the Piedigriggio family in particular. + +The Chamber listened attentively, with a certain uneasiness. For, after +all, it was an official candidate whose doings were thus described, and +these strange doings belonged to that privileged land, cradle of the +imperial family, so closely attached to the fortunes of the dynasty, +that an attack on Corsica seemed to strike at the sovereign. But when +people saw the new minister, successor and enemy of Mora, glad of the +blow to a _protege_ of his predecessor, smile complacently from +the Government bench at Le Merquier's cruel banter, all constraint +disappeared at once, and the ministerial smile repeated on three hundred +mouths, grew into a scarcely restrained laugh--the laugh of crowds under +the rod which bursts out at the least approbation of the master. In the +galleries, not usually treated to the picturesque, but amused by these +stories of brigands, there was general joy, a radiant animation on all +these faces, pleased to look pretty without insulting the solemnity of +the spot. Little bright bonnets shook with all their flowers and plumes, +round gold-encircled arms leaned forward the better to hear. The grave +Le Merquier had imported into the sitting the distraction of a show, +the little spice of humour allowed in a charity concert to bribe the +uninitiated. + +Impassable and cold in the midst of his success, he continued to read in +his gloomy voice, penetrating like the rain of Lyons: + +"Now, gentlemen, one asks how a stranger, a Provencial returned from the +East, ignorant of the interests and needs of this island where he had +never been seen before the election, a true type of what the Corsican +disdainfully calls a 'continental'--how has this man been able to excite +such an enthusiasm, such devotion carried to crime, to profanity. +His wealth will answer us, his fatal gold thrown in the face of the +electors, thrust by force into their pockets with a barefaced cynicism +of which we have a thousand proofs." Then the interminable series of +denunciations: "I, the undersigned, Croce (Antoine), declare in the +interests of truth, that the Commissary of Police Nardi, calling on us +one evening, said: 'Listen, Croce (Antoine), I swear by the fire of this +lamp that if you vote for Jansoulet you will have fifty francs +to-morrow morning.'" And this other: "I, the undersigned, Lavezzi +(Jacques-Alphonse), declare that I refused with contempt seventeen +francs offered me by the Mayor of Pozzonegro to vote against my +cousin Sebastiani." It is probably that for three francs more Lavezzi +(Jacques-Alphonse) would have swallowed his contempt in silence. But the +Chamber did not look into things so closely. + +Indignation seized on this incorruptible Chamber. It murmured, it +fidgeted on its padded seats of red velvet, it raised a positive +clamour. There were "Oh's" of amazement, eyes lifted in astonishment, +brusque movements on the benches, as if in disgust at this spectacle of +human degradation. And remark that the greater part of these deputies +had used the same electoral methods, that these were the heroes of those +famous orgies when whole oxen were carried in triumph, ribanded and +decorated as at Gargantuan feasts. Just these men cried louder than +others, turned furiously towards the solitary seat where the poor leper +listened, still and downcast. Yet in the midst of the general uproar, +one voice was raised in his favour, but low, unpractised, less a voice +than a sympathetic murmur, through which was distinguished +vaguely: "Great services to the Corsican population--Considerable +works--Territorial Bank." + +He who mumbled thus was a little man in white gaiters, an albino +head, and thin hair in scattered locks. But the interruption of this +unfortunate friend only furnished Le Merquier with a rapid and natural +transition. A hideous smile parted his flabby lips. "The honourable M. +Sarigue mentions the Territorial Bank. We shall be able to answer him." +He seemed in fact to be very familiar with the Paganetti den. In a +few neat and lively phrases he threw the light on to the depths of the +gloomy cave, showed all the traps, the gulfs, the windings, the snares, +like a guide waving his torch above the _oubliettes_ of some sinister +dungeon. He spoke of the fictitious quarries, of the railways on paper, +of the chimeric liners disappearing in their own steam. The frightful +desert of the Taverna was not forgotten, nor the old Genoese castle, the +office of the steamship agency. But what amused the Chamber most was the +story of a swindling ceremony organized by the governor for the piercing +of a tunnel through Monte Rotondo, a gigantic undertaking always in +project, put off from year to year, demanding millions of money and +thousands of workmen, and which was begun in great pomp a week before +the election. His report gave the thing a comic air--the first blow of +the pickaxe given by the candidate in the enormous mountain covered by +ancient forests, the speech of the Prefect, the benediction of the flags +with the cries of "Long live Bernard Jansoulet!" and the two hundred +workmen beginning the task at once, working day and night for a week; +then, when the election was over, leaving the fragments of rock heaped +round the abandoned excavation for a laughing-stock--another asylum +for the terrible banditti. The game was over. After having extorted the +shareholders' money for so long, the Territorial Bank this time was +used as a means to swindle the electors of their votes. "Furthermore, +gentlemen, another detail, with which perhaps I should have begun and +spared you the recital of this electoral pasquinade. I learn that a +judicial inquiry has been opened to-day into the affairs of the Corsican +Bank, and that a serious examination of its books will very probably +reveal one of those financial scandals--too frequent, alas! in our +days--and in which, for the honour of the Chamber, we would wish that +none of our members were concerned." + +With this sudden revelation, the speaker stopped a moment, like an actor +making his point; and in the heavy silence weighing on the assembly, the +noise of a closing door was heard. It was the Governor Paganetti leaving +the tribune, his face white, the eyes wide open, his mouth half opened, +like some Pierrot scenting in the air a formidable blow. Monpavon, +motionless, expanded his shirtfront. The big man puffed violently into +the flowers of his wife's little white hat. + +Jansoulet's mother looked at her son. + +"I have spoken of the honour of the Chamber, gentlemen. On that point +I have more to say." Now Le Merquier was reading no longer. After the +chairman of the committees, the orator came on the scene, or rather +the judge. His face was expressionless, his eyes hidden; nothing lived, +nothing moved in all his body save the right arm--the long angular arm +with short sleeves--which rose and fell automatically, like a sword of +justice, making at the end of each sentence the cruel and inexorable +gesture of beheading. And truly it was an execution at which they were +present. The orator would leave on one side scandalous legends, the +mystery which brooded over this colossal fortune acquired in distant +lands, far from all control. But there were in the life of the candidate +certain points difficult to clear up, certain details. He hesitated, +seemed to select his words; then, before the impossibility of +formulating a direct accusation: "Do not let us lower the debate, +gentlemen. You have understood me. You know to what infamous stories I +allude--to what calumnies, I wish I could say; but truth forces me to +state that when M. Jansoulet called before your committee, was asked to +deny the accusations made against him, his explanations were so vague +that, though convinced of his innocence, a scrupulous regard for your +honour forced us to reject a candidature so besmirched. No, this man +must not sit among you. Besides, what would he do there? Living so long +in the East, he has unlearned the laws, the manners, and the usages of +his country. He believes in rough and ready justice, in fights in the +open street; he relies on the abuses of power, and worse still, on +the venality and crouching baseness of all men. He is the merchant who +thinks that everything can be bought at a price--even the votes of the +electors, even the conscience of his colleagues." + +One should have seen with what naive admiration these fat deputies, +enervated with good fortune, listened to this ascetic, this man +of another age, like some Saint-Jerome who had left his Thebaid to +overwhelm with his vigorous eloquence, in a full assembly of the +Roman Empire, the shameless luxury of the prevaricators and of the +_concussionaires_. How well they understood now this grand surname of +"My conscience" which the courts had given him. In the galleries the +enthusiasm rose higher still. Lovely heads leaned to see him, to drink +in his words. Applause went round, bending the bouquets here and there, +like the wind in a wheat-field. A woman's voice cried with a little +foreign accent, "Bravo! Bravo!" + +And the mother? + +Standing upright, immovable, concentrated in her desire to understand +something of this legal phraseology, of these mysterious allusions, she +was there like deaf-mutes who only understand what is said before them +by the movement of the lips and the expression of the faces. But it was +enough for her to watch her son and Le Merquier to understand what harm +one was doing to the other, what perfidious and poisoned meaning fell +from this long discourse on the unfortunate man whom one might have +believed asleep, except for the trembling of his strong shoulders and +the clinching of his hands in his hair, while hiding his face. Oh, +if she could have said to him: "Don't be afraid, my son. If they all +misconstrue you, your mother loves you. Let us come away together. What +need have we of them?" And for one moment she could believe that what +she was saying to him thus in her heart he had understood by some +mysterious intuition. He had just raised and shaken his grizzled head, +where the childish curve of his lips quivered under a possibility of +tears. But instead of leaving his seat, he spoke from it, his great +hands pounded the wood of the desk. The other had finished, now it was +his time to answer: + +"Gentlemen," said he. + +He stopped at once, frightened by the sound of his voice, hoarse, +frightfully low and vulgar, which he heard for the first time in public. +He must find the words for his defence, tormented as he was by the +twitchings of his face, the intonations which he could not express. And +if the anguish of the poor man was touching, the old mother up there, +leaning, gasping, moving her lips nervously as if to help him find +words, reflected the picture of his torture. Though he could not see +her, intentionally turned away from her gallery, as he evidently was, +this maternal inspiration, the ardent magnetism of those black eyes, +ended by giving him life, and suddenly his words and gestures flowed +freely: + +"First of all, gentlemen, I must say that I do not defend the methods of +my election. If you believe that electoral morals have not been always +the same in Corsica, that all the irregularities committed are due to +the corrupting influence of my gold and not to the uncultivated and +passionate temperament of its people, reject me--it will be justice +and I will not murmur. But in this debate other matters have been dealt +with, accusations have been made which involve my personal honour, and +those, and those alone, I wish to answer." His voice was growing firmer, +always broken, veiled, but with some soft cadences. He spoke rapidly of +his life, his first steps, his departure for the East. It sounded like +an eighteenth century tale of the Barbary corsairs sailing the Latin +seas, of Beys and of bold Provencals, as sunburned as crickets, who +used to end by marrying some sultana and "taking the turban," in the +old expression of the Marseillais. "As for me," said the Nabob, with his +good-humoured smile. "I had no need of taking the turban to grow rich. I +had only to take into this land of idleness the activity and flexibility +of a southern Frenchman; and in a few years I made one of those fortunes +which can only be made in those hot countries, where everything is +gigantic, prodigious, disproportionate, where flowers grow in a night, +and one tree produces a forest. The excuse of such fortunes is the +manner in which they are used; and I make bold to say that never has any +favourite of fortune tried harder to justify his wealth. I have not +been successful." No! he had not succeeded. From all the gold he had +scattered he had only gathered contempt and hatred. Hatred! Who could +boast more of it than he? like a great ship in the dock when its keel +touches the bottom. He was too rich, and that stood for every vice, +and every crime pointed him out for anonymous vengeances, cruel and +incessant enmities. + +"Ah, gentlemen," cried the poor Nabob, lifting his clinched hands, "I +have known poverty, I have struggled face to face with it, and it is a +dreadful struggle, I swear. But to struggle against wealth, to defend +one's happiness, honour--rest--to have no shelter but piles of gold +which fall and crush you, is something more hideous, more heart-breaking +still. Never, in the darkest days of my distress, have I had the pains, +the anguish, the sleepless nights with which fortune has loaded me--this +horrible fortune which I hate and which stifles me. They call me the +Nabob, in Paris. It is not the Nabob they should say, but the Pariah--a +social pariah holding out wide arms to a society which will have none of +him." + +Written down, the words may appear cold; but there, before the assembly, +the defence of this man was stamped with an eloquent and grandiose +sincerity, which at first, coming from this rustic, this upstart, +without culture or education, with the voice of a boatman, first +astonished and then singularly moved his hearers just on account of +its wild, uncultivated style, foreign to every notion of parliamentary +etiquette. Already marks of favour had agitated members, used to the +flood of gray and monotonous administrative speech. But at this cry +of rage and despair against wealth, uttered by the wretch whom it +was enfolding, rolling, drowning in its floods of gold, while he was +struggling and calling for help from the depths of his Pactolus, the +whole Chamber rose with loud applause, and outstretched hands, as if to +give the unfortunate Nabob more testimonies of esteem, of which he was +so desirous, and at the same time to save him from shipwreck. Jansoulet +felt it; and warmed by this sympathy, he went on, with head erect and +confident look: + +"You have just been told, gentlemen, that I was unworthy of sitting +among you. And he who said it was the last from whom I should have +expected it, for he alone knew the sad secret of my life, he alone could +speak for me, justify me, and convince you. He has not done it. Well, +I will try, whatever it may cost me. Outrageously calumniated before my +country, I owe it to myself and my children this public justification, +and I will make it." + +With a brusque movement he turned towards the tribune where he knew his +enemy was watching him, and suddenly stopped, full of fear. There, +in front of him, behind the pale, malignant head of the baroness, his +mother, his mother whom he believed to be two hundred leagues away +from the terrible storm, was looking at him, leaning against the wall, +bending down her saintly face, flooded with tears, but proud and beaming +nevertheless with her Bernard's great success. For it was really a +success of sincere human emotion, which a few more words would change +into a triumph. Cries of "Go on, go on!" came from all sides of the +Chamber to reassure and encourage him. But Jansoulet did not speak. He +had only to say: "Calumny has wilfully confused two names. I am called +Bernard Jansoulet, the other Jansoulet Louis." Not a word more was +needed. + +But in the presence of his mother, still ignorant of his brother's +dishonour, he could not say it. Respect--family ties forbade it. He +could hear his father's voice: "I die of shame, my child." Would not she +die of shame too, if he spoke? He turned from the maternal smile with a +sublime look of renunciation, then in a low voice, utterly discouraged, +he said: + +"Excuse me, gentlemen; this explanation is beyond my power. Order an +investigation of my whole life, open as it is to all, alas! since any +one can interpret all my actions. I swear to you that you will find +nothing there which unfits me to sit among the representatives of my +country." + +In the face of this defeat, which seemed to everybody the sudden +crumbling of an edifice of effrontery, the astonishment and +disillusionment were immense. There was a moment of excitement on the +benches, the tumult of a vote taken on the spot, which the Nabob saw +vaguely through the glass doors, as the condemned man looks down from +the scaffold on the howling crowd. Then, after that terrible pause which +precedes a supreme moment, the president made, amid deep silence, the +simple pronouncement: + +"The election of M. Bernard Jansoulet is annulled." + +Never had a man's life been cut off with less solemnity or disturbance. + +Up there in her gallery, Jansoulet's mother understood nothing, except +that the seats were emptying near her, that people were rising and going +away. Soon there was no one else there save the fat man and the lady +in the white hat, who leaned over the barrier, watching Bernard with +curiosity, who seemed also to be going away, for he was putting up +great bundles of papers in his portfolio quite calmly. When they were +in order, he rose and left his place. Ah! the life of public men had +sometimes cruel situations. Gravely, slowly, under the gaze of the whole +assembly, he must descend those steps which he had mounted at the cost +of so much trouble and money, to whose feet an inexorable fatality was +precipitating him. + +The Hemerlingues were waiting for this, following to its last stage this +humiliating exit, which crushes the unseated member with some of the +shame and fear of a dismissal. Then, when the Nabob had disappeared, +they looked at each other with a silent laugh, and left the gallery +before the old woman had dared to ask them anything, warned by her +instinct of their secret hostility. Left alone, she gave all her +attention to a new speech, persuaded that her son's affairs were still +in question. They spoke of an election, of a scrutiny, and the poor +mother leaning forward in her red hood, wrinkling her great eyebrows, +would have religiously listened to the whole of the report of the +Sarigue election, if the attendant who had introduced her had not come +to say that it was finished and she had better go away. She seemed very +much surprised. + +"Indeed! Is it over?" said she, rising almost regretfully. + +And quietly, timidly: + +"Has he--has he won?" + +It was innocent, so touching that the attendant did not even dream of +smiling. + +"Unfortunately, no, madame. M. Jansoulet has not won. But why did he +stop in that way? If it is true that he never came to Paris, and that +another Jansoulet did everything they accuse him of, why did he not say +so?" + +The old mother, turning pale, leaned on the balustrade of the staircase. +She had understood. + +Bernard's brusque interruption on seeing her, the sacrifice he had made +to her so simply--that noble glance as of a dying animal, came to her +mind, and the shame of the elder, the favourite child, mingled itself +with Bernard's disaster--a double-edged maternal sorrow, which tore her +whichever way she turned. Yes, yes, it was on her account he would not +speak. But she would not accept such a sacrifice. He must come back at +once and explain himself before the deputies. + +"My son, where is my son?" + +"Below, madame, in his carriage. It was he who sent me to look for you." + +She ran before the attendant, walking quickly, talking aloud, pushing +aside out of her way the little black and bearded men who were +gesticulating in the passages. After the waiting-hall she crossed a +great round antechamber where servants in respectful rows made a living +wainscotting to the high, blank wall. From there she could see through +the glass doors, the outside railing, the crowd in waiting, and among +the other vehicles, the Nabob's carriage waiting. As she passed, the +peasant recognised in one of the groups her enormous neighbour of the +gallery, with the pale man in spectacles who had attacked her son, who +was receiving all sorts of felicitation for his discourse. At the +name of Jansoulet, pronounced among mocking and satisfied sneers, she +stopped. + +"At any rate," said a handsome man with a bad feminine face, "he has not +proved where our accusations were false." + +The old woman, hearing that, wrenched herself through the crowd, and +facing Moessard said: + +"What he did not say I will. I am his mother, and it is my duty to +speak." + +She stopped to seize Le Merquier by the sleeve, who was escaping: + +"Wicked man, you must listen, first of all. What have you got against my +child? Don't you know who he is? Wait a little till I tell you." + +And turning to the journalist: + +"I had two sons, sir." + +Moessard was no longer there. She returned to Le Merquier: "Two sons, +sir." Le Merquier had disappeared. + +"Oh, listen to me, some one, I beg," said the poor mother, throwing her +hands and her voice round her to assemble and retain her hearers; but +all fled, melted away, disappeared--deputies, reporters, unknown and +mocking faces to whom she wished at any cost to tell her story, careless +of the indifference where her sorrows and her joys fell, her pride and +maternal tenderness expressed in a tornado of feeling. And while she was +thus exciting herself and struggling--distracted, her bonnet awry--at +once grotesque and sublime, as are all the children of nature when +brought into civilization, taking to witness the honesty of her son +and the injustice of men, even the liveried servants, whose disdainful +impassibility was more cruel than all, Jansoulet appeared suddenly +beside her. + +"Take my arm, mother. You must not stop there." + +He said it in a tone so firm and calm that all the laughter ceased, and +the old woman, suddenly quieted, sustained by this solid hold, still +trembling a little with anger, left the palace between two respectful +rows. A dignified and rustic couple, the millions of the son gilding the +countrified air of the mother, like the rags of a saint enshrined in a +golden _chasse_--they disappeared in the bright sunlight outside, in the +splendour of their glittering carriage--a ferocious irony in their deep +distress, a striking symbol of the terrible misery of the rich. + +They sat well back, for both feared to be seen, and hardly spoke at +first. But when the vehicle was well on its way, and he had behind +him the sad Calvary where his honour hung gibbeted, Jansoulet, utterly +overcome, laid his head on his mother's shoulder, hid it in the old +green shawl, and there, with the burning tears flowing, all his great +body shaken by sobs, he returned to the cry of his childhood: "Mother." + + + + +DRAMAS OF PARIS + + Que l'heure est donc breve, + Qu'on passe en aimant! + C'est moins qu'un moment, + Un peu plus qu'un reve. + +In the semi-obscurity of a great drawing-room filled with flowers, the +seats of the furniture covered with holland, the chandeliers draped with +muslin, the windows open, and the venetians lowered, Mme. Jenkins is +seated at the piano reading the new song of the fashionable musician; +some melodic phrases accompanying exquisite verse, a melancholy _Lied_, +unequally divided, which seems written for the tender gravities of her +voice and the disturbed state of her soul. + + Le temps nous enleve + Notre enchantement + +sighs the poor woman, moved by the sound of her own voice, and while +the notes float away in the court-yard of the house, where the fountain +falls drop by drop among a bed of rhododendrons, the singer breaks off, +her hands holding the chord, her eyes fixed on the music, but her look +far away. The doctor is absent. The care of his health and business has +exiled him from Paris for some days, and the thoughts of the beautiful +Mme. Jenkins have taken that grave turn, as often happens in solitude, +that analytical tendency which sometimes makes even momentary +separations fatal in the most united households. United they had not +been for sometime. They only saw each other at meal-times, before +the servants, hardly speaking unless he, the man of unctuous manners, +allowed himself to make some disobliging or brutal remark on her son, +or on her age, which she began to show, or on some dress which did not +become her. Always gentle and serene, she stifled her tears, accepted +everything, feigned not to understand; not that she loved him still +after so much cruelty and contempt, but it was the story, as their +coachman Joe told it, "of an old clinger who was determined to make him +marry her." Up to then a terrible obstacle--the life of the legitimate +wife--had prolonged a dishonourable situation. Now that the obstacle +no longer existed she wished to put an end to the situation, because +of Andre, who from one day to another might be forced to despise his +mother, because of the world which they had deceived for ten years--a +world she never entered but with a beating heart, for fear of the +treatment she would receive after a discovery. To her allusions, to +her prayers, Jenkins had answered at first by phrases, grand gestures: +"Could you distrust me? Is not our engagement sacred?" + +He pointed out the difficulty of keeping an act of this importance +secret. Then he shut himself up in a malignant silence, full of cold +anger and violent determinations. The death of the duke, the fall of an +absurd vanity, had struck a final blow at the household; for disaster, +which often brings hearts ready to understand one another nearer, +finishes and completes disunions. And it was indeed a disaster. The +popularity of the Jenkins pearls suddenly stopped, the situation of the +foreign doctor and charlatan, ably defined by Bouchereau in the Journal +of the Academy, and people of fashion looked at each other in fright, +paler from terror than from the arsenic they had imbibed. Already the +Irishman had felt the effect of those counter blasts which make Parisian +infatuations so dangerous. + +It was for that reason, no doubt, that Jenkins had judged it wise to +disappear for some time, leaving madame to continue to frequent the +houses still open to them, to gauge and hold public opinion in respect. +It was a hard task for the poor woman, who found everywhere the cool and +distant welcome which she had received at the Hemerlingues. But she did +not complain; thus earning her marriage, she was putting between them as +a last resource the sad tie of pity and common trials. And as she knew +that she was welcomed in the world on account of her talent, of the +artistic distraction she lent to their private parties, she was always +ready to lay on the piano her fan and long gloves, to play some fragment +of her vast repertory. She worked constantly, passing her afternoons +in turning over new music, choosing by preference sad and complicated +harmonies, the modern music which no longer contents itself with being +an art, but becomes a science, and answers better to our nerves, to our +restlessness, than to sentiment. + +Daylight flooded the room as a maid brought a card to her mistress; +"Heurteux, business agent." + +The gentleman was there, he insisted on seeing madame. + +"You have told him the doctor is travelling?" + +He had been told, but it was to madame he wished to speak. + +"To me?" + +Disturbed, she examined this rough, crumpled card, this unknown name: +"Heurteux." What could it be? + +"Well, show him in." + +Heurteux, business agent, coming from broad daylight into the +semi-obscurity of the room, was blinking with an uncertain air, trying +to see. She, on the other hand, saw very distinctly a stiff figure, with +iron-gray whiskers and protruding jaw, one of those hangers-on of the +law whom one meets round the law courts, born fifty years old, with a +bitter mouth, an envious air, and a morocco portfolio under the arm. He +sat down on the edge of the chair which she pointed out to him, turned +his head to make sure that the servant had gone out, then opened his +portfolio methodically to search for a paper. Seeing that he did not +speak, she began in a tone of impatience: + +"I ought to warn you, sir, that my husband is absent, and that I am not +acquainted with his business." + +Without any astonishment, his hand in his papers, the man answered: +"I know that _M. Jenkins_ is absent, madame"--he emphasized more +particularly the two words "M. Jenkins"--"especially as I come on his +behalf." + +She looked at him frightened. "On his behalf?" + +"Alas! yes, madame. The doctor's situation, as you are no doubt aware, +is one, for the moment, of very great embarrassment. Unfortunate +dealings on the Stock Exchange, the failure of a great financial +enterprise in which his money is invested, the _OEuvre de Bethleem_ +which weighs heavily on him, all these reverses coming at once have +forced him to a grave resolution. He is selling his mansion, his horses, +everything that he possesses, and has given me a power of attorney for +that purpose." + +He had at last found what he was looking for--one of those stamped +folded papers, interlined and riddled with references, where the +impassible law makes itself responsible for so many lies. Mme. Jenkins +was going to say: "But I was here. I would have carried out all his +wishes, all his orders--" when she suddenly understood by the coolness +of her visitor, his easy, almost insolent attitude, that she was +included in this clearing up, in the getting rid of the costly mansion +and useless riches, and that her departure would be the signal for the +sale. + +She rose suddenly. The man, still seated, went on: "What I have still to +say, madame"--oh, she knew it, she could have dictated to him, what he +had still to say--"is so painful, so delicate. M. Jenkins is leaving +Paris for a long time, and in the fear of exposing you to the hazards +and adventures of the new life he is undertaking, of taking you +away from a son you cherish, and in whose interest perhaps you had +better----" + +She heard no more, saw no more, and while he was spinning out his +gossamer phrases, given over to despair, she heard the song over and +over in her mind, as the last image seen pursues a drowning man: + + Le temps nous enleve + Notre enchantement. + +All at once her pride returned. "Let us put a stop to this, sir. All +your turns and phrases are only an additional insult. The fact is that I +am driven out--turned into the street like a servant." + +"Oh, madame, madame! The situation is cruel enough, don't let us make it +worse by hard words. In the evolution of his _modus vivendi_ M. Jenkins +has to separate from you, but he does so with the greatest pain to +himself; and the proposals which I am charged to make are a proof of his +sentiments for you. First, as to furniture and clothes, I am authorized +to let you take--" + +"That will do," said she. She flew to the bell. "I am going out. +Quick--my hat, my mantle, anything, never mind what. I am in a hurry." + +And while they went to fetch her what she wanted she said: + +"Everything here belongs to M. Jenkins. Let him dispose of it as he +likes. I want nothing from him. Don't insist; it is useless." + +The man did not insist. His mission fulfilled, the rest mattered little +to him. + +Steadily, coldly, she arranged her hat carefully before the glass, the +maid fastening her veil, and arranging on her shoulders the folds of her +mantle, then she looked round her and considered for a moment whether +she was forgetting anything precious to her. No, nothing--her son's +letters were in her pocket, she never allowed them to be away from her. + +"Madame does not wish for the carriage?" + +"No." And she left the house. + +It was about five o'clock. At that moment Bernard Jansoulet was crossing +the doorway of the legislative chamber, his mother on his arm; but +poignant as was the drama enacted there, this one surpassed it--more +sudden, unforeseen, and without any stage effects. A drama between four +walls, improvised in Paris day by day. Perhaps it is this which gives +that vibration to the air of the city, that tremor which forces the +nerves into activity. The weather was magnificent. The streets of the +wealthy quarter, large and straight as avenues, shone in the declining +light, embellished with open windows, flowery balconies, and patches +of green seen on the boulevards, light and soft among the narrow, hard +prospects of stone. Mme. Jenkins hurried in this direction, walking +aimlessly, in a dull stupor. What a horrible crash! Five minutes ago +rich, surrounded by all the respect and comfort of easy circumstances. +Now--nothing. Not even a roof to sleep under, not even a name. The +street! + +Where was she to go? What would become of her? + +At first she had thought of her son. But, to acknowledge her fault, to +blush before her own child, to weep while taking from him the right to +console her, was more than she could do. No, there was nothing for her +but death. To die as soon as possible, to escape shame by a complete +disappearance, to unravel in this way an inextricable situation. But +where to die! How? There are so many ways of departure! And she called +them all up mentally while she walked. Life flowed around her, its +luxury at this time of the year in full flower, round the Madeleine +and its market, in a space marked off by the perfume of carnations and +roses. On the wide footpath were well-dressed women whose skirts mingled +their rustle with the trembling of the young leaves; there was some of +the pleasure here of a meeting in a drawing-room, an air of acquaintance +among the passers-by, of smiles and discreet greetings in passing. And +all at once Mme. Jenkins, anxious lest her features might betray her, +fearing what might be thought if any one saw her rushing on so blindly, +slackened her pace to the aimless gait of an afternoon walk, stopping +here and there. The light materials of the dresses spoke of summer, +of the country; a thin skirt for the sandy paths of the parks, +gauze-trimmed hats for the seaside, fans, sunshades. Her fixed eyes +fastened on these trifles without seeing them; but in a vague and pale +reflection in the clear windows she saw her image, lying motionless on +the bed of some hotel, the leaden sleep of a poison in her head; or, +down there, beyond the walls, among the slime of some sunken boat. Which +of the two was better? + +She hesitated, considered, compared; then, her decision made, started +off with the resolved air of a woman tearing herself regretfully +from the temptations of the window. As she moved away, the Marquis de +Monpavon, proud and well-dressed, a flower in his coat, saluted her at +a distance with that sweep of the hat so dear to women's vanity, the +well-bred brow, with the hat lifted high above the erect head. She +answered him with her pretty Parisian's greeting, expressed in an +imperceptible inclination of the body and a smile; and seeing this +exchange of politeness in the midst of the spring gaiety, one would +never think that the same sinister idea was guiding the two, meeting by +chance on the road they were traversing in opposite directions, but to +the same end. + +The prediction of Mora's valet had come true for the marquis: "We +may die or lose power; then there will be a reckoning, and it will be +terrible." It was terrible. The former receiver-general had obtained +with difficulty a delay of a fortnight to make up his deficiencies, +taking the last chance that Jansoulet, with his election confirmed, and +with full control over his millions again, would come to the rescue once +more. The decision of the Assembly had just taken from him this last +hope. As soon as he knew it, he returned to the club calmly, and went +up to his room, where Francis was waiting impatiently for him with +an important paper just arrived. It was a notification to the Sieur +Louis-Marie-Agenor de Monpavon to appear the next day in the office +of the Juge d'Instruction. Was it addressed to the censor of the +Territorial Bank or to the former receiver-general? In any case, the +bold formula of a judicial assignation in the first instance, instead of +a private invitation, spoke sufficiently of the gravity of the situation +and the firm resolution of Justice. + +In view of such an extremity, foreseen and expected for long, he +had made his plans. A Monpavon in the criminal courts!--a Monpavon, +librarian in a convict prison! Never! He put all his affairs in order, +tore up his papers, emptied his pockets carefully, and took something +from his toilet-table, so calmly and naturally, that when he said +to Francis, as he was going out, "Am going to the baths--That dirty +Chamber--Filthy dust"--the servant took him at his word. And the marquis +was not lying. His exciting post up there in the dust of the tribune had +tired him as much as two nights in the train; and his decision to die +associated itself with his desire to take a bath, the old Sybarite +thought of going to sleep in the bath, like what's his name, and other +famous personages of antiquity. And in justice, it must be said that not +one of these Stoics went to his death more quietly than he. + +With a white camellia in his buttonhole, above his rosette of the Legion +of Honour, he was going up the Boulevard des Capucines with a light +step, when the sight of Mme. Jenkins troubled his serenity for a moment. +She had a youthful air, a light in her eyes, something so piquant that +he stopped to look at her. Tall and beautiful, with her long dress of +black gauze, her shoulders wrapped in a lace mantle, her hat trimmed +with a garland of autumn leaves, she disappeared in the midst of other +elegant women in the balmy atmosphere; and the thought that his eyes +were going to close forever on this delightful sight, whose pleasures he +knew so well, saddened Monpavon a little, and took the spring from his +step. But a few paces farther on, a meeting of another kind gave him +back all his courage. + +Some one, threadbare, shamefaced, dazzled by the light, was coming down +the Boulevard. It was old Marestang, former senator, former minister, +so deeply compromised in the affairs of the "Malta Biscuits," that, +in spite of his age, his services, and the great scandal of such a +proceeding, he had been condemned to two years of prison, struck off +the roll of the Legion of Honour, of which he had been one of the +dignitaries. The affair was long ago; the poor wretch had just been let +out of prison before his sentence had expired, lost, ruined, not having +even the means to gild his trouble, for he had had to pay what he owed. +Standing on the curb, he was waiting with bent head till the crowds of +carriages should allow him to pass, embarrassed by this stoppage at the +fullest spot of the boulevards between the passers-by and the sea of +open carriages filled with familiar figures. Monpavon walking near him, +caught his timid, uneasy look, imploring a recognition and hiding from +it at the same time. The idea that one day he could humiliate himself +thus, gave him a shudder of revolt. "Oh! that is not possible!" And +straightening himself up and throwing out his chest, he kept on his way, +firmer and more resolute than before. + +M. de Monpavon walks to his death! He goes there by the long line of +the boulevards, all on fire in the direction of the Madeleine, where +he treads the elastic asphalt once more as a lounger, nose in the air, +hands crossed behind. He has time; there is no hurry; he is master of +the rendezvous. At each instant he smiles before him, waves a greeting +from the ends of his fingers or makes the more formal bow we have +just seen. Everything revives him, charms him, the noise of the +watering-carts, the awnings of the _cafes_, pulled down to the middle +of the foot-paths. The approach of death gives him the feelings of a +convalescent accessible to all the delicacy, the hidden poesy of an +exquisite hour of summer in the midst of Parisian life--of an exquisite +hour--his last, and which he will prolong till night. No doubt it is +for that reason that he passes the sumptuous establishment where he +ordinarily takes his bath. He does not stop either at the Chinese Baths. +He is too well known here. All Paris would know of it the same evening. +There would be a scandal of bad taste, much coarse rumour about his +death in the clubs and drawing-rooms. And the old sensualist, the +well-bred man, wishes to spare himself this shame, to plunge and be +swallowed up in the vague anonymity of suicide, like those soldiers who, +after great battles, neither wounded, dead, or living, are simply +put down as "missing." That is why he has nothing on him which can be +recognised, or furnish a hint to the inquiries of the police, why he +seeks in this immense Paris the distant quarter where will open for him +the terrible but oblivious confusion of the pauper's grave. Already, +since Monpavon has been walking, the aspect of the boulevard +has changed. The crowd has become more compact, more active, and +preoccupied, the houses smaller, marked with signs of commerce. When the +gates of Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin are passed, with their overflow +from the faubourgs, the provincial physiognomy of the town accentuates +itself. The old beau no longer knows any one, and can congratulate +himself on being unknown. + +The shopkeepers looking curiously after him, with his fine linen, his +well-cut coat, and good figure, take him for some famous actor strolling +on the boulevard--witness of his first triumphs--before the play begins. +The wind freshens, the twilight softens the distances, and while the +long road behind him still glitters, it grows darker now at every +step--like the past, with its retrospections to him who looks back and +regrets. It seems to Monpavon that he is walking into blackness. He +shivers a little, but does not falter, and continues to walk with erect +head and chest thrown out. + +M. de Monpavon walks to his death! Now he is entering the complicated +labyrinth of noisy streets, where the clatter of the omnibus mingles +with the thousand humming trades of the working city, where the heat +of the factory chimneys loses itself in the fever of a whole people +struggling against hunger. The air trembles, the gutters steam, the +houses shake at the passing of the wagons, of the heavy drays rumbling +round the narrow streets. On a sudden the marquis stops; he has found +what he wanted. Between the black shop of a charcoal-seller and the +establishment of a packing-case maker, whose pine boards leaning on the +walls give him a little shiver, there is a wide door, surmounted by its +sign, the word BATHS on a dirty lantern. He enters, crosses a little +damp garden where a jet of water weeps in a rockery. Here is the gloomy +corner he was looking for. Who would ever believe that the Marquis de +Monpavon had come there to cut his throat? The house is at the end, low, +with green blinds and a glass door, with a sham air of a villa. He asks +for a bath, and while it is being prepared he smokes his cigar at the +window, with the noise of the water behind him, looks at the flower-bed +of sparse lilac, and the high walls which inclose it. + +At the side there is a great yard, the court-yard of a fire station, +with a gymnasium, whose masts and swings, vaguely seen from below, look +like gibbets. A bugle-call sounds in the yard, and its call takes the +marquis thirty years back, reminds him of his campaigns in Algeria, the +high ramparts of Constantine, the arrival of Mora at the regiment, and +the duels, and the little parties. Ah! how well life began then! What a +pity that those cursed cards--ps--ps--ps--Well, it's something to have +saved appearances. + +"Your bath is ready, sir," said the attendant. + + +At that moment, breathless and pale, Mme. Jenkins was entering Andre's +studio, where an instinct stronger than her will had brought her--the +wish to embrace her child before she died. When she opened the door (he +had given her a key) she was relieved to find that he was not there, and +that she would have time to calm her excitement, increased as it was by +the long walk to which she was so little accustomed. No one was there. +But on the table was the little note which he always left when he went +out, so that his mother, whose visits were becoming shorter and less +frequent on account of the tyranny of Jenkins, could tell where he was, +and wait for him or rejoin him easily. The two had not ceased to love +each other deeply, tenderly, in spite of the cruelty of life which +forced into the relations of mother and son the clandestine precautions +of an intrigue. + +"I am at my rehearsal," said the note to-day, "I shall be back at +seven." + +This attention of the son, whom she had not seen for three weeks, yet +who persisted in expecting her all the same, brought to the mother's +eyes the flood of tears which was suffocating her. She felt as if she +had just entered a new world. This little room was so pure, so quiet, so +elevated. It kept the last rays of the setting sun on its windows, +and seemed, with its bare walls, hewn from a corner of the sky. It was +adorned only with one great portrait, hers, nothing but hers, smiling +in the place of honour, and again, down there, on the table in a gilt +frame. This humble little lodging, so light when all Paris was becoming +dark, made an extraordinary impression on her, in spite of the poverty +of its sparse furniture, scattered in two rooms, its common chintz, and +its chimney garnished with two great bunches of hyacinths--those flowers +which are hawked round the streets in barrowsful. What a good and worthy +life she could have led by the side of her Andre! And in her mind's eye +she had arranged her bed in one corner, her piano in another, she saw +herself giving lessons, and caring for the home to which she was adding +her share of ease and courageous gaiety. How was it that she had not +seen that her duty, the pride of her widowhood, was there? By what +blindness, what unworthy weakness? + +It was a great fault, no doubt, but one for which many excuses might be +found in her easy and tender disposition, and the clever knavery of her +accomplice, always talking of marriage, hiding from her that he himself +was no longer free, and when at last obliged to confess it, painting +such a picture of his dull life, of his despair, of his love, that the +poor creature, so deeply compromised already, and incapable of one +of those heroic efforts which raise the sufferer above the false +situations, had given way at last, had accepted this double existence, +so brilliant and so miserable, built on a lie which had lasted +ten years. Ten years of intoxicating success and unspeakable +unhappiness--ten years of singing, with the fear of exposure between +each verse--where the least remark on irregular unions wounded her like +an allusion--where the expression of her face had softened to the air of +mild humility, of a guilty woman begging for pardon. Then the certainty +that she would be deserted had come to spoil even these borrowed joys, +had tarnished her luxury; and what misery, what sufferings borne in +silence, what incessant humiliations, even to this last, the most +terrible of all! + +While she is thus sadly reviewing her life in the cool of the evening +and the calm of the deserted house, a gust of happy laughter rose from +the rooms beneath; and recalling the confidences of Andre, his last +letter telling the great news, she tried to distinguish among all these +fresh and limpid voices that of her daughter Elise, her son's betrothed, +whom she did not know, whom she would never know. This reflection added +to the misery of her last moments, and loaded them with so much remorse +and regret that, in spite of her will to be brave, she wept. + +Night comes on little by little. Large shadows cover the sloping +windows, where the immense depth of the sky seems to lose its colour, +and to deepen into obscurity. The roofs seem to draw close together for +the night, like soldiers preparing for the attack. The bells count the +hours gravely, while the martins fly round their hidden nests, and the +wind makes its accustomed invasion of the rubbish of the old wood-yard. +To-night it sighs with the sound of the river, a shiver of the fog; it +sighs of the river, to remind the unfortunate woman that it is there +she must go. She shivers beforehand in her lace mantle. Why did she come +here to reawaken her desire for a life impossible after the avowal she +was forced to make? Hasty steps shake the staircase; the door opens +precipitately; it is Andre. He is singing, happy, in a great hurry, for +they are waiting dinner for him below. But, as he is striking the match, +he feels that someone is in the room--a moving shadow among the shadows +at rest. + +"Who is there?" + +Something answers him like a stifled laugh or a sob. He believes that +it is one of his little neighbours, a plot of the children to amuse +themselves. He draws near. Two hands, two arms, seize and surround him. + +"It is I." + +And with a feverish voice, hurrying as if to assure herself, she tells +him that she is setting out on a long journey, and that before going-- + +"A journey! And where are you going?" + +"Oh, I do not know. We are going over there, a long way, on business in +his own part of the world." + +"What! You will not be here for my play? It is in three days. And then, +immediately after, my marriage. Come now, he cannot hinder you from +coming to my marriage?" + +She makes excuses, imagines reasons, but her hands burning between her +son's, and her altered voice, tell Andre that she is not speaking the +truth. He is going to strike a light; she prevents him. + +"No, no; it is useless. We are better without it. Besides, I have so +much to get ready still. I must go away." + +They are both standing up, ready for the separation, but Andre will not +let her go without telling him what is the matter, what tragic care +is hollowing that fair face where the eyes--was it an effect of the +dusk?--shone with a strange light. + +"Nothing; no, nothing, I assure you. Only the idea of not being able to +take part in your happiness, your triumph. At any rate, you know I love +you; you don't mistrust your mother, do you? I have never been a day +without thinking of you: do the same--keep me in your heart. And now +kiss me and let me go quickly. I have waited too long." + +Another minute and she would have the strength for what she had to do. +She darts forward. + +"No, you shall not go. I feel that something extraordinary is happening +in your life which you do not want to tell. You are in some great +trouble, I am sure. This man has done some infamous thing." + +"No, no. Let me go! Let me go!" + +But he held her fast. + +"Tell me, what is it? Tell me." + +Then, whispering in her ear, with a voice tender and low as a kiss: + +"He has left you, hasn't he?" + +The wretched woman shivers, hesitates. + +"Ask me nothing. I will say nothing. Adieu!" + +He pressed her to his heart: + +"What could you tell me that I do not know already, poor mother? You did +not guess, then, why I left six months ago?" + +"You know?" + +"I know everything. And what has happened to you to-day I have foreseen +for long, and hoped for." + +"Oh, wretch, wretch that I am, why did I come?" + +"Because it is your home, because you owe me ten years of my mother. You +see now that I must keep you." + +He said all this on his knees, before the sofa on which she had let +herself fall, in a flood of tears, and the last painful sobs of her +wounded pride. She wept thus for long, her child at her feet. And now +the Joyeuse family, anxious because Andre did not come down, hurried +up in a troop to look for him. It was an invasion of innocent faces, +transparent gaiety, floating curls, modest dress, and over all the +group shone the big lamp, the good old lamp with the vast shade which +M. Joyeuse solemnly carried, as high, as straight as he could, with the +gesture of a caryatid. Suddenly they stopped before this pale and sad +lady, who looked, touched to the depths, at all this smiling grace, +above all at Elise, a little behind the others, whose conscious air in +this indiscreet visit points her out as the _fiancee_. + +"Elise, embrace our mother and thank her. She has come to live with her +children." + +There she is, caught in all these caressing arms, pressed against four +little feminine hearts which have missed the shelter of a mother's love +for so long; there she is introduced, and so gently, into the luminous +circle of the family lamp, widened to allow her to take her place there, +to dry her eyes, to warm and brighten her spirit at this steady flame, +even in this little studio near the roof, where just now the terrible +storm blew so wildly. + + +He who breathes his last over there, lying in his blood-stained bath, +has never known this sacred flame. Egoistical and hard, he has lived up +to the last for show, throwing out his chest in a bubble of vanity. And +this vanity was what was best in him. It alone had held him firm and +upright so long; it alone clinched his teeth on the groans of his +last agony. In the damp garden the water drips sadly. The bugle of the +firemen sounds the curfew. "Go and look at No. 7," says the mistress, +"he will never have done with his bath." The attendant goes, and utters +a cry of fright, of horror: "Oh, madame, he is dead! But it is not the +same man." They go, but nobody can recognise the fine gentleman who +entered a short time ago, in this death's-head puppet, the head leaning +on the edge of the bath, a face where the blood mingles with paint and +powder, all the limbs lying in the supreme lassitude of a part played +to the end--to the death of the actor. Two cuts of the razor across the +magnificent chest, and all the factitious majesty has burst and resolved +itself into this nameless horror, this heap of mud, of blood, of spoiled +and dead flesh, where, unrecognisable, lies the man of appearances, the +Marquis Louis-Marie-Agenor de Monpavon. + + + + +MEMOIRS OF AN OFFICE PORTER THE LAST LEAVES + +I put down in haste and with an agitated pen the terrible events of +which I have been the plaything for the last few days. This time it +is all up with the Territorial and with my ambitious dreams. Disputed +bills, men in possession, visits of the police, all our books in the +hands of the courts, the governor fled, Bois l'Hery, the director, in +prison, another--Monpavon--disappeared. My brain reels in the midst of +these catastrophes. And if I had obeyed the warnings of reason, I should +have been quietly six months ago at Montbars cultivating my vineyard, +with no other care than that of seeing the clusters grow round and +golden in the good Burgundian sun, and to gather from the leaves, after +the dew, the little gray snails, so excellent when they are fried. +I should have built for myself with my savings, at the end of the +vineyard, on the height--I can see the place at this moment--a tower in +rough stone, like M. Chalmette's, so convenient for an afternoon nap, +while the quails are chirping round the place. But always misled by +deceiving illusions, I wished to enrich myself, speculate, meddle in +finance, chain my fortune to the car of the conquerors of the day; and +now here I am back again in the saddest pages of my history, clerk in +a bankrupt establishment, my duty to answer a horde of creditors, of +shareholders drunk with fury, who load my white hairs with the worst +outrages, and would like to make me responsible for the ruin of the +Nabob and the flight of the governor; as if I myself was not as cruelly +struck by the loss of my four years of arrears, and my seven thousand +francs which I had confided to that scoundrel of Paganetti de +Porto-Vecchio. + +But it is my fate to empty the cup of humiliation and degradation to the +dregs. Have I not been made to appear before a Juge d'Instruction--I, +Passajon, former apparitor of the faculty, with thirty years of faithful +service, and the ribbon of Officer of the Academy? Oh! when I saw +myself going up that staircase of the Palace of Justice, so big, so +conspicuous, without a rail to hold by, I felt my head turning and my +legs sinking under me. I was forced to reflect there, crossing these +halls, black with lawyers and judges, studded with great green doors +behind which one heard the imposing noise of the hearings; and up +higher, in the corridor of the Juges d'Instruction, during my hour's +waiting on a bench, where the prison vermin crawled on my legs, while I +listened to a lot of thieves, pickpockets, and loose women talking and +laughing with the gendarmes, and the butts of the rifles echo in the +passages, and the dull roll of prison vans. I understood then the danger +of "combinations," and that it was not always good to ridicule M. Gogo. + +What reassured me, however, was that never having taken any part in the +deliberations of the Territorial, I had no share in their dealings and +intrigues. But explain this to me: Once in the judge's office, before +that man in a velvet cap looking at me across his table with his little +eyes like hooks, I felt so pierced through, searched, turned over to +the very depth of my being, that, in spite of my innocence, I wanted to +confess. Confess what? I don't know. But that is the effect which the +law had. This devil of a man spent five minutes looking at me without +speaking, all the while turning over a book filled with writing not +unknown to me, and suddenly he said, in a mocking and severe tone: + +"Well, M. Passajon, how long is it since the affair of the drayman?" + +The memory of a certain little misdeed, in which I had taken part in my +days of distress, was already so distant that I did not understand at +once; but some words of the judge showed me how completely he knew the +history of our bank. This terrible man knew everything, down to the +least details, the most secret things. Who could have informed him so +thoroughly? + +It was all very short, very dry, and, when I wished to enlighten justice +with some wise observations, a certain insolent fashion of saying, +"Don't make phrases," so much the more wounding at my age and with my +reputation of a good talker; also we were not alone in his office. A +clerk seated near me was writing down my deposition, and behind I heard +the noise of great leaves turning. The judge asked me all sorts of +questions about the Nabob--the time when he had made his payments, the +place where we kept our books; and all at once, addressing himself to +the person whom I could not see: "Show us the cash-book, _M. l'Expert_." + +A little man in a white tie brought the great register to the table. It +was M. Joyeuse, the former cashier of Hemerlingue & Sons. But I had not +time to offer him my respects. + +"Who has done that?" asked the judge, opening the book where a page was +torn out. "Don't lie, now." + +I did not lie; I knew nothing of it, never having had to do with the +books. However, I thought it my duty to mention M. de Gery, the Nabob's +secretary, who often came at night into the office and shut himself up +for hours casting balances. Then little Father Joyeuse turned red with +anger. + +"That is an absurdity, M. le Juge d'Instruction. M. de Gery is the +young man of whom I have spoken to you. He came to the Territorial as a +superintendent, and thought too much of this poor M. Jansoulet to +remove the receipts for his payments; that is the proof of his blind but +thorough honesty. Besides, M. de Gery, who has been detained in Tunis, +is on his way back, and will furnish before long all the explanation +necessary." + +I felt that my zeal was about to compromise me. + +"Take care, Passajon," said the judge. "You are only here as a witness; +but if you attempt to mislead justice, you may return a prisoner" +(he, the monster, had, indeed, the manner of desiring it). "Come now, +consider; who tore out this page?" + +Then I very fortunately remembered that some days before he left Paris +the governor had me made bring the books to his house, where they were +all night. The clerk took a note of my declaration, after which the +judge dismissed me with a sign, warning me to be ready when I was +wanted. Then, on the threshold, he called me back: "Stay, M. Passajon, +take this away. I don't want it any more." + +He held out the papers he had been consulting while he was questioning +me; and judge of my confusion when I saw on the cover the word +"Memoirs," written in my best round-hand. I, myself, had provided +material to Justice--important details which the suddenness of our +catastrophe had prevented me from saving from the police search of our +office. + +My first idea on returning home was to tear up these indiscreet papers; +but on reflection, and after having assured myself that the Memoirs +contained nothing that would compromise me, I have decided to go on with +them, with the certainty of getting some profit out of them one day or +another. There are plenty of novelists at Paris who have no imagination +and can only put true stories in their books, who would be glad to buy +a little book of incidents. That is how I shall avenge myself on this +society of well-to-do swindlers, with which I have been mixed up to my +shame and misfortune. + +Besides, I must occupy my leisure time. There is nothing to do at the +bank, which is completely deserted since the judicial inquiry began, +except to arrange the bills of all colours. I have again undertaken the +writing for the cook on the second floor, Mlle. Seraphine, from whom +I accept in return some little refreshment, which I keep in the +strong-box, once more become a provision safe. The wife of the governor +is also very good to me, and stuffs my pockets each time I go to see her +in her great rooms on the Chaussee d'Antin. There nothing has changed; +the same luxury, the same comfort, also a three-months'-old baby--the +seventh--and a superb nurse, whose Norman cap is the admiration of the +Bois de Boulogne. It seems that once started on the rails of fortune, +people need a certain time to slacken their speed or stop. Besides, this +thief of a Paganetti had, in case of accident, settled everything on his +wife. Perhaps that is why this rag-bag of an Italian woman has such an +unshakable admiration for him. He has fled, he is in hiding; but she +remains convinced that her husband is a little Saint-John of innocence, +the victim of his goodness and credulity. One ought to hear her. "You +know him, you Moussiou Passajon. You know if he is scrupulous. But as +true as there is a God, if my husband had committed such crimes as he is +accused of, I myself--you hear me--I myself would put a blunderbuss in +his hands, and would say to him, 'Here, Tchecco, blow out your brains!'" +and by the way in which she opens the nostrils of her little turned-up +nose, her round eyes, black as jet, one feels that this little Corsican +would have acted as she spoke. He must be very clever, this infernal +governor, to deceive even his wife, to act a part even at home, where +the cleverest let themselves be seen as they really are. + +In the meantime all these rogues have good dinners; even Bois l'Hery +has his meals sent in to the prison from the Cafe Anglais, and poor old +Passajon is reduced to live on scraps picked up in the kitchen. Still +we must not grumble too much. There are others more wretched than we +are--witness M. Francis, who came in this morning to the Territorial, +thin, pale, with dirty linen and frayed cuffs, which he still pulled +down by force of habit. + +I was at the moment grilling some bacon before the fire in the +board-room, my plate laid on the corner of a marqueterie table, with a +newspaper underneath to preserve it. I invited Monpavon's valet to share +my frugal meal; but since he has waited on a marquis he had come to +think that he formed part of the nobility, and he declined with a +dignified air, perfectly ridiculous with his hollow cheeks. He began by +telling me that he still had no news of his master; that they had +sent him away from the club, all the papers under seal, and a horde of +creditors like locusts on the marquis's small wardrobe. "So that I am +a little short," added M. Francis. That is to say, that he had not the +worth of a radish in his pockets, that he had been sleeping for two days +on the benches in the streets, awakened at each instant by the police, +obliged to rise, to pretend to be drunk so as to seek another shelter. +As to eating, I believe he had not done so for a long time, for he +looked at the food with such hungry eyes as to wring one's heart, and +when I insisted on putting before him a slice of bacon and a glass of +wine, he fell on it like a wolf. All at once the blood came back to his +cheeks and, still eating, he began to chatter. + +"You know, _pere_ Passajon," said he to me between two mouthfuls, "I +know where he is. I have seen him." + +He winked his eye knowingly. I looked at him in wonder. "Who is it you +have seen, M. Francis?" + +"The marquis, my master--over there in the little white house behind +Notre-Dame." (He did not use the word morgue, it is too low.) "I was +sure I should find him there. I went there first thing next morning. +There he was. Oh, well disguised, I tell you. Only his valet could +recognise him. The hair gray, the teeth gone, the wrinkles showing his +sixty-five years, which he used to hide so well. On the marble slab, +with the tap running above, I seemed to see him at his dressing-table." + +"And you said nothing?" + +"No. I knew his intentions on the subject for long. I let him go away +discreetly, without awakening attention, as he wished. But, all the +same, he might have given me a crust of bread before he went, after a +service of twenty years." + +And on a sudden, striking the table with his fist with rage: + +"When I think that if I had liked I might have been with Mora, instead +of going to Monpavon, that I might have had Louis's place. What luck he +has had! How many bags of gold he laid his hands on when his duke died! +And the wardrobe--hundreds of shirts, a dressing-gown of blue fox fur +worth more than twenty thousand francs. Like Noel, too, he must have +made his pile! He had to hurry, too, for he knew that it would stop +soon. Now there is nothing to be got in the Place Vendome. An old +policeman of a mother who manages everything. Saint-Romans is to be +sold, the pictures are to be sold, half the house to be let. It is a +real break-up." + +I must confess that I could not help showing my satisfaction, for +this wretched Jansoulet is the cause of all our misfortunes. A man who +boasted of being so rich, who said so everywhere. The public bit at +it like a fish who sees the scales shine through the net. He has lost +millions, I admit, but why did he make us believe he had more? They have +arrested Bois l'Hery; they should have arrested _him_. Ah! if we had had +another expert, I am sure it would have been done. Besides, as I said to +Francis, you had only to look at this upstart of a Jansoulet to see what +he was worth. What a head--like a bandit! + +"And so common," said the ex-valet. + +"No principles." + +"An absolute want of form. Well, there he is on his beam-ends, and then +Jenkins, too, and plenty of others with them." + +"What! the doctor too? Ah! so much the worse. Such a polite and amiable +man." + +"Yes, still another breaking-up of his establishment. Horses, carriages, +furniture. The yard of the house is full of bills, and it sounds as +empty as if some one were dead. The place at Nanterre is on sale. There +were half a dozen of the 'little Bethlehems' left whom they packed up in +a cab. It is a break-up, I tell you, _pere_ Passajon, a ruin which +we, old as we are, may not see the end of, but it will be complete. +Everything is rotten, it must all come down!" + +He was a sinister figure, this old steward of the Empire, thin, stubbly, +covered with mud, and shouting like a Jeremiah, "It is the downfall!" +with a toothless mouth, black and wide open. I felt afraid and ashamed +of him, with a great desire to see him outside, and I thought: "Oh, M. +Chalmette! Oh, my little vineyard of Montbars!" + + +_Same date_.--Great news. Mme. Gaganetti came this afternoon to bring me +mysteriously a letter from the governor. He is in London, going to begin +a magnificent thing. Fine offices in the best part of the town, a superb +list of shareholders. He offers me the chance of joining him, "happy to +repair thus the damage he has caused me," says he. I shall have twice my +wages at the Territorial, be lodged comfortably, five shares in the new +bank, and all my arrears paid. All I need is a little money to go +there and to pay a few small debts round here. Good luck! My fortune +is assured. I shall write to the notary of Montbars to mortgage my +vineyard. + + + + +AT BORDIGHERA + +As M. Joyeuse had told the Juge d'Instruction, Paul de Gery returned +from Tunis after three weeks' absence. Three interminable weeks spent +in struggling among intrigues, and traps secretly laid by the powerful +hatred of the Hemerlingues--in wandering from hall to hall, from +ministry to ministry through the immense palace of the Bardo, which +gathered within one enclosure, bristling with culverins, all the +departments of the State, as much under the master's eye as his stables +and harem. On his arrival, Paul had learned that the Chamber of Justice +was preparing secretly Jansoulet's trial--a derisive trial, lost +beforehand; and the closed offices of the Nabob on the Marine Quay, the +seals on his strong boxes, his ships moored to the Goulette, a guard +round his palace, seemed to speak of a sort of civil death, of a +disputed succession of which the spoils would not long remain to be +shared. + +There was not a defender, nor a friend, in this voracious crowd; the +French colony itself appeared satisfied with the fall of a courtier who +had so long monopolized the roads to favour. To attempt to snatch this +prey from the Bey, excepting by a striking triumph at the Assembly, was +not to be thought of. All that de Gery could hope for was to save some +shreds of his fortune, and this only if he hurried, for he was expecting +day by day to learn of his friend's complete ruin. + +He set himself to work, therefore, hurried on his business with +an activity which nothing could discourage, neither Oriental +discursiveness--that refined fair-spoken politeness, under which is +hidden ferocity--nor coolly indifferent smiles, nor averted looks, +invoking divine fatalism when human lies fail. The self-possession of +this southerner, in whom was condensed, as it were, all the exuberance +of his compatriots, served him as well as his perfect knowledge of +French law, of which the Code of Tunis is only a disfigured copy. + +By his diplomacy and discretion, in spite of the intrigues of +Hemerlingue's son--who was very influential at the Bardo--he succeeded +in withdrawing from confiscation the money lent by the Nabob some +months before, and to snatch ten millions out of fifteen from Mohammed's +rapacity. The very morning of the day on which the money was to be paid +over, he received from Paris the news of the unseating of Jansoulet. He +hurried at once to the Palace to arrive there before the news, and on +his return with the ten millions in bills on Marseilles secure in his +pocket-book, he passed young Hemerlingue's carriage, with his three +mules at full gallop. The thin owl's face was radiant. De Gery +understood that if he remained many hours at Tunis his bills ran the +risk of being confiscated, so took his place at once on an Italian +packet which was sailing next morning for Genoa, passed the night on +board, and was only easy in his mind when he saw far behind him white +Tunis with her gulf and the rocks of Cape Carthage spread out before +her. On entering Genoa, the steamer while making for the quay passed +near a great yacht with the Tunisian flag flying. De Gery felt greatly +excited, and for a moment believed that she had come in pursuit of him, +and that on landing he might be seized by the Italian police like a +common thief. But the yacht was swinging peacefully at anchor, her +sailors cleaning the deck or repainting the red siren of her figurehead, +as if they were expecting someone of importance. Paul had not the +curiosity to ask who this personage was. He crossed the marble city, and +returned by the coast railway from Genoa to Marseilles--that marvellous +route where one passes suddenly from the blackness of the tunnels to the +dazzling light of the blue sea. + +At Savona the train stopped, and the passengers were told that they +could go no farther, as one of the little bridges over the torrents +which rush from the mountains to the sea had been broken during the +night. They must wait for the engineer and the break-down gang, already +summoned by telegraph; wait perhaps a half day. It was early morning. +The Italian town was waking in one of those veiled dawns which forecast +great heat for the day. While the dispersed travellers took refuge in +the hotels, installed themselves in the _cafes_, and others visited the +town, de Gery, chafing at the delay, tried to think of some means of +saving these few hours. He thought of poor Jansoulet, to whom the money +he was bringing might save honour and life, of his dear Aline, her whose +remembrance had not quitted him a single day of his journey, no more +than the portrait which she had given him. Then he was inspired to hire +one of those four-horse _calesinos_ which run from Genoa to Nice, along +the Italian Corniche--an adorable trip which foreigners, lovers, and +winners at Monaco often enjoy. The driver guaranteed that he would be +at Nice early; and even if he arrived no earlier than the train, his +impatient spirit felt the comfort of movement, of feeling at each turn +of the wheel the distance from his desire decrease. + +On a fine morning in June, when one is young and in love, it is a +delicious intoxication to tear behind four horses over the white +Corniche road. To the left, a hundred feet below, the sea sparkling with +foam, from the rounded rocks of the shore to those vapoury distances +where the blue of the waves and of the heavens mingle; red or white +sails are scattered over it like wings, steamers leaving behind them +their trail of smoke; and on the sands, fishermen no larger than birds, +in their anchored boats like nests. Then the road descends, follows a +rapid declivity along the rocks and sharp promontories. The fresh wind +from the waves shakes the little harness bells; while on the right, on +the side of the mountain, the rows of pine-trees, the green oaks with +roots capriciously leaving the arid soil, and olive-trees growing on +their terraces, up to a wide and white pebbly ravine, bordered with +grass, marking the passage of the waters. This is really a dried-up +water-course, which the loaded mules ascend with firm foot among the +shingle, and a washer-woman stoops near a microscopic pond--the few +drops that remained of the great inundation of winter. From time to time +one crosses the street of some village, or little town rather, grown +rusty through too much sun, of historic age, the houses closely packed +and joined by dark arcades--a network of vaulted courts which clamber +the hillside with glimpses of the upper daylight, here and there letting +one see crowds of children with aureoles of hair, baskets of brilliant +fruit, a woman coming down the road, her water-pot on her head and her +distaff on her arm. Then at a corner of the street, the blue sparkle of +the waves and the immensity of nature. + +But as the day advanced, the sun rising in the heavens spread over +the sea--now escaped from its mists, still with the transparence +of quartz--thousands of rays striking the water like arrow-heads, a +dazzling sight made doubly so by the whiteness of the rocks and of +the soil, by a veritable African sirocco which raised the dust in +a whirlwind on the road. They were coming to the hottest and most +sheltered places of the Corniche--a true exotic temperature, scattering +dates, cactus, and aloes. Seeing these thin trunks, this fantastic +vegetation in the white hot air, feeling the blinding dust crackle under +the wheels like snow, de Gery, his eyes half closed, dreaming in this +leaden noon, thought he was once more on that fatiguing road from Tunis +to the Bardo, in a singular medley of Levantine carriages with brilliant +liveries, of long-necked camels, of caparisoned mules, of young donkeys, +of Arabs in rags, of half-naked negroes, of officials in full-dress with +their guard of honour. Should he find there, where the road ran through +the gardens of palm-trees, the strange and colossal architecture of the +Bey's palace, its barred windows with closed lattices, its marble gates, +its balconies in carved wood painted in bright colours?--It was not the +Bardo, but the lovely country of Bordighera, divided, like all those +on the coast, into two parts--the sea town lying on the shore; and the +upper town, joined to it by a forest of motionless palm-trees, with +upright stem and falling crown--like green rockets, springing into the +blue with their thousand feathers. + +The insupportable heat, the overtired horses, forced the traveller to +stop for a couple of hours at one of those great hotels which line the +road, and bring every November into this little town, so marvellously +sheltered, the luxurious life and cosmopolitan animation of an +aristocratic wintering place. But at this time of year there was no one +in the sea town of Bordighera but fishermen, invisible at this hour. The +villas and hotels seemed dead, their blinds and shutters closed. +They took Paul through long, cool, and silent passages to a great +drawing-room facing north, which seemed to be part of the suites let +for the season, whose doors communicated with the other rooms. White +curtains, a carpet, the comfort demanded by the English even when +travelling, and outside the windows, which the hotel-keeper opened +wide to tempt the traveller to a longer stay, a splendid view of the +mountain. An astonishing quiet reigned in this great deserted inn, with +neither manager, nor cook, nor waiters--the whole staff coming only +in the winter--and given up for domestic needs to a local spoil-sauce, +expert at a _stoffato_, a _risotto_; also to two stablemen, who clothed +themselves at meal-time with the dress-coat and white tie of office. +Happily, de Gery was only going to remain there for an hour or two, to +rest his eyes from the overpowering light, his head from the dolorous +grip of the sun. + +From the divan where he lay, the admirable landscape, diversified with +light and trembling leaves, seemed to descend to his window by stages +of different greens, where scattered villas shone white, and among +them that of Maurice Trott, the banker, recognisable by its capricious +architecture and the height of its palms. + +The Levantine house, whose gardens came up to the windows of the hotel, +had sheltered for some months an artistic celebrity, the sculptor +Brehat, who was dying of consumption, and owed the prolonging of his +existence to this princely hospitality. The neighbourhood of this dying +celebrity--of which the hotel-keeper was proud, and which he would have +liked to charge in the bill--the name of Brehat, which de Gery had so +often heard pronounced with admiration in Felicia Ruys's studio, brought +back his thoughts to the beautiful face, with its pure lines, which he +had last seen in the Bois de Boulogue, leaning on Mora's shoulder. What +had become of this unfortunate girl when this prop had failed her? +Would this lesson be of use to her in the future? And, by a strange +coincidence, while he was thinking thus of Felicia, a great white +greyhound was bounding up an alley of green trees on the slopes of the +neighbouring garden. It was like Kadour--the same short hair, the same +mouth, red, fierce, and delicate. Paul, before his open window, was +assailed in a moment by all sorts of visions, sad or charming. Perhaps +the beauty of the scene before his eyes made his thoughts wander. Under +the orange-trees and lemon-trees in rows, laden with their golden +fruit, stretched immense fields of violets in regular and packed beds, +separated by little irrigation canals, whose white stone cut up the +exuberant verdure. + +An exquisite ordour of violets dried in the sun was rising--a hot +boudoir scent, enervating, enfeebling, which called up for de Gery +feminine visions--Aline, Felicia--permeating the fairy-like landscape, +in this blue-charged atmosphere, this heavenly day, which one might have +called the perfume become visible of so many open flowers. The creaking +of a door made him open his eyes. Some one had just gone into the next +room. He heard the rustle of a dress against the thin partition, a leaf +turned in a book which could not be very interesting, for a long sigh +turning into a yawn made him start. Was he still sleeping, dreaming? Had +he not heard the cry of the "jackal in the desert," so much in keeping +with the burning temperature out of doors? No--nothing more. He fell +asleep again, and this time all the confused images which pursued him +fixed themselves in a dream--a very pleasant dream. + +He was on his honeymoon with Aline. She was a delicious wife, her clear +eyes full of love and faith, which only knew, only looked at him. In +this very room, on the other side of the partition, she was sitting in +white morning dress, which smelt of violets and of the fine lace of her +trousseau. They were having breakfast--one of those solitary breakfasts +of a honeymoon, served in their bedroom, opposite the blue sea, and the +clear sky, which tinge with azure the glass in which one drinks, the +eyes where one sees one's self, the future--life--the distant horizon. +Oh! how good it was; what a divine youth-giving light; how happy they +were! + +And all at once, in the delight of their kisses, Aline became sad. Her +eyes filled with tears. She said to him: "Felicia is there. You will +love me no longer." And he laughed, "Felicia here? What an idea!" "Yes, +yes; she is there." Trembling she pointed to the next room, from +which came angry barks, and the voice of Felicia: "Here, Kadour! Here, +Kadour!" the low, concentrated, furious voice of some one who is hiding +and suddenly discovered. + +Wide awake, the lover, disenchanted, found himself in his empty room, +before an empty table, his dream, fled through the window to the great +hillside. But he heard very distinctly in the next room the bark of a +dog, and hurried knocks on the door. + +"Open the door! It is I--it is Jenkins." + +Paul sat up on his divan, stupefied. Jenkins here? How was that? To whom +was he speaking? What voice was going to answer him? No one answered. A +light step went to the door, and the lock creaked nervously. + +"Here you are at last," said the Irishman, entering. + +And truly if he had not taken care to announce himself, Paul would +never have taken this brutal, violent, hoarse voice heard through the +partition for the doctor's with his sugary manners. + +"At last I have found you after a week of searching, of mad rushing from +Genoa to Nice, from Nice to Genoa. I knew that you had not gone, because +the yacht was in the harbour, and I was going to inspect all the inns on +the coast, when I remembered Brehat. I have just come from him. It was +he who told me you were here." + +But to whom was he speaking? Who was so singularly obstinate? At last a +beautiful, sad voice, which Paul well knew, made the hot afternoon air +vibrate. + +"Well, yes, Jenkins, here I am. What is the matter?" + +Through the wall Paul could see the disdainful mouth, turned down with +disgust. + +"I have come to prevent you from going--from doing this foolish thing." + +"What foolish thing? I have some work at Tunis. I must go there." + +"But you don't think, my dear child, that--" + +"Oh, enough of your fatherly airs, Jenkins. We know what lies underneath +it. Speak to me as you did just now. I prefer the bull-dog to the +spaniel. I fear it less." + +"Well, I tell you that you must be mad to go over there alone, young and +beautiful as you are." + +"And am I not always alone? Would you like me to take Constance, at her +age?" + +"Or me?" + +"You!" She pronounced the word with an ironical laugh. "And what about +Paris? And your patients--deprive society of its Cagliostro? Never, on +any account." + +"I have, however, made up my mind to follow you wherever you go," said +Jenkins resolutely. + +There was an instant of silence. Paul asked himself if it was worthy +of him to listen to this conversation which was full of terrible +revelations. But in spite of his fatigue an invincible curiosity nailed +him to the spot. It seemed to him that the enigma which had so long been +perplexing and troubling him was going to be solved at last, to show the +woman sad or perverse, concealed by the fashionable artist. He remained +there, still holding his breath, needlessly, however; for the two, +believing themselves to be alone in the hotel, let their passions and +their voices rise without constraint. + +"Well, what do you want of me?" + +"I want you." + +"Jenkins!" + +"Yes, yes, I know; you have forbidden me to say such words before you, +but other men than I have said them, and nearer still." + +"And if it were so, wretch! If I have not been able to protect myself +from disgust and boredom, if I have lost my pride, is it for you to say +a word? As if you were not the cause of it; as if you had not forever +saddened and darkened my life for me!" + +And these burning and rapid words revealed to the terrified Paul de +Gery the horrible meaning of this apparently affectionate guardianship, +against which the mind, the thought, the dreams of the young girl had +had to struggle so long, and which had left her the incurable sadness of +precocious regret, the heart-break of a life hardly begun. + +"I loved you! I love you still! Passion excuses everything," answered +Jenkins in a hollow voice. + +"Love me, then, if that amuses you. As for me, I hate you not only for +the wrong you have done me, all the beliefs and energy you have killed +in me, but because you represent what is most execrable, most hideous +under the sun--hypocrisy and lies. This society masquerade, this heap of +falsity, of grimaces, of cowardly and unclean conventions have sickened +me to such an extent, that I am running away exiling myself so as to see +them no longer; rather than them I would have the prison, the sewer, the +streets. And yet it is your deceit, O sublime Jenkins, which horrifies +me most. You have mingled our French hypocrisy, all smiles and +politeness, with your large English shakes of the hand, with your +cordial and demonstrative loyalty. They have all been caught by it. They +said, 'The good Jenkins; the worthy, honest Jenkins.' But I--I knew you, +and in spite of your fine motto on the envelopes of your letters, +on your seal, your sleeve-links, your hat-bands, the doors of your +carriage, I always saw the rascal you are." + +Her voice hissed through her teeth, clinched by an incredible ferocity +of expression, and Paul expected some furious revolt of Jenkins under so +many insults. But this hate and contempt of the woman he loved must have +given him more sorrow than anger, for he answered softly, in a tone of +wounded gentleness: + +"Oh! you are cruel. If you knew the pain you are giving me! Hypocrite! +yes, it is true; but I was not born like that. One is forced into it by +the difficulties of life. When one has the wind against one, and wishes +to advance, one tacks. I have tacked. Lay the blame on my miserable +beginnings, my false entry into existence, and agree at least that one +thing in me has never lied--my passion! Nothing has been able to kill +it--neither your disdain, nor your abuse, nor all that I have read in +your eyes, which for so many years have not once smiled at me. It is +still my passion which gives me the strength, even after what I have +just heard, to tell you why I am here. Listen! You told me once that you +wanted a husband--some one who would watch over you during your work, +who would take over some of the duties of the poor Crenmitz. Those were +your own words, which wounded me then because I was not free. Now all +that is changed. Will you marry me, Felicia?" + +"And your wife?" cried the young girl, while Paul was asking himself the +same question. + +"My wife is dead." + +"Dead? Mme. Jenkins? Is it true?" + +"You never knew her of whom I speak. The other was not my wife. When +I met her I was already married in Ireland--years before. A horrible +forced marriage. My dear, when I was twenty-five I was confronted with +this alternative: a debtor's prison or Miss Strang, an ugly and gouty +old maid, sister of the usurer who had lent me five hundred pounds to +pay for my medical studies. I preferred the prison; but after weeks and +months I came to the end of my courage, and I married Miss Strang, who +brought me for dowry--my note of hand. You can guess what my life was +between these two monsters who adored each other. A jealous, impotent +wife. The brother spied on me, following me everywhere. I should have +gone away, but one thing kept me there. The usurer was said to be very +rich. I wished to have some return for my cowardice. You see, I tell you +all. Come now, I have been punished. Old Strang died insolvent; he used +to gamble, had ruined himself without saying a word. Then I put my wife +and her rheumatism in a hospital, and came to France. I had to begin +existence again, more struggles and misery. But I had experience on my +side, hatred and contempt for men, and my newly conquered liberty, for I +did not dream that the horrible weight of this cursed union was going to +hinder my getting on, at that distance. Happily, it is over--I am free." + +"Yes, Jenkins, free. But why do you not make your wife the poor creature +who has shared your life so long, so humble and devoted as she is?" + +"Oh!" said he, with an outburst of sincerity, "between my two prisons +I would prefer the other, where I could be frankly indifferent. But the +atrocious comedy of conjugal love, of unwearying happiness, when for +so long I had loved you and thought of you alone! There is not such a +torture on earth. If I can guess, the poor woman must have uttered a cry +of relief and happiness at the separation. It is the only adieu I hoped +for from her." + +"But who forced you to such a thing?" + +"Paris, society, the world. Married by its opinion, we were held by it." + +"And now you are held no longer?" + +"Now something comes before all--it is the idea of losing you, of seeing +you no longer. Oh! when I learned of your flight, when I saw the bill +over your door TO LET, I felt sure that it was all up with poses and +grimaces, that I had nothing else to do but to set out, to run quickly +after my happiness, which you were taking away. You were leaving +Paris--I have left it. Everything of yours was being sold; everything of +mine will be sold." + +"And she?" said Felicia trembling. "She, the irreproachable companion, +the honest woman whom no one has ever suspected, where will she go? +What will she do? And it is her place you have just offered me. A stolen +place, think what a hell! Well, and your motto, good Jenkins, virtuous +Jenkins, what shall we do with it? '_Le bien sans esperance_,' eh!" + +At this sneer, cutting his face like a whip, the wretch answered +panting: + +"That will do! Do not sneer at me so. It is too horrible now. Does it +not touch you, then, to be loved as I love you in sacrificing everything +to you--fortune, honour, respect? See, look at me. I have snatched my +mask off for you, I have snatched if off before all. And now, see, here +is the hypocrite." + +He heard the muffled noise of two knees falling on the floor. And +stammering, distracted with love, weak before her, he begged her +to consent to this marriage, to give him the right to follow her +everywhere, to defend her. Then the words failed him, stifled in a +passionate sob, so deep, so lacerating that it should have touched any +heart, above all among this splendid impassible scenery in this perfumed +heat. But Felicia was not touched. "Let us have done, Jenkins," said +she brusquely. "What you ask is impossible. We have nothing to hide from +each other, and after your confidences just now, I wish to make one to +you, which humbles my pride, but your degradation makes you worthy. I +was Mora's mistress." + +Paul knew this. And yet it was so sad to hear this beautiful, pure voice +laden with such a confession, in the midst of the intoxicating air, that +he felt his heart contract. + +"I knew it," answered Jenkins in a low voice, "I have the letters you +wrote to him." + +"My letters?" + +"Oh, I will give them to you--here. I know them by heart. I have read +and reread them. It is that which hurts one, when one loves. But I +have suffered other tortures. When I think that it was I--" He stopped +himself. He choked. "I who had to furnish fuel for your flames, warm +this frozen lover, send him to you ardent and young--Ah! he has devoured +my pearls--I might refuse over and over again, he was always taking +them. At last I was mad. You wish to burn, wretched woman. Well, burn, +then!" + + +Paul rose to his feet in terror. Was he going to hear the confession +of a crime? But the shame of hearing more was not inflicted on him. +A violent knocking, this time on his own door, warned him that his +_calesino_ was ready. + +"Is the French gentleman ready?" + +In the next room there was silence, then a whisper.--There had been some +one near who had heard them.--Paul de Gery hurried downstairs. He must +get out of this room to escape the weight of so much infamy. + +As the post-chaise swayed, he saw among the common white curtains, which +float at all the windows in the south, a pale figure with the hair of +a goddess, and great burning eyes fixed on him. But a glance at Aline's +portrait quickly dispelled this disturbing vision, and forever cured +of his old love, he travelled until evening through the magic landscape +with the lovely bride of the _dejeuner_, who carried in the folds of her +modest robe and mantle all the violets of Bordighera. + + + + +THE FIRST NIGHT OF "REVOLT" + +"Take your places for the first act!" + +The cry of the stage-manager, standing with his hand raised to his +mouth to form a trumpet, at the foot of the staircase behind the scenes, +echoes under the roof, rises and rolls along, to be lost in the depths +of corridors full of the noise of doors banging, of hasty steps, of +desperate calls to the _coiffeur_ and the dressers; while there appear +one by one on the landings of the various floors, slow and majestic, +without moving their heads for fear of disturbing the least detail +of their make-up, all the personages of the first act of _Revolt_, in +elegant modern ball costumes, with the creaking of new shoes, the silken +rustle of the trains, the jingling of rich bracelets pushed up the arm +while gloves are being buttoned. All these people seem excited, nervous, +pale beneath their paint, and under the skilfully prepared satin-like +surface of the shoulders, tremors flutter like shadows. Dry-mouthed, +they speak little. The least nervous, while affecting to smile, have +in their eyes and voice the hesitation that marks an absent mind--that +apprehension of the battle behind the foot-lights which is ever one of +the most powerful attractions of the comedian's art, its piquancy, its +freshness. + +The stage is encumbered by the passage to and fro of machinists and +scene-builders hastening about, running into one another in the dim, +pallid light falling from above, which will give place directly, as soon +as the curtain rises, to the dazzling of the foot-lights. Cardailhac is +there in his dress-coat and white tie, his opera hat on one side, giving +a final glance to the arrangement of the scenery, hurrying the workmen, +complimenting the _ingenue_ who is waiting dressed and ready, beaming, +humming an air, looking superb. To see him no one would ever guess the +terrible worries which distract him. He is compromised by the fall of +the Nabob--which entails the loss of his directorate--and is risking his +all on the piece of this evening, obliged, if it be not a success, to +leave the cost of this marvellous scenery, these stuffs at a hundred +francs the yard, unpaid. It is a fourth bankruptcy that stares him in +the face. But, bah! our manager is confident. Success, like all the +monsters that feed on men, loves youth; and this unknown author, whose +name is appearing for the first time on a theatre bill, flatters the +gambler's superstitions. + +Andre Maranne feels less confident. As the hour for the production of +the piece approaches he loses faith in his work, terrified by the sight +of the house, at which he looks through the hole in the curtain as +through the narrow lens of a stereoscope. + +A splendid house, crammed to the roof, notwithstanding the late period +of the spring and the fashionable taste for early departure to the +country; a house that Cardailhac, a declared enemy of nature and the +country, endeavouring always to keep Parisians in Paris till the latest +possible date, has succeeded in crowding and making as brilliant as in +midwinter. Fifteen hundred heads are swarming beneath the great central +chandelier, erect--bent forward--turning round--questioning amid a great +play of shadows and reflections; some massed in the obscure corners of +the floor, others in a bright light reflected through the open doors of +the boxes from the white walls of the corridor; the first-night public +which is always the same, that brigand-like _tout Paris_ which goes +everywhere, carrying those envied places by storm when a favour or a +claim by right of some official position fails to secure them. + +In the stalls are low-cut waistcoats, clubmen, shining bald heads, wide +partings in scanty hair, light-coloured gloves, big opera-glasses raised +and directed towards various points. In the galleries a mixture of +different social sets and all kinds of dress, all the people well known +as figuring at this kind of solemnity, and the embarrassing promiscuity +which places the modest smile of the virtuous woman along-side of the +black-ringed eyes, the vermilion-painted lips of her who belongs to +another category. White hats, pink hats, diamonds and paint. Above, the +boxes present the same confusion; actresses and women of the demi-monde, +ministers, ambassadors, famous authors, critics--these last wearing a +grave air and frowning brow, sitting crosswise in their _fauteuils_ with +the impassive haughtiness of judges whom nothing can corrupt. The boxes +near the stage especially stand out in the general picture brilliantly +lighted, occupied by celebrities of the financial world, the women +_decollete_ and with bare arms, glittering with jewels like the Queen of +Sheba on her visit to the King of Judea. But on the left, one of these +large boxes, entirely empty, attracts attention by reason of its curious +decoration, lighted from the back by a Moorish lantern. Over the whole +assembly is an impalpable and floating dust, the flickering of the gas, +that odour that mingles with all the pleasures of Paris, its little +sputterings, sharp and quick like the breaths drawn by a consumptive, +accompanying the movement of opened fans. And then, too, _ennui_, a +gloomy _ennui_, the _ennui_ of seeing the same faces always in the +same places, with their defects or their poses, that uniformity of +fashionable gatherings which ends by establishing in Paris each winter +a spiteful and gossiping provincialism more petty than that of the +provinces themselves. + +Maranne observed this ill-humour, this lassitude of the public, and +thinking of all the changes which the success of his play might bring +about in his simple life, he asked himself, full of a great anxiety, +what he could do to bring his ideas home to those thousands of people, +to pluck them away from their preoccupation, and to send through +this crowd a single current which should draw to himself those absent +glances, those minds of every different calibre, so difficult to move to +unison. Instinctively his eyes sought friendly faces, a box facing the +stage occupied by the Joyeuse family; Elise and the younger girls seated +in the front, Aline and the father in the row behind--a charming family +group, like a bouquet wet with dew amid a display of artificial flowers. +And while all Paris was disdainfully asking, "Who are those people +there?" the poet instrusted his fate to those little fairy hands, new +gloved for the occasion, which very soon would boldly give the signal +for applause. + +The curtain is going up! Maranne has barely time to spring into the +wings; and suddenly he hears as from far, very far away, the first words +of his play, which rise, like a flight of timid birds, into the silence +and immensity of the theatre. A terrible moment. Where should he go? +What should he do? Remain there leaning against a wing, with straining +ear and beating heart? Encourage the actors when he himself stood in so +much need of encouragement? He prefers rather to look the peril in the +face; and by the little door communicating with the corridor behind the +boxes he slips out to a corner box, which he orders to be opened for him +softly. "Sh! It is I." Some one is seated in the shadow--a woman, she +whom all Paris knows and who is hiding herself from the public gaze. +Andre sits down by her side, and so, close to one another, mother and +son tremblingly watch the progress of the play. + +It astonished the audience at first. This Theatre des Nouveautes, +situated in the very heart of the boulevard, where its portico glitters +all illuminated among the great restaurants of the smart clubs; this +theatre, to which people were accustomed to come in parties after a +luxurious dinner to listen until supper-time to an act or two of some +suggestive piece, had become in the hands of its clever manager the most +fashionable of all Parisian entertainments, without any very precise +character of its own, and partaking something of all, from the +fairy-operetta which exhibits undressed women, to the serious modern +drama. Cardailhac was especially anxious to justify his title of +"Manager of the Nouveautes," and, since the Nabob's millions had been +at the back of the undertaking, had made a point of preparing for +the boulevardiers the most dazzling surprises. That of this evening +surpassed them all; the piece was in verse--and moral. + +A moral play! + +The old rogue had realized that the moment had arrived to try that +effect, and he was trying it. After the astonishment of the first +minutes, a few disappointed exclamations here and there in the boxes, +"Why, it is in verse!" the house began to feel the charm of this +invigorating and healthy piece, as if there had been sprinkled on it, +in its rarefied atmosphere, some fresh and pungent essence, an elixir of +life perfumed with thyme from the hillside. + +"Ah! this is nice--it is restful." + +Such was the general sense, a thrill of ease, a spasm of pleasure +accompanying each line. That fat old Hemerlingue found it restful, +puffing in his stage-box on the ground floor as in a trough of cerise +satin. It was restful also to that tall Suzanne Bloch, her hair dressed +in the antique way, ringlets flowing over a diadem of gold; and +near her, Amy Ferat, all in white like a bride and with sprigs of +orange-blossom in her fluffy hair, it was restful to her also, you may +be sure. + +A crowd of demi-mondaines were present, some very fat, with a dirty +greasiness acquired in a hundred seraglios, three chins, and an air of +stupidity; others absolutely green in spite of their paint, as if they +had been dipped in a bath of that arsenate of copper which is called +in the shops "Paris green." These were wrinkled, faded to such a degree +that they hid in the back of their boxes, only allowing a portion of +a white arm to be seen, a rounded shoulder protruding. Then there were +young men about town, flabby and without backbone, those who at +that time used to be called _petits creves_, creatures worn out by +dissipation, with stooping necks and drooping lids, incapable of +standing erect or of articulating a single word perfectly. And all these +people exclaimed with one accord: "This is nice--it is restful." The +handsome Moessard murmured it like a refrain beneath his little fair +mustache, while his queen in the stage-box translated it into the +barbarism of her foreign tongue. Positively they found it restful. They +did not say after what--after what heart-breaking labour, after what +forced, idle and useless task. + +All these friendly murmurs, united and mingled, began to give to the +house an eventful appearance. Success was felt in the air, faces +became serene again, the women seemed the more beautiful for reflecting +enthusiasm, for being moved to glances that were as exciting as +applause. Andre, at his mother's side, thrilled with such an unknown +pleasure, with that proud delight which a man feels when he stirs the +multitude, be he only a singer in a suburban back-yard, with a patriotic +refrain and two pathetic notes in his voice. Suddenly the whisperings +redoubled, were transformed into a tumult. People were chuckling and +fidgeting with excitement. What had happened? Some accident on the +stage? Andre, leaning terrified towards the actors as astonished as +himself, saw every opera-glass turned towards the big stage-box which +had remained empty until then, and which some one had just entered, who +sat down immediately with both his elbows on the velvet ledge, and +with his opera-glass drawn from its case, taking his place in gloomy +solitude. + +In ten days the Nabob had aged twenty years. Violent southern natures +like his, if they are rich in enthusiasms, become also more utterly +prostrate than others. Since his unseating the unfortunate man had shut +himself up in his bedroom, with drawn curtains, no longer wishing even +to see the light of day nor to cross over the threshold beyond which +life was waiting for him, with the engagements he had undertaken, +the promises he had made, a mass of protested bills and writs. The +Levantine, gone off to some spa accompanied by her _masseur_ and her +negress, was totally indifferent to the ruin of the establishment; +Bompain--the man in the fez--in frightened bewilderment amid the demands +for money, not knowing how to approach his ill-starred master, who +persistently kept his bed and turned his face to the wall as soon as +business matters were mentioned. His old mother alone remained behind to +face the disaster, with the knowledge born of her narrow and straitened +experience as a village woman, who knows what a stamped document--a +signature--is, and thinks honour is the greatest and best thing in +the world. Her peasant's cap made its appearance on every floor of +the mansion, examining bills, reforming the domestic arrangements, and +fearing neither outcries or humiliation. At all hours the good woman +might be seen striding about the Place Vendome, gesticulating, talking +to herself, and saying aloud: "_Te_, I will go and see the bailiff." +And never did she consult her son about anything save when it was +indispensable, and then only in a few discreet words, while avoiding +even a glance at him. To rouse Jansoulet from his torpor it had required +de Gery's telegram, dated from Marseilles, announcing that he was on his +way back, bringing ten million francs. Ten millions!--that is to say, +bankruptcy averted, the possibility of recovering his position--of +starting life afresh. And behold our southerner rebounding from the +depth of his fall, intoxicated with joy, and full of hope. He ordered +the windows to be opened and newspapers to be brought to him. What a +magnificent opportunity was this first night of _Revolt_ to show himself +to the Parisians, who were believing him to have gone under, to enter +the great whirlpool once more through the swing door of his box at the +Nouveautes! His mother, warned by some instinct, did indeed try to hold +him back. Paris now terrified her. She would have liked to carry off her +child to some unknown corner of the Midi, to nurse him along with his +elder brother--stricken down both of them by the great city. But he was +the master. Resistance was impossible to that will of a man spoiled by +wealth. She helped him to dress for the occasion, "made him look nice," +as she said laughing, and watched him not without a certain pride as +he departed, dignified, full of new life, having almost got over the +prostration of the preceding days. + +After his arrival at the theatre, Jansoulet quickly perceived the +commotion which his presence caused in the house. Accustomed to similar +curious ovations, he acknowledged them ordinarily without the least +embarrassment, with a frank display of his wide and good-natured smile; +but this time the manifestation was hostile, almost indignant. + +"What! It is he?" + +"There he is." + +"What impudence!" + +Such exclamations from the stalls confusedly rose among many others. The +retirement in which he had taken refuge for some days past had left him +in ignorance of the public exasperation, of the homilies, the statements +broadcast in the newspapers, with the corrupting influence of his wealth +as their text--articles written for effect, hypocritical phraseology +by the aid of which opinion avenges itself from time to time on the +innocent for all its own concessions to the guilty. It was a terribly +embarrassing exhibition, which gave him at first more sorrow than anger. +Deeply moved, he hid his emotion behind his opera-glass, fixing his +attention on the least details of the stage arrangements, giving a +three-quarters view of his back to the house, but unable to escape the +scandalous observation of which he was the victim and which made his +ears buzz, his temples beat, the dulled lenses of his opera-glass +become full of those whirling multi-coloured circles which are the first +symptom of brain disorder. + +When the curtain fell at the end of the first act he remained +motionless, in the same attitude of embarrassment; the whisperings, now +more distinct when they were no longer held in check by the dialogue on +the stage, the pertinacity of certain inquisitive people changing their +places in order to get a better view of him, obliged him to leave his +box and to beat a hurried retreat into the corridors, like a wild beast +escaping across a circus from the arena. Beneath the low ceiling in +the narrow circular passage of the theatre corridors, he found +himself suddenly in the midst of a dense crowd of emasculate youths, +journalists, tightly laced women wearing their hats, laughing as part +of their trade, their backs against the wall. From box-doors opened for +air, mixed and disjointed fragments of conversation were escaping: + +"A delightful piece. It is fresh; it is good." + +"That Nabob! What impudence!" + +"Yes, indeed, it is restful. One feels better for it." + +"How is it that he has not yet been arrested?" + +"Quite a young man, it seems. It is his first play." + +"Bois l'Hery at Mazas! It is impossible. Why, there is the marquise +opposite, in the balcony, with a new hat." + +"What does that prove? She is at her business as a stager of new +fashions. It is very pretty, that hat. In Desgrange's racing colours." + +"And Jenkins? What is Jenkins doing?" + +"At Tunis, with Felicia. Old Brahim has seen them both. It seems that +the Bey has begun to take the pearls." + +"The deuce he has!" + +Farther along, soft voices were murmuring: + +"Yes, father, do, do go speak to him. See how lonely he looks, poor +man!" + +"But, children, I do not know him." + +"Never mind. Just a bow. Something to show him that he is not utterly +deserted." + +Thereupon the little old gentleman, very red in the face and wearing +a white tie, stepped quickly in front of the Nabob, and ceremoniously +raised his hat to him with great respect. With what gratitude, what +a smile of eager good-will was that solitary greeting returned, that +greeting from a man whom Jansoulet did not know, whom he had never seen, +and who had yet exerted a weighty influence upon his destiny; for, but +for the _pere_ Joyeuse, the chairman of the board of the Territorial +would probably have shared the fate of the Marquis de Bois l'Hery. Thus +it is that in the tangle of modern society, that great web of interests, +ambitions, services accepted and rendered, all the various worlds are +connected, united beneath the surface, from the highest existences +to the most humble; this it is that explains the variegation, the +complexity of this study of manners, the collection of the scattered +threads of which the writer who is careful of truth is bound to make the +background of his story. + +In ten minutes the Nabob had been subjected to every manifestation +of the terrible ostracism of that Paris world to which he had neither +relationship nor serious ties, and whose contempt isolated him more +surely than a visiting monarch is isolated by respect--the averted look, +the apparently aimless step aside, the hat suddenly put on and pulled +down over the eyes. Overcome by embarrassment and shame, he stumbled. +Some one said quite loudly, "He is drunk," and all that the poor man +could manage to do was to return and shut himself up in the salon at the +back of his box. Ordinarily, this little retreat was crowded during +the intervals between the acts by stock-brokers and journalists. They +laughed and smoked and made a great noise; the manager would come to +greet his sleeping partner. But on this evening there was nobody. And +the absence of Cardailhac, with his keen nose for success, signified +fully to Jansoulet the measure of his disgrace. + +"What have I done? Why will Paris have no more of me?" + +Thus he questioned himself amid a solitude that was accentuated by the +noises around, the abrupt turning of keys in the doors of the boxes, the +thousand exclamations of an amused crowd. Then suddenly, the freshness +of his luxurious surroundings, the Moorish lantern casting strange +shadows on the brilliant silks of the divan and walls, reminded him of +the date of his arrival. Six months! Only six months since he came to +Paris! Completely done for and ruined in six months! He sank into a +kind of torpor, from which he was roused by the sound of applause +and enthusiastic bravos. It was decidedly a great success--this play +_Revolt_. There were some passages of strength and satire, and the +violent tirades, a trifle over-emphatic but written with youth and +sincerity, excited the audience after the idyllic calm of the opening. +Jansoulet in his turn wished to hear and see. This theatre belonged to +him after all. His place in that stage-box had cost him over a million +francs; the very least he could do was to occupy it. + +So he seated himself in the front of his box. In the theatre the heat +was suffocating in spite of the fans which were vigorously at work, +throwing reflections from their bright spangles through the impalpable +atmosphere of silence. The house was listening religiously to an +indignant and lofty denunciation of the scamps who occupied exalted +positions, after having robbed their fellows in those depths from which +they were sprung. Certainly, Maranne when he wrote these fine lines +had been far from having the Nabob in his mind. But the public saw +an allusion in them; and while a triple salvo of applause greeted the +conclusion of the speech, all heads were turned towards the stage-box on +the left with an indignant, openly offensive movement. The poor wretch, +pilloried in his own theatre! A pillory which had cost him so dear! +This time he made no attempt to escape the insult, but settled himself +resolutely in his seat, with arms folded, and braved the crowd that was +staring at him--those hundreds of faces raised in mockery, that virtuous +_tout Paris_ which had seized upon him as a scapegoat and was driving +him into the wilderness, after having laden him with the burden of all +its own crimes. + +A pretty gang, truly, for a manifestation of that kind! Opposite, the +box of a bankrupt banker, the wife and her lover sitting next each +other in the front row, the husband behind in the shadow, voluntarily +inconspicuous and solemn. Near them the frequent trio of a mother who +has married her daughter in accordance with the personal inclination +of her own heart, in order to make a son-in-law of her lover. Then +irregular households, courtesans exhibiting the price of shame, diamonds +like circlets of fire riveted around arms and neck. And those groups of +emasculate youths, with their open collars and painted eyebrows, whose +shirts of embroidered cambric and white satin corsets people used to +admire in the guest-chambers at Compiegne; those _mignons_, of the time +of Agrippa, calling each other among themselves: "My heart--My +dear girl." An assemblage of all the scandals, all the turpitudes, +consciences sold or for sale, the vice of an epoch devoid of greatness +and without originality, intent on making trial of the caprices of every +other age. + +And these were the people who were insulting him and crying: "Away with +thee, thou art unworthy!" + +"Unworthy--I! But my worth is a hundred times greater than that of any +among you, wretches that you are! You make my millions a reproach to +me, but who has helped me to spend them? Thou, cowardly and treacherous +comrade, who hidest thy sick pasha-like obesity in the corner of thy +stage-box! I made thy fortune along with my own in the days when we +shared all things in brotherly community. Thou, pale marquis--I paid a +hundred thousand francs at the club in order to save thee from shameful +expulsion! + +"Thee I covered with jewels, hussy, letting thee pass for my mistress, +because that kind of thing makes a good impression in our world--but +without ever asking thee anything in return. And thou, brazen-faced +journalist, who for brain hast all the dirty sediment of thy inkstand, +and on thy conscience as many spots as thy queen has on her skin, thou +thinkest that I have not paid thee thy price and that is why thy insults +are heaped on me. Yes, yes; stare at me, you vermin! I am proud. My +worth is above yours." + +All that he was thus saying to himself mentally, in an ungovernable +rage, visible in the quivering of his pale, thick lips. The unfortunate +man, who was nearly mad, was about perhaps to shout it aloud in the +silence, to denounce that insulting crowd--who knows?--to spring into +the midst of it, kill one of them--ah! kill _one_ of them--when he +felt a light tap on his shoulder, and a fair head came before his eyes, +serious and frank, two hands held out, which he grasped convulsively, +like a drowning man. + +"Ah! dear friend, dear--" the poor man stammered. But he had not the +strength to say more. This emotion of joy coming suddenly in the midst +of his fury melted him into a sobbing torrent of tears, and stifled +words. His face became purple. He motioned "Take me away." And, +stumbling in his walk, leaning on de Gery's arm, he only managed to +cross the threshold of his box before he fell prostrate in the corridor. + +"Bravo! Bravo!" cried the house in reply to the speech which the actor +had just finished; and there was a noise like a hailstorm, and stamping +of enthusiastic feet while the great lifeless body, raised with +difficulty by the scene-shifters, was carried through the brightly +lighted wings, crowded with people pressing in their curiosity round the +stage, excited by the atmosphere of success and who hardly noticed the +passage of the inert and vanquished man, borne on men's arms like +some victim of a riot. They laid him on a couch in the room where the +properties were stored, Paul de Gery at his side, with a doctor and two +porters who eagerly lent all the assistance in their power. Cardailhac, +extremely busy over his play, had sent word that he should come to hear +the news "directly, after the fifth act." + +Bleeding after bleeding, cuppings, mustard leaves--nothing brought even +a quiver to the skin of the patient, insensible apparently to all the +remedies usually employed in cases of apoplexy. The whole being seemed +to be surrendering to death, to be preparing the way for the rigidity +of the corpse; and this in the most sinister place in the world, this +chaos, lighted by a lantern merely, amid which there lie about pell-mell +in the dust all the remains of former plays--gilt furniture, curtains +with gay fringes, coaches, boxes, card-tables, dismantled staircases +and balusters, among ropes and pulleys, a confusion of out-of-date +theatrical properties, thrown down, broken, and damaged. Bernard +Jansoulet, as he lay among this wreckage, his shirt opened over his +chest, pale and covered with blood, was indeed a man come to the +shipwreck of his life, bruised and tossed aside along with the pitiful +ruins of his artificial luxury dispersed and broken up, in the whirlpool +of Paris. Paul, with aching heart, contemplated the scene sadly, that +face with its short nose, preserving in its inertia the savage yet +kindly expression of an inoffensive creature that tried to defend itself +before it died and had not time to bite. He reproached himself bitterly +with his inability to be of any service to him. Where was that fine +project of leading Jansoulet across the bogs, of guarding him against +ambushes? All that he had been able to do had been to save a few +millions for him, and even these had come too late. + + +The windows had just been thrown open upon the curved balcony over +the boulevard, now at the height of its noisy and brilliant stir. The +theatre was surrounded by, as it were, a plinth of gas-jets, a zone of +fire which brought the gloomiest recesses into light, pricked out with +revolving lanterns, like stars journeying through a dark sky. The play +was over. People were coming out. The black and dense crowd on the steps +was dispersing over the white pavements, on its way to spread through +the town the news of a great success and the name of an unknown author +who to-morrow would be triumphant and famous. A splendid evening, so +that the windows of the restaurants were lighted up in gaiety and files +of carriages passed through the streets at a late hour. This tumult of +festivity which the poor Nabob had loved so keenly, which seemed to go +so well with the dizzy whirl of his existence, roused him to life for +a moment. His lips moved, and into his dilated eyes, turned towards +de Gery, there came before he died a pained expression, beseeching and +protesting, as though to call upon him as witness of one of the greatest +and most cruel acts of injustice that Paris has ever committed. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nabob, by Alphonse Daudet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NABOB *** + +***** This file should be named 2077.txt or 2077.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/2077/ + +Produced by Dagny, John Bickers, 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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