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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, a n"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 Etext of The Nabob, by Alphonse Daudet** + |