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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3954.txt b/3954.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1167a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/3954.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2235 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of L'Abbe Constantin by Ludovic Halevy, v1 +#41 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy +#1 in our series by Ludovic Halevy + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Ludovic was destined for the civil service, and, after +finishing his studies, entered successively the Department of State +(1852); the Algerian Department (1858), and later on became editorial +secretary of the Corps Legislatif (1860). When his patron, the Duc de +Morny, died in 1865, Halevy resigned, giving up a lucrative position for +the uncertain profession of a playwright: At this period he devoted +himself exclusively to the theatre. + +He had already written plays as early as 1856, and had also tried his +hand at fiction, but did not meet with very great success. Toward 1860, +however, he became acquainted with Henri Meilhac, and with him formed a +kind of literary union, lasting for almost twenty years, when Halevy +rather abruptly abandoned the theatre and became a writer of fiction. + +We have seen such kinds of co-partnerships, for instance, in Beaumont and +Fletcher; more recently in the beautiful French tales of Erckmann- +Chatrian, and still later in the English novels of Besant and Rice. + +Some say it was a fortunate event for Meilhac; others assert that Halevy +reaped a great profit by the union. Be this as it may, a great number of +plays-drama, comedy, farce, opera, operetta and ballet--were jointly +produced, as is shown by the title-pages of two score or more of their +pieces. When Ludovic Halevy was a candidate for L'Academie--he entered +that glorious body in 1884--the question was ventilated by Pailleron: +"What was the author's literary relation in his union with Meilhac?" It +was answered by M. Sarcey, who criticised the character and quality of +the work achieved. Public opinion has a long time since brought in quite +another verdict in the case. + +Halevy's cooperation endowed the plays of Meilhac with a fuller ethical +richness--tempered them, so to speak, and made them real, for it can not +be denied that Meilhac was inclined to extravagance. + +Halevy's novels are remarkable for the elegance of literary style, +tenderness of spirit and keenness of observation. He excels in ironical +sketches. He has often been compared to Eugene Sue, but his touch is +lighter than Sue's, and his humor less unctuous. Most of his little +sketches, originally written for La Vie Parisienne, were collected in his +'Monsieur et Madame Cardinal' (1873); and 'Les Petites Cardinal', (1880). +They are not intended 'virginibus puerisque', and the author's attitude +is that of a half-pitying, half-contemptuous moralist, yet the virility +of his criticism has brought him immortality. + +Personal recollections of the great war are to be found in 'L'Invasion' +(1872); and 'Notes et Souvenirs', 1871-1872 (1889). Most extraordinary, +however, was the success of 'L'Abbe Constantin' (1882), crowned by the +Academy, which has gone through no less than one hundred and fifty +editions up to 1904, and ranks as one of the greatest successes of +contemporaneous literature. It is, indeed, his 'chef-d'oeuvre', very +delicate, earnest, and at the same time ironical, a most entrancing +family story. It was then that the doors of the French Academy opened +wide before Halevy. 'L'Abbe Constantin' was adapted for the stage by +Cremieux and Decourcelle (Le Gymnase, 1882). Further notable novels are: +'Criquette, Deux Mariages, Un Grand Mariage, Un Mariage d'Amour', all in +1883; 'Princesse, Les Trois Coups de Foudre, Mon Camarade Moussard', all +in 1884; and the romances, 'Karikari (1892), and Mariette (1893)'. Since +that time, I think, Halevy has not published anything of importance. + + E. LEGOUVE + de l'Academie Francaise. + + + + +THE ABBE CONSTANTIN + + +BOOK 1. + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SALE OF LONGUEVAL + +With a step still valiant and firm, an old priest walked along the dusty +road in the full rays of a brilliant sun. For more than thirty years the +Abbe Constantin had been Cure of the little village which slept there in +the plain, on the banks of a slender stream called La Lizotte. The Abbe +Constantin was walking by the wall which surrounded the park of the +castle of Longueval; at last he reached the entrance-gate, which rested +high and massive on two ancient pillars of stone, embrowned and gnawed by +time. The Cure stopped, and mournfully regarded two immense blue posters +fixed on the pillars. + +The posters announced that on Wednesday, May 18, 1881, at one o'clock +P.M., would take place, before the Civil Tribunal of Souvigny, the sale +of the domain of Longueval, divided into four lots: + +1. The castle of Longueval, its dependencies, fine pieces of water, +extensive offices, park of 150 hectares in extent, completely surrounded +by a wall, and traversed by the little river Lizotte. Valued at 600,000 +francs. + +2. The farm of Blanche-Couronne, 300 hectares, valued at 500,000 francs. + +3. The farm of La Rozeraie, 250 hectares, valued at 400,000 francs. + +4. The woods and forests of La Mionne, containing 450 hectares, valued +at 550,000 francs. + +And these four amounts, added together at the foot of the bill, gave the +respectable sum of 2,050,000 francs. + +Then they were really going to dismember this magnificent domain, which, +escaping all mutilation, had for more than two centuries always been +transmitted intact from father to son in the family of Longueval. The +placards also announced that after the temporary division into four lots, +it would be possible to unite them again, and offer for sale the entire +domain; but it was a very large morsel, and, to all appearance, no +purchaser would present himself. + +The Marquise de Longueval had died six months before; in 1873 she had +lost her only son, Robert de Longueval; the three heirs were the +grandchildren of the Marquise: Pierre, Helene, and Camille. It had been +found necessary to offer the domain for sale, as Helene and Camille were +minors. Pierre, a young man of three-and-twenty, had lived rather fast, +was already half-ruined, and could not hope to redeem Longueval. + +It was mid-day. In an hour it would have a new master, this old castle +of Longueval; and this master, who would he be? What woman would take +the place of the old Marquise in the chimney-corner of the grand salon, +all adorned with ancient tapestry?--the old Marquise, the friend of the +old priest. It was she who had restored the church; it was she who had +established and furnished a complete dispensary at the vicarage under the +care of Pauline, the Cure's servant; it was she who, twice a week, in her +great barouche, all crowded with little children's clothes and thick +woolen petticoats, came to fetch the Abbe Constantin to make with him +what she called 'la chasse aux pauvres'. + +The old priest continued his walk, musing over all this; then he thought, +too--the greatest saints have their little weaknesses--he thought, too, +of the beloved habits of thirty years thus rudely interrupted. Every +Thursday and every Sunday he had dined at the castle. How he had been +petted, coaxed, indulged! Little Camille--she was eight years old--would +come and sit on his knee and say to him: + +"You know, Monsieur le Cure, it is in your church that I mean to be +married, and grandmamma will send such heaps of flowers to fill, quite +fill the church--more than for the month of Mary. It will be like a +large garden--all white, all white, all white!" + +The month of Mary! It was then the month of Mary. Formerly, at this +season, the altar disappeared under the flowers brought from the +conservatories of Longueval. None this year were on the altar, except a +few bouquets of lily-of-the-valley and white lilac in gilded china vases. +Formerly, every Sunday at high mass, and every evening during the month +of Mary, Mademoiselle Hebert, the reader to Madame de Longueval, played +the little harmonium given by the Marquise. Now the poor harmonium, +reduced to silence, no longer accompanied the voices of the choir or the +children's hymns. Mademoiselle Marbeau, the postmistress, would, with +all her heart, have taken the place of Mademoiselle Hebert, but she dared +not, though she was a little musical! She was afraid of being remarked +as of the clerical party, and denounced by the Mayor, who was a +Freethinker. That might have been injurious to her interests, and +prevented her promotion. + +He had nearly reached the end of the wall of the park--that park of which +every corner was known to the old priest. The road now followed the +banks of the Lizotte, and on the other side of the little stream +stretched the fields belonging to the two farms; then, still farther off, +rose the dark woods of La Mionne. + +Divided! The domain was going to be divided! The heart of the poor +priest was rent by this bitter thought. All that for thirty years had +been inseparable, indivisible to him. It was a little his own, his very +own, his estate, this great property. He felt at home on the lands of +Longueval. It had happened more than once that he had stopped +complacently before an immense cornfield, plucked an ear, removed the +husk, and said to himself: + +"Come! the grain is fine, firm, and sound. This year we shall have a +good harvest!" + +And with a joyous heart he would continue his way through his fields, his +meadows, his pastures; in short, by every chord of his heart, by every +tie of his life, by all his habits, his memories, he clung to this domain +whose last hour had come. + +The Abbe perceived in the distance the farm of Blanche-Couronne; its red- +tiled roofs showed distinctly against the verdure of the forest. There, +again, the Cure was at home. Bernard, the farmer of the Marquise, was +his friend; and when the old priest was delayed in his visits to the poor +and sick, when the sun was sinking below the horizon, and the Abbe began +to feel a little fatigued in his limbs, and a sensation of exhaustion in +his stomach, he stopped and supped with Bernard, regaled himself with a +savory stew and potatoes, and emptied his pitcher of cider; then, after +supper, the farmer harnessed his old black mare to his cart, and took the +vicar back to Longueval. The whole distance they chatted and quarrelled. +The Abbe reproached the farmer with not going to mass, and the latter +replied: + +"The wife and the girls go for me. You know very well, Monsieur le Cure, +that is how it is with us. The women have enough religion for the men. +They will open the gates of paradise for us." + +And he added maliciously, while giving a touch of the whip to his old +black mare: + +"If there is one!" + +The Cure sprang from his seat. + +"What! if there is one! Of a certainty there is one." + +"Then you will be there, Monsieur le Cure. You say that is not certain, +and I say it is. You will be there, you will be there, at the gate, on +the watch for your parishioners, and still busy with their little +affairs; and you will say to St. Peter--for it is St. Peter, isn't it, +who keeps the keys of paradise?" + +"Yes, it is St. Peter." + +"Well, you will say to him, to St. Peter, if he wants to shut the door in +my face under the pretense that I did not go to mass--you will say to +him: 'Bah! let him in all the same. It is Bernard, one of the farmers +of Madame la Marquise, an honest man. He was common councilman, and he +voted for the maintenance of the sisters when they were going to be +expelled from the village school.' That will touch St. Peter, who will +answer: 'Well, well, you may pass, Bernard, but it is only to please +Monsieur le Cure.' For you will be Monsieur le Cure up there, and Cure +of Longueval, too, for paradise itself would be dull for you if you must +give up being Cure of Longueval." + +Cure of Longueval! Yes, all his life he had been nothing but Cure of +Longueval, had never dreamed of anything else, had never wished to be +anything else. Three or four times excellent livings, with one or two +curates, had been offered to him, but he had always refused them. He +loved his little church, his little village, his little vicarage. There +he had it all to himself, saw to everything himself; calm, tranquil, he +went and came, summer and winter, in sunshine or storm, in wind or rain. +His frame became hardened by fatigue and exposure, but his soul remained +gentle, tender, and pure. + +He lived in his vicarage, which was only a larger laborer's cottage, +separated from the church by the churchyard. When the Cure mounted the +ladder to train his pear and peach trees, over the top of the wall he +perceived the graves over which he had said the last prayer, and cast the +first spadeful of earth. Then, while continuing his work, he said in his +heart a little prayer for the repose of those among his dead whose fate +disturbed him, and who might be still detained in purgatory. He had a +tranquil and childlike faith. + +But among these graves there was one which, oftener than all the others, +received his visits and his prayers. It was the tomb of his old friend +Dr. Reynaud, who had died in his arms in 1871, and under what +circumstances! The doctor had been like Bernard; he never went to mass +or to confession; but he was so good, so charitable, so compassionate to +the suffering. This was the cause of the Cure's great anxiety, of his +great solicitude. His friend Reynaud, where was he? Where was he? Then +he called to mind the noble life of the country doctor, all made up of +courage and self-denial; he recalled his death, above all his death, and +said to himself: + +"In paradise; he can be nowhere but in paradise. The good God may have +sent him to purgatory just for form's sake--but he must have delivered +him after five minutes." + +All this passed through the mind of the old man, as he continued his walk +toward Souvigny. He was going to the town, to the solicitor of the +Marquise, to inquire the result of the sale; to learn who were to be the +new masters of the castle of Longueval. The Abbe had still about a mile +to walk before reaching the first houses of Souvigny, and was passing the +park of Lavardens when he heard, above his head, voices calling to him: + +"Monsieur le Cure, Monsieur le Cure." + +At this spot adjoining the wall, a long alley of limetrees bordered the +terrace, and the Abbe, raising his head, perceived Madame de Lavardens, +and her son Paul. + +"Where are you going, Monsieur le Cure?" asked the Countess. + +"To Souvigny, to the Tribunal, to learn--" + +"Stay here--Monsieur de Larnac is coming after the sale to tell me the +result." + +The Abbe Constantin joined them on the terrace. + +Gertrude de Lannilis, Countess de Lavardens, had been very unfortunate. +At eighteen she had been guilty of a folly, the only one of her life, but +that one--irreparable. She had married for love, in a burst of +enthusiasm and exaltation, M. de Lavardens, one of the most fascinating +and brilliant men of his time. He did not love her, and only married her +from necessity; he had devoured his patrimonial fortune to the very last +farthing, and for two or three years had supported himself by various +expedients. Mademoiselle de Lannilis knew all that, and had no illusions +on these points, but she said to herself: + +"I will love him so much, that he will end by loving me." + +Hence all her misfortunes. Her existence might have been tolerable, if +she had not loved her husband so much; but she loved him too much. She +had only succeeded in wearying him by her importunities and tenderness. +He returned to his former life, which had been most irregular. Fifteen +years had passed thus, in a long martyrdom, supported by Madame de +Lavardens with all the appearance of passive resignation. Nothing ever +could distract her from, or cure her of, the love which was destroying +her. + +M. de Lavardens died in 1869; he left a son fourteen years of age, in +whom were already visible all the defects and all the good qualities of +his father. Without being seriously affected, the fortune of Madame de +Lavardens was slightly compromised, slightly diminished. Madame de +Lavardens sold her mansion in Paris, retired to the country, where she +lived with strict economy, and devoted herself to the education of her +son. + +But here again grief and disappointment awaited her. Paul de Lavardens +was intelligent, amiable, and affectionate, but thoroughly rebellious +against any constraint, and any species of work. He drove to despair +three or four tutors who vainly endeavored to force something serious +into his head, went up to the military college of Saint-Cyr, failed at +the examination, and began to devour in Paris, with all the haste and +folly possible, 200,000 or 300,000 francs. + +That done, he enlisted in the first regiment of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, +had in the very beginning of his military career the good fortune to make +one of an expeditionary column sent into the Sahara, distinguished +himself, soon became quartermaster, and at the end of three years was +about to be appointed sub-lieutenant, when he was captivated by a young +person who played the 'Fille de Madame Angot', at the theatre in Algiers. + +Paul had finished his time, he quitted the service, and went to Paris +with his charmer . . . . then it was a dancer . . . . then it was +an actress . . . . then a circus-rider. He tried life in every form. +He led the brilliant and miserable existence of the unoccupied. + +But it was only three or four months that he passed in Paris each year. +His mother made him an allowance Of 30,000 francs, and had declared to +him that never, while she lived, should he have another penny before his +marriage. He knew his mother, he knew he must consider her words as +serious. Thus, wishing to make a good figure in Paris, and lead a merry +life, he spent his 30,000 francs in three months, and then docilely +returned to Lavardens, where he was "out at grass." He spent his time +hunting, fishing, and riding with the officers of the artillery regiment +quartered at Souvigny. The little provincial milliners and grisettes +replaced, without rendering him obvious of, the little singers and +actresses of Paris. By searching for them, one may still find grisettes +in country towns, and Paul de Lavardens sought assiduously. + +As soon as the Cure had reached Madame de Lavardens, she said: "Without +waiting for Monsieur de Larnac, I can tell you the names of the +purchasers of the domain of Longueval. I am quite easy on the subject, +and have no doubt of the success of our plan. In order to avoid any +foolish disputes, we have agreed among ourselves, that is, among our +neighbors, Monsieur de Larnac, Monsieur Gallard, a great Parisian banker, +and myself. Monsieur de Larnac will have La Mionne, Monsieur Gallard the +castle and Blanche-Couronne, and La Rozeraie. I know you, Monsieur le +Cure, you will be anxious about your poor, but comfort yourself. These +Gallards are rich and will give you plenty of money." + +At this moment a cloud of dust appeared on the road, from it emerged a +carriage. + +"Here comes Monsieur de Larnac!" cried Paul, "I know his ponies!" + +All three hurriedly descended from the terrace and returned to the +castle. They arrived there just as M. de Larnac's carriage drove up to +the entrance. + +"Well?" asked Madame de Lavardens. + +"Well!" replied M. de Larnac, "we have nothing." + +"What? Nothing?" cried Madame de Lavardens, very pale and agitated. + +"Nothing, nothing; absolutely nothing--the one or the other of us." + +And M. de Larnac springing from his carriage, related what had taken +place at the sale before the Tribunal of Souvigny. + +"At first," he said, "everything went upon wheels. The castle went to +Monsieur Gallard for 650,000 francs. No competitor--a raise of fifty +francs had been sufficient. On the other hand, there was a little battle +for Blanche-Couronne. The bids rose from 500,000 francs to 520,000 +francs, and again Monsieur Gallard was victorious. Another and more +animated battle for La Rozeraie; at last it was knocked down to you, +Madame, for 455,000 francs . . . . I got the forest of La Mionne +without opposition at a rise of 100 francs. All seemed over, those +present had risen, our solicitors were surrounded with persons asking the +names of the purchasers." + +"Monsieur Brazier, the judge intrusted with the sale, desired silence, +and the bailiff of the court offered the four lots together for 2,150,000 +or 2,160,000 francs, I don't remember which. A murmur passed through the +assembly. 'No one will bid' was heard on all sides. But little Gibert, +the solicitor, who was seated in the first row, and till then had given +no sign of life, rose and said calmly, 'I have a purchaser for the four +lots together at 2,200,000 francs.' This was like a thunderbolt. +A tremendous clamor arose, followed by a dead silence. The hall was +filled with farmers and laborers from the neighborhood. Two million +francs! So much money for the land threw them into a sort of respectful +stupor. However, Monsieur Gallard, bending toward Sandrier, the +solicitor who had bid for him, whispered something in his ear. The +struggle began between Gibert and Sandrier. The bids rose to 2,500,000 +francs. Monsieur Gallard hesitated for a moment--decided--continued up +to 3,000,000. Then he stopped and the whole went to Gibert. Every one +rushed on him, they surrounded--they crushed him: 'The name, the name of +the purchaser?' 'It is an American,' replied Gibert, 'Mrs. Scott.'" + +"Mrs. Scott!" cried Paul de Lavardens. + +"You know her?" asked Madame de Lavardens. + +"Do I know her?--do I--not at all. But I was at a ball at her house six +weeks ago." + +"At a ball at her house! and you don't know her! What sort of woman is +she, then?" + +"Charming, delightful, ideal, a miracle!" + +"And is there a Mr. Scott?" + +"Certainly, a tall, fair man. He was at his ball. They pointed him out +to me. He bowed at random right and left. He was not much amused, I +will answer for it. He looked at us as if he were thinking, 'Who are all +these people? What are they doing at my house?' We went to see Mrs. +Scott and Miss Percival, her sister. And certainly it was well worth the +trouble." + +"These Scotts," said Madame de Lavardens, addressing M. de Larnac, "do +you know who they are?" + +"Yes, Madame, I know. Mr. Scott is an American, possessing a colossal +fortune, who settled himself in Paris last year. As soon as their name +was mentioned, I understood that the victory had never been doubtful. +Gallard was beaten beforehand. The Scotts began by buying a house in +Paris for 2,000,000 francs, it is near the Parc Monceau." + +"Yes, Rue Murillo," said Paul; "I tell you I went to a ball there. It +was--" + +"Let Monsieur de Larnac speak. You can tell us presently about the ball +at Mrs. Scott's." + +"Well, now, imagine my Americans established in Paris," continued M. de +Larnac, "and the showers of gold begun. In the orthodox parvenu style +they amuse themselves with throwing handfuls of gold out of window. +Their great wealth is quite recent, they say; ten years ago Mrs. Scott +begged in the streets of New York." + +"Begged!" + +"They say so. Then she married this Scott, the son of a New York banker, +and all at once a successful lawsuit put into their hands not millions, +but tens of millions. Somewhere in America they have a silver mine, but +a genuine mine, a real mine--a mine with silver in it. Ah! we shall see +what luxury will reign at Longueval! We shall all look like paupers +beside them! It is said that they have 100,000 francs a day to spend." + +"Such are our neighbors!" cried Madame de Lavardens. "An adventuress! +and that is the least of it--a heretic, Monsieur l'Abbe, a Protestant!" + +A heretic! a Protestant! Poor Cure; it was indeed that of which he had +immediately thought on hearing the words, "An American, Mrs. Scott." The +new chatelaine of Longueval would not go to mass. What did it matter to +him that she had been a beggar? What did it matter to him if she +possessed tens and tens of millions? She was not a Catholic. He would +never again baptize children born at Longueval, and the chapel in the +castle, where he had so often said mass, would be transformed into a +Protestant oratory, which would echo only the frigid utterances of a +Calvinistic or Lutheran pastor. + +Every one was distressed, disappointed, overwhelmed; but in the midst of +the general depression Paul stood radiant. + +"A charming heretic at all events," said he, "or rather two charming +heretics. You should see the two sisters on horseback in the Bois, with +two little grooms behind them not higher than that." + +"Come, Paul, tell us all you know. Describe the ball of which you speak. +How did you happen to go to a ball at these Americans?" + +"By the greatest chance. My Aunt Valentine was at home that night; I +looked in about ten o'clock. Well, Aunt Valentine's Wednesdays are not +exactly scenes of wild enjoyment, I give you my word! I had been there +about twenty minutes when I caught sight of Roger de Puymartin escaping +furtively. I caught him in the hall and said: + +"'We will go home together.' + +"'Oh! I am not going home.' + +"'Where are you going?' + +"'To the ball.' + +"'Where?' + +"'At Mrs. Scott's. Will you come?' + +"'But I have not been invited.' + +"'Neither have I' + +"'What! not invited?' + +"'No. I am going with one of my friends.' + +"'And does your friend know them?' + +"'Scarcely; but enough to introduce us. Come along; you will see Mrs. +Scott.' + +"'Oh! I have seen her on horseback in the Bois.' + +"'But she does not wear a low gown on horseback; you have not seen her +shoulders, and they are shoulders which ought to be seen. There is +nothing better in Paris at this moment.' + +"And I went to the ball, and I saw Mrs. Scott's red hair, and I saw Mrs. +Scott's white shoulders, and I hope to see them again when there are +balls at Longueval." + +"Paul!" said Madame de Lavardens, pointing to the Abbe. + +"Oh! Monsieur l'Abbe, I beg a thousand pardons. Have I said anything? +It seems to me--" + +The poor old priest had heard nothing; his thoughts were elsewhere. +Already he saw, in the village streets, the Protestant pastor from the +castle stopping before each house, and slipping under the doors little +evangelical pamphlets. + +Continuing his account, Paul launched into an enthusiastic description of +the mansion, which was a marvel-- + +"Of bad taste and ostentation," interrupted Madame de Lavardens. + +"Not at all, mother, not at all; nothing startling, nothing loud. It is +admirably furnished, everything done with elegance and originality. An +incomparable conservatory, flooded with electric light; the buffet was +placed in the conservatory under a vine laden with grapes, which one +could gather by handfuls, and in the month of April! The accessories of +the cotillon cost, it appears, more than 400,000 francs. Ornaments, +'bon-bonnieres', delicious trifles, and we were begged to accept them. +For my part I took nothing, but there were many who made no scruple. +That evening Puymartin told me Mrs. Scott's history, but it was not at +all like Monsieur de Larnac's story. Roger said that, when quite little, +Mrs. Scott had been stolen from her family by some acrobats, and that her +father had found her in a travelling circus, riding on barebacked horses +and jumping through paper hoops." + +"A circus-rider!" cried Madame de Lavardens, "I should have preferred +the beggar." + +"And while Roger was telling me this Family Herald romance, I saw +approaching from the end of a gallery a wonderful cloud of lace and +satin; it surrounded this rider from a wandering circus, and I admired +those shoulders, those dazzling shoulders, on which undulated a necklace +of diamonds as big as the stopper of a decanter. They say that the +Minister of Finance had sold secretly to Mrs. Scott half the crown +diamonds, and that was how, the month before, he had been able to show a +surplus of 1,500,000 francs in the budget. Add to all this that the lady +had a remarkably good air, and that the little acrobat seemed perfectly +at home in the midst of all this splendor." + +Paul was going so far that his mother was obliged to stop him. Before M. +de Larnac, who was excessively annoyed and disappointed, he showed too +plainly his delight at the prospect of having this marvellous American +for a near neighbor. + +The Abbe Constantin was preparing to return to Longueval, but Paul, +seeing him ready to start, said: + +"No! no! Monsieur le Cure, you must not think of walking back to +Longueval in the heat of the day. Allow me to drive you home. I am +really grieved to see you so cast down, and will try my best to amuse +you. Oh! if you were ten times a saint I would make you laugh at my +stories." + +And half an hour after, the two--the Cure and Paul--drove side by side in +the direction of the village. Paul talked, talked, talked. His mother +was not there to check or moderate his transports, and his joy was +overflowing. + +"Now, look here, Monsieur l'Abbe, you are wrong to take things in this +tragic manner. Stay, look at my little mare, how well she trots! what +good action she has! You have not seen her before? What do you think +I paid for her? Four hundred francs. I discovered her a fortnight ago, +between the shafts of a market gardener's cart. She is a treasure. +I assure you she can do sixteen miles an hour, and keep one's hands full +all the time. Just see how she pulls. Come, tot-tot-tot! You are not +in a hurry, Monsieur l'Abbe, I hope. Let us return through the wood; the +fresh air will do you good. Oh! Monsieur l'Abbe, if you only knew what a +regard I have for you, and respect, too. I did not talk too much +nonsense before you just now, did I? I should be so sorry--" + +"No, my child, I heard nothing." + +"Well, we will take the longest way round." + +After having turned to the left in the wood, Paul resumed his +communications. + +"I was saying, Monsieur l'Abbe," he went on, "that you are wrong to take +things so seriously. Shall I tell you what I think? This is a very +fortunate affair." + +"Very fortunate?" + +"Yes, very fortunate. I would rather see the Scotts at Longueval than +the Gallards. Did you not hear Monsieur de Larnac reproach these +Americans with spending their money foolishly. It is never foolish to +spend money. The folly lies in keeping it. Your poor for I am perfectly +sure that it is your poor of whom you are thinking--your poor have made a +good thing of it to-day. That is my opinion. The religion? Well, they +will not go to mass, and that will be a grief to you, that is only +natural; but they will send you money, plenty of money, and you will take +it, and you will be quite right in doing so. You will see that you will +not say no. There will be gold raining over the whole place; a movement, +a bustle, carriages with four horses, postilions, powdered footmen, paper +chases, hunting parties, balls, fireworks, and here in this very spot I +shall perhaps find Paris again before long. I shall see once more the +two riders, and the two little grooms of whom I was speaking just now. +If you only knew how well those two sisters look on horseback! One +morning I went right round the Bois de Boulogne behind them; I fancy I +can see them still. They had high hats, and little black veils drawn +very tightly over their faces, and long riding-habits made in the +princess form, with a single seam right down the back; and a woman must +be awfully well made to wear a riding-habit like that, because you see, +Monsieur l'Abbe, with a habit of that cut no deception is possible." + +For some moments the Cure had not been listening to Paul's discourse. +They had entered a long, perfectly straight avenue, and at the end of +this avenue the Cure saw a horseman galloping along. + +"Look," said the Cure to Paul, "your eyes are better than mine. Is not +that Jean?" + +"Yes, it is jean. I know his gray mare." + +Paul loved horses, and before looking at the rider looked at the horse. +It was indeed Jean, who, when he saw in the distance the Cure and Paul +de Lavardens, waved in the air his kepi adorned with two golden stripes. +Jean was lieutenant in the regiment of artillery quartered at Souvigny. + +Some moments after he stopped by the little carriage, and, addressing the +Cure, said: + +"I have just been to your house, 'mon parrain'. Pauline told me that you +had gone to Souvigny about the sale. Well, who has bought the castle?" + +"An American, Mrs. Scott." + +"And Blanche-Couronne?" + +"The same, Mrs. Scott." + +"And La Rozeraie?" + +"Mrs. Scott again." + +"And the forest? Mrs. Scott again?" + +"You have said it," replied Paul, "and I know Mrs. Scott, and I can +promise you that there will be something going on at Longueval. I will +introduce you. Only it is distressing to Monsieur l'Abbe because she is +an American--a Protestant." + +"Ah! that is true," said Jean, sympathizingly. "However, we will talk +about it to-morrow. I am going to dine with you, godfather; I have +warned Pauline of my visit; no time to stop to-day. I am on duty, and +must be in quarters at three o'clock." + +"Stables?" asked Paul. + +"Yes. Good-by, Paul. To-morrow, godfather." + +The lieutenant galloped away. Paul de Lavardens gave his little horse +her head. + +"What a capital fellow Jean is!" said Paul. + +"Oh, yes, indeed!" + +"There is no one on earth better than Jean." + +"No, no one." + +The Cure turned round to take another look at Jean, who was almost lost +in the depths of the forest. + +"Oh, yes, there is you, Monsieur le Cure." + +"No, not me! not me!" + +"Well, Monsieur 1'Abbe, shall I tell you what I think? I think there is +no one better than you two--you and Jean. That is the truth, if I must +tell you. Oh! what a splendid place for a trot! I shall let Niniche +go; I call her Niniche." + +With the point of his whip Paul caressed the flank of Niniche, who +started off at full speed, and Paul, delighted, cried: + +"Just look at her action, Monsieur l'Abbe! just look at her action! So +regular--just like clockwork. Lean over and look." + +To please Paul de Lavardens the Abbe Constantin did lean over and look at +Niniche's action, but the old priest's thoughts were far away. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEW CHATELAINE + +This sub-lieutenant of artillery was called Jean Reynaud. He was the son +of a country doctor who slept in the churchyard of Longueval. + +In 1846, when the Abbe' Constantin took possession of his little living, +the grandfather of Jean was residing in a pleasant cottage on the road to +Souvigny, between the picturesque old castles of Longueval and Lavardens. + +Marcel, the son of that Dr. Reynaud, was finishing his medical studies in +Paris. He possessed great industry, and an elevation of sentiment and +mind extremely rare. He passed his examinations with great distinction, +and had decided to fix his abode in Paris and tempt fortune there, and +everything seemed to promise him the most prosperous and brilliant +career, when, in 1852, he received the news of his father's death--he had +been struck down by a fit of apoplexy. Marcel hurried to Longueval, +overwhelmed with grief, for he adored his father. He spent a month with +his mother, and then spoke of the necessity of returning to Paris. + +"That is true," said his mother; "you must go." + +"What! I must go! We must go, you mean. Do you think that I would +leave you here alone? I shall take you with me." + +"To live in Paris; to leave the place where I was born, where your father +lived, where he died? I could never do it, my child, never! Go alone; +your life, your future, are there. I know you; I know that you will +never forget me, that you will come and see me often, very often." + +"No, mother," he answered; "I shall stay here." + +And he stayed. + +His hopes, his ambitions, all in one moment vanished. He saw only one +thing--duty--the duty of not abandoning his aged mother. In duty, simply +accepted and simply discharged, he found happiness. After all, it is +only thus that one does find happiness. + +Marcel bowed with courage and good grace to his new existence. He +continued his father's life, entering the groove at the very spot where +he had left it. He devoted himself without regret to the obscure career +of a country doctor. His father had left him a little land and a little +money; he lived in the most simple manner possible, and one half of his +life belonged to the poor, from whom he would never receive a penny. + +This was his only luxury. + +He found in his way a young girl, charming, penniless, and alone in the +world. He married her. This was in 1855, and the following year brought +to Dr. Reynaud a great sorrow and a great joy--the death of his old +mother and the birth of his son Jean. + +At an interval of six weeks, the Abby Constantin recited the prayers for +the dead over the grave of the grandmother, and was present in the +position of godfather at the baptism of the grandson. + +In consequence of constantly meeting at the bedside of the suffering and +dying, the priest and the doctor had been strongly attracted to each +other. They instinctively felt that they belonged to the same family, +the same race--the race of the tender, the just, and the benevolent. + +Year followed year--calm, peaceful, fully occupied in labor and duty. +Jean was no longer an infant. His father gave him his first lessons in +reading and writing, the priest his first lessons in Latin. Jean was +intelligent and industrious. He made so much progress that the two +professors--particularly the Cure--found themselves at the end of a few +years rather cast into the shade by their pupil. It was at this moment +that the Countess, after the death of her husband, came to settle at +Lavardens. She brought with her a tutor for her son Paul, a very nice, +but very lazy little fellow. The two children were of the same age; they +had known each other from their earliest years. + +Madame de Lavardens had a great regard for Dr. Reynaud, and one day she +made him the following proposal: + +"Send Jean to me every morning," said she, "I will send him home in the +evening. Paul's tutor is a very accomplished man; he will make the +children work together. It will be rendering me a real service. Jean +will set Paul a good example." + +Things were thus arranged, and the little bourgeois set the little +nobleman a most excellent example of industry and application, but this +excellent example was not followed. + +The war broke out. On November 14th, at seven o'clock in the morning, +the mobiles of Souvigny assembled in the great square of the town; their +chaplain was the Abbe Constantin, their surgeon-major, Dr. Reynaud. The +same idea had come at the same moment to both; the priest was sixty-two, +the doctor fifty. + +When they started, the battalion followed the road which led through +Longueval, and which passed before the doctor's house. Madame Reynaud +and Jean were waiting by the roadside. The child threw himself into his +father's arms. + +"Take me, too, papa! take me, too!" + +Madame Reynaud wept. The doctor held them both in a long embrace, then +he continued his way. + +A hundred steps farther the road made a sharp curve. The doctor turned, +cast one long look at his wife and child-the last; he was never to see +them again. + +On January 8, 1871, the mobiles of Souvigny attacked the village of +Villersexel, occupied by the Prussians, who had barricaded themselves. +The firing began. A mobile who marched in the front rank received a ball +in the chest and fell. There was a short moment of trouble and +hesitation. + +"Forward! forward!" shouted the officers. + +The men passed over the body of their comrade, and under a hail of +bullets entered the town. + +Dr. Reynaud and the Abbe Constantin marched with the troops; they stopped +by the wounded man; the blood was rushing in floods from his mouth. + +"There is nothing to be done," said the doctor. "He is dying; he belongs +to you." + +The priest knelt down by the dying man, and the doctor rose to go toward +the village. He had not taken ten steps when he stopped, beat the air +with both hands, and fell all at once to the ground. The priest ran to +him; he was dead-killed on the spot by a bullet through the temples. +That evening the village was ours, and the next day they placed in the +cemetery of Villersexel the body of Dr. Reynaud. + +Two months later the Abbe Constantin took back to Longueval the coffin of +his friend, and behind the coffin, when it was carried from the church, +walked an orphan. Jean had also lost his mother. At the news of her +husband's death, Madame Reynaud had remained for twenty-four hours +petrified, crushed, without a word or a tear; then fever had seized her, +then delirium, and after a fortnight, death. + +Jean was alone in the world; he was fourteen years old. Of that family, +where for more than a century all had been good and honest, there +remained only a child kneeling beside a grave; but he, too, promised to +be what his father and grandfather before him had been--good, and honest, +and true. + +There are families like that in France, and many of them, more than one +ventures to say. Our poor country is in many respects calumniated by +certain novelists, who draw exaggerated and distorted pictures of it. +It is true the history of good people is often monotonous or painful. +This story is a proof of it. + +The grief of Jean was the grief of a man. He remained long sad and +silent. The evening of his father's funeral the Abbe Constantin took him +home to the vicarage. The day had been rainy and cold. Jean was sitting +by the fireside; the priest was reading his breviary opposite him. Old +Pauline came and went, arranging her affairs. + +An hour passed without a word, when Jean, raising his head, said: + +"Godfather, did my father leave me any money?" + +This question was so extraordinary that the old priest, stupefied, could +scarcely believe that he heard aright. + +"You ask if your father--" + +"I asked if my father left me some money?" + +"Yes; he must have left you some." + +"A good deal, don't you think? I have often heard people say that my +father was rich. Tell me about how much he has left me!" + +"But I don't know. You ask--" + +The poor old man felt his heart rent in twain. Such a question at such a +moment! Yet he thought he knew the boy's heart, and in that heart there +should not be room for such thoughts. + +"Pray, dear godfather, tell me," continued Jean, gently. "I will explain +to you afterward why I ask that." + +"Well, they say your father had 200,000 or 300,000 francs." + +"And is that much?" + +"Yes, it is a great deal." + +"And it is all mine?" + +"Yes, it is all yours." + +"Oh! I am glad, because, you know, the day that my father was killed in +the war, the Prussians killed, at the same time, the son of a poor woman +in Longueval--old Clemence, you know; and they killed, too, the brother +of Rosalie, with whom I used to play when I was quite little. Well, +since I am rich and they are poor, I will divide with Clemence and +Rosalie the money my father has left me." + +On hearing these words the Cure rose, took Jean by both hands, and drew +him into his arms. The white head rested on the fair one. Two large +tears escaped from the eyes of the old priest, rolled slowly down his +cheeks, and were lost in the furrows of his face. + +However, the Cure was obliged to explain to Jean that, though he was his +father's heir, he had not the right of disposing of his heritage as he +would. There would be a family council, and a guardian would be +appointed. + +"You, no doubt, godfather?" + +"No, not I, my child; a priest has not the right of exercising the +functions of a guardian. They will, I think, choose Monsieur Lenient, +the lawyer in Souvigny, who was one of your father's best friends. You +can speak to him and tell him what you wish." + +M. Lenient was eventually appointed guardian, and Jean urged his wishes +so eagerly and touchingly that the lawyer consented to deduct from the +income a sum of 2,400 francs, which, every year till Jean came of age, +was divided between old Clemence and little Rosalie. + +Under these circumstances, Madame de Lavardens was perfect. She went to +the Abbe and said: + +"Give Jean to me, give him to me entirely till he has finished his +studies. I will bring him back to you every year during the holidays. +It is not I who am rendering you a service; it is a service which I ask +of you. I cannot imagine any greater good fortune for my son than to +have Jean for a companion. I must resign myself to leaving Lavardens +for a time. Paul is bent upon being a soldier and going up to Saint-Cyr. +It is only in Paris that I can obtain the necessary masters. I will take +the two children there; they will study together under my own eyes like +brothers, and I will make no difference between them; of that you may be +sure." + +It was difficult to refuse such an offer. The old Cure would have dearly +liked to keep Jean with him, and his heart was torn at the thought of +this separation, but what was for the child's real interest? That was +the only question to be considered; the rest was nothing. They summoned +Jean. + +"My child," said Madame de Lavardens to him, "will you come and live with +Paul and me for some years? I will take you both to Paris." + +"You are very kind, Madame, but I should have liked so much to stay +here." + +He looked at the Cure, who turned away his eyes. + +"Why must we go?" he continued. "Why must you take Paul and me away?" + +"Because it is only in Paris that you can have all the advantages +necessary to complete your studies. Paul will prepare for his +examination at Saint-Cyr. You know he wishes to be a soldier." + +"So do I, Madame. I wish to be one, too." + +"You a soldier!" exclaimed the Cure; "but you know that was not at all +your father's idea. In my presence, he has often spoken of your future, +your career. You were to be a doctor, and, like him, doctor at +Longueval, and, like him, devote yourself to the sick and poor. Jean, +my child, do you remember?" + +"I remember, I remember." + +"Well, then, Jean, you must do as your father wished; it is your duty, +Jean; it is your duty. You must go to Paris. You would like to stay +here, I understand that well, and I should like it, too; but it can not +be. You must go to Paris, and work, work hard. Not that I am anxious +about that; you are your father's true son. You will be an honest and +laborious man. One can not well be the one without the other. And some +day, in your father's house, in the place where he has done so much good, +the poor people of the country round will find another Doctor Reynaud, to +whom they may look for help. And I--if by chance I am still in this +world--when that day comes, I shall be so happy! But I am wrong to speak +of myself; I ought not, I do not count. It is of your father that you +must think. I repeat it, Jean, it was his dearest wish. You can not +have forgotten it." + +"No, I have not forgotten; but if my father sees me, and hears me, I am +certain that he understands and forgives me, for it is on his account." + +"On his account?" + +"Yes. When I heard that he was dead, and when I heard how he died, all +at once, without any need of reflection, I said to myself that I would be +a soldier, and I will be a soldier! Godfather, and you, Madame, I beg +you not to prevent me." + +The child burst into tears--a perfect flood of passionate tears. The +Countess and the Abbe soothed him with gentle words. + +"Yes--yes--it is settled," they said; "anything that you wish, all that +you wish." + +Both had the same thought--leave it to time; Jean is only a child; he +will change his mind. + +In this, both were mistaken; Jean did not change his mind. In the month +of September, 1876, Paul de Lavardens was rejected at Saint-Cyr, and Jean +Reynaud passed eleventh at the Ecole Polytechnique. The day when the +list of the candidates who had passed was published, he wrote to the Abbe +Constantin: + +"I have passed, and passed too well, for I wish to go into the army, and +not the civil service; however, if I keep my place in the school, that +will be the business of one of my comrades; he will have my chance." + +It happened so in the end. Jean Reynaud did better than keep his place; +the pass-list showed his name seventh, but instead of entering 'l'Ecole +des Ponts et Chaussees', he entered the military college at Fontainebleau +in 1878. + +He was then just twenty-one; he was of age, master of his fortune, and +the first act of the new administration was a great, a very great piece +of extravagance. + +He bought for old Clemence and little Rosalie two shares in Government +stock of 1,500 francs each. That cost him 70,000 francs, almost the sum +that Paul de Lavardens, in his first year of liberty in Paris, spent for +Mademoiselle Lise Bruyere, of the Palais Royal Theatre. + +Two years later Jean passed first at the examination, and left +Fontainebleau with the right of choosing among the vacant places. There +was one in the regiment quartered at Souvigny, and Souvigny was three +miles from Longueval. Jean asked for this, and obtained it. + +Thus Jean Reynaud, lieutenant in the ninth regiment of artillery, came in +the month of October, 1880, to take possession of the house that had been +his father's; thus he found himself once more in the place where his +childhood had passed, and where every one had kept green the memory of +the life and death of his father; thus the Abbe Constantin was not denied +the happiness of once again having near him the son of his old friend, +and, if the truth must be told, he no longer wished that Jean had become +a doctor. + +When the old Cure left his church after saying mass, when he saw coming +along the road a great cloud of dust, when he felt the earth tremble +under the rumbling cannon, he would stop, and, like a child, amuse +himself with seeing the regiment pass, but to him the regiment was--Jean. +It was this robust and manly cavalier, in whose face, as in an open book, +one read uprightness, courage, and goodness. + +The moment Jean perceived the Cure, he would put his horse to a gallop, +and go to have a little chat with his godfather. The horse would turn +his head toward the Cure, for he knew very well there was always a piece +of sugar for him in the pocket of that old black soutane--rusty and worn- +-the morning soutane. The Abbe Constantin had a beautiful new one, of +which he took great care, to wear in society--when he went into society. + +The trumpets of the regiment sounded as they passed through the village, +and all eyes sought Jean--"little Jean"-for to the old people of +Longueval he was still little Jean. Certain wrinkled, broken-down, old +peasants had never been able to break themselves of the habit of saluting +him when he passed with, "Bonjour, gamin, ca va bien?" + +He was six feet high, this gamin, and Jean never crossed the village +without perceiving at one window the old furrowed parchment skin of +Clemence, and at another the smiling countenance of Rosalie. The latter +had married during the previous year; Jean had given her away, and +joyously on the wedding-night had he danced with the girls of Longueval. + +Such was the lieutenant of artillery, who, on Saturday, May 28, 1881, at +half-past four in the afternoon, sprang from his horse before the door of +the vicarage of Longueval. He entered the gate, the horse obediently +followed, and went by himself into a little shed in the yard. Pauline +was at the kitchen window; Jean approached and kissed her heartily on +both cheeks. + +"Good-evening, Pauline. Is all well?" + +"Very well. I am busy preparing your dinner; would you like to know what +you are going to have? potato soup, a leg of mutton, and a custard." + +"That is excellent; I shall enjoy everything, for I am dying of hunger." + +"And a salad; I had forgotten it; you can help me cut it directly. +Dinner will be at half-past six exactly, for at half-past seven Monsieur +le Cure has his service for the month of Mary." + +"Where is my godfather?" + +"You will find him in the garden. He is very sad on account of this sale +of yesterday." + +"Yes, I know, I know." + +"It will cheer him a little to see you; he is always so happy when you +are here. Take care; Loulou is going to eat the climbing roses. How hot +he is!" + +"I came the long way by the wood, and rode very fast." + +Jean captured Loulou, who was directing his steps toward the climbing +roses. He unsaddled him, fastened him in the little shed, rubbed him +down with a great handful of straw, after which he entered the house, +relieved himself of his sword and kepi, replaced the latter by an old +straw hat, value sixpence, and then went to look for his godfather in the +garden. + +The poor Abbe was indeed sad; he had scarcely closed an eye all night-- +he who generally slept so easily, so quietly, the sound sleep of a child. +His soul was wrung. Longueval in the hands of a foreigner, of a heretic, +of an adventuress! + +Jean repeated what Paul had said the evening before. + +"You will have money, plenty of money, for your poor." + +"Money! money! Yes, my poor will not lose, perhaps they will even gain +by it; but I must go and ask for this money, and in the salon, instead of +my old and dear friend, I shall find this red-haired American. It seems +that she has red hair! I will certainly go for the sake of my poor--I +will go--and she will give me the money, but she will give me nothing but +money; the Marquise gave me something else--her life and her heart. +Every week we went together to visit the sick and the poor; she knew all +the sufferings and the miseries of the country round, and when the gout +nailed me to my easy-chair she made the rounds alone, and as well, or +better than I." + +Pauline interrupted this conversation. She carried an immense +earthenware salad-dish, on which bloomed, violent and startling, enormous +red flowers. + +"Here I am," said Pauline, "I am going to cut the salad. Jean, would you +like lettuce or endive?" + +"Endive," said Jean, gayly. "It is a long time since I have had any +endive." + +"Well, you shall have some to-night. Stay, take the dish." + +Pauline began to cut the endive, and Jean bent down to receive the leaves +in the great salad dish. The Cure looked on. + +At this moment a sound of little bells was heard. A carriage was +approaching; one heard the jangling and creaking of its wheels. The +Cure's little garden was only separated from the road by a low hedge, in +the middle of which was a little trellised gate. + +All three looked out, and saw driving down the road a hired carriage of +most primitive construction, drawn by two great white horses, and driven +by an old coachman in a blouse. Beside this old coachman was seated a +tall footman in livery, of the most severe and correct demeanor. In the +carriage were two young women, dressed both alike in very elegant, but +very simple, travelling costumes. + +When the carriage was opposite the gate the coachman stopped his horses, +and addressing the Abbe: + +"Monsieur le Cure," said he, "these ladies wish to speak to you." + +Then, turning toward the ladies: + +"This is Monsieur le Cure of Longueval." + +The Abbe Constantin approached and opened the little gate. The +travellers alighted. Their looks rested, not without astonishment, on +the young officer, who stood there, a little embarrassed, with his straw +hat in one hand, and his salad dish, all overflowing with endive, in the +other. + +The visitors entered the garden, and the elder--she seemed about twenty- +five--addressing the Abbe Constantin, said to him, with a little foreign +accent, very original and very peculiar: + +"I am obliged to introduce myself---Mrs. Scott; I am Mrs. Scott! It was +I who bought the castle and farms and all the rest here at the sale +yesterday. I hope that I do not disturb you, and that you can spare me +five minutes." Then, pointing to her travelling companion, "Miss Bettina +Percival, my sister; you guessed it, I am sure. We are very much alike, +are we not? Ah! Bettina, we have left our bags in the carriage, and we +shall want them directly." + +"I will get them." + +And as Miss Percival prepared to go for the two little bags, Jean said to +her: + +"Pray allow me." + +"I am really very sorry to give you so much trouble. The servant will +give them to you; they are on the front seat." + +She had the same accent as her sister, the same large eyes--black, +laughing, and gay-and the same hair, not red, but fair, with golden +shades, where daintily danced the light of the sun. She bowed to Jean +with a pretty little smile, and he, having returned to Pauline the salad +dish full of endive, went to look for the two little bags. Meanwhile- +much agitated, sorely disturbed--the Abbe Constantin introduced into his +vicarage the new Chatelaine of Longueval. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DELIGHTFUL SURPRISES + +This vicarage of Longueval was far from being a palace. The same +apartment on the ground floor served for dining and drawing-room, +communicating directly with the kitchen by a door, which stood always +wide open. This room was furnished in the most scanty manner; two old +arm chairs, six straw chairs, a sideboard, a round table. Pauline had +already laid the cloth for the dinner of the Abbe and Jean. + +Mrs. Scott and Miss Percival went and came, examining the domestic +arrangements of the Cure with a sort of childish wonder. + +"But the garden, the house, everything is charming," said Mrs. Scott. + +They both boldly penetrated into the kitchen; the Abbe Constantin +followed them, scared, bewildered, stupefied at the suddenness and +resolution of this American invasion. + +Old Pauline, with an anxious and gloomy air, examined the two foreigners. + +"There they are, then," she said to herself, "these Protestants, these +accursed heretics!" + +"I must compliment you," said Bettina; "it is so beautifully kept. Look, +Susie, is not the vicarage altogether exactly what you wished?" + +"And so is the Cure," rejoined Mrs. Scott. "Yes, Monsieur le Cure, +if you will permit me to say so, you do not know how happy it makes me +to find you just what you are. In the railway carriage what did I say +to you, Bettina? And again just now, when we were driving here?" + +"My sister said to me, Monsieur le Cure, that what she desired above +everything was a priest, not young, or melancholy, or severe; but one +with white hair and a kind and gentle manner. And that is exactly what +you are, Monsieur le Cure, exactly. No, we could not have been more +fortunate. Excuse me for speaking to you in this manner; the Parisians +know how to make pretty phrases, but I do not, and in speaking French I +should often be quite at a loss if I did not say everything in a simple +and childish way, as it comes into my head. In a word, I am satisfied, +quite satisfied, and I hope that you, too, Monsieur le Cure, will be as +satisfied with your new parishioners." + +"My parishioners!" exclaimed the Cure, all at once recovering speech, +movement, life, everything which for some moments had completely +abandoned him. "My parishioners! Pardon me, Madame, Mademoiselle, I am +so agitated. You will be--you are Catholics?" + +"Certainly we are Catholics." + +"Catholics! Catholics!" repeated the Cure. + +"Catholics! Catholics!" echoed old Pauline. + +Mrs. Scott looked from the Cure to Pauline, from Pauline to the Cure, +much surprised that a single word should produce such an effect, and, to +complete the tableau, Jean appeared carrying the two little travelling +bags. + +The Cure and Pauline saluted him with the same words: + +"Catholics! Catholics!" + +"Ah! I begin to understand," said Mrs. Scott, laughing. "It is our +name, our country; you must have thought that we were Protestants. +Not at all. Our mother was a Canadian, French and Catholic by descent; +that is why my sister and I both speak French, with an accent, it is +true, and with certain American idioms, but yet in such a manner as to be +able to express nearly all we want to say. My husband is a Protestant, +but he allows me complete liberty, and my two children are Catholics. +That is why, Monsieur l'Abbe, we wished to come and see you the very +first day." + +"That is one reason," continued Bettina, "but there is also another; but +for that reason we shall want our little bags." + +"Here they are," said Jean. + +While the two little bags passed from the hands of the officer to those +of Mrs. Scott and Bettina, the Cure introduced Jean to the two Americans, +but his agitation was so great that the introduction was not made +strictly according to rule. The Cure only forgot one thing, it is true, +but that was a thing tolerably essential in an introduction--the family +name of Jean. + +"It is Jean," said he, "my godson, lieutenant of artillery, now quartered +at Souvigny. He is one of the family." + +Jean made two deep bows, the Americans two little ones, after which they +foraged in their bags, from which each drew a 'rouleau' of 1,000 francs, +daintily inclosed in green sheaths of serpent-skin, clasped with gold. + +"I have brought you this for your poor," said Mrs. Scott. + +"And I have brought this," said Bettina. + +"And besides that, Monsieur le Cure, I am going to give you five hundred +francs a month," said Mrs. Scott. + +"And I will do like my sister." + +Delicately they slipped their offerings into the right and left hands of +the Cure, who, looking at each hand alternately, said: + +"What are these little things? They are very heavy; there must be money +in them. Yes, but how much, how much?" + +The Abbe Constantin was seventy-two, and much money had passed through +his hands, but this money had come to him in small sums, and the idea of +such an offering as this had never entered his head. Two thousand +francs! Never had he had so much in his possession--no, not even one +thousand. He stammered: + +"I am very grateful to you, Madame; you are very good, Mademoiselle--" + +But after all he could not thank them enough, and Jean thought it +necessary to come to his assistance. + +"They have given you two thousand francs!" + +And then, full of warmest gratitude; the Cure cried: + +"Two thousand francs! Two thousand francs for my poor!" + +Pauline suddenly reappeared. + +"Here, Pauline," said the Cure, "put away this money, and take care--" + +Old Pauline filled many positions in this simple household: cook, maid- +of-all-work, treasurer, dispenser. Her hands received with a respectful +tremble these two little 'rouleaux' which represented so much misery +alleviated, so much suffering relieved. + +"One thousand francs a month! But there will be no poor left in the +country." + +"That is just what I wish. I am rich, very rich, and so is my sister; +she is even richer than I am, because a young girl has not so many +expenses, while I--Ah! well, I spend all that I can--all that I can. +When one has a great deal of money, too much, more than one feels to be +just, tell me, Monsieur le Cure, is there any other way of obtaining +pardon than to keep one's hands open, and give, give, give, all one can, +and as usefully as one can? Besides, you can give me something in +return;" and, turning to Pauline, "Will you be so kind as to give me a +glass of water? No, nothing else; a glass of cold water; I am dying of +thirst." + +"And I," said Bettina, laughing, while Pauline ran to fetch the water, +"I am dying of something else-of hunger, to tell the truth. Monsieur le +Cure--I know that I am going to be dreadfully intrusive; I see your cloth +is laid--could you not invite us to dinner?" + +"Bettina!" said Mrs. Scott. + +"Let me alone, Susie, let me alone. Won't you, Monsieur le Cure? I am +sure you will." + +But he could find no reply. The old Cure hardly knew where he was. They +had taken his vicarage by storm; they were Catholics; they had promised +him one thousand francs a month, and now they wanted to dine with him. +Ah! that was the last stroke. Terror seized him at the thought of +having to do the honors of his leg of mutton and his custard to these two +absurdly rich Americans. He murmured: + +"Dine!-you would like to dine here?" + +Jean thought he must interpose again. "It would be a great pleasure to +my godfather," said he, "if you would kindly stay. But I know what +disturbs him. We were going to dine together, just the two of us, and +you must not expect a feast. You will be very indulgent?" + +"Yes, yes, very indulgent," replied Bettina; then, addressing her sister, +"Come, Susie, you must not be cross, because I have been a little--you +know it is my way to be a little-- Let us stay, will you? It will do us +good to pass a quiet hour here, after such a day as we have had! On the +railway, in the carriage, in the heat, in the dust; we had such a horrid +luncheon, in such a horrid hotel. We were to have returned to the same +hotel at seven o'clock to dine, and then take the train back to Paris, +but dinner here will be really much nicer. You won't say no? Ah! how +good you are, Susie! " + +She embraced her sister fondly; then turning toward the Cure: + +"If you only knew, Monsieur le Cure, how good she is!" + +"Bettina! Bettina!" + +"Come," said Jean, "quick, Pauline, two more plates; I will help you." + +"And so will I," said Bettina, "I will help, too. Oh! do let me; it will +be so amusing. Monsieur le Cure, you will let me do a little as if I +were at home?" + +In a moment she had taken off her mantle, and Jean could admire, in all +its exquisite perfection, a figure marvellous for suppleness and grace. +Miss Percival then removed her hat, but with a little too much haste, for +this was the signal for a charming catastrophe. A whole avalanche +descended in torrents, in long cascades, over Bettina's shoulders. She +was standing before a window flooded by the rays of the sun, and this +golden light, falling full on this golden hair, formed a delicious frame +for the sparkling beauty of the young girl. Confused and blushing, +Bettina was obliged to call her sister to her aid, and Mrs. Scott had +much trouble in introducing order into this disorder. + +When this disaster was at length repaired, nothing could prevent Bettina +from rushing on plates, knives, and forks. + +"Oh, indeed," said she to Jean, "I know very well how to lay the cloth. +Ask my sister. Tell him, Susie, when I was a little girl in New York, I +used to lay the cloth very well, didn't I?" + +"Very well, indeed," said Mrs. Scott. + +And then, while begging the Cure to excuse Bettina's want of thought, +she, too, took off her hat and mantle, so that Jean had again the very +agreeable spectacle of a charming figure and beautiful hair; but, to +Jean's great regret, the catastrophe had not a second representation. + +In a few minutes Mrs. Scott, Miss Percival, the Cure, and Jean were +seated round the little vicarage table; then, thanks partly to the +impromptu and original nature of the entertainment, partly to the good- +humor and perhaps slightly audacious gayety of Bettina, the conversation +took a turn of the frankest and most cordial familiarity. + +"Now, Monsieur le Cure," said Bettina, "you shall see if I did not speak +the truth when I said I was dying of hunger. I never was so glad to sit +down to dinner. This is such a delightful finish to our day. Both my +sister and I are perfectly happy now we have this castle, and these +farms, and the forest." + +"And then," said Mrs. Scott, "to have all that in such an extraordinary +and unexpected manner. We were so taken by surprise." + +"You may indeed say so, Susie. You must know, Monsieur l'Abbe, that +yesterday was my sister's birthday. But first, pardon me, Monsieur-- +Jean, is it not?" + +"Yes, Miss Percival, Monsieur Jean." + +"Well, Monsieur Jean, a little more of that excellent soup, if you +please." + +The Abbe was beginning to recover a little, but he was still too agitated +to perform the duties of a host. It was Jean who had undertaken the +management of his godfather's little dinner. He filled the plate of the +charming American, who fixed upon him the glance of two large eyes, +in which sparkled frankness, daring, and gayety. The eyes of Jean, +meanwhile, repaid Miss Percival in the same coin. It was scarcely three +quarters of an hour since the young American and the young officer had +made acquaintance in the Cure's garden, yet both felt already perfectly +at ease with each other, full of confidence, almost like old friends. + +"I told you, Monsieur l'Abbe," continued Bettina, "that yesterday was my +sister's birthday. A week ago my brother-in-law was obliged to return to +America, but at starting he said to my sister, 'I shall not be with you +on your birthday, but you will hear from me.' So, yesterday, presents +and bouquets arrived from all quarters, but from my brother-in-law, up to +five o'clock, nothing--nothing. We were just starting for a ride in the +Bois, and 'a propos' of riding"--she stopped, and looking curiously at +Jean's great dusty boots--" Monsieur Jean, you have spurs on." + +"Yes, Miss Percival." + +"Then you are in the cavalry?" + +"I am in the artillery, and that, you know, is cavalry." + +"And your regiment is quartered?"--- + +"Quite near here." + +"Then you will be able to ride with us?" + +"With the greatest pleasure." + +"That is settled. Let me see; where was I?" + +"You do not know at all where you are, Bettina, and you are telling these +gentlemen things which can not interest them." + +"Oh! I beg your pardon," said the Cure. "The sale of this estate is the +only subject of conversation in the neighborhood just now, and Miss +Percival's account interests me very much." + +"You see, Susie, my account interests Monsieur le Cure very much; then I +shall continue. We went for our ride, we returned at seven o'clock-- +nothing. We dined, and just when we were leaving the table a telegram +from America arrived. It contained only a few lines: + +"'I have ordered the purchase to-day, for you and in your name, of the +castle and lands of Longueval, near Souvigny, on the Northern Railway +line.' + +"Then we both burst into a fit of wild laughter at the thought." + +"No, no, Bettina; you calumniate us both. Our first thought was one of +very sincere gratitude, for both my sister and I are very fond of the +country. My husband knows that we had longed to have an estate in +France. For six months he had been looking out, and found nothing. At +last he discovered this one, and, without telling us, ordered it to be +bought for my birthday. It was a delicate attention." + +"Yes, Susie, you are right, but after the little fit of gratitude, we had +a great one of gayety." + +"Yes, I confess it. When we realized that we had suddenly become +possessed of a castle, without knowing in the least where it was, what it +was like, or how much it had cost, it seemed so like a fairy-tale. Well, +for five good minutes we laughed with all our hearts, then we seized the +map of France, and succeeded in discovering Souvigny. When he had +finished with the map it was the turn of the railway guide, and this +morning, by the ten o'clock express, we arrived at Souvigny. + +"We have passed the whole day in visiting the castle, the farms, the +woods, the stables. We are delighted with what we have seen. Only, +Monsieur le Cure, there is one thing about which I feel curious. I know +that the place was sold yesterday; but I have not dared to ask either +agent or farmer who accompanied me in my walk--for my ignorance would +have seemed too absurd--I have not dared to ask how much it cost. In the +telegram my husband does not mention the sum. Since I am so delighted +with the place, the price is only a detail, but still I should like to +know it. Tell me, Monsieur le Cure, do you know what it cost?" + +"An enormous price," replied the Cure, "for many hopes and many ambitions +were excited about Longueval." + +"An enormous price! You frighten me. How much exactly?" + +"Three millions!" + +"Is that all? Is that all?" cried Mrs. Scott. "The castle, the farms, +the forest, all for three millions?" + +"But that is nothing," said Bettina. "That delicious little stream which +wanders through the park is alone worth three millions." + +"And you said just now, Monsieur le Cure, that there were several persons +who disputed the purchase with us?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Scott." + +"And, after the sale, was my name mentioned among these persons?" + +"Certainly it was." + +"And when my name was mentioned was there no one there who spoke of me? +Yes, yes, your silence is a sufficient answer; they did speak of me. +Well, Monsieur le Cure, I am now serious, very serious. I beg you as a +favor to tell me what was said." + +"But," replied the poor Cure, who felt himself upon burning coals, "they +spoke of your large fortune." + +"Yes, of course, they would be obliged to speak of that, and no doubt +they said that I was very rich, but had not been rich long--that I was a +parvenu. Very well, but that is not all; they must have said something +else." + +"No, indeed; I have heard nothing else." + +"Oh, Monsieur le Cure, that is what you may call a white lie, and it is +making you very unhappy, because naturally you are the soul of truth; +but if I torment you thus it is because I have the greatest interest in +knowing what was said." + +"You are right," interrupted Jean, "you are right. They said you were +one of the most elegant, the most brilliant, and the--" + +"And one of the prettiest women in Paris. With a little indulgence they +might say that; but that is not all yet--there is something else." + +"Oh! I assure you--" + +"Yes, there is something else, and I should like to hear it this very +moment, and I should like the information to be very frank and very +exact. It seems to me that I am in a lucky vein to-day, and I feel as if +you were both a little inclined to be my friends, and that you will be so +entirely some day. Well, tell me if I am right in supposing that should +false and absurd stories be told about me you will help me to contradict +them." + +"Yes!" replied Jean, "you are right in believing that." + +"Well, then, it is to you that I address myself. You are a soldier, and +courage is part of your profession. Promise me to be brave. Will you +promise me?" + +"What do you understand by being brave?" + +"Promise, promise--without explanations, without conditions." + +"Well, I promise." + +"You will then reply frankly, 'Yes' or 'No,' to questions?" + +"I will." + +"Did they say that I had begged in the streets of New York?" + +"Yes, they said so." + +"Did they say I had been a rider in a travelling circus?" + +"Yes; they said that, too." + +"Very well; that is plain speaking. Now remark first that in all this +there is nothing that one might not acknowledge if it were true; but it +is not true, and have I not the right of denying it? My history--I will +tell it you in a few words. I am going to pass a part of my life in this +place, and I desire that all should know who I am and whence I come. +To begin, then. Poor! Yes, I have been, and very poor. Eight years ago +my father died, and was soon followed by my mother. I was then eighteen, +and Bettina nine. We were alone in the world, encumbered with heavy +debts and a great lawsuit. My father's last words had been, 'Susie, +never, never compromise. Millions, my children, you will have millions.' +He embraced us both; soon delirium seized him, and he died repeating, +'Millions; millions!' The next morning a lawyer appeared, who offered to +pay all our debts, and to give us besides ten thousand dollars, if we +would give up all our claims. I refused. It was then that for several +months we were very poor." + +"And it was then," said Bettina, "that I used to lay the cloth." + +"I spent my life among the solicitors of New York, but no one would take +up my case; everywhere I received the same reply: 'Your cause is very +doubtful; you have rich and formidable adversaries; you need money, large +sums of money, to bring such a case to a conclusion, and you have +nothing. They offer to pay your debts, and to give you ten thousand +dollars besides. Accept it, and sell your case.' But my father's last +words rang in my ears, and I would not. Poverty, however, might soon +have forced me to, when one day I made another attempt on one of my +father's old friends, a banker in New York, Mr. William Scott. He was +not alone; a young man was sitting in his office. + +"'You may speak freely,' said Mr. Scott; 'it is my son Richard.' + +"I looked at the young man, he looked at me, and we recognized each +other. + +"'Susie!' + +"'Richard!" + +"Formerly, as children, we had often played together and were great +friends. Seven or eight years before this meeting he had been sent to +Europe to finish his education. We shook hands; his father made me sit +down, and asked what had brought me. He listened to my tale; and +replied: + +"'You would require twenty or thirty thousand dollars. No one would lend +you such a sum upon the uncertain chances of a very complicated lawsuit. +If you are in difficulties; if you need assistance--' + +"'It is not that, father. That is not what Miss Percival asks.' + +"'I know that very well, but what she asks is impossible.' + +"He rose to let me out. Then the sense of my helplessness overpowered me +for the first time since my father's death. I burst into a violent flood +of tears. An hour later Richard Scott was with me. + +"'Susie,' he said, 'promise to accept what I am going to offer.' + +"I promised him. + +"'Well,' said he, 'on the single condition that my father shall know +nothing about it, I place at your disposal the necessary sum.' + +"'But then you ought to know what the lawsuit is--what it is worth.' + +"'I do not know a single word about it, and I do not wish to. Besides, +you have promised to accept it; you can not withdraw now.' + +"I accepted. Three months after the case was ours. All this vast +property became beyond dispute the property of Bettina and me. The other +side offered to buy it of us for five million dollars. I consulted +Richard. + +"'Refuse it and wait,' said he; 'if they offer you such a sum it is +because the property is worth double.' + +"'However, I must return you your money; I owe you a great deal.' + +"'Oh! as for that there is no hurry; I am very easy about it; my money +is quite safe now.' + +"'But I should like to pay you at once. I have a horror of debt! +Perhaps there is another way without selling the property. Richard, will +you be my husband?' + +"Yes, Monsieur le Cure, yes," said Mrs. Scott, laughing, "it is thus that +I threw myself at my husband's head. It is I who asked his hand. But +really I was obliged to act thus. Never, never, would he have spoken; I +had become too rich, and as it was me he loved, and not my money, he was +becoming terribly afraid of me. That is the history of my marriage. As +to the history of my fortune, it can be told in a few words. There were +indeed millions in those wide lands of Colorado; they discovered there +abundant mines of silver, and from those mines we draw every year an +income which is beyond reason, but we have agreed--my husband, my sister, +and myself--to give a very large share of this income to the poor. You +see, Monsieur le Cure, it is because we have known very hard times that +you will always find us ready to help those who are, as we have been +ourselves, involved in the difficulties and sorrows of life. And now, +Monsieur Jean, will you forgive me this long discourse, and offer me a +little of that cream, which looks so very good?" + +This cream was Pauline's custard, and while Jean was serving Mrs. Scott: + +"I have not yet finished," she continued. "You ought to know what gave +rise to these extravagant stories. A year ago, when we settled in Paris, +we considered it our duty on our arrival to give a certain sum to the +poor. Who was it spoke of that? None of us, certainly, but the thing +was told in a newspaper, with the amount. Immediately two young +reporters hastened to subject Mr. Scott to a little examination on his +past history; they wished to give a sketch of our career in the--what do +you call them?--society papers. Mr. Scott is sometimes a little hasty; +he was so on this occasion, and dismissed these gentlemen rather +brusquely, without telling them anything. So, as they did not know our +real history, they invented one, and certainly displayed a very lively +imagination. First they related how I had begged in the snow in New +York; the next day appeared a still more sensational article, which made +me a rider in a circus in Philadelphia. You have some very funny papers +in France; so have we in America, for the matter of that." + +During the last five minutes, Pauline had been making desperate signs to +the Cure, who persisted in not understanding them, till at last the poor +woman, calling up all her courage, said: + +"Monsieur le Cure, it is a quarter past seven." + +"A quarter past seven! Ladies, I must beg you to excuse me. This +evening I have the special service for the month of Mary." + +"The month of Mary? And will the service begin directly?" + +"Yes, directly." + +"And when does our train start for Paris?" + +"At half past nine," replied Jean. + +"Susie, can we not go to church first?" + +"Yes, we will go," replied Mrs. Scott; "but before we separate, Monsieur +le Cure, I have one favor to ask you. I should like very much, the first +time I dine at Longueval, that you would dine with me, and you, too, +Monsieur Jean, just us four alone like to-day. Oh! do not refuse my +invitation; it is given with all my heart." + +"And accepted as heartily," replied Jean. + +"I will write and tell you the day, and it shall be as soon as possible. +You call that having a housewarming, don't you? Well, we shall have the +house-warming all to ourselves." + +Meanwhile, Pauline had drawn Miss Percival into a corner of the room, and +was talking to her with great animation. The conversation ended with +these words: + +"You will be there?" said Bettina, "and you will tell me the exact +moment?" + +"I will tell you, but take care. Here is Monsieur le Cure; he must not +suspect anything." + +The two sisters, the Cure, and Jean left the house. To go to the church +they were obliged to cross the churchyard. The evening was delicious. +Slowly, silently, under the rays of the setting sun, the four walked down +a long avenue. + +On their way was the monument to Dr. Reynaud, very simple, but which, by +its fine proportions, showed distinctly among the other tombs. + +Mrs. Scott and Bettina stopped, struck with this inscription carved on +the stone: + +"Here lies Dr. Marcel Reynaud, Surgeon-Major of the Souvigny Mobiles; +killed January 8, 1871, at the Battle of Villersexel. Pray for him." + +When they had read it, the Cure, pointing to Jean, said:. + +"It was his father!" + +The two sisters drew near the tomb, and with bent heads remained there +for some minutes, pensive, touched, contemplative. Then both turned, and +at the same moment, by the same impulse, offered their hands to Jean; +then continued their walk to the church. Their first prayer at Longueval +had been for the father of Jean. + +The Cure went to put on his surplice and stole. Jean conducted Mrs. +Scott to the seat which belonged to the masters of Longueval. + +Pauline had gone on before. She was waiting for Miss Percival in the +shadow behind one of the pillars. By a steep and narrow staircase, she +led Bettina to the gallery, and placed her before the harmonium. + +Preceded by two little chorister boys, the old Cure left the vestry, and +at the moment when he knelt on the steps of the alter: + +"Now! Mademoiselle," said Pauline, whose heart beat with impatience. +"Poor, dear man, how pleased he will be." + +When he heard the sound of the music rise, soft as a murmur, and spread +through the little church, the Abbe Constantin was filled with such +emotion, such joy, that the tears came to his eyes. He could not +remember having wept since the day when Jean had said that he wished to +share all that he possessed with the mother and sister of those who had +fallen by his father's side under the Prussian bullets. + +To bring tears to the eyes of the old priest, a little American had been +brought across the seas to play a reverie of Chopin in the little church +of Longueval. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Ancient pillars of stone, embrowned and gnawed by time +And they are shoulders which ought to be seen +But she will give me nothing but money +Duty, simply accepted and simply discharged +God may have sent him to purgatory just for form's sake +He led the brilliant and miserable existence of the unoccupied +If there is one! (a paradise) +Never foolish to spend money. The folly lies in keeping it +Often been compared to Eugene Sue, but his touch is lighter +One half of his life belonged to the poor +Succeeded in wearying him by her importunities and tenderness +The history of good people is often monotonous or painful +The women have enough religion for the men + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Abbe Constantin, v1 +by Ludovic Halevy + diff --git a/3954.zip b/3954.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad5772e --- /dev/null +++ b/3954.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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