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diff --git a/7929.txt b/7929.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..780ee47 --- /dev/null +++ b/7929.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9516 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Parisians in the Country, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parisians in the Country + The Illustrious Gaudissart, and The Muse of the Department + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7929] +Posting Date: July 24, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARISIANS IN THE COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +PARISIANS IN THE COUNTRY + +THE ILLUSTRIOUS GAUDISSART, + +AND THE MUSE OF THE DEPARTMENT + + +By Honore De Balzac + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +I have sometimes wondered whether it was accident or intention which +made Balzac so frequently combine early and late work in the same +volume. The question is certainly insoluble, and perhaps not worth +solving, but it presents itself once more in the present instance. +_L'Illustre Gaudissart_ is a story of 1832, the very heyday of Balzac's +creative period, when even his pen could hardly keep up with +the abundance of his fancy and the gathered stores of his minute +observation. _La Muse du Departement_ dates ten years and more later, +when, though there was plenty of both left, both sacks had been deeply +dipped into. + +_L'Illustre Gaudissart_ is, of course, slight, not merely in bulk, but +in conception. Balzac's Tourangeau patriotism may have amused itself by +the idea of the villagers "rolling" the great Gaudissart; but the ending +of the tale can hardly be thought to be quite so good as the beginning. +Still, that beginning is altogether excellent. The sketch of the +_commis-voyageur_ generally smacks of that _physiologie_ style of which +Balzac was so fond; but it is good, and Gaudissart himself, as well as +the whole scene with his _epouse libre_, is delightful. The Illustrious +One was evidently a favorite character with his creator. He nowhere +plays a very great part; but it is everywhere a rather favorable +and, except in this little mishap with Margaritis (which, it must +be observed, does not turn entirely to his discomfiture), a rather +successful part. We have him in _Cesar Birotteau_ superintending the +early efforts of Popinot to launch the Huile Cephalique. He was present +at the great ball. He served as intermediary to M. de Bauvan in the +merciful scheme of buying at fancy prices the handiwork of the Count's +faithful spouse, and so providing her with a livelihood; and later as +a theatrical manager, a little spoilt by his profession, we find him +in _Le Cousin Pons_. But he is always what the French called "a good +devil," and here he is a very good devil indeed. + +Although _La Muse du Departement_ is an important work, it cannot be +spoken of in quite unhesitating terms. It contains, indeed, in the +personage of Lousteau, one of the very most elaborate of Balzac's +portraits of a particular type of men of letters. The original is said +to have been Jules Janin, who is somewhat disadvantageously contrasted +here and elsewhere with Claude Vignon, said on the same rather vague +authority to be Gustave Planche. Both Janin and Planche are now too much +forgotten, but in both more or less (and in Lousteau very much "more") +Balzac cannot be said to have dealt mildly with his _bete noire_, +the critical temperament. Lousteau, indeed, though not precisely a +scoundrel, is both a rascal and a cad. Even Balzac seems a little +shocked at his _lettre de faire part_ in reference to his mistress' +child; and it is seldom possible to discern in any of his proceedings +the most remote approximation to the conduct of a gentleman. But then, +as we have seen, and shall see, Balzac's standard for the conduct of +his actual gentlemen was by no means fantastically exquisite +or discouragingly high, and in the case of his Bohemians it was +accommodating to the utmost degree. He seems to despise Lousteau, but +rather for his insouciance and neglect of his opportunities of making +himself a position than for anything else. + +I have often felt disposed to ask those who would assert Balzac's +absolute infallibility as a gynaecologist to give me a reasoned +criticism of the heroine of this novel. I do not entirely "figure to +myself" Dinah de la Baudraye. It is perfectly possible that she should +have loved a "sweep" like Lousteau, there is certainly nothing extremely +unusual in a woman loving worse sweeps even than he. But would she have +done it, and having done it, have also done what she did afterwards? +These questions may be answered differently; I do not answer them in the +negative myself, but I cannot give them an affirmative answer with the +conviction which I should like to show. + +Among the minor characters, the _substitut_ de Clagny has a touch of +nobility which contrasts happily enough with Lousteau's unworthiness. +Bianchon is as good as usual; Balzac always gives Bianchon a favorable +part. Madame Piedefer is one of the numerous instances in which the +unfortunate class of mothers-in-law atones for what are supposed to +be its crimes against the human race; and old La Baudraye, not so +hopelessly repulsive in a French as he would be in an English novel, is +a shrewd old rascal enough. + +But I cannot think the scene of the Parisians _blaguing_ the Sancerrois +is a very happy one. That it is in exceedingly bad taste might not +matter so very much; Balzac would reply, and justly, that he had not +intended to represent it as anything else. That the fun is not very +funny may be a matter of definition and appreciation. But what scarcely +admits of denial or discussion is that it is tyrannously too long. The +citations of _Olympia_ are pushed beyond measure, beyond what is comic, +almost beyond the license of farce; and the comments, which remind one +rather of the heavy jesting on critics in _Un Prince de la Boheme_ and +the short-lived _Revue Parisienne_, are labored to the last degree. The +part of Nathan, too, is difficult to appreciate exactly, and altogether +the book does not seem to me a _reussite_. + +The history of _L'Illustre Gaudissart_ is, for a story of Balzac's, +almost null. It was inserted without any previous newspaper appearance +in the first edition of _Scenes de la Vie de Province_ in 1833, and +entered with the rest of them into the first edition also of the +_Comedie_, when the joint title, which it has kept since and shared with +_La Muse du Departement_, of _Les Parisiens en Province_ was given to +it. + +_La Muse du Departement_ has a rather more complicated record than its +companion piece in _Les Parisiens en Province_, _L'Illustre Gaudissart_. +It appeared at first, not quite complete and under the title of _Dinah +Piedefer_, in _Le Messager_ during March and April 1843, and was almost +immediately published as a book, with works of other writers, under the +general title of _Les Mysteres de Province_, and accompanied by some +other work of its own author's. It had four parts and fifty-two chapters +in _Le Messager_, an arrangement which was but slightly altered in the +volume form. M. de Lovenjoul gives some curious indications of mosaic +work in it, and some fragments which do not now appear in the text. + +George Saintsbury + + + + + +THE ILLUSTRIOUS GAUDISSART + + +Translated By Katharine Prescott Wormeley + + + +DEDICATION + +To Madame la Duchesse de Castries. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The commercial traveller, a personage unknown to antiquity, is one of +the striking figures created by the manners and customs of our present +epoch. May he not, in some conceivable order of things, be destined to +mark for coming philosophers the great transition which welds a period +of material enterprise to the period of intellectual strength? Our +century will bind the realm of isolated power, abounding as it does +in creative genius, to the realm of universal but levelling might; +equalizing all products, spreading them broadcast among the masses, and +being itself controlled by the principle of unity,--the final expression +of all societies. Do we not find the dead level of barbarism succeeding +the saturnalia of popular thought and the last struggles of those +civilizations which accumulated the treasures of the world in one +direction? + +The commercial traveller! Is he not to the realm of ideas what our +stage-coaches are to men and things? He is their vehicle; he sets them +going, carries them along, rubs them up with one another. He takes from +the luminous centre a handful of light, and scatters it broadcast among +the drowsy populations of the duller regions. This human pyrotechnic is +a scholar without learning, a juggler hoaxed by himself, an unbelieving +priest of mysteries and dogmas, which he expounds all the better for his +want of faith. Curious being! He has seen everything, known everything, +and is up in all the ways of the world. Soaked in the vices of Paris, he +affects to be the fellow-well-met of the provinces. He is the link which +connects the village with the capital; though essentially he is neither +Parisian nor provincial,--he is a traveller. He sees nothing to the +core: men and places he knows by their names; as for things, he looks +merely at their surface, and he has his own little tape-line with which +to measure them. His glance shoots over all things and penetrates none. +He occupies himself with a great deal, yet nothing occupies him. + +Jester and jolly fellow, he keeps on good terms with all political +opinions, and is patriotic to the bottom of his soul. A capital mimic, +he knows how to put on, turn and turn about, the smiles of persuasion, +satisfaction, and good-nature, or drop them for the normal expression of +his natural man. He is compelled to be an observer of a certain sort in +the interests of his trade. He must probe men with a glance and guess +their habits, wants, and above all their solvency. To economize time he +must come to quick decisions as to his chances of success,--a practice +that makes him more or less a man of judgment; on the strength of which +he sets up as a judge of theatres, and discourses about those of Paris +and the provinces. + +He knows all the good and bad haunts in France, "de actu et visu." He +can pilot you, on occasion, to vice or virtue with equal assurance. +Blest with the eloquence of a hot-water spigot turned on at will, he can +check or let run, without floundering, the collection of phrases which +he keeps on tap, and which produce upon his victims the effect of a +moral shower-bath. Loquacious as a cricket, he smokes, drinks, wears a +profusion of trinkets, overawes the common people, passes for a lord +in the villages, and never permits himself to be "stumped,"--a slang +expression all his own. He knows how to slap his pockets at the right +time, and make his money jingle if he thinks the servants of the +second-class houses which he wants to enter (always eminently +suspicious) are likely to take him for a thief. Activity is not the +least surprising quality of this human machine. Not the hawk swooping +upon its prey, not the stag doubling before the huntsman and the hounds, +nor the hounds themselves catching scent of the game, can be compared +with him for the rapidity of his dart when he spies a "commission," for +the agility with which he trips up a rival and gets ahead of him, for +the keenness of his scent as he noses a customer and discovers the sport +where he can get off his wares. + +How many great qualities must such a man possess! You will find in all +countries many such diplomats of low degree; consummate negotiators +arguing in the interests of calico, jewels, frippery, wines; and often +displaying more true diplomacy than ambassadors themselves, who, for +the most part, know only the forms of it. No one in France can doubt the +powers of the commercial traveller; that intrepid soul who dares all, +and boldly brings the genius of civilization and the modern inventions +of Paris into a struggle with the plain commonsense of remote villages, +and the ignorant and boorish treadmill of provincial ways. Can we ever +forget the skilful manoeuvres by which he worms himself into the minds +of the populace, bringing a volume of words to bear upon the refractory, +reminding us of the indefatigable worker in marbles whose file eats +slowly into a block of porphyry? Would you seek to know the utmost power +of language, or the strongest pressure that a phrase can bring to bear +against rebellious lucre, against the miserly proprietor squatting +in the recesses of his country lair?--listen to one of these great +ambassadors of Parisian industry as he revolves and works and sucks like +an intelligent piston of the steam-engine called Speculation. + +"Monsieur," said a wise political economist, the +director-cashier-manager and secretary-general of a celebrated +fire-insurance company, "out of every five hundred thousand francs of +policies to be renewed in the provinces, not more than fifty thousand +are paid up voluntarily. The other four hundred and fifty thousand are +got in by the activity of our agents, who go about among those who are +in arrears and worry them with stories of horrible incendiaries until +they are driven to sign the new policies. Thus you see that eloquence, +the labial flux, is nine tenths of the ways and means of our business." + +To talk, to make people listen to you,--that is seduction in itself. +A nation that has two Chambers, a woman who lends both ears, are soon +lost. Eve and her serpent are the everlasting myth of an hourly fact +which began, and may end, with the world itself. + +"A conversation of two hours ought to capture your man," said a retired +lawyer. + +Let us walk round the commercial traveller, and look at him well. Don't +forget his overcoat, olive green, nor his cloak with its morocco collar, +nor the striped blue cotton shirt. In this queer figure--so original +that we cannot rub it out--how many divers personalities we come across! +In the first place, what an acrobat, what a circus, what a battery, +all in one, is the man himself, his vocation, and his tongue! Intrepid +mariner, he plunges in, armed with a few phrases, to catch five or six +thousand francs in the frozen seas, in the domain of the red Indians +who inhabit the interior of France. The provincial fish will not rise +to harpoons and torches; it can only be taken with seines and nets and +gentlest persuasions. The traveller's business is to extract the gold +in country caches by a purely intellectual operation, and to extract +it pleasantly and without pain. Can you think without a shudder of the +flood of phrases which, day by day, renewed each dawn, leaps in cascades +the length and breadth of sunny France? + +You know the species; let us now take a look at the individual. + +There lives in Paris an incomparable commercial traveller, the +paragon of his race, a man who possesses in the highest degree all the +qualifications necessary to the nature of his success. His speech is +vitriol and likewise glue,--glue to catch and entangle his victim and +make him sticky and easy to grip; vitriol to dissolve hard heads, close +fists, and closer calculations. His line was once the HAT; but his +talents and the art with which he snared the wariest provincial had +brought him such commercial celebrity that all vendors of the "article +Paris"[*] paid court to him, and humbly begged that he would deign to +take their commissions. + + +[*] "Article Paris" means anything--especially articles of wearing + apparel--which originates or is made in Paris. The name is + supposed to give to the thing a special value in the provinces. + +Thus, when he returned to Paris in the intervals of his triumphant +progress through France, he lived a life of perpetual festivity in +the shape of weddings and suppers. When he was in the provinces, the +correspondents in the smaller towns made much of him; in Paris, the +great houses feted and caressed him. Welcomed, flattered, and fed +wherever he went, it came to pass that to breakfast or to dine alone was +a novelty, an event. He lived the life of a sovereign, or, better still, +of a journalist; in fact, he was the perambulating "feuilleton" of +Parisian commerce. + +His name was Gaudissart; and his renown, his vogue, the flatteries +showered upon him, were such as to win for him the surname of +Illustrious. Wherever the fellow went,--behind a counter or before a +bar, into a salon or to the top of a stage-coach, up to a garret or to +dine with a banker,--every one said, the moment they saw him, "Ah! here +comes the illustrious Gaudissart!"[*] No name was ever so in keeping +with the style, the manners, the countenance, the voice, the language, +of any man. All things smiled upon our traveller, and the traveller +smiled back in return. "Similia similibus,"--he believed in homoeopathy. +Puns, horse-laugh, monkish face, skin of a friar, true Rabelaisian +exterior, clothing, body, mind, and features, all pulled together to put +a devil-may-care jollity into every inch of his person. Free-handed and +easy-going, he might be recognized at once as the favorite of grisettes, +the man who jumps lightly to the top of a stage-coach, gives a hand to +the timid lady who fears to step down, jokes with the postillion about +his neckerchief and contrives to sell him a cap, smiles at the maid and +catches her round the waist or by the heart; gurgles at dinner like a +bottle of wine and pretends to draw the cork by sounding a filip on his +distended cheek; plays a tune with his knife on the champagne glasses +without breaking them, and says to the company, "Let me see you do +THAT"; chaffs the timid traveller, contradicts the knowing one, lords it +over a dinner-table and manages to get the titbits for himself. A strong +fellow, nevertheless, he can throw aside all this nonsense and mean +business when he flings away the stump of his cigar and says, with a +glance at some town, "I'll go and see what those people have got in +their stomachs." + + +[*] "Se gaudir," to enjoy, to make fun. "Gaudriole," gay discourse, + rather free.--Littre. + +When buckled down to his work he became the slyest and cleverest of +diplomats. All things to all men, he knew how to accost a banker like a +capitalist, a magistrate like a functionary, a royalist with pious and +monarchical sentiments, a bourgeois as one of themselves. In short, +wherever he was he was just what he ought to be; he left Gaudissart at +the door when he went in, and picked him up when he came out. + +Until 1830 the illustrious Gaudissart was faithful to the article Paris. +In his close relation to the caprices of humanity, the varied paths of +commerce had enabled him to observe the windings of the heart of man. He +had learned the secret of persuasive eloquence, the knack of loosening +the tightest purse-strings, the art of rousing desire in the souls of +husbands, wives, children, and servants; and what is more, he knew +how to satisfy it. No one had greater faculty than he for inveigling +a merchant by the charms of a bargain, and disappearing at the instant +when desire had reached its crisis. Full of gratitude to the hat-making +trade, he always declared that it was his efforts in behalf of the +exterior of the human head which had enabled him to understand its +interior: he had capped and crowned so many people, he was always +flinging himself at their heads, etc. His jokes about hats and heads +were irrepressible, though perhaps not dazzling. + +Nevertheless, after August and October, 1830, he abandoned the hat +trade and the article Paris, and tore himself from things mechanical and +visible to mount into the higher spheres of Parisian speculation. "He +forsook," to use his own words, "matter for mind; manufactured products +for the infinitely purer elaborations of human intelligence." This +requires some explanation. + +The general upset of 1830 brought to birth, as everybody knows, a number +of old ideas which clever speculators tried to pass off in new bodies. +After 1830 ideas became property. A writer, too wise to publish +his writings, once remarked that "more ideas are stolen than +pocket-handkerchiefs." Perhaps in course of time we may have an Exchange +for thought; in fact, even now ideas, good or bad, have their consols, +are bought up, imported, exported, sold, and quoted like stocks. If +ideas are not on hand ready for sale, speculators try to pass off words +in their stead, and actually live upon them as a bird lives on the seeds +of his millet. Pray do not laugh; a word is worth quite as much as an +idea in a land where the ticket on a sack is of more importance than the +contents. Have we not seen libraries working off the word "picturesque" +when literature would have cut the throat of the word "fantastic"? +Fiscal genius has guessed the proper tax on intellect; it has accurately +estimated the profits of advertising; it has registered a prospectus of +the quantity and exact value of the property, weighing its thought at +the intellectual Stamp Office in the Rue de la Paix. + +Having become an article of commerce, intellect and all its products +must naturally obey the laws which bind other manufacturing interests. +Thus it often happens that ideas, conceived in their cups by certain +apparently idle Parisians,--who nevertheless fight many a moral battle +over their champagne and their pheasants,--are handed down at their +birth from the brain to the commercial travellers who are employed to +spread them discreetly, "urbi et orbi," through Paris and the provinces, +seasoned with the fried pork of advertisement and prospectus, by means +of which they catch in their rat-trap the departmental rodent commonly +called subscriber, sometimes stockholder, occasionally corresponding +member or patron, but invariably fool. + +"I am a fool!" many a poor country proprietor has said when, caught by +the prospect of being the first to launch a new idea, he finds that he +has, in point of fact, launched his thousand or twelve hundred francs +into a gulf. + +"Subscribers are fools who never can be brought to understand that to +go ahead in the intellectual world they must start with more money than +they need for the tour of Europe," say the speculators. + +Consequently there is endless warfare between the recalcitrant public +which refuses to pay the Parisian imposts and the tax-gatherer who, +living by his receipt of custom, lards the public with new ideas, turns +it on the spit of lively projects, roasts it with prospectuses (basting +all the while with flattery), and finally gobbles it up with some +toothsome sauce in which it is caught and intoxicated like a fly with +a black-lead. Moreover, since 1830 what honors and emoluments have been +scattered throughout France to stimulate the zeal and self-love of the +"progressive and intelligent masses"! Titles, medals, diplomas, a sort +of legion of honor invented for the army of martyrs, have followed each +other with marvellous rapidity. Speculators in the manufactured products +of the intellect have developed a spice, a ginger, all their own. From +this have come premiums, forestalled dividends, and that conscription +of noted names which is levied without the knowledge of the unfortunate +writers who bear them, and who thus find themselves actual co-operators +in more enterprises than there are days in the year; for the law, we may +remark, takes no account of the theft of a patronymic. Worse than all +is the rape of ideas which these caterers for the public mind, like the +slave-merchants of Asia, tear from the paternal brain before they are +well matured, and drag half-clothed before the eyes of their blockhead +of a sultan, their Shahabaham, their terrible public, which, if they +don't amuse it, will cut off their heads by curtailing the ingots and +emptying their pockets. + +This madness of our epoch reacted upon the illustrious Gaudissart, and +here follows the history of how it happened. A life-insurance company +having been told of his irresistible eloquence offered him an unheard-of +commission, which he graciously accepted. The bargain concluded and +the treaty signed, our traveller was put in training, or we might say +weaned, by the secretary-general of the enterprise, who freed his mind +of its swaddling-clothes, showed him the dark holes of the business, +taught him its dialect, took the mechanism apart bit by bit, dissected +for his instruction the particular public he was expected to gull, +crammed him with phrases, fed him with impromptu replies, provisioned +him with unanswerable arguments, and, so to speak, sharpened the file of +the tongue which was about to operate upon the life of France. + +The puppet amply rewarded the pains bestowed upon him. The heads of the +company boasted of the illustrious Gaudissart, showed him such attention +and proclaimed the great talents of this perambulating prospectus so +loudly in the sphere of exalted banking and commercial diplomacy, that +the financial managers of two newspapers (celebrated at that time +but since defunct) were seized with the idea of employing him to get +subscribers. The proprietors of the "Globe," an organ of Saint-Simonism, +and the "Movement," a republican journal, each invited the illustrious +Gaudissart to a conference, and proposed to give him ten francs a head +for every subscriber, provided he brought in a thousand, but only five +francs if he got no more than five hundred. The cause of political +journalism not interfering with the pre-accepted cause of life +insurance, the bargain was struck; although Gaudissart demanded an +indemnity from the Saint-Simonians for the eight days he was forced +to spend in studying the doctrines of their apostle, asserting that a +prodigious effort of memory and intellect was necessary to get to +the bottom of that "article" and to reason upon it suitably. He asked +nothing, however, from the republicans. In the first place, he inclined +in republican ideas,--the only ones, according to guadissardian +philosophy, which could bring about a rational equality. Besides which +he had already dipped into the conspiracies of the French "carbonari"; +he had been arrested, and released for want of proof; and finally, as +he called the newspaper proprietors to observe, he had lately grown a +mustache, and needed only a hat of certain shape and a pair of spurs to +represent, with due propriety, the Republic. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +For one whole week this commanding genius went every morning to be +Saint-Simonized at the office of the "Globe," and every afternoon he +betook himself to the life-insurance company, where he learned the +intricacies of financial diplomacy. His aptitude and his memory were +prodigious; so that he was able to start on his peregrinations by the +15th of April, the date at which he usually opened the spring campaign. +Two large commercial houses, alarmed at the decline of business, +implored the ambitious Gaudissart not to desert the article Paris, and +seduced him, it was said, with large offers, to take their commissions +once more. The king of travellers was amenable to the claims of his old +friends, enforced as they were by the enormous premiums offered to him. + +* * * * * + +"Listen, my little Jenny," he said in a hackney-coach to a pretty +florist. + +All truly great men delight in allowing themselves to be tyrannized over +by a feeble being, and Gaudissart had found his tyrant in Jenny. He was +bringing her home at eleven o'clock from the Gymnase, whither he had +taken her, in full dress, to a proscenium box on the first tier. + +"On my return, Jenny, I shall refurnish your room in superior style. +That big Matilda, who pesters you with comparisons and her real India +shawls imported by the suite of the Russian ambassador, and her +silver plate and her Russian prince,--who to my mind is nothing but a +humbug,--won't have a word to say THEN. I consecrate to the adornment of +your room all the 'Children' I shall get in the provinces." + +"Well, that's a pretty thing to say!" cried the florist. "Monster of +a man! Do you dare to talk to me of your children? Do you suppose I am +going to stand that sort of thing?" + +"Oh, what a goose you are, my Jenny! That's only a figure of speech in +our business." + +"A fine business, then!" + +"Well, but listen; if you talk all the time you'll always be in the +right." + +"I mean to be. Upon my word, you take things easy!" + +"You don't let me finish. I have taken under my protection a superlative +idea,--a journal, a newspaper, written for children. In our profession, +when travellers have caught, let us suppose, ten subscribers to the +'Children's Journal,' they say, 'I've got ten Children,' just as I say +when I get ten subscriptions to a newspaper called the 'Movement,' 'I've +got ten Movements.' Now don't you see?" + +"That's all right. Are you going into politics? If you do you'll get +into Saint-Pelagie, and I shall have to trot down there after you. Oh! +if one only knew what one puts one's foot into when we love a man, on +my word of honor we would let you alone to take care of yourselves, +you men! However, if you are going away to-morrow we won't talk of +disagreeable things,--that would be silly." + +The coach stopped before a pretty house, newly built in the Rue +d'Artois, where Gaudissart and Jenny climbed to the fourth story. This +was the abode of Mademoiselle Jenny Courand, commonly reported to be +privately married to the illustrious Gaudissart, a rumor which that +individual did not deny. To maintain her supremacy, Jenny kept him +to the performance of innumerable small attentions, and threatened +continually to turn him off if he omitted the least of them. She now +ordered him to write to her from every town, and render a minute account +of all his proceedings. + +"How many 'Children' will it take to furnish my chamber?" she asked, +throwing off her shawl and sitting down by a good fire. + +"I get five sous for each subscriber." + +"Delightful! And is it with five sous that you expect to make me rich? +Perhaps you are like the Wandering Jew with your pockets full of money." + +"But, Jenny, I shall get a thousand 'Children.' Just reflect that +children have never had a newspaper to themselves before. But what a +fool I am to try to explain matters to you,--you can't understand such +things." + +"Can't I? Then tell me,--tell me, Gaudissart, if I'm such a goose why do +you love me?" + +"Just because you are a goose,--a sublime goose! Listen, Jenny. +See here, I am going to undertake the 'Globe,' the 'Movement,' the +'Children,' the insurance business, and some of my old articles Paris; +instead of earning a miserable eight thousand a year, I'll bring back +twenty thousand at least from each trip." + +"Unlace me, Gaudissart, and do it right; don't tighten me." + +"Yes, truly," said the traveller, complacently; "I shall become a +shareholder in the newspapers, like Finot, one of my friends, the son +of a hatter, who now has thirty thousand francs income, and is going +to make himself a peer of France. When one thinks of that little +Popinot,--ah, mon Dieu! I forgot to tell you that Monsieur Popinot was +named minister of commerce yesterday. Why shouldn't I be ambitious too? +Ha! ha! I could easily pick up the jargon of those fellows who talk in +the chamber, and bluster with the rest of them. Now, listen to me:-- + +"Gentlemen," he said, standing behind a chair, "the Press is neither +a tool nor an article of barter: it is, viewed under its political +aspects, an institution. We are bound, in virtue of our position as +legislators, to consider all things politically, and therefore" (here he +stopped to get breath)--"and therefore we must examine the Press and ask +ourselves if it is useful or noxious, if it should be encouraged or put +down, taxed or free. These are serious questions. I feel that I do +not waste the time, always precious, of this Chamber by examining this +article--the Press--and explaining to you its qualities. We are on the +verge of an abyss. Undoubtedly the laws have not the nap which they +ought to have--Hein?" he said, looking at Jenny. "All orators put France +on the verge of an abyss. They either say that or they talk about the +chariot of state, or convulsions, or political horizons. Don't I know +their dodges? I'm up to all the tricks of all the trades. Do you know +why? Because I was born with a caul; my mother has got it, but I'll give +it to you. You'll see! I shall soon be in the government." + +"You!" + +"Why shouldn't I be the Baron Gaudissart, peer of France? Haven't they +twice elected Monsieur Popinot as deputy from the fourth arrondissement? +He dines with Louis Phillippe. There's Finot; he is going to be, they +say, a member of the Council. Suppose they send me as ambassador to +London? I tell you I'd nonplus those English! No man ever got the better +of Gaudissart, the illustrious Gaudissart, and nobody ever will. Yes, I +say it! no one ever outwitted me, and no one can--in any walk of life, +politics or impolitics, here or elsewhere. But, for the time being, +I must give myself wholly to the capitalists; to the 'Globe,' the +'Movement,' the 'Children,' and my article Paris." + +"You will be brought up with a round turn, you and your newspapers. I'll +bet you won't get further than Poitiers before the police will nab you." + +"What will you bet?" + +"A shawl." + +"Done! If I lose that shawl I'll go back to the article Paris and +the hat business. But as for getting the better of Gaudissart--never! +never!" + +And the illustrious traveller threw himself into position before +Jenny, looked at her proudly, one hand in his waistcoat, his head at +three-quarter profile,--an attitude truly Napoleonic. + +"Oh, how funny you are! what have you been eating to-night?" + +Gaudissart was thirty-eight years of age, of medium height, stout and +fat like men who roll about continually in stage-coaches, with a face as +round as a pumpkin, ruddy cheeks, and regular features of the type which +sculptors of all lands adopt as a model for statues of Abundance, Law, +Force, Commerce, and the like. His protuberant stomach swelled forth in +the shape of a pear; his legs were small, but active and vigorous. He +caught Jenny up in his arms like a baby and kissed her. + +"Hold your tongue, young woman!" he said. "What do you know about +Saint-Simonism, antagonism, Fourierism, criticism, heroic enterprise, +or woman's freedom? I'll tell you what they are,--ten francs for each +subscription, Madame Gaudissart." + +"On my word of honor, you are going crazy, Gaudissart." + +"More and more crazy about YOU," he replied, flinging his hat upon the +sofa. + +The next morning Gaudissart, having breakfasted gloriously with Jenny, +departed on horseback to work up the chief towns of the district to +which he was assigned by the various enterprises in whose interests he +was now about to exercise his great talents. After spending forty-five +days in beating up the country between Paris and Blois, he remained two +weeks at the latter place to write up his correspondence and make short +visits to the various market towns of the department. The night before +he left Blois for Tours he indited a letter to Mademoiselle Jenny +Courand. As the conciseness and charm of this epistle cannot be equalled +by any narration of ours, and as, moreover, it proves the legitimacy of +the tie which united these two individuals, we produce it here:-- + + "My dear Jenny,--You will lose your wager. Like Napoleon, + Gaudissart the illustrious has his star, but NOT his Waterloo. I + triumph everywhere. Life insurance has done well. Between Paris + and Blois I lodged two millions. But as I get to the centre of + France heads become infinitely harder and millions correspondingly + scarce. The article Paris keeps up its own little jog-trot. It is + a ring on the finger. With all my well-known cunning I spit these + shop-keepers like larks. I got off one hundred and sixty-two + Ternaux shawls at Orleans. I am sure I don't know what they will + do with them, unless they return them to the backs of the sheep. + + "As to the article journal--the devil! that's a horse of another + color. Holy saints! how one has to warble before you can teach + these bumpkins a new tune. I have only made sixty-two 'Movements': + exactly a hundred less for the whole trip than the shawls in one + town. Those republican rogues! they won't subscribe. They talk, + they talk; they share your opinions, and presently you are all + agreed that every existing thing must be overturned. You feel sure + your man is going to subscribe. Not a bit of it! If he owns three + feet of ground, enough to grow ten cabbages, or a few trees to + slice into toothpicks, the fellow begins to talk of consolidated + property, taxes, revenues, indemnities,--a whole lot of stuff, and + I have wasted my time and breath on patriotism. It's a bad + business! Candidly, the 'Movement' does not move. I have written + to the directors and told them so. I am sorry for it--on account + of my political opinions. + + "As for the 'Globe,' that's another breed altogether. Just set to + work and talk new doctrines to people you fancy are fools enough + to believe such lies,--why, they think you want to burn their + houses down! It is vain for me to tell them that I speak for + futurity, for posterity, for self-interest properly understood; + for enterprise where nothing can be lost; that man has preyed upon + man long enough; that woman is a slave; that the great + providential thought should be made to triumph; that a way must be + found to arrive at a rational co-ordination of the social fabric, + --in short, the whole reverberation of my sentences. Well, what do + you think? when I open upon them with such ideas these provincials + lock their cupboards as if I wanted to steal their spoons and beg + me to go away! Are not they fools? geese? The 'Globe' is smashed. + I said to the proprietors, 'You are too advanced, you go ahead too + fast: you ought to get a few results; the provinces like results.' + However, I have made a hundred 'Globes,' and I must say, + considering the thick-headedness of these clodhoppers, it is a + miracle. But to do it I had to make them such a lot of promises + that I am sure I don't know how the globites, globists, globules, + or whatever they call themselves, will ever get out of them. But + they always tell me they can make the world a great deal better + than it is, so I go ahead and prophesy to the value of ten francs + for each subscription. There was one farmer who thought the paper + was agricultural because of its name. I Globed HIM. Bah! he gave + in at once; he had a projecting forehead; all men with projecting + foreheads are ideologists. + + "But the 'Children'; oh! ah! as to the 'Children'! I got two + thousand between Paris and Blois. Jolly business! but there is not + much to say. You just show a little vignette to the mother, + pretending to hide it from the child: naturally the child wants to + see, and pulls mamma's gown and cries for its newspaper, because + 'Papa has DOT his.' Mamma can't let her brat tear the gown; the + gown costs thirty francs, the subscription six--economy; result, + subscription. It is an excellent thing, meets an actual want; it + holds a place between dolls and sugar-plums, the two eternal + necessities of childhood. + + "I have had a quarrel here at the table d'hote about the + newspapers and my opinions. I was unsuspiciously eating my dinner + next to a man with a gray hat who was reading the 'Debats.' I said + to myself, 'Now for my rostrum eloquence. He is tied to the + dynasty; I'll cook him; this triumph will be capital practice for + my ministerial talents.' So I went to work and praised his + 'Debats.' Hein! if I didn't lead him along! Thread by thread, I + began to net my man. I launched my four-horse phrases, and the F- + sharp arguments, and all the rest of the cursed stuff. Everybody + listened; and I saw a man who had July as plain as day on his + mustache, just ready to nibble at a 'Movement.' Well, I don't know + how it was, but I unluckily let fall the word 'blockhead.' + Thunder! you should have seen my gray hat, my dynastic hat + (shocking bad hat, anyhow), who got the bit in his teeth and was + furiously angry. I put on my grand air--you know--and said to him: + 'Ah, ca! Monsieur, you are remarkably aggressive; if you are not + content, I am ready to give you satisfaction; I fought in July.' + 'Though the father of a family,' he replied, 'I am ready--' + 'Father of a family!' I exclaimed; 'my dear sir, have you any + children?' 'Yes.' 'Twelve years old?' 'Just about.' 'Well, then, + the "Children's Journal" is the very thing for you; six francs a + year, one number a month, double columns, edited by great literary + lights, well got up, good paper, engravings from charming sketches + by our best artists, actual colored drawings of the Indies--will + not fade.' I fired my broadside 'feelings of a father, etc., + etc.,'--in short, a subscription instead of a quarrel. 'There's + nobody but Gaudissart who can get out of things like that,' said + that little cricket Lamard to the big Bulot at the cafe, when he + told him the story. + + "I leave to-morrow for Amboise. I shall do up Amboise in two days, + and I will write next from Tours, where I shall measure swords + with the inhabitants of that colorless region; colorless, I mean, + from the intellectual and speculative point of view. But, on the + word of a Gaudissart, they shall be toppled over, toppled down-- + floored, I say. + + "Adieu, my kitten. Love me always; be faithful; fidelity through + thick and thin is one of the attributes of the Free Woman. Who is + kissing you on the eyelids? + + "Thy Felix Forever." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Five days later Gaudissart started from the Hotel des Faisans, at +which he had put up in Tours, and went to Vouvray, a rich and populous +district where the public mind seemed to him susceptible of cultivation. +Mounted upon his horse, he trotted along the embankment thinking no more +of his phrases than an actor thinks of his part which he has played for +a hundred times. It was thus that the illustrious Gaudissart went his +cheerful way, admiring the landscape, and little dreaming that in the +happy valleys of Vouvray his commercial infallibility was about to +perish. + +Here a few remarks upon the public mind of Touraine are essential to our +story. The subtle, satirical, epigrammatic tale-telling spirit stamped +on every page of Rabelais is the faithful expression of the Tourangian +mind,--a mind polished and refined as it should be in a land where +the kings of France long held their court; ardent, artistic, poetic, +voluptuous, yet whose first impulses subside quickly. The softness of +the atmosphere, the beauty of the climate, a certain ease of life and +joviality of manners, smother before long the sentiment of art, narrow +the widest heart, and enervate the strongest will. Transplant the +Tourangian, and his fine qualities develop and lead to great results, as +we may see in many spheres of action: look at Rabelais and Semblancay, +Plantin the printer and Descartes, Boucicault, the Napoleon of his day, +and Pinaigrier, who painted most of the colored glass in our cathedrals; +also Verville and Courier. But the Tourangian, distinguished though he +may be in other regions, sits in his own home like an Indian on his mat +or a Turk on his divan. He employs his wit in laughing at his neighbor +and in making merry all his days; and when at last he reaches the end +of his life, he is still a happy man. Touraine is like the Abbaye of +Theleme, so vaunted in the history of Gargantua. There we may find the +complying sisterhoods of that famous tale, and there the good cheer +celebrated by Rabelais reigns in glory. + +As to the do-nothingness of that blessed land it is sublime and well +expressed in a certain popular legend: "Tourangian, are you hungry, +do you want some soup?" "Yes." "Bring your porringer." "Then I am not +hungry." Is it to the joys of the vineyard and the harmonious loveliness +of this garden land of France, is it to the peace and tranquillity of a +region where the step of an invader has never trodden, that we owe +the soft compliance of these unconstrained and easy manners? To such +questions no answer. Enter this Turkey of sunny France, and you will +stay there,--lazy, idle, happy. You may be as ambitious as Napoleon, as +poetic as Lord Byron, and yet a power unknown, invisible, will compel +you to bury your poetry within your soul and turn your projects into +dreams. + +The illustrious Gaudissart was fated to encounter here in Vouvray one of +those indigenous jesters whose jests are not intolerable solely because +they have reached the perfection of the mocking art. Right or wrong, the +Tourangians are fond of inheriting from their parents. Consequently the +doctrines of Saint-Simon were especially hated and villified among them. +In Touraine hatred and villification take the form of superb disdain +and witty maliciousness worthy of the land of good stories and practical +jokes,--a spirit which, alas! is yielding, day by day, to that other +spirit which Lord Byron has characterized as "English cant." + +For his sins, after getting down at the Soleil d'Or, an inn kept by a +former grenadier of the imperial guard named Mitouflet, married to a +rich widow, the illustrious traveller, after a brief consultation +with the landlord, betook himself to the knave of Vouvray, the jovial +merry-maker, the comic man of the neighborhood, compelled by fame and +nature to supply the town with merriment. This country Figaro was once +a dyer, and now possessed about seven or eight thousand francs a year, +a pretty house on the slope of the hill, a plump little wife, and robust +health. For ten years he had had nothing to do but take care of his wife +and his garden, marry his daughter, play whist in the evenings, keep the +run of all the gossip in the neighborhood, meddle with the elections, +squabble with the large proprietors, and order good dinners; or else +trot along the embankment to find out what was going on in Tours, +torment the cure, and finally, by way of dramatic entertainment, assist +at the sale of lands in the neighborhood of his vineyards. In short, he +led the true Tourangian life,--the life of a little country-townsman. He +was, moreover, an important member of the bourgeoisie,--a leader among +the small proprietors, all of them envious, jealous, delighted to catch +up and retail gossip and calumnies against the aristocracy; dragging +things down to their own level; and at war with all kinds of +superiority, which they deposited with the fine composure of ignorance. +Monsieur Vernier--such was the name of this great little man--was just +finishing his breakfast, with his wife and daughter on either side of +him, when Gaudissart entered the room through a window that looked out +on the Loire and the Cher, and lighted one of the gayest dining-rooms of +that gay land. + +"Is this Monsieur Vernier himself?" said the traveller, bending his +vertebral column with such grace that it seemed to be elastic. + +"Yes, Monsieur," said the mischievous ex-dyer, with a scrutinizing look +which took in the style of man he had to deal with. + +"I come, Monsieur," resumed Gaudissart, "to solicit the aid of your +knowledge and insight to guide my efforts in this district, where +Mitouflet tells me you have the greatest influence. Monsieur, I am sent +into the provinces on an enterprise of the utmost importance, undertaken +by bankers who--" + +"Who mean to win our tricks," said Vernier, long used to the ways of +commercial travellers and to their periodical visits. + +"Precisely," replied Gaudissart, with native impudence. "But with your +fine tact, Monsieur, you must be aware that we can't win tricks from +people unless it is their interest to play at cards. I beg you not to +confound me with the vulgar herd of travellers who succeed by humbug +or importunity. I am no longer a commercial traveller. I was one, and I +glory in it; but to-day my mission is of higher importance, and should +place me, in the minds of superior people, among those who devote +themselves to the enlightenment of their country. The most distinguished +bankers in Paris take part in this affair; not fictitiously, as in some +shameful speculations which I call rat-traps. No, no, nothing of the +kind! I should never condescend--never!--to hawk about such CATCH-FOOLS. +No, Monsieur; the most respectable houses in Paris are concerned in this +enterprise; and their interests guarantee--" + +Hereupon Gaudissart drew forth his whole string of phrases, and Monsieur +Vernier let him go the length of his tether, listening with apparent +interest which completely deceived him. But after the word "guarantee" +Vernier paid no further attention to our traveller's rhetoric, and +turned over in his mind how to play him some malicious trick and deliver +a land, justly considered half-savage by speculators unable to get a +bite of it, from the inroads of these Parisian caterpillars. + +At the head of an enchanting valley, called the Valley Coquette because +of its windings and the curves which return upon each other at every +step, and seem more and more lovely as we advance, whether we ascend or +descend them, there lived, in a little house surrounded by vineyards, a +half-insane man named Margaritis. He was of Italian origin, married, +but childless; and his wife took care of him with a courage fully +appreciated by the neighborhood. Madame Margaritis was undoubtedly in +real danger from a man who, among other fancies, persisted in carrying +about with him two long-bladed knives with which he sometimes threatened +her. Who has not seen the wonderful self-devotion shown by provincials +who consecrate their lives to the care of sufferers, possibly because +of the disgrace heaped upon a bourgeoise if she allows her husband or +children to be taken to a public hospital? Moreover, who does not know +the repugnance which these people feel to the payment of the two or +three thousand francs required at Charenton or in the private lunatic +asylums? If any one had spoken to Madame Margaritis of Doctors +Dubuisson, Esquirol, Blanche, and others, she would have preferred, with +noble indignation, to keep her thousands and take care of the "good-man" +at home. + +As the incomprehensible whims of this lunatic are connected with the +current of our story, we are compelled to exhibit the most striking +of them. Margaritis went out as soon as it rained, and walked about +bare-headed in his vineyard. At home he made incessant inquiries for +newspapers; to satisfy him his wife and the maid-servant used to give +him an old journal called the "Indre-et-Loire," and for seven years he +had never yet perceived that he was reading the same number over and +over again. Perhaps a doctor would have observed with interest the +connection that evidently existed between the recurring and spasmodic +demands for the newspaper and the atmospheric variations of the weather. + +Usually when his wife had company, which happened nearly every evening, +for the neighbors, pitying her situation, would frequently come to play +at boston in her salon, Margaritis remained silent in a corner and never +stirred. But the moment ten o'clock began to strike on a clock which he +kept shut up in a large oblong closet, he rose at the stroke with the +mechanical precision of the figures which are made to move by springs in +the German toys. He would then advance slowly towards the players, give +them a glance like the automatic gaze of the Greeks and Turks exhibited +on the Boulevard du Temple, and say sternly, "Go away!" There were days +when he had lucid intervals and could give his wife excellent advice +as to the sale of their wines; but at such times he became extremely +annoying, and would ransack her closets and steal her delicacies, which +he devoured in secret. Occasionally, when the usual visitors made their +appearance he would treat them with civility; but as a general thing +his remarks and replies were incoherent. For instance, a lady once asked +him, "How do you feel to-day, Monsieur Margaritis?" "I have grown +a beard," he replied, "have you?" "Are you better?" asked another. +"Jerusalem! Jerusalem!" was the answer. But the greater part of the time +he gazed stolidly at his guests without uttering a word; and then his +wife would say, "The good-man does not hear anything to-day." + +On two or three occasions in the course of five years, and usually +about the time of the equinox, this remark had driven him to frenzy; he +flourished his knives and shouted, "That joke dishonors me!" + +As for his daily life, he ate, drank, and walked about like other men in +sound health; and so it happened that he was treated with about the same +respect and attention that we give to a heavy piece of furniture. Among +his many absurdities was one of which no man had as yet discovered the +object, although by long practice the wiseheads of the community had +learned to unravel the meaning of most of his vagaries. He insisted on +keeping a sack of flour and two puncheons of wine in the cellar of his +house, and he would allow no one to lay hands on them. But then the +month of June came round he grew uneasy with the restless anxiety of a +madman about the sale of the sack and the puncheons. Madame Margaritis +could nearly always persuade him that the wine had been sold at +an enormous price, which she paid over to him, and which he hid so +cautiously that neither his wife nor the servant who watched him had +ever been able to discover its hiding-place. + +The evening before Gaudissart reached Vouvray Madame Margaritis had had +more difficulty than usual in deceiving her husband, whose mind happened +to be uncommonly lucid. + +"I really don't know how I shall get through to-morrow," she had said to +Madame Vernier. "Would you believe it, the good-man insists on watching +his two casks of wine. He has worried me so this whole day, that I +had to show him two full puncheons. Our neighbor, Pierre Champlain, +fortunately had two which he had not sold. I asked him to kindly let me +have them rolled into our cellar; and oh, dear! now that the good-man +has seen them he insists on bottling them off himself!" + +Madame Vernier had related the poor woman's trouble to her husband just +before the entrance of Gaudissart, and at the first words of the famous +traveller Vernier determined that he should be made to grapple with +Margaritis. + +"Monsieur," said the ex-dyer, as soon as the illustrious Gaudissart +had fired his first broadside, "I will not hide from you the great +difficulties which my native place offers to your enterprise. This part +of the country goes along, as it were, in the rough,--'suo modo.' It is +a country where new ideas don't take hold. We live as our fathers lived, +we amuse ourselves with four meals a day, and we cultivate our vineyards +and sell our wines to the best advantage. Our business principle is to +sell things for more than they cost us; we shall stick in that rut, and +neither God nor the devil can get us out of it. I will, however, give +you some advice, and good advice is an egg in the hand. There is in +this town a retired banker in whose wisdom I have--I, particularly--the +greatest confidence. If you can obtain his support, I will add mine. If +your proposals have real merit, if we are convinced of the advantage of +your enterprise, the approval of Monsieur Margaritis (which carries with +it mine) will open to you at least twenty rich houses in Vouvray who +will be glad to try your specifics." + +When Madame Vernier heard the name of the lunatic she raised her head +and looked at her husband. + +"Ah, precisely; my wife intends to call on Madame Margaritis with one +of our neighbors. Wait a moment, and you can accompany these ladies--You +can pick up Madame Fontanieu on your way," said the wily dyer, winking +at his wife. + +To pick out the greatest gossip, the sharpest tongue, the most +inveterate cackler of the neighborhood! It meant that Madame Vernier +was to take a witness to the scene between the traveller and the lunatic +which should keep the town in laughter for a month. Monsieur and Madame +Vernier played their part so well that Gaudissart had no suspicions, and +straightway fell into the trap. He gallantly offered his arm to Madame +Vernier, and believed that he made, as they went along, the conquest +of both ladies, for those benefit he sparkled with wit and humor and +undetected puns. + +The house of the pretended banker stood at the entrance to the Valley +Coquette. The place, called La Fuye, had nothing remarkable about it. On +the ground floor was a large wainscoted salon, on either side of which +opened the bedroom of the good-man and that of his wife. The salon +was entered from an ante-chamber, which served as the dining-room and +communicated with the kitchen. This lower door, which was wholly without +the external charm usually seen even in the humblest dwellings in +Touraine, was covered by a mansard story, reached by a stairway built +on the outside of the house against the gable end and protected by +a shed-roof. A little garden, full of marigolds, syringas, and +elder-bushes, separated the house from the fields; and all around the +courtyard were detached buildings which were used in the vintage season +for the various processes of making wine. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Margaritis was seated in an arm-chair covered with yellow Utrecht +velvet, near the window of the salon, and he did not stir as the two +ladies entered with Gaudissart. His thoughts were running on the casks +of wine. He was a spare man, and his bald head, garnished with a few +spare locks at the back of it, was pear-shaped in conformation. +His sunken eyes, overtopped by heavy black brows and surrounded by +discolored circles, his nose, thin and sharp like the blade of a knife, +the strongly marked jawbone, the hollow cheeks, and the oblong tendency +of all these lines, together with his unnaturally long and flat chin, +contributed to give a peculiar expression to his countenance,--something +between that of a retired professor of rhetoric and a rag-picker. + +"Monsieur Margaritis," cried Madame Vernier, addressing him, "come, stir +about! Here is a gentleman whom my husband sends to you, and you must +listen to him with great attention. Put away your mathematics and talk +to him." + +On hearing these words the lunatic rose, looked at Gaudissart, made him +a sign to sit down, and said, "Let us converse, Monsieur." + +The two women went into Madame Margaritis' bedroom, leaving the +door open so as to hear the conversation, and interpose if it became +necessary. They were hardly installed before Monsieur Vernier crept +softly up through the field and, opening a window, got into the bedroom +without noise. + +"Monsieur has doubtless been in business--?" began Gaudissart. + +"Public business," answered Margaritis, interrupting him. "I pacificated +Calabria under the reign of King Murat." + +"Bless me! if he hasn't gone to Calabria!" whispered Monsieur Vernier. + +"In that case," said Gaudissart, "we shall quickly understand each +other." + +"I am listening," said Margaritis, striking the attitude taken by a man +when he poses to a portrait-painter. + +"Monsieur," said Gaudissart, who chanced to be turning his watch-key +with a rotatory and periodical click which caught the attention of the +lunatic and contributed no doubt to keep him quiet. "Monsieur, if you +were not a man of superior intelligence" (the fool bowed), "I should +content myself with merely laying before you the material advantages of +this enterprise, whose psychological aspects it would be a waste of time +to explain to you. Listen! Of all kinds of social wealth, is not +time the most precious? To economize time is, consequently, to become +wealthy. Now, is there anything that consumes so much time as those +anxieties which I call 'pot-boiling'?--a vulgar expression, but it puts +the whole question in a nutshell. For instance, what can eat up more +time than the inability to give proper security to persons from whom you +seek to borrow money when, poor at the moment, you are nevertheless rich +in hope?" + +"Money,--yes, that's right," said Margaritis. + +"Well, Monsieur, I am sent into the departments by a company of bankers +and capitalists, who have apprehended the enormous waste which +rising men of talent are thus making of time, and, consequently, +of intelligence and productive ability. We have seized the idea of +capitalizing for such men their future prospects, and cashing their +talents by discounting--what? TIME; securing the value of it to their +survivors. I may say that it is no longer a question of economizing +time, but of giving it a price, a quotation; of representing in a +pecuniary sense those products developed by time which presumably you +possess in the region of your intellect; of representing also the moral +qualities with which you are endowed, and which are, Monsieur, living +forces,--as living as a cataract, as a steam-engine of three, ten, +twenty, fifty horse-power. Ha! this is progress! the movement onward to +a better state of things; a movement born of the spirit of our epoch; a +movement essentially progressive, as I shall prove to you when we come +to consider the principles involved in the logical co-ordination of +the social fabric. I will now explain my meaning by literal examples, +leaving aside all purely abstract reasoning, which I call the +mathematics of thought. Instead of being, as you are, a proprietor +living upon your income, let us suppose that you are painter, a +musician, an artist, or a poet--" + +"I am a painter," said the lunatic. + +"Well, so be it. I see you take my metaphor. You are a painter; you have +a glorious future, a rich future before you. But I go still farther--" + +At these words the madman looked anxiously at Gaudissart, thinking he +meant to go away; but was reassured when he saw that he kept his seat. + +"You may even be nothing at all," said Gaudissart, going on with his +phrases, "but you are conscious of yourself; you feel yourself--" + +"I feel myself," said the lunatic. + +"--you feel yourself a great man; you say to yourself, 'I will be a +minister of state.' Well, then, you--painter, artist, man of letters, +statesman of the future--you reckon upon your talents, you estimate +their value, you rate them, let us say, at a hundred thousand crowns--" + +"Do you give me a hundred thousand crowns?" + +"Yes, Monsieur, as you will see. Either your heirs and assigns will +receive them if you die, for the company contemplates that event, or +you will receive them in the long run through your works of art, your +writings, or your fortunate speculations during your lifetime. But, as +I have already had the honor to tell you, when you have once fixed +upon the value of your intellectual capital,--for it is intellectual +capital,--seize that idea firmly,--intellectual--" + +"I understand," said the fool. + +"You sign a policy of insurance with a company which recognizes in you a +value of a hundred thousand crowns; in you, poet--" + +"I am a painter," said the lunatic. + +"Yes," resumed Gaudissart,--"painter, poet, musician, statesman--and +binds itself to pay them over to your family, your heirs, if, by reason +of your death, the hopes foundered on your intellectual capital should +be overthrown for you personally. The payment of the premium is all that +is required to protect--" + +"The money-box," said the lunatic, sharply interrupting him. + +"Ah! naturally; yes. I see that Monsieur understands business." + +"Yes," said the madman. "I established the Territorial Bank in the Rue +des Fosses-Montmartre at Paris in 1798." + +"For," resumed Gaudissart, going back to his premium, "in order to meet +the payments on the intellectual capital which each man recognizes and +esteems in himself, it is of course necessary that each should pay a +certain premium, three per cent; an annual due of three per cent. Thus, +by the payment of this trifling sum, a mere nothing, you protect your +family from disastrous results at your death--" + +"But I live," said the fool. + +"Ah! yes; you mean if you should live long? That is the usual +objection,--a vulgar prejudice. I fully agree that if we had +not foreseen and demolished it we might feel we were unworthy of +being--what? What are we, after all? Book-keepers in the great Bureau of +Intellect. Monsieur, I don't apply these remarks to you, but I meet on +all sides men who make it a business to teach new ideas and disclose +chains of reasoning to people who turn pale at the first word. On my +word of honor, it is pitiable! But that's the way of the world, and I +don't pretend to reform it. Your objection, Monsieur, is really sheer +nonsense." + +"Why?" asked the lunatic. + +"Why?--this is why: because, if you live and possess the qualities which +are estimated in your policy against the chances of death,--now, attend +to this--" + +"I am attending." + +"Well, then, you have succeeded in life; and you have succeeded because +of the said insurance. You doubled your chances of success by getting +rid of the anxieties you were dragging about with you in the shape of +wife and children who might otherwise be left destitute at your death. +If you attain this certainty, you have touched the value of your +intellectual capital, on which the cost of insurance is but a trifle,--a +mere trifle, a bagatelle." + +"That's a fine idea!" + +"Ah! is it not, Monsieur?" cried Gaudissart. "I call this enterprise the +exchequer of beneficence; a mutual insurance against poverty; or, if +you like it better, the discounting, the cashing, of talent. For talent, +Monsieur, is a bill of exchange which Nature gives to the man of genius, +and which often has a long time to run before it falls due." + +"That is usury!" cried Margaritis. + +"The devil! he's keen, the old fellow! I've made a mistake," thought +Gaudissart, "I must catch him with other chaff. I'll try humbug No. 1. +Not at all," he said aloud, "for you who--" + +"Will you take a glass of wine?" asked Margaritis. + +"With pleasure," replied Gaudissart. + +"Wife, give us a bottle of the wine that is in the puncheons. You are +here at the very head of Vouvray," he continued, with a gesture of the +hand, "the vineyard of Margaritis." + +The maid-servant brought glasses and a bottle of wine of the vintage of +1819. The good-man filled a glass with circumspection and offered it to +Gaudissart, who drank it up. + +"Ah, you are joking, Monsieur!" exclaimed the commercial traveller. +"Surely this is Madeira, true Madeira?" + +"So you think," said the fool. "The trouble with our Vouvray wine is +that it is neither a common wine, nor a wine that can be drunk with the +entremets. It is too generous, too strong. It is often sold in Paris +adulterated with brandy and called Madeira. The wine-merchants buy it +up, when our vintage has not been good enough for the Dutch and Belgian +markets, to mix it with wines grown in the neighborhood of Paris, and +call it Bordeaux. But what you are drinking just now, my good Monsieur, +is a wine for kings, the pure Head of Vouvray,--that's it's name. I +have two puncheons, only two puncheons of it left. People who like fine +wines, high-class wines, who furnish their table with qualities that +can't be bought in the regular trade,--and there are many persons in +Paris who have that vanity,--well, such people send direct to us for +this wine. Do you know any one who--?" + +"Let us go on with what we were saying," interposed Gaudissart. + +"We are going on," said the fool. "My wine is capital; you are capital, +capitalist, intellectual capital, capital wine,--all the same etymology, +don't you see? hein? Capital, 'caput,' head, Head of Vouvray, that's my +wine,--it's all one thing." + +"So that you have realized your intellectual capital through your wines? +Ah, I see!" said Gaudissart. + +"I have realized," said the lunatic. "Would you like to buy my +puncheons? you shall have them on good terms." + +"No, I was merely speaking," said the illustrious Gaudissart, "of the +results of insurance and the employment of intellectual capital. I will +resume my argument." + +The lunatic calmed down, and fell once more into position. + +"I remarked, Monsieur, that if you die the capital will be paid to your +family without discussion." + +"Without discussion?" + +"Yes, unless there were suicide." + +"That's quibbling." + +"No, Monsieur; you are aware that suicide is one of those acts which are +easy to prove--" + +"In France," said the fool; "but--" + +"But in other countries?" said Gaudissart. "Well, Monsieur, to cut +short discussion on this point, I will say, once for all, that death in +foreign countries or on the field of battle is outside of our--" + +"Then what are you insuring? Nothing at all!" cried Margaritis. "My +bank, my Territorial Bank, rested upon--" + +"Nothing at all?" exclaimed Gaudissart, interrupting the good-man. +"Nothing at all? What do you call sickness, and afflictions, and +poverty, and passions? Don't go off on exceptional points." + +"No, no! no points," said the lunatic. + +"Now, what's the result of all this?" cried Gaudissart. "To you, a +banker, I can sum up the profits in a few words. Listen. A man lives; +he has a future; he appears well; he lives, let us say, by his art; he +wants money; he tries to get it,--he fails. Civilization withholds cash +from this man whose thought could master civilization, and ought to +master it, and will master it some day with a brush, a chisel, with +words, ideas, theories, systems. Civilization is atrocious! It denies +bread to the men who give it luxury. It starves them on sneers and +curses, the beggarly rascal! My words may be strong, but I shall +not retract them. Well, this great but neglected man comes to us; we +recognize his greatness; we salute him with respect; we listen to him. +He says to us: 'Gentlemen, my life and talents are worth so much; on my +productions I will pay you such or such percentage.' Very good; what +do we do? Instantly, without reserve or hesitation, we admit him to the +great festivals of civilization as an honored guest--" + +"You need wine for that," interposed the madman. + +"--as an honored guest. He signs the insurance policy; he takes our bits +of paper,--scraps, rags, miserable rags!--which, nevertheless, have more +power in the world than his unaided genius. Then, if he wants money, +every one will lend it to him on those rags. At the Bourse, among +bankers, wherever he goes, even at the usurers, he will find money +because he can give security. Well, Monsieur, is not that a great gulf +to bridge over in our social system? But that is only one aspect of our +work. We insure debtors by another scheme of policies and premiums. We +offer annuities at rates graduated according to ages, on a sliding-scale +infinitely more advantageous than what are called tontines, which are +based on tables of mortality that are notoriously false. Our company +deals with large masses of men; consequently the annuitants are +secure from those distressing fears which sadden old age,--too sad +already!--fears which pursue those who receive annuities from private +sources. You see, Monsieur, that we have estimated life under all its +aspects." + +"Sucked it at both ends," said the lunatic. "Take another glass of wine. +You've earned it. You must line your inside with velvet if you are going +to pump at it like that every day. Monsieur, the wine of Vouvray, if +well kept, is downright velvet." + +"Now, what do you think of it all?" said Gaudissart, emptying his glass. + +"It is very fine, very new, very useful; but I like the discounts I get +at my Territorial Bank, Rue des Fosses-Montmartre." + +"You are quite right, Monsieur," answered Gaudissart; "but that sort of +thing is taken and retaken, made and remade, every day. You have also +hypothecating banks which lend upon landed property and redeem it on +a large scale. But that is a narrow idea compared to our system of +consolidating hopes,--consolidating hopes! coagulating, so to speak, +the aspirations born in every soul, and insuring the realization of +our dreams. It needed our epoch, Monsieur, the epoch of +transition--transition and progress--" + +"Yes, progress," muttered the lunatic, with his glass at his lips. "I +like progress. That is what I've told them many times--" + +"The 'Times'!" cried Gaudissart, who did not catch the whole sentence. +"The 'Times' is a bad newspaper. If you read that, I am sorry for you." + +"The newspaper!" cried Margaritis. "Of course! Wife! wife! where is the +newspaper?" he cried, going towards the next room. + +"If you are interested in newspapers," said Gaudissart, changing his +attack, "we are sure to understand each other." + +"Yes; but before we say anything about that, tell me what you think of +this wine." + +"Delicious!" + +"Then let us finish the bottle." The lunatic poured out a thimbleful +for himself and filled Gaudissart's glass. "Well, Monsieur, I have two +puncheons left of the same wine; if you find it good we can come to +terms." + +"Exactly," said Gaudissart. "The fathers of the Saint-Simonian faith +have authorized me to send them all the commodities I--But allow me to +tell you about their noble newspaper. You, who have understood the whole +question of insurance so thoroughly, and who are willing to assist my +work in this district--" + +"Yes," said Margaritis, "if--" + +"If I take your wine; I understand perfectly. Your wine is very good, +Monsieur; it puts the stomach in a glow." + +"They make champagne out of it; there is a man from Paris who comes here +and makes it in Tours." + +"I have no doubt of it, Monsieur. The 'Globe,' of which we were +speaking--" + +"Yes, I've gone over it," said Margaritis. + +"I was sure of it!" exclaimed Gaudissart. "Monsieur, you have a fine +frontal development; a pate--excuse the word--which our gentlemen call +'horse-head.' There's a horse element in the head of every great man. +Genius will make itself known; but sometimes it happens that great men, +in spite of their gifts, remain obscure. Such was very nearly the case +with Saint-Simon; also with Monsieur Vico,--a strong man just beginning +to shoot up; I am proud of Vico. Now, here we enter upon the new theory +and formula of humanity. Attention, if you please." + +"Attention!" said the fool, falling into position. + +"Man's spoliation of man--by which I mean bodies of men living upon the +labor of other men--ought to have ceased with the coming of Christ, I +say CHRIST, who was sent to proclaim the equality of man in the sight +of God. But what is the fact? Equality up to our day has been an 'ignus +fatuus,' a chimera. Saint-Simon has arisen as the complement of Christ; +as the modern exponent of the doctrine of equality, or rather of its +practice, for theory has served its time--" + +"Is he liberated?" asked the lunatic. + +"Like liberalism, it has had its day. There is a nobler future before +us: a new faith, free labor, free growth, free production, individual +progress, a social co-ordination in which each man shall receive the +full worth of his individual labor, in which no man shall be preyed upon +by other men who, without capacity of their own, compel ALL to work for +the profit of ONE. From this comes the doctrine of--" + +"How about servants?" demanded the lunatic. + +"They will remain servants if they have no capacity beyond it." + +"Then what's the good of your doctrine?" + +"To judge of this doctrine, Monsieur, you must consider it from a higher +point of view: you must take a general survey of humanity. Here we come +to the theories of Ballance: do you know his Palingenesis?" + +"I am fond of them," said the fool, who thought he said "ices." + +"Good!" returned Gaudissart. "Well, then, if the palingenistic aspects +of the successive transformations of the spiritualized globe +have struck, stirred, roused you, then, my dear sir, the 'Globe' +newspaper,--noble name which proclaims its mission,--the 'Globe' is an +organ, a guide, who will explain to you with the coming of each day +the conditions under which this vast political and moral change will be +effected. The gentlemen who--" + +"Do they drink wine?" + +"Yes, Monsieur; their houses are kept up in the highest style; I may +say, in prophetic style. Superb salons, large receptions, the apex of +social life--" + +"Well," remarked the lunatic, "the workmen who pull things down want +wine as much as those who put things up." + +"True," said the illustrious Gaudissart, "and all the more, Monsieur, +when they pull down with one hand and build up with the other, like the +apostles of the 'Globe.'" + +"They want good wine; Head of Vouvray, two puncheons, three hundred +bottles, only one hundred francs,--a trifle." + +"How much is that a bottle?" said Gaudissart, calculating. "Let me see; +there's the freight and the duty,--it will come to about seven sous. +Why, it wouldn't be a bad thing: they give more for worse wines--(Good! +I've got him!" thought Gaudissart, "he wants to sell me wine which I +want; I'll master him)--Well, Monsieur," he continued, "those who argue +usually come to an agreement. Let us be frank with each other. You have +great influence in this district--" + +"I should think so!" said the madman; "I am the Head of Vouvray!" + +"Well, I see that you thoroughly comprehend the insurance of +intellectual capital--" + +"Thoroughly." + +"--and that you have measured the full importance of the 'Globe'--" + +"Twice; on foot." + +Gaudissart was listening to himself and not to the replies of his +hearer. + +"Therefore, in view of your circumstances and of your age, I quite +understand that you have no need of insurance for yourself; but, +Monsieur, you might induce others to insure, either because of their +inherent qualities which need development, or for the protection of +their families against a precarious future. Now, if you will subscribe +to the 'Globe,' and give me your personal assistance in this district +on behalf of insurance, especially life-annuity,--for the provinces are +much attached to annuities--Well, if you will do this, then we can come +to an understanding about the wine. Will you take the 'Globe'?" + +"I stand on the globe." + +"Will you advance its interests in this district?" + +"I advance." + +"And?" + +"And--" + +"And I--but you do subscribe, don't you, to the 'Globe'?" + +"The globe, good thing, for life," said the lunatic. + +"For life, Monsieur?--ah, I see! yes, you are right: it is full of +life, vigor, intellect, science,--absolutely crammed with science,--well +printed, clear type, well set up; what I call 'good nap.' None of your +botched stuff, cotton and wool, trumpery; flimsy rubbish that rips +if you look at it. It is deep; it states questions on which you can +meditate at your leisure; it is the very thing to make time pass +agreeably in the country." + +"That suits me," said the lunatic. + +"It only costs a trifle,--eighty francs." + +"That won't suit me," said the lunatic. + +"Monsieur!" cried Gaudissart, "of course you have got grandchildren? +There's the 'Children's Journal'; that only costs seven francs a year." + +"Very good; take my wine, and I will subscribe to the children. That +suits me very well: a fine idea! intellectual product, child. That's man +living upon man, hein?" + +"You've hit it, Monsieur," said Gaudissart. + +"I've hit it!" + +"You consent to push me in the district?" + +"In the district." + +"I have your approbation?" + +"You have it." + +"Well, then, Monsieur, I take your wine at a hundred francs--" + +"No, no! hundred and ten--" + +"Monsieur! A hundred and ten for the company, but a hundred to me. I +enable you to make a sale; you owe me a commission." + +"Charge 'em a hundred and twenty,"--"cent vingt" ("sans vin," without +wine). + +"Capital pun that!" + +"No, puncheons. About that wine--" + +"Better and better! why, you are a wit." + +"Yes, I'm that," said the fool. "Come out and see my vineyards." + +"Willingly, the wine is getting into my head," said the illustrious +Gaudissart, following Monsieur Margaritis, who marched him from row +to row and hillock to hillock among the vines. The three ladies and +Monsieur Vernier, left to themselves, went off into fits of laughter as +they watched the traveller and the lunatic discussing, gesticulating, +stopping short, resuming their walk, and talking vehemently. + +"I wish the good-man hadn't carried him off," said Vernier. + +Finally the pair returned, walking with the eager step of men who were +in haste to finish up a matter of business. + +"He has got the better of the Parisian, damn him!" cried Vernier. + +And so it was. To the huge delight of the lunatic our illustrious +Gaudissart sat down at a card-table and wrote an order for the delivery +of the two casks of wine. Margaritis, having carefully read it over, +counted out seven francs for his subscription to the "Children's +Journal" and gave them to the traveller. + +"Adieu until to-morrow, Monsieur," said Gaudissart, twisting his +watch-key. "I shall have the honor to call for you to-morrow. Meantime, +send the wine at once to Paris to the address I have given you, and the +price will be remitted immediately." + +Gaudissart, however, was a Norman, and he had no idea of making any +agreement which was not reciprocal. He therefore required his promised +supporter to sign a bond (which the lunatic carefully read over) to +deliver two puncheons of the wine called "Head of Vouvray," vineyard of +Margaritis. + +This done, the illustrious Gaudissart departed in high feather, humming, +as he skipped along,-- + + "The King of the South, + He burned his mouth," etc. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The illustrious Gaudissart returned to the Soleil d'Or, where he +naturally conversed with the landlord while waiting for dinner. +Mitouflet was an old soldier, guilelessly crafty, like the peasantry of +the Loire; he never laughed at a jest, but took it with the gravity of +a man accustomed to the roar of cannon and to make his own jokes under +arms. + +"You have some very strong-minded people here," said Gaudissart, leaning +against the door-post and lighting his cigar at Mitouflet's pipe. + +"How do you mean?" asked Mitouflet. + +"I mean people who are rough-shod on political and financial ideas." + +"Whom have you seen? if I may ask without indiscretion," said the +landlord innocently, expectorating after the adroit and periodical +fashion of smokers. + +"A fine, energetic fellow named Margaritis." + +Mitouflet cast two glances in succession at his guest which were +expressive of chilling irony. + +"May be; the good-man knows a deal. He knows too much for other folks, +who can't always understand him." + +"I can believe it, for he thoroughly comprehends the abstruse principles +of finance." + +"Yes," said the innkeeper, "and for my part, I am sorry he is a +lunatic." + +"A lunatic! What do you mean?" + +"Well, crazy,--cracked, as people are when they are insane," answered +Mitouflet. "But he is not dangerous; his wife takes care of him. Have +you been arguing with him?" added the pitiless landlord; "that must have +been funny!" + +"Funny!" cried Gaudissart. "Funny! Then your Monsieur Vernier has been +making fun of me!" + +"Did he send you there?" + +"Yes." + +"Wife! wife! come here and listen. If Monsieur Vernier didn't take it +into his head to send this gentleman to talk to Margaritis!" + +"What in the world did you say to each other, my dear, good Monsieur?" +said the wife. "Why, he's crazy!" + +"He sold me two casks of wine." + +"Did you buy them?" + +"Yes." + +"But that is his delusion; he thinks he sells his wine, and he hasn't +any." + +"Ha!" snorted the traveller, "then I'll go straight to Monsieur Vernier +and thank him." + +And Gaudissart departed, boiling over with rage, to shake the ex-dyer, +whom he found in his salon, laughing with a company of friends to whom +he had already recounted the tale. + +"Monsieur," said the prince of travellers, darting a savage glance at +his enemy, "you are a scoundrel and a blackguard; and under pain +of being thought a turn-key,--a species of being far below a +galley-slave,--you will give me satisfaction for the insult you dared +to offer me in sending me to a man whom you knew to be a lunatic! Do you +hear me, Monsieur Vernier, dyer?" + +Such was the harangue which Gaudissart prepared as he went along, as a +tragedian makes ready for his entrance on the scene. + +"What!" cried Vernier, delighted at the presence of an audience, "do +you think we have no right to make fun of a man who comes here, bag and +baggage, and demands that we hand over our property because, forsooth, +he is pleased to call us great men, painters, artists, poets,--mixing us +up gratuitously with a set of fools who have neither house nor home, nor +sous nor sense? Why should we put up with a rascal who comes here +and wants us to feather his nest by subscribing to a newspaper which +preaches a new religion whose first doctrine is, if you please, that we +are not to inherit from our fathers and mothers? On my sacred word of +honor, Pere Margaritis said things a great deal more sensible. And now, +what are you complaining about? You and Margaritis seemed to understand +each other. The gentlemen here present can testify that if you had +talked to the whole canton you couldn't have been as well understood." + +"That's all very well for you to say; but I have been insulted, +Monsieur, and I demand satisfaction!" + +"Very good, Monsieur! consider yourself insulted, if you like. I shall +not give you satisfaction, because there is neither rhyme nor reason nor +satisfaction to be found in the whole business. What an absurd fool he +is, to be sure!" + +At these words Gaudissart flew at the dyer to give him a slap on +the face, but the listening crowd rushed between them, so that the +illustrious traveller only contrived to knock off the wig of his enemy, +which fell on the head of Mademoiselle Clara Vernier. + +"If you are not satisfied, Monsieur," he said, "I shall be at the Soleil +d'Or until to-morrow morning, and you will find me ready to show you +what it means to give satisfaction. I fought in July, Monsieur." + +"And you shall fight in Vouvray," answered the dyer; "and what is more, +you shall stay here longer than you imagine." + +Gaudissart marched off, turning over in his mind this prophetic remark, +which seemed to him full of sinister portent. For the first time in his +life the prince of travellers did not dine jovially. The whole town of +Vouvray was put in a ferment about the "affair" between Monsieur Vernier +and the apostle of Saint-Simonism. Never before had the tragic event of +a duel been so much as heard of in that benign and happy valley. + +"Monsieur Mitouflet, I am to fight to-morrow with Monsieur Vernier," +said Gaudissart to his landlord. "I know no one here: will you be my +second?" + +"Willingly," said the host. + +Gaudissart had scarcely finished his dinner before Madame Fontanieu +and the assistant-mayor of Vouvray came to the Soleil d'Or and took +Mitouflet aside. They told him it would be a painful and injurious thing +to the whole canton if a violent death were the result of this affair; +they represented the pitiable distress of Madame Vernier, and conjured +him to find some way to arrange matters and save the credit of the +district. + +"I take it all upon myself," said the sagacious landlord. + +In the evening he went up to the traveller's room carrying pens, ink, +and paper. + +"What have you got there?" asked Gaudissart. + +"If you are going to fight to-morrow," answered Mitouflet, "you had +better make some settlement of your affairs; and perhaps you have +letters to write,--we all have beings who are dear to us. Writing +doesn't kill, you know. Are you a good swordsman? Would you like to get +your hand in? I have some foils." + +"Yes, gladly." + +Mitouflet returned with foils and masks. + +"Now, then, let us see what you can do." + +The pair put themselves on guard. Mitouflet, with his former prowess as +grenadier of the guard, made sixty-two passes at Gaudissart, pushed him +about right and left, and finally pinned him up against the wall. + +"The deuce! you are strong," said Gaudissart, out of breath. + +"Monsieur Vernier is stronger than I am." + +"The devil! Damn it, I shall fight with pistols." + +"I advise you to do so; because, if you take large holster pistols and +load them up to their muzzles, you can't risk anything. They are SURE to +fire wide of the mark, and both parties can retire from the field with +honor. Let me manage all that. Hein! 'sapristi,' two brave men would be +arrant fools to kill each other for a joke." + +"Are you sure the pistols will carry WIDE ENOUGH? I should be sorry to +kill the man, after all," said Gaudissart. + +"Sleep in peace," answered Mitouflet, departing. + +The next morning the two adversaries, more or less pale, met beside the +bridge of La Cise. The brave Vernier came near shooting a cow which was +peaceably feeding by the roadside. + +"Ah, you fired in the air!" cried Gaudissart. + +At these words the enemies embraced. + +"Monsieur," said the traveller, "your joke was rather rough, but it was +a good one for all that. I am sorry I apostrophized you: I was excited. +I regard you as a man of honor." + +"Monsieur, we take twenty subscriptions to the 'Children's Journal,'" +replied the dyer, still pale. + +"That being so," said Gaudissart, "why shouldn't we all breakfast +together? Men who fight are always the ones to come to a good +understanding." + +"Monsieur Mitouflet," said Gaudissart on his return to the inn, "of +course you have got a sheriff's officer here?" + +"What for?" + +"I want to send a summons to my good friend Margaritis to deliver the +two casks of wine." + +"But he has not got them," said Vernier. + +"No matter for that; the affair can be arranged by the payment of an +indemnity. I won't have it said that Vouvray outwitted the illustrious +Gaudissart." + +Madame Margaritis, alarmed at the prospect of a suit in which the +plaintiff would certainly win his case, brought thirty francs to the +placable traveller, who thereupon considered himself quits with the +happiest region of sunny France,--a region which is also, we must add, +the most recalcitrant to new and progressive ideas. + +On returning from his trip through the southern departments, the +illustrious Gaudissart occupied the coupe of a diligence, where he met +a young man to whom, as they journeyed between Angouleme and Paris, he +deigned to explain the enigmas of life, taking him, apparently, for an +infant. + +As they passed Vouvray the young man exclaimed, "What a fine site!" + +"Yes, Monsieur," said Gaudissart, "but not habitable on account of the +people. You get into duels every day. Why, it is not three months since +I fought one just there," pointing to the bridge of La Cise, "with a +damned dyer; but I made an end of him,--he bit the dust!" + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Finot, Andoche + Cesar Birotteau + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Government Clerks + A Start in Life + The Firm of Nucingen + + Gaudissart, Felix + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Cousin Pons + Cesar Birotteau + Honorine + + Popinot, Anselme + Cesar Birotteau + Cousin Pons + Cousin Betty + + + + + +THE MUSE OF THE DEPARTMENT + + +Translated by James Waring + + +DEDICATION + + To Monsieur le Comte Ferdinand de Gramont. + + MY DEAR FERDINAND,--If the chances of the world of literature-- + _habent sua fata libelli_--should allow these lines to be an + enduring record, that will still be but a trifle in return for the + trouble you have taken--you, the Hozier, the Cherin, the King-at- + Arms of these Studies of Life; you, to whom the Navarreins, + Cadignans, Langeais, Blamont-Chauvrys, Chaulieus, Arthez, + Esgrignons, Mortsaufs, Valois--the hundred great names that form + the Aristocracy of the "Human Comedy" owe their lordly mottoes and + ingenious armorial bearings. Indeed, "the Armorial of the Etudes, + devised by Ferdinand de Gramont, gentleman," is a complete manual + of French Heraldry, in which nothing is forgotten, not even the + arms of the Empire, and I shall preserve it as a monument of + friendship and of Benedictine patience. What profound knowledge of + the old feudal spirit is to be seen in the motto of the + Beauseants, _Pulchre sedens, melius agens_; in that of the + Espards, _Des partem leonis_; in that of the Vandenesses, _Ne se + vend_. And what elegance in the thousand details of the learned + symbolism which will always show how far accuracy has been carried + in my work, to which you, the poet, have contributed. + + Your old friend, + DE BALZAC. + + + +On the skirts of Le Berry stands a town which, watered by the Loire, +infallibly attracts the traveler's eye. Sancerre crowns the topmost +height of a chain of hills, the last of the range that gives variety to +the Nivernais. The Loire floods the flats at the foot of these slopes, +leaving a yellow alluvium that is extremely fertile, excepting in those +places where it has deluged them with sand and destroyed them forever, +by one of those terrible risings which are also incidental to the +Vistula--the Loire of the northern coast. + +The hill on which the houses of Sancerre are grouped is so far from the +river that the little river-port of Saint-Thibault thrives on the life +of Sancerre. There wine is shipped and oak staves are landed, with all +the produce brought from the upper and lower Loire. At the period when +this story begins the suspension bridges at Cosne and at Saint-Thibault +were already built. Travelers from Paris to Sancerre by the +southern road were no longer ferried across the river from Cosne to +Saint-Thibault; and this of itself is enough to show that the great +cross-shuffle of 1830 was a thing of the past, for the House of Orleans +has always had a care for substantial improvements, though somewhat +after the fashion of a husband who makes his wife presents out of her +marriage portion. + +Excepting that part of Sancerre which occupies the little plateau, the +streets are more or less steep, and the town is surrounded by slopes +known as the Great Ramparts, a name which shows that they are the +highroads of the place. + +Outside the ramparts lies a belt of vineyards. Wine forms the chief +industry and the most important trade of the country, which yields +several vintages of high-class wine full of aroma, and so nearly +resembling the wines of Burgundy, that the vulgar palate is deceived. So +Sancerre finds in the wineshops of Paris the quick market indispensable +for liquor that will not keep for more than seven or eight years. Below +the town lie a few villages, Fontenoy and Saint-Satur, almost suburbs, +reminding us by their situation of the smiling vineyards about Neuchatel +in Switzerland. + +The town still bears much of its ancient aspect; the streets are narrow +and paved with pebbles carted up from the Loire. Some old houses are to +be seen there. The citadel, a relic of military power and feudal times, +stood one of the most terrible sieges of our religious wars, when French +Calvinists far outdid the ferocious Cameronians of Walter Scott's tales. + +The town of Sancerre, rich in its greater past, but widowed now of its +military importance, is doomed to an even less glorious future, for the +course of trade lies on the right bank of the Loire. The sketch here +given shows that Sancerre will be left more and more lonely in spite of +the two bridges connecting it with Cosne. + +Sancerre, the pride of the left bank, numbers three thousand five +hundred inhabitants at most, while at Cosne there are now more than +six thousand. Within half a century the part played by these two +towns standing opposite each other has been reversed. The advantage of +situation, however, remains with the historic town, whence the view on +every side is perfectly enchanting, where the air is deliciously pure, +the vegetation splendid, and the residents, in harmony with nature, +are friendly souls, good fellows, and devoid of Puritanism, though +two-thirds of the population are Calvinists. Under such conditions, +though there are the usual disadvantages of life in a small town, and +each one lives under the officious eye which makes private life almost +a public concern, on the other hand, the spirit of township--a sort +of patriotism, which cannot indeed take the place of a love of +home--flourishes triumphantly. + +Thus the town of Sancerre is exceedingly proud of having given birth to +one of the glories of modern medicine, Horace Bianchon, and to an +author of secondary rank, Etienne Lousteau, one of our most successful +journalists. The district included under the municipality of Sancerre, +distressed at finding itself practically ruled by seven or eight large +landowners, the wire-pullers of the elections, tried to shake off the +electoral yoke of a creed which had reduced it to a rotten borough. +This little conspiracy, plotted by a handful of men whose vanity was +provoked, failed through the jealousy which the elevation of one of +them, as the inevitable result, roused in the breasts of the others. +This result showed the radical defect of the scheme, and the remedy then +suggested was to rally round a champion at the next election, in the +person of one of the two men who so gloriously represented Sancerre in +Paris circles. + +This idea was extraordinarily advanced for the provinces, for since 1830 +the nomination of parochial dignitaries has increased so greatly that +real statesmen are becoming rare indeed in the lower chamber. + +In point of fact, this plan, of very doubtful outcome, was hatched in +the brain of the Superior Woman of the borough, _dux femina fasti_, but +with a view to personal interest. This idea was so widely rooted in this +lady's past life, and so entirely comprehended her future prospects, +that it can scarcely be understood without some sketch of her antecedent +career. + + + +Sancerre at that time could boast of a Superior Woman, long misprized +indeed, but now, about 1836, enjoying a pretty extensive local +reputation. This, too, was the period at which two Sancerrois in Paris +were attaining, each in his own line, to the highest degree of glory +for one, and of fashion for the other. Etienne Lousteau, a writer in +reviews, signed his name to contributions to a paper that had eight +thousand subscribers; and Bianchon, already chief physician to a +hospital, Officer of the Legion of Honor, and member of the Academy of +Sciences, had just been made a professor. + +If it were not that the word would to many readers seem to imply a +degree of blame, it might be said that George Sand created _Sandism_, so +true is it that, morally speaking, all good has a reverse of evil. This +leprosy of sentimentality would have been charming. Still, _Sandism_ has +its good side, in that the woman attacked by it bases her assumption of +superiority on feelings scorned; she is a blue-stocking of sentiment; +and she is rather less of a bore, love to some extent neutralizing +literature. The most conspicuous result of George Sand's celebrity +was to elicit the fact that France has a perfectly enormous number of +superior women, who have, however, till now been so generous as to leave +the field to the Marechal de Saxe's granddaughter. + +The Superior Woman of Sancerre lived at La Baudraye, a town-house +and country-house in one, within ten minutes of the town, and in the +village, or, if you will, the suburb of Saint-Satur. The La Baudrayes of +the present day have, as is frequently the case, thrust themselves in, +and are but a substitute for those La Baudrayes whose name, glorious in +the Crusades, figured in the chief events of the history of Le Berry. + +The story must be told. + +In the time of Louis XIV. a certain sheriff named Milaud, whose +forefathers had been furious Calvinists, was converted at the time of +the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. To encourage this movement in +one of the strong-holds of Calvinism, the King gave said Milaud a good +appointment in the "Waters and Forests," granted him arms and the title +of Sire (or Lord) de la Baudraye, with the fief of the old and genuine +La Baudrayes. The descendants of the famous Captain la Baudraye fell, +sad to say, into one of the snares laid for heretics by the new decrees, +and were hanged--an unworthy deed of the great King's. + +Under Louis XV. Milaud de la Baudraye, from being a mere squire, +was made Chevalier, and had influence enough to obtain for his son +a cornet's commission in the Musketeers. This officer perished at +Fontenoy, leaving a child, to whom King Louis XVI. subsequently granted +the privileges, by patent, of a farmer-general, in remembrance of his +father's death on the field of battle. + +This financier, a fashionable wit, great at charades, capping verses, +and posies to Chlora, lived in society, was a hanger-on to the Duc +de Nivernais, and fancied himself obliged to follow the nobility into +exile; but he took care to carry his money with him. Thus the rich +_emigre_ was able to assist more than one family of high rank. + +In 1800, tired of hoping, and perhaps tired of lending, he returned +to Sancerre, bought back La Baudraye out of a feeling of vanity and +imaginary pride, quite intelligible in a sheriff's grandson, though +under the consulate his prospects were but slender; all the more so, +indeed, because the ex-farmer-general had small hopes of his heir's +perpetuating the new race of La Baudraye. + +Jean Athanase Polydore Milaud de la Baudraye, his only son, more than +delicate from his birth, was very evidently the child of a man whose +constitution had early been exhausted by the excesses in which rich men +indulge, who then marry at the first stage of premature old age, and +thus bring degeneracy into the highest circles of society. During the +years of the emigration Madame de la Baudraye, a girl of no fortune, +chosen for her noble birth, had patiently reared this sallow, sickly +boy, for whom she had the devoted love mothers feel for such changeling +creatures. Her death--she was a Casteran de la Tour--contributed to +bring about Monsieur de la Baudraye's return to France. + +This Lucullus of the Milauds, when he died, left his son the fief, +stripped indeed of its fines and dues, but graced with weathercocks +bearing his coat-of-arms, a thousand louis-d'or--in 1802 a considerable +sum of money--and certain receipts for claims on very distinguished +_emigres_ enclosed in a pocketbook full of verses, with this inscription +on the wrapper, _Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas_. + +Young La Baudraye did not die, but he owed his life to habits of +monastic strictness; to the economy of action which Fontenelle preached +as the religion of the invalid; and, above all, to the air of Sancerre +and the influence of its fine elevation, whence a panorama over the +valley of the Loire may be seen extending for forty leagues. + +From 1802 to 1815 young La Baudraye added several plots to his +vineyards, and devoted himself to the culture of the vine. The +Restoration seemed to him at first so insecure that he dared not go to +Paris to claim his debts; but after Napoleon's death he tried to +turn his father's collection of autographs into money, though not +understanding the deep philosophy which had thus mixed up I O U's and +copies of verses. But the winegrower lost so much time in impressing his +identity on the Duke of Navarreins "and others," as he phrased it, +that he came back to Sancerre, to his beloved vintage, without having +obtained anything but offers of service. + +The Restoration had raised the nobility to such a degree of lustre as +made La Baudraye wish to justify his ambitions by having an heir. This +happy result of matrimony he considered doubtful, or he would not so +long have postponed the step; however, finding himself still above +ground in 1823, at the age of forty-three, a length of years which no +doctor, astrologer, or midwife would have dared to promise him, he hoped +to earn the reward of his sober life. And yet his choice showed such a +lack of prudence in regard to his frail constitution, that the malicious +wit of a country town could not help thinking it must be the result of +some deep calculation. + +Just at this time His Eminence, Monseigneur the Archbishop of Bourges, +had converted to the Catholic faith a young person, the daughter of one +of the citizen families, who were the first upholders of Calvinism, and +who, thanks to their obscurity or to some compromise with Heaven, had +escaped from the persecutions under Louis XIV. The Piedefers--a name +that was obviously one of the quaint nicknames assumed by the champions +of the Reformation--had set up as highly respectable cloth merchants. +But in the reign of Louis XVI., Abraham Piedefer fell into difficulties, +and at his death in 1786 left his two children in extreme poverty. One +of them, Tobie Piedefer, went out to the Indies, leaving the pittance +they had inherited to his elder brother. During the Revolution Moise +Piedefer bought up the nationalized land, pulled down abbeys and +churches with all the zeal of his ancestors, oddly enough, and married +a Catholic, the only daughter of a member of the Convention who had +perished on the scaffold. This ambitious Piedefer died in 1819, leaving +a little girl of remarkable beauty. This child, brought up in the +Calvinist faith, was named Dinah, in accordance with the custom in use +among the sect, of taking their Christian names from the Bible, so as to +have nothing in common with the Saints of the Roman Church. + +Mademoiselle Dinah Piedefer was placed by her mother in one of the best +schools in Bourges, that kept by the Demoiselles Chamarolles, and was +soon as highly distinguished for the qualities of her mind as for her +beauty; but she found herself snubbed by girls of birth and fortune, +destined by-and-by to play a greater part in the world than a mere +plebeian, the daughter of a mother who was dependent on the settlement +of Piedefer's estate. Dinah, having raised herself for the moment above +her companions, now aimed at remaining on a level with them for the rest +of her life. She determined, therefore, to renounce Calvinism, in the +hope that the Cardinal would extend his favor to his proselyte +and interest himself in her prospects. You may from this judge of +Mademoiselle Dinah's superiority, since at the age of seventeen she was +a convert solely from ambition. + +The Archbishop, possessed with the idea that Dinah Piedefer would adorn +society, was anxious to see her married. But every family to whom the +prelate made advances took fright at a damsel gifted with the looks of +a princess, who was reputed to be the cleverest of Mademoiselle +Chamarolles' pupils and who, at the somewhat theatrical ceremonial of +prize-giving, always took a leading part. A thousand crowns a year, +which was as much as she could hope for from the estate of La Hautoy +when divided between the mother and daughter, would be a mere trifle in +comparison with the expenses into which a husband would be led by the +personal advantages of so brilliant a creature. + +As soon as all these facts came to the ears of little Polydore de la +Baudraye--for they were the talk of every circle in the Department of +the Cher--he went to Bourges just when Madame Piedefer, a devotee at +high services, had almost made up her own mind and her daughter's to +take the first comer with well-lined pockets--the first _chien coiffe_, +as they say in Le Berry. And if the Cardinal was delighted to receive +Monsieur de la Baudraye, Monsieur de la Baudraye was even better pleased +to receive a wife from the hands of the Cardinal. The little gentleman +only demanded of His Eminence a formal promise to support his claims +with the President of the Council to enable him to recover his debts +from the Duc de Navarreins "and others" by a lien on their indemnities. +This method, however, seemed to the able Minister then occupying the +Pavillon Marsan rather too sharp practice, and he gave the vine-owner to +understand that his business should be attended to all in good time. + +It is easy to imagine the excitement produced in the Sancerre district +by the news of Monsieur de la Baudraye's imprudent marriage. + +"It is quite intelligible," said President Boirouge; "the little man was +very much startled, as I am told, at hearing that handsome young Milaud, +the Attorney-General's deputy at Nevers, say to Monsieur de Clagny as +they were looking at the turrets of La Baudraye, 'That will +be mine some day.'--'But,' says Clagny, 'he may marry and have +children.'--'Impossible!'--So you may imagine how such a changeling as +little La Baudraye must hate that colossal Milaud." + +There was at Nevers a plebeian branch of the Milauds, which had grown so +rich in the cutlery trade that the present representative of that branch +had been brought up to the civil service, in which he had enjoyed the +patronage of Marchangy, now dead. + +It will be as well to eliminate from this story, in which moral +developments play the principal part, the baser material interests which +alone occupied Monsieur de la Baudraye, by briefly relating the results +of his negotiations in Paris. This will also throw light on certain +mysterious phenomena of contemporary history, and the underground +difficulties in matters of politics which hampered the Ministry at the +time of the Restoration. + + + +The promises of Ministers were so illusory that Monsieur de la Baudraye +determined on going to Paris at the time when the Cardinal's presence +was required there by the sitting of the Chambers. + +This is how the Duc de Navarreins, the principal debtor threatened by +Monsieur de la Baudraye, got out of the scrape. + +The country gentleman, lodging at the Hotel de Mayence, Rue +Saint-Honore, near the Place Vendome, one morning received a visit from +a confidential agent of the Ministry, who was an expert in "winding up" +business. This elegant personage, who stepped out of an elegant cab, and +was dressed in the most elegant style, was requested to walk up to No. +3--that is to say, to the third floor, to a small room where he found +his provincial concocting a cup of coffee over his bedroom fire. + +"Is it to Monsieur Milaud de la Baudraye that I have the honor--" + +"Yes," said the little man, draping himself in his dressing-gown. + +After examining this garment, the illicit offspring of an old chine +wrapper of Madame Piedefer's and a gown of the late lamented Madame de +la Baudraye, the emissary considered the man, the dressing-gown, and +the little stove on which the milk was boiling in a tin saucepan, as so +homogeneous and characteristic, that he deemed it needless to beat about +the bush. + +"I will lay a wager, monsieur," said he, audaciously, "that you dine for +forty sous at Hurbain's in the Palais Royal." + +"Pray, why?" + +"Oh, I know you, having seen you there," replied the Parisian with +perfect gravity. "All the princes' creditors dine there. You know that +you recover scarcely ten per cent on debts from these fine gentlemen. +I would not give you five per cent on a debt to be recovered from +the estate of the late Duc d'Orleans--nor even," he added in a low +voice--"from MONSIEUR." + +"So you have come to buy up the bills?" said La Baudraye, thinking +himself very clever. + +"Buy them!" said his visitor. "Why, what do you take me for? I am +Monsieur des Lupeaulx, Master of Appeals, Secretary-General to the +Ministry, and I have come to propose an arrangement." + +"What is that?" + +"Of course, monsieur, you know the position of your debtor--" + +"Of my debtors--" + +"Well, monsieur, you understand the position of your debtors; they stand +high in the King's good graces, but they have no money, and are obliged +to make a good show.--Again, you know the difficulties of the political +situation. The aristocracy has to be rehabilitated in the face of a very +strong force of the third estate. The King's idea--and France does +him scant justice--is to create a peerage as a national institution +analogous to the English peerage. To realize this grand idea we need +years--and millions.--_Noblesse oblige_. The Duc de Navarreins, who is, +as you know, first gentleman of the Bedchamber to the King, does not +repudiate his debt; but he cannot--Now, be reasonable.--Consider the +state of politics. We are emerging from the pit of the Revolution.--and +you yourself are noble--He simply cannot pay--" + +"Monsieur--" + +"You are hasty," said des Lupeaulx. "Listen. He cannot pay in money. +Well, then; you, a clever man, can take payment in favors--Royal or +Ministerial." + +"What! When in 1793 my father put down one hundred thousand--" + +"My dear sir, recrimination is useless. Listen to a simple statement in +political arithmetic: The collectorship at Sancerre is vacant; a certain +paymaster-general of the forces has a claim on it, but he has no chance +of getting it; you have the chance--and no claim. You will get the +place. You will hold it for three months, you will then resign, and +Monsieur Gravier will give twenty thousand francs for it. In addition, +the Order of the Legion of Honor will be conferred on you." + +"Well, that is something," said the wine-grower, tempted by the money +rather than by the red ribbon. + +"But then," said des Lupeaulx, "you must show your gratitude to His +Excellency by restoring to Monseigneur the Duc de Navarreins all your +claims on him." + +La Baudraye returned to Sancerre as Collector of Taxes. Six months +later he was superseded by Monsieur Gravier, regarded as one of the most +agreeable financiers who had served under the Empire, and who was of +course presented by Monsieur de la Baudraye to his wife. + +As soon as he was released from his functions, Monsieur de la Baudraye +returned to Paris to come to an understanding with some other debtors. +This time he was made a Referendary under the Great Seal, Baron, and +Officer of the Legion of Honor. He sold the appointment as Referendary; +and then the Baron de la Baudraye called on his last remaining debtors, +and reappeared at Sancerre as Master of Appeals, with an appointment +as Royal Commissioner to a commercial association established in the +Nivernais, at a salary of six thousand francs, an absolute sinecure. So +the worthy La Baudraye, who was supposed to have committed a financial +blunder, had, in fact, done very good business in the choice of a wife. + +Thanks to sordid economy and an indemnity paid him for the estate +belonging to his father, nationalized and sold in 1793, by the year 1827 +the little man could realize the dream of his whole life. By paying +four hundred thousand francs down, and binding himself to further +instalments, which compelled him to live for six years on the air as it +came, to use his own expression, he was able to purchase the estate of +Anzy on the banks of the Loire, about two leagues above Sancerre, and +its magnificent castle built by Philibert de l'Orme, the admiration of +every connoisseur, and for five centuries the property of the Uxelles +family. At last he was one of the great landowners of the province! +It is not absolutely certain that the satisfaction of knowing that an +entail had been created, by letters patent dated back to December 1820, +including the estates of Anzy, of La Baudraye, and of La Hautoy, was +any compensation to Dinah on finding herself reduced to unconfessed +penuriousness till 1835. + +This sketch of the financial policy of the first Baron de la Baudraye +explains the man completely. Those who are familiar with the manias of +country folks will recognize in him the _land-hunger_ which becomes such +a consuming passion to the exclusion of every other; a sort of avarice +displayed in the sight of the sun, which often leads to ruin by a want +of balance between the interest on mortgages and the products of the +soil. Those who, from 1802 till 1827, had merely laughed at the little +man as they saw him trotting to Saint-Thibault and attending to his +business, like a merchant living on his vineyards, found the answer to +the riddle when the ant-lion seized his prey, after waiting for the day +when the extravagance of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse culminated in the +sale of that splendid property. + +Madame Piedefer came to live with her daughter. The combined fortunes of +Monsieur de la Baudraye and his mother-in-law, who had been content to +accept an annuity of twelve hundred francs on the lands of La Hautoy +which she handed over to him, amounted to an acknowledged income of +about fifteen thousand francs. + +During the early days of her married life, Dinah had effected some +alterations which had made the house at La Baudraye a very pleasant +residence. She turned a spacious forecourt into a formal garden, pulling +down wine-stores, presses, and shabby outhouses. Behind the manor-house, +which, though small, did not lack style with its turrets and gables, +she laid out a second garden with shrubs, flower-beds, and lawns, and +divided it from the vineyards by a wall hidden under creepers. She +also made everything within doors as comfortable as their narrow +circumstances allowed. + +In order not to be ruined by a young lady so very superior as Dinah +seemed to be, Monsieur de la Baudraye was shrewd enough to say nothing +as to the recovery of debts in Paris. This dead secrecy as to his money +matters gave a touch of mystery to his character, and lent him dignity +in his wife's eyes during the first years of their married life--so +majestic is silence! + +The alterations effected at La Baudraye made everybody eager to see the +young mistress, all the more so because Dinah would never show herself, +nor receive any company, before she felt quite settled in her home and +had thoroughly studied the inhabitants, and, above all, her taciturn +husband. When, one spring morning in 1825, pretty Madame de la Baudraye +was first seen walking on the Mall in a blue velvet dress, with her +mother in black velvet, there was quite an excitement in Sancerre. This +dress confirmed the young woman's reputation for superiority, brought +up, as she had been, in the capital of Le Berry. Every one was afraid +lest in entertaining this phoenix of the Department, the conversation +should not be clever enough; and, of course, everybody was constrained +in the presence of Madame de la Baudraye, who produced a sort of terror +among the woman-folk. As they admired a carpet of Indian shawl-pattern +in the La Baudraye drawing-room, a Pompadour writing-table carved and +gilt, brocade window curtains, and a Japanese bowl full of flowers on +the round table among a selection of the newest books; when they heard +the fair Dinah playing at sight, without making the smallest demur +before seating herself at the piano, the idea they conceived of her +superiority assumed vast proportions. That she might never allow herself +to become careless or the victim of bad taste, Dinah had determined to +keep herself up to the mark as to the fashions and latest developments +of luxury by an active correspondence with Anna Grossetete, her bosom +friend at Mademoiselle Chamarolles' school. + +Anna, thanks to a fine fortune, had married the Comte de Fontaine's +third son. Thus those ladies who visited at La Baudraye were perpetually +piqued by Dinah's success in leading the fashion; do what they would, +they were always behind, or, as they say on the turf, distanced. + +While all these trifles gave rise to malignant envy in the ladies of +Sancerre, Dinah's conversation and wit engendered absolute aversion. +In her ambition to keep her mind on the level of Parisian brilliancy, +Madame de la Baudraye allowed no vacuous small talk in her presence, no +old-fashioned compliments, no pointless remarks; she would never endure +the yelping of tittle-tattle, the backstairs slander which forms the +staple of talk in the country. She liked to hear of discoveries in +science or art, or the latest pieces at the theatres, the newest poems, +and by airing the cant words of the day she made a show of uttering +thoughts. + +The Abbe Duret, Cure of Sancerre, an old man of a lost type of clergy +in France, a man of the world with a liking for cards, had not dared to +indulge this taste in so liberal a district as Sancerre; he, therefore, +was delighted at Madame de la Baudraye's coming, and they got on +together to admiration. The _sous-prefet_, one Vicomte de Chargeboeuf, +was delighted to find in Madame de la Baudraye's drawing-room a sort +of oasis where there was a truce to provincial life. As to Monsieur de +Clagny, the Public Prosecutor, his admiration for the fair Dinah kept +him bound to Sancerre. The enthusiastic lawyer refused all promotion, +and became a quite pious adorer of this angel of grace and beauty. He +was a tall, lean man, with a minatory countenance set off by terrible +eyes in deep black circles, under enormous eyebrows; and his eloquence, +very unlike his love-making, could be incisive. + +Monsieur Gravier was a little, round man, who in the days of the Empire +had been a charming ballad-singer; it was this accomplishment that had +won him the high position of Paymaster-General of the forces. Having +mixed himself up in certain important matters in Spain with generals at +that time in opposition, he had made the most of these connections to +the Minister, who, in consideration of the place he had lost, promised +him the Receivership at Sancerre, and then allowed him to pay for the +appointment. The frivolous spirit and light tone of the Empire had +become ponderous in Monsieur Gravier; he did not, or would not, +understand the wide difference between manners under the Restoration +and under the Empire. Still, he conceived of himself as far superior +to Monsieur de Clagny; his style was in better taste; he followed the +fashion, was to be seen in a buff waistcoat, gray trousers, and neat, +tightly-fitting coats; he wore a fashionable silk tie slipped through +a diamond ring, while the lawyer never dressed in anything but +black--coat, trousers, and waistcoat alike, and those often shabby. + +These four men were the first to go into ecstasies over Dinah's +cultivation, good taste, and refinement, and pronounced her a woman of +most superior mind. Then the women said to each other, "Madame de la +Baudraye must laugh at us behind our back." + +This view, which was more or less correct, kept them from visiting at La +Baudraye. Dinah, attainted and convicted of pedantry, because she +spoke grammatically, was nicknamed the Sappho of Saint-Satur. At last +everybody made insolent game of the great qualities of the woman who +had thus roused the enmity of the ladies of Sancerre. And they ended by +denying a superiority--after all, merely comparative!--which emphasized +their ignorance, and did not forgive it. Where the whole population is +hunch-backed, a straight shape is the monstrosity; Dinah was regarded as +monstrous and dangerous, and she found herself in a desert. + +Astonished at seeing the women of the neighborhood only at long +intervals, and for visits of a few minutes, Dinah asked Monsieur de +Clagny the reason of this state of things. + +"You are too superior a woman to be liked by other women," said the +lawyer. + +Monsieur Gravier, when questioned by the forlorn fair, only, after much +entreaty, replied: + +"Well, lady fair, you are not satisfied to be merely charming. You are +clever and well educated, you know every book that comes out, you love +poetry, you are a musician, and you talk delightfully. Women cannot +forgive so much superiority." + +Men said to Monsieur de la Baudraye: + +"You who have such a Superior Woman for a wife are very fortunate----" +And at last he himself would say: + +"I who have a Superior Woman for a wife, am very fortunate," etc. + +Madame Piedefer, flattered through her daughter, also allowed herself to +say such things--"My daughter, who is a very Superior Woman, was writing +yesterday to Madame de Fontaine such and such a thing." + +Those who know the world--France, Paris--know how true it is that many +celebrities are thus created. + + + +Two years later, by the end of the year 1825, Dinah de la Baudraye was +accused of not choosing to have any visitors but men; then it was said +that she did not care for women--and that was a crime. Not a thing +could she do, not her most trifling action, could escape criticism and +misrepresentation. After making every sacrifice that a well-bred woman +can make, and placing herself entirely in the right, Madame de la +Baudraye was so rash as to say to a false friend who condoled with her +on her isolation: + +"I would rather have my bowl empty than with anything in it!" + +This speech produced a terrible effect on Sancerre, and was cruelly +retorted on the Sappho of Saint-Satur when, seeing her childless after +five years of married life, _little_ de la Baudraye became a byword +for laughter. To understand this provincial witticism, readers may be +reminded of the Bailli de Ferrette--some, no doubt, having known him--of +whom it was said that he was the bravest man in Europe for daring to +walk on his legs, and who was accused of putting lead in his shoes to +save himself from being blown away. Monsieur de la Baudraye, a sallow +and almost diaphanous creature, would have been engaged by the Bailli de +Ferrette as first gentleman-in-waiting if that diplomatist had been the +Grand Duke of Baden instead of being merely his envoy. + +Monsieur de la Baudraye, whose legs were so thin that, for mere decency, +he wore false calves, whose thighs were like the arms of an average +man, whose body was not unlike that of a cockchafer, would have been an +advantageous foil to the Bailli de Ferrette. As he walked, the little +vine-owner's leg-pads often twisted round on to his shins, so little did +he make a secret of them, and he would thank any one who warned him of +this little mishap. He wore knee-breeches, black silk stockings, and a +white waistcoat till 1824. After his marriage he adopted blue trousers +and boots with heels, which made Sancerre declare that he had added two +inches to his stature that he might come up to his wife's chin. For ten +years he was always seen in the same little bottle-green coat with large +white-metal buttons, and a black stock that accentuated his cold stingy +face, lighted up by gray-blue eyes as keen and passionless as a cat's. +Being very gentle, as men are who act on a fixed plan of conduct, he +seemed to make his wife happy by never contradicting her; he allowed +her to do the talking, and was satisfied to move with the deliberate +tenacity of an insect. + +Dinah, adored for her beauty, in which she had no rival, and admired +for her cleverness by the most gentlemanly men of the place, encouraged +their admiration by conversations, for which it was subsequently +asserted, she prepared herself beforehand. Finding herself listened to +with rapture, she soon began to listen to herself, enjoyed haranguing +her audience, and at last regarded her friends as the chorus in a +tragedy, there only to give her her cues. In fact, she had a very +fine collection of phrases and ideas, derived either from books or by +assimilating the opinions of her companions, and thus became a sort of +mechanical instrument, going off on a round of phrases as soon as some +chance remark released the spring. To do her justice, Dinah was choke +full of knowledge, and read everything, even medical books, statistics, +science, and jurisprudence; for she did not know how to spend her +days when she had reviewed her flower-beds and given her orders to the +gardener. Gifted with an excellent memory, and the talent which some +women have for hitting on the right word, she could talk on any subject +with the lucidity of a studied style. And so men came from Cosne, from +la Charite, and from Nevers, on the right bank; from Lere, Vailly, +Argent, Blancafort, and Aubigny, on the left bank, to be introduced to +Madame de la Baudraye, as they used in Switzerland, to be introduced to +Madame de Stael. Those who only once heard the round of tunes emitted by +this musical snuff-box went away amazed, and told such wonders of Dinah +as made all the women jealous for ten leagues round. + +There is an indescribable mental headiness in the admiration we inspire, +or in the effect of playing a part, which fends off criticism from +reaching the idol. An atmosphere, produced perhaps by unceasing nervous +tension, forms a sort of halo, through which the world below is seen. +How otherwise can we account for the perennial good faith which leads +to so many repeated presentments of the same effects, and the constant +ignoring of warnings given by children, such a terror to their parents, +or by husbands, so familiar as they are with the peacock airs of their +wives? Monsieur de la Baudraye had the frankness of a man who opens an +umbrella at the first drop of rain. When his wife was started on the +subject of Negro emancipation or the improvement of convict prisons, +he would take up his little blue cap and vanish without a sound, in the +certainty of being able to get to Saint-Thibault to see off a cargo of +puncheons, and return an hour later to find the discussion approaching a +close. Or, if he had no business to attend to, he would go for a walk on +the Mall, whence he commanded the lovely panorama of the Loire valley, +and take a draught of fresh air while his wife was performing a sonata +in words, or a dialectical duet. + +Once fairly established as a Superior Woman, Dinah was eager to prove +her devotion to the most remarkable creations of art. She threw herself +into the propaganda of the romantic school, including, under Art, poetry +and painting, literature and sculpture, furniture and the opera. Thus +she became a mediaevalist. She was also interested in any treasures that +dated from the Renaissance, and employed her allies as so many devoted +commission agents. Soon after she was married, she had become possessed +of the Rougets' furniture, sold at Issoudun early in 1824. She purchased +some very good things at Nivernais and the Haute-Loire. At the New +Year and on her birthday her friends never failed to give her some +curiosities. These fancies found favor in the eyes of Monsieur de la +Baudraye; they gave him an appearance of sacrificing a few crowns to his +wife's taste. In point of fact, his land mania allowed him to think of +nothing but the estate of Anzy. + +These "antiquities" at that time cost much less than modern furniture. +By the end of five or six years the ante-room, the dining-room, the two +drawing-rooms, and the boudoir which Dinah had arranged on the ground +floor of La Baudraye, every spot even to the staircase, were crammed +with masterpieces collected in the four adjacent departments. These +surroundings, which were called _queer_ by the neighbors, were quite in +harmony with Dinah. All these Marvels, so soon to be the rage, struck +the imagination of the strangers introduced to her; they came expecting +something unusual; and they found their expectations surpassed when, +behind a bower of flowers, they saw these catacombs full of old things, +piled up as Sommerard used to pile them--that "Old Mortality" of +furniture. And then these finds served as so many springs which, turned +on by a question, played off an essay on Jean Goujon, Michel Columb, +Germain Pilon, Boulle, Van Huysum, and Boucher, the great native painter +of Le Berry; on Clodion, the carver of wood, on Venetian mirrors, on +Brustolone, an Italian tenor who was the Michael-Angelo of boxwood +and holm oak; on the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and +seventeenth centuries, on the glazes of Bernard de Palissy, the enamels +of Petitot, the engravings of Albrecht Durer--whom she called Dur; +on illuminations on vellum, on Gothic architecture, early decorated, +flamboyant and pure--enough to turn an old man's brain and fire a young +man with enthusiasm. + +Madame de la Baudraye, possessed with the idea of waking up Sancerre, +tried to form a so-called literary circle. The Presiding Judge, Monsieur +Boirouge, who happened to have a house and garden on his hands, part of +the Popinot-Chandier property, favored the notion of this _coterie_. +The wily Judge talked over the rules of the society with Madame de la +Baudraye; he proposed to figure as one of the founders, and to let the +house for fifteen years to the literary club. By the time it had existed +a year the members were playing dominoes, billiards, and bouillotte, and +drinking mulled wine, punch, and liqueurs. A few elegant little suppers +were then given, and some masked balls during the Carnival. As to +literature--there were the newspapers. Politics and business were +discussed. Monsieur de la Baudraye was constantly there--on his wife's +account, as she said jestingly. + +This result deeply grieved the Superior Woman, who despaired of +Sancerre, and collected the wit of the neighborhood in her own +drawing-room. Nevertheless, and in spite of the efforts of Messieurs de +Chargeboeuf, Gravier, and de Clagny, of the Abbe Duret and the two chief +magistrates, of a young doctor, and a young Assistant Judge--all blind +admirers of Dinah's--there were occasions when, weary of discussion, +they allowed themselves an excursion into the domain of agreeable +frivolity which constitutes the common basis of worldly conversation. +Monsieur Gravier called this "from grave to gay." The Abbe Duret's +rubber made another pleasing variety on the monologues of the oracle. +The three rivals, tired of keeping their minds up to the level of the +"high range of discussion"--as they called their conversation--but not +daring to confess it, would sometimes turn with ingratiating hints to +the old priest. + +"Monsieur le Cure is dying for his game," they would say. + +The wily priest lent himself very readily to the little trick. He +protested. + +"We should lose too much by ceasing to listen to our inspired hostess!" +and so he would incite Dinah's magnanimity to take pity at last on her +dear Abbe. + +This bold manoeuvre, a device of the Sous-prefet's, was repeated with +so much skill that Dinah never suspected her slaves of escaping to the +prison yard, so to speak, of the cardtable; and they would leave her one +of the younger functionaries to harry. + +One young landowner, and the dandy of Sancerre, fell away from Dinah's +good graces in consequence of some rash demonstrations. After soliciting +the honor of admission to this little circle, where he flattered himself +he could snatch the blossom from the constituted authorities who guarded +it, he was so unfortunate as to yawn in the middle of an explanation +Dinah was favoring him with--for the fourth time, it is true--of the +philosophy of Kant. Monsieur de la Thaumassiere, the grandson of the +historian of Le Berry, was thenceforth regarded as a man entirely bereft +of soul and brains. + +The three devotees _en titre_ each submitted to these exorbitant demands +on their mind and attention, in hope of a crowning triumph, when at last +Dinah should become human; for neither of them was so bold as to imagine +that Dinah would give up her innocence as a wife till she should have +lost all her illusions. In 1826, when she was surrounded by adorers, +Dinah completed her twentieth year, and the Abbe Duret kept her in +a sort of fervid Catholicism; so her worshipers had to be content to +overwhelm her with little attentions and small services, only too happy +to be taken for the carpet-knights of this sovereign lady, by strangers +admitted to spend an evening or two at La Baudraye. + +"Madame de la Baudraye is a fruit that must be left to ripen." This was +the opinion of Monsieur Gravier, who was waiting. + +As to the lawyer, he wrote letters four pages long, to which Dinah +replied in soothing speech as she walked, leaning on his arm, round and +round the lawn after dinner. + +Madame de la Baudraye, thus guarded by three passions, and always under +the eye of her pious mother, escaped the malignity of slander. It was so +evident to all Sancerre that no two of these three men would ever leave +the third alone with Madame de la Baudraye, that their jealousy was a +comedy to the lookers-on. + +To reach Saint-Thibault from Caesar's Gate there is a way much shorter +than that by the ramparts, down what is known in mountainous districts +as a _coursiere_, called at Sancerre _le Casse-cou_, or Break-neck +Alley. The name is significant as applied to a path down the steepest +part of the hillside, thickly strewn with stones, and shut in by the +high banks of the vineyards on each side. By way of the Break-neck the +distance from Sancerre to La Baudraye is much abridged. The ladies of +the place, jealous of the Sappho of Saint-Satur, were wont to walk on +the Mall, looking down this Longchamp of the bigwigs, whom they would +stop and engage in conversation--sometimes the Sous-prefet and +sometimes the Public Prosecutor--and who would listen with every sign of +impatience or uncivil absence of mind. As the turrets of La Baudraye are +visible from the Mall, many a younger man came to contemplate the abode +of Dinah while envying the ten or twelve privileged persons who might +spend their afternoons with the Queen of the neighborhood. + +Monsieur de la Baudraye was not slow to discover the advantage he, as +Dinah's husband, held over his wife's adorers, and he made use of them +without any disguise, obtaining a remission of taxes, and gaining two +lawsuits. In every litigation he used the Public Prosecutor's name with +such good effect that the matter was carried no further, and, like all +undersized men, he was contentious and litigious in business, though in +the gentlest manner. + +At the same time, the more certainly guiltless she was, the less +conceivable did Madame de la Baudraye's position seem to the prying eyes +of these women. Frequently, at the house of the Presidente de Boirouge, +the ladies of a certain age would spend a whole evening discussing +the La Baudraye household, among themselves of course. They all had +suspicions of a mystery, a secret such as always interests women who +have had some experience of life. And, in fact, at La Baudraye one of +those slow and monotonous conjugal tragedies was being played out which +would have remained for ever unknown if the merciless scalpel of the +nineteenth century, guided by the insistent demand for novelty, had not +dissected the darkest corners of the heart, or at any rate those which +the decency of past centuries left unopened. And that domestic drama +sufficiently accounts for Dinah's immaculate virtue during her early +married life. + + + +A young lady, whose triumphs at school had been the outcome of her +pride, and whose first scheme in life had been rewarded by a victory, +was not likely to pause in such a brilliant career. Frail as Monsieur +de la Baudraye might seem, he was really an unhoped-for good match for +Mademoiselle Dinah Piedefer. But what was the hidden motive of this +country landowner when, at forty-four, he married a girl of seventeen; +and what could his wife make out of the bargain? This was the text of +Dinah's first meditations. + +The little man never behaved quite as his wife expected. To begin with, +he allowed her to take the five precious acres now wasted in pleasure +grounds round La Baudraye, and paid, almost with generosity, the seven +or eight thousand francs required by Dinah for improvements in the +house, enabling her to buy the furniture at the Rougets' sale at +Issoudun, and to redecorate her rooms in various styles--Mediaeval, +Louis XIV., and Pompadour. The young wife found it difficult to believe +that Monsieur de la Baudraye was so miserly as he was reputed, or else +she must have great influence with him. The illusion lasted a year and a +half. + +After Monsieur de la Baudraye's second journey to Paris, Dinah +discovered in him the Artic coldness of a provincial miser whenever +money was in question. The first time she asked for supplies she played +the sweetest of the comedies of which Eve invented the secret; but +the little man put it plainly to his wife that he gave her two hundred +francs a month for her personal expenses, and paid Madame Piedefer +twelve hundred francs a year as a charge on the lands of La Hautoy, and +that this was two hundred francs a year more than was agreed to under +the marriage settlement. + +"I say nothing of the cost of housekeeping," he said in conclusion. "You +may give your friends cake and tea in the evening, for you must have +some amusement. But I, who spent but fifteen hundred francs a year as a +bachelor, now spend six thousand, including rates and repairs, and +this is rather too much in relation to the nature of our property. A +winegrower is never sure of what his expenses may be--the making, the +duty, the casks--while the returns depend on a scorching day or a sudden +frost. Small owners, like us, whose income is far from being fixed, must +base their estimates on their minimum, for they have no means of making +up a deficit or a loss. What would become of us if a wine merchant +became bankrupt? In my opinion, promissory notes are so many +cabbage-leaves. To live as we are living, we ought always to have +a year's income in hand and count on no more than two-thirds of our +returns." + +Any form of resistance is enough to make a woman vow to subdue it; Dinah +flung herself against a will of iron padded round with gentleness. She +tried to fill the little man's soul with jealousy and alarms, but it +was stockaded with insolent confidence. He left Dinah, when he went to +Paris, with all the conviction of Medor in Angelique's fidelity. When +she affected cold disdain, to nettle this changeling by the scorn a +courtesan sometimes shows to her "protector," and which acts on him with +the certainty of the screw of a winepress, Monsieur de la Baudraye gazed +at his wife with fixed eyes, like those of a cat which, in the midst of +domestic broils, waits till a blow is threatened before stirring from +its place. The strange, speechless uneasiness that was perceptible under +his mute indifference almost terrified the young wife of twenty; she +could not at first understand the selfish quiescence of this man, who +might be compared to a cracked pot, and who, in order to live, regulated +his existence with the unchangeable regularity which a clockmaker +requires of a clock. So the little man always evaded his wife, while she +always hit out, as it were, ten feet above his head. + +Dinah's fits of fury when she saw herself condemned never to escape from +La Baudraye and Sancerre are more easily imagined than described--she +who had dreamed of handling a fortune and managing the dwarf whom she, +the giant, had at first humored in order to command. In the hope of some +day making her appearance on the greater stage of Paris, she accepted +the vulgar incense of her attendant knights with a view to seeing +Monsieur de la Baudraye's name drawn from the electoral urn; for she +supposed him to be ambitious, after seeing him return thrice from Paris, +each time a step higher on the social ladder. But when she struck on the +man's heart, it was as though she had tapped on marble! The man who had +been Receiver-General and Referendary, who was now Master of Appeals, +Officer of the Legion of Honor, and Royal Commissioner, was but a mole +throwing up its little hills round and round a vineyard! Then some +lamentations were poured into the heart of the Public Prosecutor, of the +Sous-prefet, even of Monsieur Gravier, and they all increased in +their devotion to this sublime victim; for, like all women, she never +mentioned her speculative schemes, and--again like all women--finding +such speculation vain, she ceased to speculate. + +Dinah, tossed by mental storms, was still undecided when, in the autumn +of 1827, the news was told of the purchase by the Baron de la Baudraye +of the estate of Anzy. Then the little old man showed an impulsion of +pride and glee which for a few months changed the current of his wife's +ideas; she fancied there was a hidden vein of greatness in the man when +she found him applying for a patent of entail. In his triumph the Baron +exclaimed: + +"Dinah, you shall be a countess yet!" + +There was then a patched-up reunion between the husband and wife, such +as can never endure, and which only humiliated and fatigued a woman +whose apparent superiority was unreal, while her unseen superiority was +genuine. This whimsical medley is commoner than people think. Dinah, who +was ridiculous from the perversity of her cleverness, had really great +qualities of soul, but circumstances did not bring these rarer powers to +light, while a provincial life debased the small change of her wit from +day to day. Monsieur de la Baudraye, on the contrary, devoid of soul, of +strength, and of wit, was fated to figure as a man of character, simply +by pursuing a plan of conduct which he was too feeble to change. + + + +There was in their lives a first phase, lasting six years, during which +Dinah, alas! became utterly provincial. In Paris there are several kinds +of women: the duchess and the financier's wife, the ambassadress and the +consul's wife, the wife of the minister who is a minister, and of him +who is no longer a minister; then there is the lady--quite the lady--of +the right bank of the Seine and of the left. But in the country there is +but one kind of woman, and she, poor thing, is the provincial woman. + +This remark points to one of the sores of modern society. It must be +clearly understood: France in the nineteenth century is divided into two +broad zones--Paris, and the provinces. The provinces jealous of Paris; +Paris never thinking of the provinces but to demand money. Of old, Paris +was the Capital of the provinces, and the court ruled the Capital; now, +all Paris is the Court, and all the country is the town. + +However lofty, beautiful, and clever a girl born in any department of +France may be on entering life, if, like Dinah Piedefer, she marries +in the country and remains there, she inevitably becomes the provincial +woman. In spite of every determination, the commonplace of second-rate +ideas, indifference to dress, the culture of vulgar people, swamp the +sublimer essence hidden in the youthful plant; all is over, it falls +into decay. How should it be otherwise? From their earliest years +girls bred in the country see none but provincials; they cannot imagine +anything superior, their choice lies among mediocrities; provincial +fathers marry their daughters to provincial sons; crossing the races is +never thought of, and the brain inevitably degenerates, so that in many +country towns intellect is as rare as the breed is hideous. Mankind +becomes dwarfed in mind and body, for the fatal principle of conformity +of fortune governs every matrimonial alliance. Men of talent, artists, +superior brains--every bird of brilliant plumage flies to Paris. The +provincial woman, inferior in herself, is also inferior through +her husband. How is she to live happy under this crushing twofold +consciousness? + +But there is a third and terrible element besides her congenital and +conjugal inferiority which contributes to make the figure arid and +gloomy; to reduce it, narrow it, distort it fatally. Is not one of the +most flattering unctions a woman can lay to her soul the assurance of +being something in the existence of a superior man, chosen by herself, +wittingly, as if to have some revenge on marriage, wherein her tastes +were so little consulted? But if in the country the husbands are +inferior beings, the bachelors are no less so. When a provincial wife +commits her "little sin," she falls in love with some so-called handsome +native, some indigenous dandy, a youth who wears gloves and is supposed +to ride well; but she knows at the bottom of her soul that her fancy +is in pursuit of the commonplace, more or less well dressed. Dinah was +preserved from this danger by the idea impressed upon her of her own +superiority. Even if she had not been as carefully guarded in her early +married life as she was by her mother, whose presence never weighed upon +her till the day when she wanted to be rid of it, her pride, and her +high sense of her own destinies, would have protected her. Flattered as +she was to find herself surrounded by admirers, she saw no lover +among them. No man here realized the poetical ideal which she and Anna +Grossetete had been wont to sketch. When, stirred by the involuntary +temptations suggested by the homage she received, she asked herself, "If +I had to make a choice, who should it be?" she owned to a preference for +Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, a gentleman of good family, whose appearance +and manners she liked, but whose cold nature, selfishness, and narrow +ambition, never rising above a prefecture and a good marriage, repelled +her. At a word from his family, who were alarmed lest he should be +killed for an intrigue, the Vicomte had already deserted a woman he had +loved in the town where he previously had been Sous-prefet. + +Monsieur de Clagny, on the other hand, the only man whose mind appealed +to hers, whose ambition was founded on love, and who knew what love +means, Dinah thought perfectly odious. When Dinah saw herself condemned +to six years' residence at Sancerre she was on the point of accepting +the devotion of Monsieur le Vicomte de Chargeboeuf; but he was appointed +to a prefecture and left the district. To Monsieur de Clagny's great +satisfaction, the new Sous-prefet was a married man whose wife made +friends with Dinah. The lawyer had now no rival to fear but Monsieur +Gravier. Now Monsieur Gravier was the typical man of forty of whom women +make use while they laugh at him, whose hopes they intentionally and +remorselessly encourage, as we are kind to a beast of burden. In six +years, among all the men who were introduced to her from twenty leagues +round, there was not one in whose presence Dinah was conscious of the +excitement caused by personal beauty, by a belief in promised happiness, +by the impact of a superior soul, or the anticipation of a love affair, +even an unhappy one. + +Thus none of Dinah's choicest faculties had a chance of developing; +she swallowed many insults to her pride, which was constantly suffering +under the husband who so calmly walked the stage as supernumerary in the +drama of her life. Compelled to bury her wealth of love, she showed only +the surface to the world. Now and then she would try to rouse herself, +try to form some manly resolution; but she was kept in leading strings +by the need for money. And so, slowly and in spite of the ambitious +protests and grievous recriminations of her own mind, she underwent +the provincial metamorphosis here described. Each day took with it a +fragment of her spirited determination. She had laid down a rule for the +care of her person, which she gradually departed from. Though at first +she kept up with the fashions and the little novelties of elegant life, +she was obliged to limit her purchases by the amount of her allowance. +Instead of six hats, caps, or gowns, she resigned herself to one gown +each season. She was so much admired in a certain bonnet that she made +it do duty for two seasons. So it was in everything. + +Not unfrequently her artistic sense led her to sacrifice the +requirements of her person to secure some bit of Gothic furniture. By +the seventh year she had come so low as to think it convenient to +have her morning dresses made at home by the best needlewoman in the +neighborhood; and her mother, her husband, and her friends pronounced +her charming in these inexpensive costumes which did credit to her +taste. Her ideas were imitated! As she had no standard of comparison, +Dinah fell into the snares that surround the provincial woman. If a +Parisian woman's hips are too narrow or too full, her inventive wit and +the desire to please help to find some heroic remedy; if she has some +defect, some ugly spot, or small disfigurement, she is capable of making +it an adornment; this is often seen; but the provincial woman--never! If +her waist is too short and her figure ill balanced, well, she makes up +her mind to the worst, and her adorers--or they do not adore her--must +take her as she is, while the Parisian always insists on being taken for +what she is not. Hence the preposterous bustles, the audacious flatness, +the ridiculous fulness, the hideous outlines ingeniously displayed, to +which a whole town will become accustomed, but which are so astounding +when a provincial woman makes her appearance in Paris or among +Parisians. Dinah, who was extremely slim, showed it off to excess, and +never knew a dull moment when it became ridiculous; when, reduced by the +dull weariness of her life, she looked like a skeleton in clothes; and +her friends, seeing her every day, did not observe the gradual change in +her appearance. + +This is one of the natural results of a provincial life. In spite of +marriage, a young woman preserves her beauty for some time, and the town +is proud of her; but everybody sees her every day, and when people meet +every day their perception is dulled. If, like Madame de la Baudraye, +she loses her color, it is scarcely noticed; or, again, if she flushes +a little, that is intelligible and interesting. A little neglect is +thought charming, and her face is so carefully studied, so well known, +that slight changes are scarcely noticed, and regarded at last as +"beauty spots." When Dinah ceased to have a new dress with a new season, +she seemed to have made a concession to the philosophy of the place. + +It is the same with matters of speech, choice of words and ideas, as it +is with matters of feeling. The mind can rust as well as the body if +it is not rubbed up in Paris; but the thing on which provincialism +most sets its stamp is gesture, gait, and movement; these soon lose the +briskness which Paris constantly keeps alive. The provincial is used to +walk and move in a world devoid of accident or change, there is nothing +to be avoided; so in Paris she walks on as raw recruits do, never +remembering that there may be hindrances, for there are none in her +way in her native place, where she is known, where she is always in her +place, and every one makes way for her. Thus she loses all the charm of +the unforeseen. + +And have you ever noticed the effect on human beings of a life in +common? By the ineffaceable instinct of simian mimicry they all tend to +copy each other. Each one, without knowing it, acquires the gestures, +the tone of voice, the manner, the attitudes, the very countenance of +others. In six years Dinah had sunk to the pitch of the society she +lived in. As she acquired Monsieur de Clagny's ideas she assumed his +tone of voice; she unconsciously fell into masculine manners from seeing +none but men; she fancied that by laughing at what was ridiculous in +them she was safe from catching it; but, as often happens, some hue of +what she laughed at remained in the grain. + +A Parisian woman sees so many examples of good taste that a contrary +result ensues. In Paris women learn to seize the hour and moment when +they may appear to advantage; while Madame de la Baudraye, accustomed +to take the stage, acquired an indefinable theatrical and domineering +manner, the air of a _prima donna_ coming forward on the boards, of +which ironical smiles would soon have cured her in the capital. + +But after she had acquired this stock of absurdities, and, deceived by +her worshipers, imagined them to be added graces, a moment of terrible +awakening came upon her like the fall of an avalanche from a mountain. +In one day she was crushed by a frightful comparison. + +In 1829, after the departure of Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, she was excited +by the anticipation of a little pleasure; she was expecting the Baronne +de Fontaine. Anna's husband, who was now Director-General under the +Minister of Finance, took advantage of leave of absence on the occasion +of his father's death to take his wife to Italy. Anna wished to spend +the day at Sancerre with her school-friend. This meeting was strangely +disastrous. Anna, who at school had been far less handsome than Dinah, +now, as Baronne de Fontaine, was a thousand times handsomer than the +Baronne de la Baudraye, in spite of her fatigue and her traveling +dress. Anna stepped out of an elegant traveling chaise loaded with Paris +milliners' boxes, and she had with her a lady's maid, whose airs quite +frightened Dinah. All the difference between a woman of Paris and a +provincial was at once evident to Dinah's intelligent eye; she saw +herself as her friend saw her--and Anna found her altered beyond +recognition. Anna spent six thousand francs a year on herself alone, as +much as kept the whole household at La Baudraye. + +In twenty-four hours the friends had exchanged many confidences; and the +Parisian, seeing herself so far superior to the phoenix of Mademoiselle +Chamarolles' school, showed her provincial friend such kindness, such +attentions, while giving her certain explanations, as were so many stabs +to Dinah, though she perfectly understood that Anna's advantages all lay +on the surface, while her own were for ever buried. + +When Anna had left, Madame de la Baudraye, by this time two-and-twenty, +fell into the depths of despair. + +"What is it that ails you?" asked Monsieur de Clagny, seeing her so +dejected. + +"Anna," said she, "has learned to live, while I have been learning to +endure." + +A tragi-comedy was, in fact, being enacted in Madame de la Baudraye's +house, in harmony with her struggles over money matters and her +successive transformations--a drama to which no one but Monsieur de +Clagny and the Abbe Duret ever knew the clue, when Dinah in sheer +idleness, or perhaps sheer vanity, revealed the secret of her anonymous +fame. + +Though a mixture of verse and prose is a monstrous anomaly in French +literature, there must be exceptions to the rule. This tale will be +one of the two instances in these Studies of violation of the laws of +narrative; for to give a just idea of the unconfessed struggle which +may excuse, though it cannot absolve Dinah, it is necessary to give an +analysis of a poem which was the outcome of her deep despair. + +Her patience and her resignation alike broken by the departure of the +Vicomte de Chargeboeuf, Dinah took the worthy Abbe's advice to exhale +her evil thoughts in verse--a proceeding which perhaps accounts for some +poets. + +"You will find such relief as those who write epitaphs or elegies over +those whom they have lost. Pain is soothed in the heart as lines surge +up in the brain." + +This strange production caused a great ferment in the departments of +the Allier, the Nievre, and the Cher, proud to possess a poet capable +of rivalry with the glories of Paris. _Paquita la Sevillane_, by +_Jan Diaz_, was published in the _Echo du Morvan_, a review which +for eighteen months maintained its existence in spite of provincial +indifference. Some knowing persons at Nevers declared that Jan Diaz +was making fun of the new school, just then bringing out its eccentric +verse, full of vitality and imagery, and of brilliant effects produced +by defying the Muse under pretext of adapting German, English, and +Romanesque mannerisms. + +The poem began with this ballad: + + Ah! if you knew the fragrant plain, + The air, the sky, of golden Spain, + Its fervid noons, its balmy spring, + Sad daughters of the northern gloom, + Of love, of heav'n, of native home, + You never would presume to sing! + + For men are there of other mould + Than those who live in this dull cold. + And there to music low and sweet + Sevillian maids, from eve till dawn, + Dance lightly on the moonlit lawn + In satin shoes, on dainty feet. + + Ah, you would be the first to blush + Over your dancers' romp and rush, + And your too hideous carnival, + That turns your cheeks all chill and blue, + And skips the mud in hob-nail'd shoe-- + A truly dismal festival. + + To pale-faced girls, and in a squalid room, + Paquita sang; the murky town beneath + Was Rouen whence the slender spires rise + To chew the storm with teeth. + Rouen so hideous, noisy, full of rage-- + +And here followed a magnificent description of Rouen--where Dinah had +never been--written with the affected brutality which, a little later, +inspired so many imitations of Juvenal; a contrast drawn between the +life of a manufacturing town and the careless life of Spain, between +the love of Heaven and of human beauty, and the worship of machinery, in +short, between poetry and sordid money-making. + +Then Jan Diaz accounted for Paquita's horror of Normandy by saying: + + Seville, you see, had been her native home, + Seville, where skies are blue and evening sweet. + She, at thirteen, the sovereign of the town, + Had lovers at her feet. + + For her three Toreadors had gone to death + Or victory, the prize to be a kiss-- + One kiss from those red lips of sweetest breath-- + A longed-for touch of bliss! + +The features of the Spanish girl's portrait have served so often as +those of the courtesan in so many self-styled _poems_, that it would be +tiresome to quote here the hundred lines of description. To judge of the +lengths to which audacity had carried Dinah, it will be enough to give +the conclusion. According to Madame de la Baudraye's ardent pen, Paquita +was so entirely created for love that she can hardly have met with a +knight worthy of her; for + +.... In her passionate fire Every man would have swooned from the heat, + When she at love's feast, in her fervid desire, + As yet had but taken her seat. + +"And yet she could quit the joys of Seville, its woods and fields of +orange-trees, for a Norman soldier who won her love and carried her away +to his hearth and home. She did not weep for her Andalusia, the Soldier +was her whole joy.... But the day came when he was compelled to start +for Russia in the footsteps of the great Emperor." + +Nothing could be more dainty than the description of the parting between +the Spanish girl and the Normandy Captain of Artillery, who, in the +delirium of passion expressed with feeling worthy of Byron, exacted from +Paquita a vow of absolute fidelity, in the Cathedral at Rouen in front +of the alter of the Blessed Virgin, who + + Though a Maid is a woman, and never forgives + When lovers are false to their vows. + +A large part of the poem was devoted to describing Paquita's sufferings +when alone in Rouen waiting till the campaign was over; she stood +writhing at the window bars as she watched happy couples go by; she +suppressed her passion in her heart with a determination that consumed +her; she lived on narcotics, and exhausted herself in dreams. + + Almost she died, but still her heart was true; + And when at last her soldier came again, + He found her beauty ever fresh and new-- + He had not loved in vain! + +"But he, pale and frozen by the cold of Russia, chilled to the very +marrow, met his yearning fair one with a melancholy smile." + +The whole poem was written up to this situation, which was worked out +with such vigor and boldness as too entirely justified the Abbe Duret. + +Paquita, on reaching the limits set to real love, did not, like Julie +and Heloise, throw herself into the ideal; no, she rushed into the paths +of vice, which is, no doubt, shockingly natural; but she did it without +any touch of magnificence, for lack of means, as it would be difficult +to find in Rouen men impassioned enough to place Paquita in a suitable +setting of luxury and splendor. This horrible realism, emphasized by +gloomy poetic feeling, had inspired some passages such as modern poetry +is too free with, rather too like the flayed anatomical figures known to +artists as _ecorches_. Then, by a highly philosophical revulsion, after +describing the house of ill-fame where the Andalusian ended her days, +the writer came back to the ballad at the opening: + + Paquita now is faded, shrunk, and old, + But she it was who sang: + + "If you but knew the fragrant plain, + The air, the sky, of golden Spain," etc. + +The gloomy vigor of this poem, running to about six hundred lines, +and serving as a powerful foil, to use a painter's word, to the two +_seguidillas_ at the beginning and end, the masculine utterance of +inexpressible grief, alarmed the woman who found herself admired by +three departments, under the black cloak of the anonymous. While she +fully enjoyed the intoxicating delights of success, Dinah dreaded the +malignity of provincial society, where more than one woman, if the +secret should slip out, would certainly find points of resemblance +between the writer and Paquita. Reflection came too late; Dinah +shuddered with shame at having made "copy" of some of her woes. + +"Write no more," said the Abbe Duret. "You will cease to be a woman; you +will be a poet." + +Moulins, Nevers, Bourges were searched to find Jan Diaz; but Dinah was +impenetrable. To remove any evil impression, in case any unforeseen +chance should betray her name, she wrote a charming poem in two cantos +on _The Mass-Oak_, a legend of the Nivernais: + +"Once upon a time the folks of Nevers and the folks of Saint-Saulge, at +war with each other, came at daybreak to fight a battle, in which one or +other should perish, and met in the forest of Faye. And then there stood +between them, under an oak, a priest whose aspect in the morning sun was +so commanding that the foes at his bidding heard Mass as he performed it +under the oak, and at the words of the Gospel they made friends."--The +oak is still shown in the forest of Faye. + +This poem, immeasurably superior to _Paquita la Sevillane_, was far less +admired. + +After these two attempts Madame de la Baudraye, feeling herself a poet, +had a light on her brow and a flash in her eyes that made her handsomer +than ever. She cast longing looks at Paris, aspiring to fame--and fell +back into her den of La Baudraye, her daily squabbles with her husband, +and her little circle, where everybody's character, intentions, and +remarks were too well known not to have become a bore. Though she found +relief from her dreary life in literary work, and poetry echoed loudly +in her empty life, though she thus found an outlet for her energies, +literature increased her hatred of the gray and ponderous provincial +atmosphere. + + + +When, after the Revolution of 1830, the glory of George Sand was +reflected on Le Berry, many a town envied La Chatre the privilege of +having given birth to this rival of Madame de Stael and Camille Maupin, +and were ready to do homage to minor feminine talent. Thus there arose +in France a vast number of tenth Muses, young girls or young wives +tempted from a silent life by the bait of glory. Very strange doctrines +were proclaimed as to the part women should play in society. Though the +sound common sense which lies at the root of the French nature was not +perverted, women were suffered to express ideas and profess opinions +which they would not have owned to a few years previously. + +Monsieur de Clagny took advantage of this outbreak of freedom to +collect the works of Jan Diaz in a small volume printed by Desroziers at +Moulins. He wrote a little notice of the author, too early snatched from +the world of letters, which was amusing to those who were in the secret, +but which even then had not the merit of novelty. Such practical jokes, +capital so long as the author remains unknown, fall rather flat if +subsequently the poet stands confessed. + +From this point of view, however, the memoir of Jan Diaz, born at +Bourges in 1807, the son of a Spanish prisoner, may very likely some +day deceive the compiler of some _Universal Biography_. Nothing is +overlooked; neither the names of the professors at the Bourges College, +nor those of his deceased schoolfellows, such as Lousteau, Bianchon, and +other famous natives of the province, who, it is said, knew the dreamy, +melancholy boy, and his precocious bent towards poetry. An elegy called +_Tristesse_ (Melancholy), written at school; the two poems _Paquita la +Sevillane_ and _Le Chene de la Messe_; three sonnets, a description of +the Cathedral and the House of Jacques Coeur at Bourges, with a tale +called _Carola_, published as the work he was engaged on at the time +of his death, constituted the whole of these literary remains; and the +poet's last hours, full of misery and despair, could not fail to wring +the hearts of the feeling public of the Nievre, the Bourbonnais, the +Cher, and the Morvan, where he died near Chateau-Chinon, unknown to all, +even to the woman he had loved! + +Of this little yellow paper volume two hundred copies were printed; +one hundred and fifty were sold--about fifty in each department. This +average of tender and poetic souls in three departments of France is +enough to revive the enthusiasm of writers as to the _Furia Francese_, +which nowadays is more apt to expend itself in business than in books. + +When Monsieur de Clagny had given away a certain number of copies, +Dinah still had seven or eight, wrapped up in the newspapers which had +published notices of the work. Twenty copies forwarded to the Paris +papers were swamped in the editors' offices. Nathan was taken in as well +as several of his fellow-countrymen of Le Berry, and wrote an article on +the great man, in which he credited him with all the fine qualities we +discover in those who are dead and buried. + +Lousteau, warned by his fellow-schoolfellows, who could not remember Jan +Diaz, waited for information from Sancerre, and learned that Jan Diaz +was a pseudonym assumed by a woman. + +Then, in and around Sancerre, Madame de la Baudraye became the rage; she +was the future rival of George Sand. From Sancerre to Bourges a poem was +praised which, at any other time, would certainly have been hooted. The +provincial public--like every French public, perhaps--does not share the +love of the King of the French for the happy medium: it lifts you to the +skies or drags you in the mud. + +By this time the good Abbe, Madame de la Baudraye's counselor, was dead; +he would certainly have prevented her rushing into public life. But +three years of work without recognition weighed on Dinah's soul, and +she accepted the clatter of fame as a substitute for her disappointed +ambitions. Poetry and dreams of celebrity, which had lulled her grief +since her meeting with Anna Grossetete, no longer sufficed to exhaust +the activity of her morbid heart. The Abbe Duret, who had talked of the +world when the voice of religion was impotent, who understood Dinah, and +promised her a happy future by assuring her that God would compensate +her for her sufferings bravely endured,--this good old man could no +longer stand between the opening to sin and the handsome young woman he +had called his daughter. + +The wise old priest had more than once endeavored to enlighten Dinah +as to her husband's character, telling her that the man could hate; but +women are not ready to believe in such force in weak natures, and hatred +is too constantly in action not to be a vital force. Dinah, finding her +husband incapable of love, denied him the power to hate. + +"Do not confound hatred and vengeance," said the Abbe. "They are two +different sentiments. One is the instinct of small minds; the other is +the outcome of law which great souls obey. God is avenged, but He does +not hate. Hatred is a vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all +their meanness, and make it a pretext for sordid tyranny. So beware +of offending Monsieur de la Baudraye; he would forgive an infidelity, +because he could make capital of it, but he would be doubly implacable +if you should touch him on the spot so cruelly wounded by Monsieur +Milaud of Nevers, and would make your life unendurable." + +Now, at the time when the whole countryside--Nevers and Sancerre, Le +Morvan and Le Berry--was priding itself on Madame de la Baudraye, and +lauding her under the name of Jan Diaz, "little La Baudraye" felt her +glory a mortal blow. He alone knew the secret source of _Paquita la +Sevillane_. When this terrible work was spoken of, everybody said of +Dinah--"Poor woman! Poor soul!" + +The women rejoiced in being able to pity her who had so long oppressed +them; never had Dinah seemed to stand higher in the eyes of the +neighborhood. + +The shriveled old man, more wrinkled, yellower, feebler than ever, gave +no sign; but Dinah sometimes detected in his eyes, as he looked at her, +a sort of icy venom which gave the lie to his increased politeness +and gentleness. She understood at last that this was not, as she had +supposed, a mere domestic squabble; but when she forced an explanation +with her "insect," as Monsieur Gravier called him, she found the cold, +hard impassibility of steel. She flew into a passion; she reproached +him for her life these eleven years past; she made--intentionally--what +women call a scene. But "little La Baudraye" sat in an armchair with his +eyes shut, and listened phlegmatically to the storm. And, as usual, the +dwarf got the better of his wife. Dinah saw that she had done wrong in +writing; she vowed never to write another line, and she kept her vow. + +Then was there desolation in the Sancerrois. + +"Why did not Madame de la Baudraye compose any more verses?" was the +universal cry. + +At this time Madame de la Baudraye had no enemies; every one rushed to +see her, not a week passed without fresh introductions. The wife of the +presiding judge, an august _bourgeoise_, _nee_ Popinot-Chandier, desired +her son, a youth of two-and-twenty, to pay his humble respects to La +Baudraye, and flattered herself that she might see her Gatien in the +good graces of this Superior Woman.--The words Superior Woman had +superseded the absurd nickname of _The Sappho of Saint-Satur_.--This +lady, who for nine years had led the opposition, was so delighted at the +good reception accorded to her son, that she became loud in her praises +of the Muse of Sancerre. + +"After all," she exclaimed, in reply to a tirade from Madame de Clagny, +who hated her husband's supposed mistress, "she is the handsomest and +cleverest woman in the whole province!" + +After scrambling through so many brambles and setting off on so many +different roads, after dreaming of love in splendor and scenting the +darkest dramas, thinking such terrible joys would be cheaply purchased +so weary was she of her dreary existence, one day Dinah fell into the +pit she had sworn to avoid. Seeing Monsieur de Clagny always sacrificing +himself, and at last refusing a high appointment in Paris, where his +family wanted to see him, she said to herself, "He loves me!" She +vanquished her repulsion, and seemed willing to reward so much +constancy. + +It was to this impulse of generosity on her part that a coalition was +due, formed in Sancerre to secure the return of Monsieur de Clagny at +the next elections. Madame de la Baudraye had dreamed of going to Paris +in the wake of the new deputy. + +But, in spite of the most solemn promises, the hundred and fifty votes +to be recorded in favor of this adorer of the lovely Dinah--who hoped +to see this defender of the widow and the orphan wearing the gown of the +Keeper of the Seals--figured as an imposing minority of fifty votes. The +jealousy of the President de Boirouge, and Monsieur Gravier's hatred, +for he believed in the candidate's supremacy in Dinah's heart, had been +worked upon by a young Sous-prefet; and for this worthy deed the allies +got the young man made a prefet elsewhere. + +"I shall never cease to regret," said he, as he quitted Sancerre, "that +I did not succeed in pleasing Madame de la Baudraye; that would have +made my triumph complete!" + +The household that was thus racked by domestic troubles was calm on +the surface; here were two ill-assorted but resigned beings, and the +indescribable propriety, the lie that society insists on, and which to +Dinah was an unendurable yoke. Why did she long to throw off the mask +she had worn for twelve years? Whence this weariness which, every day, +increased her hope of finding herself a widow? + +The reader who has noted all the phases of her existence will have +understood the various illusions by which Dinah, like many another +woman, had been deceived. After an attempt to master Monsieur de la +Baudraye, she had indulged the hope of becoming a mother. Between those +miserable disputes over household matters and the melancholy conviction +as to her fate, quite a long time had elapsed. Then, when she had looked +for consolation, the consoler, Monsieur de Chargeboeuf had left her. +Thus, the overwhelming temptation which commonly causes women to sin had +hitherto been absent. For if there are, after all, some women who make +straight for unfaithfulness, are there not many more who cling to hope, +and do not fall till they have wandered long in a labyrinth of secret +woes? + +Such was Dinah. She had so little impulse to fail in her duty, that she +did not care enough for Monsieur de Clagny to forgive him his defeat. + +Then the move to the Chateau d'Anzy, the rearrangement of her collected +treasures and curiosities, which derived added value from the splendid +setting which Philibert de Lorme seemed to have planned on purpose for +this museum, occupied her for several months, giving her leisure to +meditate one of those decisive steps that startle the public, ignorant +of the motives which, however, it sometimes discovers by dint of gossip +and suppositions. + +Madame de la Baudraye had been greatly struck by the reputation of +Lousteau, who was regarded as a lady's man of the first water in +consequence of his intimacies among actresses; she was anxious to know +him; she read his books, and was fired with enthusiasm, less perhaps for +his talents than for his successes with women; and to attract him to the +country, she started the notion that it was obligatory on Sancerre to +return one of its great men at the elections. She made Gatien Boirouge +write to the great physician Bianchon, whom he claimed as a cousin +through the Popinots. Then she persuaded an old friend of the departed +Madame Lousteau to stir up the journalist's ambitions by letting him +know that certain persons in Sancerre were firmly bent on electing a +deputy from among the distinguished men in Paris. + +Tired of her commonplace neighbors, Madame de la Baudraye would thus at +last meet really illustrious men, and might give her fall the lustre of +fame. + +Neither Lousteau nor Bianchon replied; they were waiting perhaps till +the holidays. Bianchon, who had won his professor's chair the year +before after a brilliant contest, could not leave his lectures. + +In the month of September, when the vintage was at its height, the two +Parisians arrived in their native province, and found it absorbed in the +unremitting toil of the wine-crop of 1836; there could therefore be +no public demonstration in their favor. "We have fallen flat," said +Lousteau to his companion, in the slang of the stage. + +In 1836, Lousteau, worn by sixteen years of struggle in the Capital, +and aged quite as much by pleasure as by penury, hard work, and +disappointments, looked eight-and-forty, though he was no more than +thirty-seven. He was already bald, and had assumed a Byronic air in +harmony with his early decay and the lines furrowed in his face +by over-indulgence in champagne. He ascribed these signs-manual of +dissipation to the severities of a literary life, declaring that the +Press was murderous; and he gave it to be understood that it consumed +superior talents, so as to lend a grace to his exhaustion. In his native +town he thought proper to exaggerate his affected contempt of life and +his spurious misanthropy. Still, his eyes could flash with fire like +a volcano supposed to be extinct, and he endeavored, by dressing +fashionably, to make up for the lack of youth that might strike a +woman's eye. + +Horace Bianchon, who wore the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, was fat and +burly, as beseems a fashionable physician, with a patriarchal air, his +hair thick and long, a prominent brow, the frame of a hard worker, and +the calm expression of a philosopher. This somewhat prosaic personality +set off his more frivolous companion to advantage. + + + +The two great men remained unrecognized during a whole morning at the +inn where they had put up, and it was only by chance that Monsieur de +Clagny heard of their arrival. Madame de la Baudraye, in despair at +this, despatched Gatien Boirouge, who had no vineyards, to beg the two +gentlemen to spend a few days at the Chateau d'Anzy. For the last +year Dinah had played the chatelaine, and spent the winter only at La +Baudraye. Monsieur Gravier, the Public Prosecutor, the Presiding Judge, +and Gatien Boirouge combined to give a banquet to the great men, to meet +the literary personages of the town. + +On hearing that the beautiful Madame de la Baudraye was Jan Diaz, +the Parisians went to spend three days at Anzy, fetched in a sort of +wagonette driven by Gatien himself. The young man, under a genuine +illusion, spoke of Madame de la Baudraye not only as the handsomest +woman in those parts, a woman so superior that she might give George +Sand a qualm, but as a woman who would produce a great sensation in +Paris. Hence the extreme though suppressed astonishment of Doctor +Bianchon and the waggish journalist when they beheld, on the garden +steps of Anzy, a lady dressed in thin black cashmere with a deep tucker, +in effect like a riding-habit cut short, for they quite understood the +pretentiousness of such extreme simplicity. Dinah also wore a black +velvet cap, like that in the portrait of Raphael, and below it her hair +fell in thick curls. This attire showed off a rather pretty figure, fine +eyes, and handsome eyelids somewhat faded by the weariful life that has +been described. In Le Berry the singularity of this _artistic_ costume +was a cloak for the romantic affectations of the Superior Woman. + +On seeing the affectations of their too amiable hostess--which were, +indeed, affectations of soul and mind--the friends glanced at each +other, and put on a deeply serious expression to listen to Madame de la +Baudraye, who made them a set speech of thanks for coming to cheer the +monotony of her days. Dinah walked her guests round and round the +lawn, ornamented with large vases of flowers, which lay in front of the +Chateau d'Anzy. + +"How is it," said Lousteau, the practical joker, "that so handsome a +woman as you, and apparently so superior, should have remained buried in +the country? What do you do to make life endurable?" + +"Ah! that is the crux," said the lady. "It is unendurable. Utter despair +or dull resignation--there is no third alternative; that is the arid +soil in which our existence is rooted, and on which a thousand stagnant +ideas fall; they cannot fertilize the ground, but they supply food +for the etiolated flowers of our desert souls. Never believe in +indifference! Indifference is either despair or resignation. Then each +woman takes up the pursuit which, according to her character, seems to +promise some amusement. Some rush into jam-making and washing, household +management, the rural joys of the vintage or the harvest, bottling +fruit, embroidering handkerchiefs, the cares of motherhood, the +intrigues of a country town. Others torment a much-enduring piano, +which, at the end of seven years, sounds like an old kettle, and ends +its asthmatic life at the Chateau d'Anzy. Some pious dames talk over the +different brands of the Word of God--the Abbe Fritaud as compared with +the Abbe Guinard. They play cards in the evening, dance with the same +partners for twelve years running, in the same rooms, at the same dates. +This delightful life is varied by solemn walks on the Mall, visits of +politeness among the women, who ask each other where they bought their +gowns. + +"Conversation is bounded on the south by remarks on the intrigues lying +hidden under the stagnant water of provincial life, on the north by +proposed marriages, on the west by jealousies, and on the east by sour +remarks. + +"And so," she went on, striking an attitude, "you see a woman wrinkled +at nine-and-twenty, ten years before the time fixed by the rules of +Doctor Bianchon, a woman whose skin is ruined at an early age, who turns +as yellow as a quince when she is yellow at all--we have seen some turn +green. When we have reached that point, we try to justify our normal +condition; then we turn and rend the terrible passion of Paris with +teeth as sharp as rat's teeth. We have Puritan women here, sour enough +to tear the laces of Parisian finery, and eat out all the poetry of your +Parisian beauties, who undermine the happiness of others while they cry +up their walnuts and rancid bacon, glorify this squalid mouse-hole, +and the dingy color and conventual smell of our delightful life at +Sancerre." + +"I admire such courage, madame," said Bianchon. "When we have to +endure such misfortunes, it is well to have the wit to make a virtue of +necessity." + +Amazed at the brilliant move by which Dinah thus placed provincial life +at the mercy of her guests, in anticipation of their sarcasms, Gatien +Boirouge nudged Lousteau's elbow, with a glance and a smile, which said: + +"Well! did I say too much?" + +"But, madame," said Lousteau, "you are proving that we are still in +Paris. I shall steal this gem of description; it will be worth ten +thousand francs to me in an article." + +"Oh, monsieur," she retorted, "never trust provincial women." + +"And why not?" said Lousteau. + +Madame de la Baudraye was wily enough--an innocent form of cunning, to +be sure--to show the two Parisians, one of whom she would choose to be +her conquerer, the snare into which he would fall, reflecting that she +would have the upper hand at the moment when he should cease to see it. + +"When you first come," said she, "you laugh at us. Then when you have +forgotten the impression of Paris brilliancy, and see us in our own +sphere, you pay court to us, if only as a pastime. And you, who are +famous for your past passions, will be the object of attentions which +will flatter you. Then take care!" cried Dinah, with a coquettish +gesture, raising herself above provincial absurdities and Lousteau's +irony by her own sarcastic speech. "When a poor little country-bred +woman has an eccentric passion for some superior man, some Parisian +who has wandered into the provinces, it is to her something more than a +sentiment; she makes it her occupation and part of all her life. There +is nothing more dangerous than the attachment of such a woman; she +compares, she studies, she reflects, she dreams; and she will not give +up her dream, she thinks still of the man she loves when he has ceased +to think of her. + +"Now one of the catastrophes that weigh most heavily on a woman in the +provinces is that abrupt termination of her passion which is so often +seen in England. In the country, a life under minute observation as keen +as an Indian's compels a woman either to keep on the rails or to start +aside like a steam engine wrecked by an obstacle. The strategies of +love, the coquetting which form half the composition of a Parisian +woman, are utterly unknown here." + +"That is true," said Lousteau. "There is in a country-bred woman's heart +a store of surprises, as in some toys." + +"Dear me!" Dinah went on, "a woman will have spoken to you three times +in the course of a winter, and without your knowing it, you will be +lodged in her heart. Then comes a picnic, an excursion, what not, and +all is said--or, if you prefer it, all is done! This conduct, which +seems odd to unobserving persons, is really very natural. A poet, such +as you are, or a philosopher, an observer, like Doctor Bianchon, instead +of vilifying the provincial woman and believing her depraved, would be +able to guess the wonderful unrevealed poetry, every chapter, in short, +of the sweet romance of which the last phrase falls to the benefit of +some happy sub-lieutenant or some provincial bigwig." + +"The provincial women I have met in Paris," said Lousteau, "were, in +fact, rapid in their proceedings--" + +"My word, they are strange," said the lady, giving a significant shrug +of her shoulders. + +"They are like the playgoers who book for the second performance, +feeling sure that the piece will not fail," replied the journalist. + +"And what is the cause of all these woes?" asked Bianchon. + +"Paris is the monster that brings us grief," replied the Superior +Woman. "The evil is seven leagues round, and devastates the whole +land. Provincial life is not self-existent. It is only when a nation is +divided into fifty minor states that each can have a physiognomy of its +own, and then a woman reflects the glory of the sphere where she reigns. +This social phenomenon, I am told, may be seen in Italy, Switzerland, +and Germany; but in France, as in every country where there is but +one capital, a dead level of manners must necessarily result from +centralization." + +"Then you would say that manners could only recover their individuality +and native distinction by the formation of a federation of French states +into one empire?" said Lousteau. + +"That is hardly to be wished, for France would have to conquer too many +countries," said Bianchon. + +"This misfortune is unknown in England," exclaimed Dinah. "London does +not exert such tyranny as that by which Paris oppresses France--for +which, indeed, French ingenuity will at last find a remedy; however, it +has a worse disease in its vile hypocrisy, which is a far greater evil!" + +"The English aristocracy," said Lousteau, hastening to put a word in, +for he foresaw a Byronic paragraph, "has the advantage over ours +of assimilating every form of superiority; it lives in the midst of +magnificent parks; it is in London for no more than two months. It lives +in the country, flourishing there, and making it flourish." + +"Yes," said Madame de la Baudraye, "London is the capital of trade and +speculation and the centre of government. The aristocracy hold a 'mote' +there for sixty days only; it gives and takes the passwords of the day, +looks in on the legislative cookery, reviews the girls to marry, the +carriages to be sold, exchanges greetings, and is away again; and is so +far from amusing, that it cannot bear itself for more than the few days +known as 'the season.'" + +"Hence," said Lousteau, hoping to stop this nimble tongue by an epigram, +"in Perfidious Albion, as the _Constitutionnel_ has it, you may happen +to meet a charming woman in any part of the kingdom." + +"But charming _English_ women!" replied Madame de la Baudraye with +a smile. "Here is my mother, I will introduce you," said she, seeing +Madame Piedefer coming towards them. + +Having introduced the two Paris lions to the ambitious skeleton that +called itself woman under the name of Madame Piedefer--a tall, lean +personage, with a red face, teeth that were doubtfully genuine, and hair +that was undoubtedly dyed, Dinah left her visitors to themselves for a +few minutes. + +"Well," said Gatien to Lousteau, "what do you think of her?" + +"I think that the clever woman of Sancerre is simply the greatest +chatterbox," replied the journalist. + +"A woman who wants to see you deputy!" cried Gatien. "An angel!" + +"Forgive me, I forgot you were in love with her," said Lousteau. +"Forgive the cynicism of an old scamp.--Ask Bianchon; I have no +illusions left. I see things as they are. The woman has evidently dried +up her mother like a partridge left to roast at too fierce a fire." + +Gatien de Boirouge contrived to let Madame de la Baudraye know what +the journalist had said of her in the course of the dinner, which was +copious, not to say splendid, and the lady took care not to talk +too much while it was proceeding. This lack of conversation betrayed +Gatien's indiscretion. Etienne tried to regain his footing, but all +Dinah's advances were directed to Bianchon. + +However, half-way through the evening, the Baroness was gracious to +Lousteau again. Have you never observed what great meanness may +be committed for small ends? Thus the haughty Dinah, who would not +sacrifice herself for a fool, who in the depths of the country led such +a wretched life of struggles, of suppressed rebellion, of unuttered +poetry, who to get away from Lousteau had climbed the highest and +steepest peak of her scorn, and who would not have come down if she +had seen the sham Byron at her feet, suddenly stepped off it as she +recollected her album. + +Madame de la Baudraye had caught the mania for autographs; she possessed +an oblong volume which deserved the name of album better than most, as +two-thirds of the pages were still blank. The Baronne de Fontaine, who +had kept it for three months, had with great difficulty obtained a line +from Rossini, six bars written by Meyerbeer, the four lines that Victor +Hugo writes in every album, a verse from Lamartine, a few words from +Beranger, _Calypso ne pouvait se consoler du depart d'Ulysse_ (the first +words of _Telemaque_) written by George Sand, Scribe's famous lines on +the Umbrella, a sentence from Charles Nodier, an outline of distance by +Jules Dupre, the signature of David d'Angers, and three notes written +by Hector Berlioz. Monsieur de Clagny, during a visit to Paris, added a +song by Lacenaire--a much coveted autograph, two lines from Fieschi, and +an extremely short note from Napoleon, which were pasted on to pages of +the album. Then Monsieur Gravier, in the course of a tour, had persuaded +Mademoiselle Mars to write her name on this album, with Mademoiselles +Georges, Taglioni, and Grisi, and some distinguished actors, such as +Frederick Lemaitre, Monrose, Bouffe, Rubini, Lablache, Nourrit, and +Arnal; for he knew a set of old fellows brought up in the seraglio, as +they phrased it, who did him this favor. + +This beginning of a collection was all the more precious to Dinah +because she was the only person for ten leagues round who owned an +album. Within the last two years, however, several young ladies had +acquired such books, in which they made their friends and acquaintances +write more or less absurd quotations or sentiments. You who spend your +lives in collecting autographs, simple and happy souls, like Dutch tulip +fanciers, you will excuse Dinah when, in her fear of not keeping her +guests more than two days, she begged Bianchon to enrich the volume she +handed to him with a few lines of his writing. + +The doctor made Lousteau smile by showing him this sentence on the first +page: + + "What makes the populace dangerous is that it has in its pocket an + absolution for every crime. + + "J. B. DE CLAGNY." + + +"We will second the man who is brave enough to plead in favor of the +Monarchy," Desplein's great pupil whispered to Lousteau, and he wrote +below: + + "The distinction between Napoleon and a water-carrier is evident + only to Society; Nature takes no account of it. Thus Democracy, + which resists inequality, constantly appeals to Nature. + + "H. BIANCHON." + + +"Ah!" cried Dinah, amazed, "you rich men take a gold piece out of your +purse as poor men bring out a farthing.... I do not know," she went +on, turning to Lousteau, "whether it is taking an unfair advantage of a +guest to hope for a few lines--" + +"Nay, madame, you flatter me. Bianchon is a great man, but I am too +insignificant!--Twenty years hence my name will be more difficult to +identify than that of the Public Prosecutor whose axiom, written in your +album, will designate him as an obscurer Montesquieu. And I should +want at least twenty-four hours to improvise some sufficiently bitter +reflections, for I could only describe what I feel." + +"I wish you needed a fortnight," said Madame de la Baudraye graciously, +as she handed him the book. "I should keep you here all the longer." + + + +At five next morning all the party in the Chateau d'Anzy were astir, +little La Baudraye having arranged a day's sport for the Parisians--less +for their pleasure than to gratify his own conceit. He was delighted to +make them walk over the twelve hundred acres of waste land that he +was intending to reclaim, an undertaking that would cost some hundred +thousand francs, but which might yield an increase of thirty to sixty +thousand francs a year in the returns of the estate of Anzy. + +"Do you know why the Public Prosecutor has not come out with us?" asked +Gatien Boirouge of Monsieur Gravier. + +"Why he told us that he was obliged to sit to-day; the minor cases are +before the Court," replied the other. + +"And did you believe that?" cried Gatien. "Well, my papa said to me, +'Monsieur Lebas will not join you early, for Monsieur de Clagny has +begged him as his deputy to sit for him!' + +"Indeed!" said Gravier, changing countenance. "And Monsieur de la +Baudraye is gone to La Charite!" + +"But why do you meddle in such matters?" said Bianchon to Gatien. + +"Horace is right," said Lousteau. "I cannot imagine why you trouble your +heads so much about each other; you waste your time in frivolities." + +Horace Bianchon looked at Etienne Lousteau, as much as to say +that newspaper epigrams and the satire of the "funny column" were +incomprehensible at Sancerre. + +On reaching a copse, Monsieur Gravier left the two great men and Gatien, +under the guidance of a keeper, to make their way through a little +ravine. + +"Well, we must wait for Monsieur Gravier," said Bianchon, when they had +reached a clearing. + +"You may be a great physician," said Gatien, "but you are ignorant of +provincial life. You mean to wait for Monsieur Gravier?--By this time +he is running like a hare, in spite of his little round stomach; he is +within twenty minutes of Anzy by now----" Gatien looked at his watch. +"Good! he will be just in time." + +"Where?" + +"At the chateau for breakfast," replied Gatien. "Do you suppose I could +rest easy if Madame de la Baudraye were alone with Monsieur de Clagny? +There are two of them now; they will keep an eye on each other. Dinah +will be well guarded." + +"Ah, ha! Then Madame de la Baudraye has not yet made up her mind?" said +Lousteau. + +"So mamma thinks. For my part, I am afraid that Monsieur de Clagny has +at last succeeded in bewitching Madame de la Baudraye. If he has been +able to show her that he had any chance of putting on the robes of the +Keeper of the Seals, he may have hidden his moleskin complexion, his +terrible eyes, his touzled mane, his voice like a hoarse crier's, his +bony figure, like that of a starveling poet, and have assumed all the +charms of Adonis. If Dinah sees Monsieur de Clagny as Attorney-General, +she may see him as a handsome youth. Eloquence has great +privileges.--Besides, Madame de la Baudraye is full of ambition. She +does not like Sancerre, and dreams of the glories of Paris." + +"But what interest have you in all this?" said Lousteau. "If she is in +love with the Public Prosecutor!--Ah! you think she will not love him +for long, and you hope to succeed him." + +"You who live in Paris," said Gatien, "meet as many different women as +there are days in the year. But at Sancerre, where there are not half +a dozen, and where, of those six, five set up for the most extravagant +virtue, when the handsomest of them all keeps you at an infinite +distance by looks as scornful as though she were of the blood royal, a +young man of two-and-twenty may surely be allowed to make a guess at her +secrets, since she must then treat him with some consideration." + +"Consideration! So that is what you call it in these parts?" said the +journalist with a smile. + +"I should suppose Madame de la Baudraye to have too much good taste to +trouble her head about that ugly ape," said Bianchon. + +"Horace," said Lousteau, "look here, O learned interpreter of human +nature, let us lay a trap for the Public Prosecutor; we shall be doing +our friend Gatien a service, and get a laugh out of it. I do not love +Public Prosecutors." + +"You have a keen intuition of destiny," said Horace. "But what can we +do?" + +"Well, after dinner we will tell sundry little anecdotes of wives +caught out by their husbands, killed, murdered under the most terrible +circumstances.--Then we shall see the faces that Madame de la Baudraye +and de Clagny will make." + +"Not amiss!" said Bianchon; "one or the other must surely, by look or +gesture--" + +"I know a newspaper editor," Lousteau went on, addressing Gatien, "who, +anxious to forefend a grievous fate, will take no stories but such as +tell the tale of lovers burned, hewn, pounded, or cut to pieces; of +wives boiled, fried, or baked; he takes them to his wife to read, hoping +that sheer fear will keep her faithful--satisfied with that humble +alternative, poor man! 'You see, my dear, to what the smallest error may +lead you!' says he, epitomizing Arnolfe's address to Agnes." + +"Madame de la Baudraye is quite guiltless; this youth sees double," +said Bianchon. "Madame Piedefer seems to me far too pious to invite her +daughter's lover to the Chateau d'Anzy. Madame de la Baudraye would have +to hoodwink her mother, her husband, her maid, and her mother's maid; +that is too much to do. I acquit her." + +"Well with more reason because her husband never 'quits her,' said +Gatien, laughing at his own wit. + +"We can easily remember two or three stories that will make Dinah +quake," said Lousteau. "Young man--and you too, Bianchon--let me beg you +to maintain a stern demeanor; be thorough diplomatists, an easy manner +without exaggeration, and watch the faces of the two criminals, you +know, without seeming to do so--out of the corner of your eye, or in a +glass, on the sly. This morning we will hunt the hare, this evening we +will hunt the Public Prosecutor." + +The evening began with a triumph for Lousteau, who returned the album to +the lady with this elegy written in it: + + + SPLEEN + + You ask for verse from me, the feeble prey + Of this self-seeking world, a waif and stray + With none to whom to cling; + From me--unhappy, purblind, hopeless devil! + Who e'en in what is good see only evil + In any earthly thing! + + This page, the pastime of a dame so fair, + May not reflect the shadow of my care, + For all things have their place. + Of love, to ladies bright, the poet sings, + Of joy, and balls, and dress, and dainty things-- + Nay, or of God and Grace. + + It were a bitter jest to bid the pen + Of one so worn with life, so hating men, + Depict a scene of joy. + Would you exult in sight to one born blind, + Or--cruel! of a mother's love remind + Some hapless orphan boy? + + When cold despair has gripped a heart still fond, + When there is no young heart that will respond + To it in love, the future is a lie. + If there is none to weep when he is sad, + And share his woe, a man were better dead!-- + And so I soon must die. + + Give me your pity! often I blaspheme + The sacred name of God. Does it not seem + That I was born in vain? + Why should I bless him? Or why thank Him, since + He might have made me handsome, rich, a prince-- + And I am poor and plain? + + ETIENNE LOUSTEAU. + September 1836, Chateau d'Anzy. + + +"And you have written those verses since yesterday?" cried Clagny in a +suspicious tone. + +"Dear me, yes, as I was following the game; it is only too evident! I +would gladly have done something better for madame." + +"The verses are exquisite!" cried Dinah, casting up her eyes to heaven. + +"They are, alas! the expression of a too genuine feeling," replied +Lousteau, in a tone of deep dejection. + +The reader will, of course, have guessed that the journalist had stored +these lines in his memory for ten years at least, for he had written +them at the time of the Restoration in disgust at being unable to get +on. Madame de la Baudraye gazed at him with such pity as the woes of +genius inspire; and Monsieur de Clagny, who caught her expression, +turned in hatred against this sham _Jeune Malade_ (the name of an +Elegy written by Millevoye). He sat down to backgammon with the cure +of Sancerre. The Presiding Judge's son was so extremely obliging as to +place a lamp near the two players in such a way as that the light +fell full on Madame de la Baudraye, who took up her work; she was +embroidering in coarse wool a wicker-plait paper-basket. The three +conspirators sat close at hand. + +"For whom are you decorating that pretty basket, madame?" said Lousteau. +"For some charity lottery, perhaps?" + +"No," she said, "I think there is too much display in charity done to +the sound of a trumpet." + +"You are very indiscreet," said Monsieur Gravier. + +"Can there be any indiscretion," said Lousteau, "in inquiring who the +happy mortal may be in whose room that basket is to stand?" + +"There is no happy mortal in the case," said Dinah; "it is for Monsieur +de la Baudraye." + +The Public Prosecutor looked slily at Madame de la Baudraye and her +work, as if he had said to himself, "I have lost my paper-basket!" + +"Why, madame, may we not think him happy in having a lovely wife, happy +in her decorating his paper-baskets so charmingly? The colors are red +and black, like Robin Goodfellow. If ever I marry, I only hope that +twelve years after, my wife's embroidered baskets may still be for me." + +"And why should they not be for you?" said the lady, fixing her fine +gray eyes, full of invitation, on Etienne's face. + +"Parisians believe in nothing," said the lawyer bitterly. "The virtue of +women is doubted above all things with terrible insolence. Yes, for some +time past the books you have written, you Paris authors, your farces, +your dramas, all your atrocious literature, turn on adultery--" + +"Come, come, Monsieur the Public Prosecutor," retorted Etienne, +laughing, "I left you to play your game in peace, I did not attack you, +and here you are bringing an indictment against me. On my honor as a +journalist, I have launched above a hundred articles against the writers +you speak of; but I confess that in attacking them it was to attempt +something like criticism. Be just; if you condemn them, you must condemn +Homer, whose _Iliad_ turns on Helen of Troy; you must condemn Milton's +_Paradise Lost_. Eve and her serpent seem to me a pretty little case of +symbolical adultery; you must suppress the Psalms of David, inspired by +the highly adulterous love affairs of that Louis XIV. of Judah; you must +make a bonfire of _Mithridate, le Tartuffe, l'Ecole des Femmes, Phedre, +Andromaque, le Mariage de Figaro_, Dante's _Inferno_, Petrarch's +Sonnets, all the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the romances of the +Middle Ages, the History of France, and of Rome, etc., etc. Excepting +Bossuet's _Histoire des Variations_ and Pascal's _Provinciales_, I do +not think there are many books left to read if you insist on eliminating +all those in which illicit love is mentioned." + +"Much loss that would be!" said Monsieur de Clagny. + +Etienne, nettled by the superior air assumed by Monsieur de Clagny, +wanted to infuriate him by one of those cold-drawn jests which consist +in defending an opinion in which we have no belief, simply to rouse the +wrath of a poor man who argues in good faith; a regular journalist's +pleasantry. + +"If we take up the political attitude into which you would force +yourself," he went on, without heeding the lawyer's remark, "and assume +the part of Public Prosecutor of all the ages--for every Government +has its public ministry--well, the Catholic religion is infected at its +fountain-head by a startling instance of illegal union. In the opinion +of King Herod, and of Pilate as representing the Roman Empire, Joseph's +wife figured as an adulteress, since, by her avowal, Joseph was not +the father of Jesus. The heathen judge could no more recognize the +Immaculate Conception than you yourself would admit the possibility of +such a miracle if a new religion should nowadays be preached as based +on a similar mystery. Do you suppose that a judge and jury in a police +court would give credence to the operation of the Holy Ghost! And yet +who can venture to assert that God will never again redeem mankind? Is +it any better now than it was under Tiberius?" + +"Your argument is blasphemy," said Monsieur de Clagny. + +"I grant it," said the journalist, "but not with malicious intent. +You cannot suppress historical fact. In my opinion, Pilate, when he +sentenced Jesus, and Anytus--who spoke for the aristocratic party at +Athens--when he insisted on the death of Socrates, both represented +established social interests which held themselves legitimate, invested +with co-operative powers, and obliged to defend themselves. Pilate and +Anytus in their time were not less logical than the public prosecutors +who demanded the heads of the sergeants of La Rochelle; who, at this +day, are guillotining the republicans who take up arms against the +throne as established by the revolution of July, and the innovators +who aim at upsetting society for their own advantage under pretence of +organizing it on a better footing. In the eyes of the great families +of Greece and Rome, Socrates and Jesus were criminals; to those ancient +aristocracies their opinions were akin to those of the Mountain; and if +their followers had been victorious, they would have produced a little +'ninety-three' in the Roman Empire or in Attica." + +"What are you trying to come to, monsieur?" asked the lawyer. + +"To adultery!--For thus, monsieur, a Buddhist as he smokes his pipe may +very well assert that the Christian religion is founded in adultery; as +we believe that Mahomet is an impostor; that his Koran is an epitome +of the Old Testament and the Gospels; and that God never had the least +intention of constituting that camel-driver His Prophet." + +"If there were many men like you in France--and there are more than +enough, unfortunately--all government would be impossible." + +"And there would be no religion at all," said Madame Piedefer, who had +been making strangely wry faces all through this discussion. + +"You are paining them very much," said Bianchon to Lousteau in an +undertone. "Do not talk of religion; you are saying things that are +enough to upset them." + +"If I were a writer or a romancer," said Monsieur Gravier, "I should +take the side of the luckless husbands. I, who have seen many things, +and strange things too, know that among the ranks of deceived husbands +there are some whose attitude is not devoid of energy, men who, at a +crisis, can be very dramatic, to use one of your words, monsieur," he +said, addressing Etienne. + +"You are very right, my dear Monsieur Gravier," said Lousteau. "I never +thought that deceived husbands were ridiculous; on the contrary, I think +highly of them--" + +"Do you not think a husband's confidence a sublime thing?" said +Bianchon. "He believes in his wife, he does not suspect her, he trusts +her implicitly. But if he is so weak as to trust her, you make game of +him; if he is jealous and suspicious, you hate him; what, then, I ask +you, is the happy medium for a man of spirit?" + +"If Monsieur de Clagny had not just expressed such vehement disapproval +of the immorality of stories in which the matrimonial compact is +violated, I could tell you of a husband's revenge," said Lousteau. + +Monsieur de Clagny threw the dice with a convulsive jerk, and dared not +look up at the journalist. + +"A story, from you!" cried Madame de la Baudraye. "I should hardly have +dared to hope for such a treat--" + +"It is not my story, madame; I am not clever enough to invent such a +tragedy. It was told me--and how delightfully!--by one of our greatest +writers, the finest literary musician of our day, Charles Nodier." + +"Well, tell it," said Dinah. "I never met Monsieur Nodier, so you have +no comparison to fear." + +"Not long after the 18th Brumaire," Etienne began, "there was, as +you know, a call to arms in Brittany and la Vendee. The First Consul, +anxious before all things for peace in France, opened negotiations +with the rebel chiefs, and took energetic military measures; but, while +combining his plans of campaign with the insinuating charm of Italian +diplomacy, he also set the Machiavelian springs of the police in +movement, Fouche then being at its head. And none of these means were +superfluous to stifle the fire of war then blaring in the West. + +"At this time a young man of the Maille family was despatched by the +Chouans from Brittany to Saumur, to open communications between certain +magnates of that town and its environs and the leaders of the Royalist +party. The envoy was, in fact, arrested on the very day he landed--for +he traveled by boat, disguised as a master mariner. However, as a man +of practical intelligence, he had calculated all the risks of the +undertaking; his passport and papers were all in order, and the men told +off to take him were afraid of blundering. + +"The Chevalier de Beauvoir--I now remember his name--had studied +his part well; he appealed to the family whose name he had borrowed, +persisted in his false address, and stood his examination so boldly that +he would have been set at large but for the blind belief that the spies +had in their instructions, which were unfortunately only too minute. In +this dilemma the authorities were more ready to risk an arbitrary act +than to let a man escape to whose capture the Minister attached great +importance. In those days of liberty the agents of the powers in +authority cared little enough for what we now regard as _legal_. The +Chevalier was therefore imprisoned provisionally, until the superior +officials should come to some decision as to his identity. He had not +long to wait for it; orders were given to guard the prisoner closely in +spite of his denials. + +"The Chevalier de Beauvoir was next transferred, in obedience to further +orders, to the Castle of l'Escarpe, a name which sufficiently indicates +its situation. This fortress, perched on very high rocks, has precipices +for its trenches; it is reached on all sides by steep and dangerous +paths; and, like every ancient castle, its principal gate has a +drawbridge over a wide moat. The commandant of this prison, delighted +to have charge of a man of family whose manners were most agreeable, +who expressed himself well, and seemed highly educated, received the +Chevalier as a godsend; he offered him the freedom of the place on +parole, that they might together the better defy its dulness. The +prisoner was more than content. + +"Beauvoir was a loyal gentleman, but, unfortunately, he was also a very +handsome youth. He had attractive features, a dashing air, a pleasing +address, and extraordinary strength. Well made, active, full of +enterprise, and loving danger, he would have made an admirable leader +of guerillas, and was the very man for the part. The commandant gave his +prisoner the most comfortable room, entertained him at his table, and +at first had nothing but praise for the Vendean. This officer was a +Corsican and married; his wife was pretty and charming, and he thought +her, perhaps, not to be trusted--at any rate, he was as jealous as a +Corsican and a rather ill-looking soldier may be. The lady took a fancy +to Beauvoir, and he found her very much to his taste; perhaps they +loved! Love in a prison is quick work. Did they commit some imprudence? +Was the sentiment they entertained something warmer than the superficial +gallantry which is almost a duty of men towards women? + +"Beauvoir never fully explained this rather obscure episode of the +story; it is at least certain that the commandant thought himself +justified in treating his prisoner with excessive severity. Beauvoir was +placed in the dungeon, fed on black bread and cold water, and fettered +in accordance with the time-honored traditions of the treatment lavished +on captives. His cell, under the fortress-yard, was vaulted with hard +stone, the walls were of desperate thickness; the tower overlooked the +precipice. + +"When the luckless man had convinced himself of the impossibility of +escape, he fell into those day-dreams which are at once the comfort and +the crowning despair of prisoners. He gave himself up to the trifles +which in such cases seem so important; he counted the hours and the +days; he studied the melancholy trade of being prisoner; he became +absorbed in himself, and learned the value of air and sunshine; then, +at the end of a fortnight, he was attacked by that terrible malady, that +fever for liberty, which drives prisoners to those heroic efforts of +which the prodigious achievements seem to us impossible, though true, +and which my friend the doctor" (and he turned to Bianchon) "would +perhaps ascribe to some unknown forces too recondite for his +physiological analysis to detect, some mysteries of the human will of +which the obscurity baffles science." + +Bianchon shook his head in negation. + +"Beauvoir was eating his heart out, for death alone could set him +free. One morning the turnkey, whose duty it was to bring him his food, +instead of leaving him when he had given him his meagre pittance, stood +with his arms folded, looking at him with strange meaning. Conversation +between them was brief, and the warder never began it. The Chevalier +was therefore greatly surprised when the man said to him: 'Of course, +monsieur, you know your own business when you insist on being always +called Monsieur Lebrun, or citizen Lebrun. It is no concern of mine; +ascertaining your name is no part of my duty. It is all the same to +me whether you call yourself Peter or Paul. If every man minds his own +business, the cows will not stray. At the same time, _I_ know,' said he, +with a wink, 'that you are Monsieur Charles-Felix-Theodore, Chevalier +de Beauvoir, and cousin to Madame la Duchesse de Maille.--Heh?' he added +after a short silence, during which he looked at his prisoner. + +"Beauvoir, seeing that he was safe under lock and key, did not imagine +that his position could be any the worse if his real name were known. + +"'Well, and supposing I were the Chevalier de Beauvoir, what should I +gain by that?' said he. + +"'Oh, there is everything to be gained by it,' replied the jailer in an +undertone. 'I have been paid to help you to get away; but wait a minute! +If I were suspected in the smallest degree, I should be shot out of +hand. So I have said that I will do no more in the matter than will just +earn the money.--Look here,' said he, taking a small file out of his +pocket, 'this is your key; with this you can cut through one of your +bars. By the Mass, but it will not be any easy job,' he went on, +glancing at the narrow loophole that let daylight into the dungeon. + +"It was in a splayed recess under the deep cornice that ran round the +top of the tower, between the brackets that supported the embrasures. + +"'Monsieur,' said the man, 'you must take care to saw through the iron +low enough to get your body through.' + +"'I will get through, never fear,' said the prisoner. + +"'But high enough to leave a stanchion to fasten a cord to,' the warder +went on. + +"'And where is the cord?' asked Beauvoir. + +"'Here,' said the man, throwing down a knotted rope. 'It is made of +raveled linen, that you may be supposed to have contrived it yourself, +and it is long enough. When you have got to the bottom knot, let +yourself drop gently, and the rest you must manage for yourself. You +will probably find a carriage somewhere in the neighborhood, and friends +looking out for you. But I know nothing about that.--I need not remind +you that there is a man-at-arms to the right of the tower. You will take +care, of course, to choose a dark night, and wait till the sentinel is +asleep. You must take your chance of being shot; but--' + +"'All right! All right! At least I shall not rot here,' cried the young +man. + +"'Well, that may happen nevertheless,' replied the jailer, with a stupid +expression. + +"Beauvoir thought this was merely one of the aimless remarks that such +folks indulge in. The hope of freedom filled him with such joy that he +could not be troubled to consider the words of a man who was no more +than a better sort of peasant. He set to work at once, and had filed +the bars through in the course of the day. Fearing a visit from the +Governor, he stopped up the breaches with bread crumb rubbed in rust +to make it look like iron; he hid his rope, and waited for a favorable +night with the intensity of anticipation, the deep anguish of soul that +makes a prisoner's life dramatic. + +"At last, one murky night, an autumn night, he finished cutting through +the bars, tied the cord firmly to the stump, and perched himself on the +sill outside, holding on by one hand to the piece of iron remaining. +Then he waited for the darkest hour of the night, when the sentinels +would probably be asleep; this would be not long before dawn. He knew +the hours of their rounds, the length of each watch, every detail with +which prisoners, almost involuntarily, become familiar. He waited till +the moment when one of the men-at-arms had spent two-thirds of his watch +and gone into his box for shelter from the fog. Then, feeling sure that +the chances were at the best for his escape, he let himself down knot by +knot, hanging between earth and sky, and clinging to his rope with the +strength of a giant. All was well. At the last knot but one, just as he +was about to let himself drop, a prudent impulse led him to feel for +the ground with his feet, and he found no footing. The predicament +was awkward for a man bathed in sweat, tired, and perplexed, and in a +position where his life was at stake on even chances. He was about to +risk it, when a trivial incident stopped him; his hat fell off; happily, +he listened for the noise it must make in striking the ground, and he +heard not a sound. + +"The prisoner felt vaguely suspicious as to this state of affairs. He +began to wonder whether the Commandant had not laid a trap for him--but +if so, why? Torn by doubts, he almost resolved to postpone the attempt +till another night. At any rate, he would wait for the first gleam of +day, when it would still not be impossible to escape. His great strength +enabled him to climb up again to his window; still, he was almost +exhausted by the time he gained the sill, where he crouched on the +lookout, exactly like a cat on the parapet of a gutter. Before long, by +the pale light of dawn, he perceived as he waved the rope that there +was a little interval of a hundred feet between the lowest knot and the +pointed rocks below. + +"'Thank you, my friend, the Governor!' said he, with characteristic +coolness. Then, after a brief meditation on this skilfully-planned +revenge, he thought it wise to return to his cell. + +"He laid his outer clothes conspicuously on the bed, left the rope +outside to make it seem that he had fallen, and hid himself behind the +door to await the arrival of the treacherous turnkey, arming himself +with one of the iron bars he had filed out. The jailer, who returned +rather earlier than usual to secure the dead man's leavings, opened the +door, whistling as he came in; but when he was at arm's length, Beauvoir +hit him such a tremendous blow on the head that the wretch fell in a +heap without a cry; the bar had cracked his skull. + +"The Chevalier hastily stripped him and put on his clothes, mimicked his +walk, and, thanks to the early hour and the undoubting confidence of the +warders of the great gate, he walked out and away." + +It did not seem to strike either the lawyer or Madame de la Baudraye +that there was in this narrative the least allusion that should apply +to them. Those in the little plot looked inquiringly at each other, +evidently surprised at the perfect coolness of the two supposed lovers. + +"Oh! I can tell you a better story than that," said Bianchon. + +"Let us hear," said the audience, at a sign from Lousteau, conveying +that Bianchon had a reputation as a story-teller. + +Among the stock of narratives he had in store, for every clever man +has a fund of anecdotes as Madame de la Baudraye had a collection of +phrases, the doctor chose that which is known as _La Grande Breteche_, +and is so famous indeed, that it was put on the stage at the +_Gymnase-Dramatique_ under the title of _Valentine_. So it is not +necessary to repeat it here, though it was then new to the inhabitants +of the Chateau d'Anzy. And it was told with the same finish of gesture +and tone which had won such praise for Bianchon when at Mademoiselle +des Touches' supper-party he had told it for the first time. The final +picture of the Spanish grandee, starved to death where he stood in the +cupboard walled up by Madame de Merret's husband, and that husband's +last word as he replied to his wife's entreaty, "You swore on that +crucifix that there was no one in that closet!" produced their full +effect. There was a silent minute, highly flattering to Bianchon. + +"Do you know, gentlemen," said Madame de la Baudraye, "love must be +a mighty thing that it can tempt a woman to put herself in such a +position?" + +"I, who have certainly seen some strange things in the course of my +life," said Gravier, "was cognizant in Spain of an adventure of the same +kind." + +"You come forward after two great performers," said Madame de la +Baudraye, with coquettish flattery, as she glanced at the two Parisians. +"But never mind--proceed." + +"Some little time after his entry into Madrid," said the +Receiver-General, "the Grand Duke of Berg invited the magnates of the +capital to an entertainment given to the newly conquered city by the +French army. In spite of the splendor of the affair, the Spaniards were +not very cheerful; their ladies hardly danced at all, and most of the +company sat down to cards. The gardens of the Duke's palace were so +brilliantly illuminated, that the ladies could walk about in as perfect +safety as in broad daylight. The fete was of imperial magnificence. +Nothing was grudged to give the Spaniards a high idea of the Emperor, if +they were to measure him by the standard of his officers. + +"In an arbor near the house, between one and two in the morning, a party +of French officers were discussing the chances of war, and the not too +hopeful outlook prognosticated by the conduct of the Spaniards present +at that grand ball. + +"'I can only tell you,' said the surgeon-major of the company of which I +was paymaster, 'I applied formally to Prince Murat only yesterday to +be recalled. Without being afraid exactly of leaving my bones in the +Peninsula, I would rather dress the wounds made by our worthy neighbors +the Germans. Their weapons do not run quite so deep into the body as +these Castilian daggers. Besides, a certain dread of Spain is, with +me, a sort of superstition. From my earliest youth I have read Spanish +books, and a heap of gloomy romances and tales of adventures in this +country have given me a serious prejudice against its manners and +customs. + +"'Well, now, since my arrival in Madrid, I have already been, not +indeed the hero, but the accomplice of a dangerous intrigue, as dark and +mysterious as any romance by Lady (Mrs.) Radcliffe. I am apt to attend +to my presentiments, and I am off to-morrow. Murat will not refuse me +leave, for, thanks to our varied services, we always have influential +friends.' + +"'Since you mean to cut your stick, tell us what's up,' said an old +Republican colonel, who cared not a rap for Imperial gentility and +choice language. + +"The surgeon-major looked about him cautiously, as if to make sure +who were his audience, and being satisfied that no Spaniard was within +hearing, he said: + +"'We are none but Frenchmen--then, with pleasure, Colonel Hulot. About +six days since, I was quietly going home, at about eleven at night, +after leaving General Montcornet, whose hotel is but a few yards from +mine. We had come away together from the Quartermaster-General's, where +we had played rather high at _bouillotte_. Suddenly, at the corner of a +narrow high-street, two strangers, or rather, two demons, rushed upon me +and flung a large cloak round my head and arms. I yelled out, as you may +suppose, like a dog that is thrashed, but the cloth smothered my voice, +and I was lifted into a chaise with dexterous rapidity. When my two +companions released me from the cloak, I heard these dreadful words +spoken by a woman, in bad French: + +"'"If you cry out, or if you attempt to escape, if you make the very +least suspicious demonstration, the gentleman opposite to you will stab +you without hesitation. So you had better keep quiet.--Now, I will tell +you why you have been carried off. If you will take the trouble to put +your hand out in this direction, you will find your case of instruments +lying between us; we sent a messenger for them to your rooms, in your +name. You will need them. We are taking you to a house that you may +save the honor of a lady who is about to give birth to a child that +she wishes to place in this gentleman's keeping without her husband's +knowledge. Though monsieur rarely leaves his wife, with whom he is +still passionately in love, watching over her with all the vigilance +of Spanish jealousy, she had succeeded in concealing her condition; he +believes her to be ill. You must bring the child into the world. The +dangers of this enterprise do not concern us: only, you must obey us, +otherwise the lover, who is sitting opposite to you in this carriage, +and who does not understand a word of French, will kill you on the least +rash movement." + +"'"And who are you?" I asked, feeling for the speaker's hand, for her +arm was inside the sleeve of a soldier's uniform. + +"'"I am my lady's waiting-woman," said she, "and ready to reward you +with my own person if you show yourself gallant and helpful in our +necessities." + +"'"Gladly," said I, seeing that I was inevitably started on a perilous +adventure. + +"'Under favor of the darkness, I felt whether the person and figure of +the girl were in keeping with the idea I had formed of her from her tone +of voice. The good soul had, no doubt, made up her mind from the first +to accept all the chances of this strange act of kidnapping, for she +kept silence very obligingly, and the coach had not been more than ten +minutes on the way when she accepted and returned a very satisfactory +kiss. The lover, who sat opposite to me, took no offence at an +occasional quite involuntary kick; as he did not understand French, I +conclude he paid no heed to them. + +"'"I can be your mistress on one condition only," said the woman, in +reply to the nonsense I poured into her ear, carried away by the fervor +of an improvised passion, to which everything was unpropitious. + +"'"And what is it?" + +"'"That you will never attempt to find out whose servant I am. If I am +to go to you, it must be at night, and you must receive me in the dark." + +"'"Very good," said I. + +"'We had got as far as this, when the carriage drew up under a garden +wall. + +"'"You must allow me to bandage your eyes," said the maid. "You can lean +on my arm, and I will lead you." + +"'She tied a handkerchief over my eyes, fastening it in a tight knot at +the back of my head. I heard the sound of a key being cautiously fitted +to the lock of a little side door by the speechless lover who had sat +opposite to me. In a moment the waiting-woman, whose shape was slender, +and who walked with an elegant jauntiness'--_meneho_, as they call it," +Monsieur Gravier explained in a superior tone, "a word which describes +the swing which women contrive to give a certain part of their dress +that shall be nameless.--'The waiting-woman'--it is the surgeon-major +who is speaking," the narrator went on--"'led me along the gravel walks +of a large garden, till at a certain spot she stopped. From the louder +sound of our footsteps, I concluded that we were close to the house. +"Now silence!" said she in a whisper, "and mind what you are about. Do +not overlook any of my signals; I cannot speak without terrible +danger for both of us, and at this moment your life is of the first +importance." Then she added: "My mistress is in a room on the ground +floor. To get into it we must pass through her husband's room and close +to his bed. Do not cough, walk softly, and follow me closely, so as not +to knock against the furniture or tread anywhere but on the carpets I +laid down." + +"'Here the lover gave an impatient growl, as a man annoyed by so much +delay. + +"'The woman said no more, I heard a door open, I felt the warm air of +the house, and we stole in like thieves. Presently the girl's light hand +removed the bandage. I found myself in a lofty and spacious room, badly +lighted by a smoky lamp. The window was open, but the jealous husband +had fitted it with iron bars. I was in the bottom of a sack, as it were. + +"'On the ground a woman was lying on a mat; her head was covered with +a muslin veil, but I could see her eyes through it full of tears and +flashing with the brightness of stars; she held a handkerchief in her +mouth, biting it so hard that her teeth were set in it: I never saw +finer limbs, but her body was writhing with pain like a harp-string +thrown on the fire. The poor creature had made a sort of struts of her +legs by setting her feet against a chest of drawers, and with both hands +she held on to the bar of a chair, her arms outstretched, with every +vein painfully swelled. She might have been a criminal undergoing +torture. But she did not utter a cry; there was not a sound, all +three speechless and motionless. The husband snored with reassuring +regularity. I wanted to study the waiting-woman's face, but she had +put on a mask, which she had removed, no doubt, during our drive, and +I could see nothing but a pair of black eyes and a pleasingly rounded +figure. + +"'The lover threw some towels over his mistress' legs and folded the +muslin veil double over her face. As soon as I had examined the lady +with care, I perceived from certain symptoms which I had noted once +before on a very sad occasion in my life, that the infant was dead. I +turned to the maid in order to tell her this. Instantly the suspicious +stranger drew his dagger; but I had time to explain the matter to the +woman, who explained in a word or two to him in a low voice. On hearing +my opinion, a quick, slight shudder ran through him from head to foot +like a lightning flash; I fancied I could see him turn pale under his +black velvet mask. + +"'The waiting-woman took advantage of a moment when he was bending in +despair over the dying woman, who had turned blue, to point to some +glasses of lemonade standing on a table, at the same time shaking her +head negatively. I understood that I was not to drink anything in spite +of the dreadful thirst that parched my throat. The lover was thirsty +too; he took an empty glass, poured out some fresh lemonade, and drank +it off. + +"'At this moment the lady had a violent attack of pain, which showed +me that now was the time to operate. I summoned all my courage, and in +about an hour had succeeded in delivering her of the child, cutting +it up to extract it. The Spaniard no longer thought of poisoning me, +understanding that I had saved the mother's life. Large tears fell on +his cloak. The woman uttered no sound, but she trembled like a hunted +animal, and was bathed in sweat. + +"'At one horribly critical moment she pointed in the direction of her +husband's room; he had turned in his sleep, and she alone had heard the +rustle of the sheets, the creaking of the bed or of the curtain. We all +paused, and the lover and the waiting-woman, through the eyeholes of +their masks, gave each other a look that said, "If he wakes, shall we +kill him?" + +"'At that instant I put out my hand to take the glass of lemonade the +Spaniard had drunk of. He, thinking that I was about to take one of the +full glasses, sprang forward like a cat, and laid his long dagger over +the two poisoned goblets, leaving me his own, and signing to me to drink +what was left. So much was conveyed by this quick action, and it was +so full of good feeling, that I forgave him his atrocious schemes for +killing me, and thus burying every trace of this event. + +"'After two hours of care and alarms, the maid and I put her mistress +to bed. The lover, forced into so perilous an adventure, had, to provide +means in case of having to fly, a packet of diamonds stuck to paper; +these he put into my pocket without my knowing it; and I may add +parenthetically, that as I was ignorant of the Spaniard's magnificent +gift, my servant stole the jewels the day after, and went off with a +perfect fortune. + +"'I whispered my instructions to the waiting-woman as to the further +care of her patient, and wanted to be gone. The maid remained with her +mistress, which was not very reassuring, but I was on my guard. The +lover made a bundle of the dead infant and the blood-stained clothes, +tying it up tightly, and hiding it under his cloak; he passed his hand +over my eyes as if to bid me to see nothing, and signed to me to take +hold of the skirt of his coat. He went first out of the room, and I +followed, not without a parting glance at my lady of an hour. She, +seeing the Spaniard had gone out, snatched off her mask and showed me an +exquisite face. + +"'When I found myself in the garden, in the open air, I confess that I +breathed as if a heavy load had been lifted from my breast. I followed +my guide at a respectful distance, watching his least movement with keen +attention. Having reached the little door, he took my hand and pressed a +seal to my lips, set in a ring which I had seen him wearing on a finger +of his left hand, and I gave him to understand that this significant +sign would be obeyed. In the street two horses were waiting; we each +mounted one. My Spaniard took my bridle, held his own between his teeth, +for his right hand held the bloodstained bundle, and we went off at +lightning speed. + +"'I could not see the smallest object by which to retrace the road we +came by. At dawn I found myself close by my own door, and the Spaniard +fled towards the Atocha gate.' + +"'And you saw nothing which could lead you to suspect who the woman was +whom you had attended?' the Colonel asked of the surgeon. + +"'One thing only,' he replied. 'When I turned the unknown lady over, I +happened to remark a mole on her arm, about half-way down, as big as +a lentil, and surrounded with brown hairs.'--At this instant the rash +speaker turned pale. All our eyes, that had been fixed on his, followed +his glance, and we saw a Spaniard, whose glittering eyes shone through +a clump of orange-trees. On finding himself the object of our attention, +the man vanished with the swiftness of a sylph. A young captain rushed +in pursuit. + +"'By Heaven!' cried the surgeon, 'that basilisk stare has chilled me +through, my friends. I can hear bells ringing in my ears! I may take +leave of you; you will bury me here!' + +"'What a fool you are!' exclaimed Colonel Hulot. 'Falcon is on the track +of the Spaniard who was listening, and he will call him to account.' + +"'Well,' cried one and another, seeing the captain return quite out of +breath. + +"'The devil's in it,' said Falcon; 'the man went through a wall, I +believe! As I do not suppose that he is a wizard, I fancy he must belong +to the house! He knows every corner and turning, and easily escaped.' + +"'I am done for,' said the surgeon, in a gloomy voice. + +"'Come, come, keep calm, Bega,' said I (his name was Bega), 'we will sit +on watch with you till you leave. We will not leave you this evening.' + +"In point of fact, three young officers who had been losing at play went +home with the surgeon to his lodgings, and one of us offered to stay +with him. + +"Within two days Bega had obtained his recall to France; he made +arrangements to travel with a lady to whom Murat had given a strong +escort, and had just finished dinner with a party of friends, when +his servant came to say that a young lady wished to speak to him. +The surgeon and the three officers went down suspecting mischief. The +stranger could only say, 'Be on your guard--' when she dropped down +dead. It was the waiting-woman, who, finding she had been poisoned, had +hoped to arrive in time to warn her lover. + +"'Devil take it!' cried Captain Falcon, 'that is what I call love! No +woman on earth but a Spaniard can run about with a dose of poison in her +inside!' + +"Bega remained strangely pensive. To drown the dark presentiments that +haunted him, he sat down to table again, and with his companions drank +immoderately. The whole party went early to bed, half drunk. + +"In the middle of the night the hapless Bega was aroused by the sharp +rattle of the curtain rings pulled violently along the rods. He sat up +in bed, in the mechanical trepidation which we all feel on waking with +such a start. He saw standing before him a Spaniard wrapped in a cloak, +who fixed on him the same burning gaze that he had seen through the +bushes. + +"Bega shouted out, 'Help, help, come at once, friends!' But the Spaniard +answered his cry of distress with a bitter laugh.--'Opium grows for +all!' said he. + +"Having thus pronounced sentence as it were, the stranger pointed to the +three other men sleeping soundly, took from under his cloak the arm of +a woman, freshly amputated, and held it out to Bega, pointing to a mole +like that he had so rashly described. 'Is it the same?' he asked. By +the light of the lantern the man had set on the bed, Bega recognized the +arm, and his speechless amazement was answer enough. + +"Without waiting for further information, the lady's husband stabbed him +to the heart." + +"You must tell that to the marines!" said Lousteau. "It needs their +robust faith to swallow it! Can you tell me which told the tale, the +dead man or the Spaniard?" + +"Monsieur," replied the Receiver-General, "I nursed poor Bega, who died +five days after in dreadful suffering.--That is not the end. + +"At the time of the expedition sent out to restore Ferdinand VII. I was +appointed to a place in Spain; but, happily for me, I got no further +than Tours when I was promised the post of Receiver here at Sancerre. On +the eve of setting out I was at a ball at Madame de Listomere's, where +we were to meet several Spaniards of high rank. On rising from the +card-table, I saw a Spanish grandee, an _afrancesado_ in exile, who had +been about a fortnight in Touraine. He had arrived very late at this +ball--his first appearance in society--accompanied by his wife, whose +right arm was perfectly motionless. Everybody made way in silence for +this couple, whom we all watched with some excitement. Imagine a picture +by Murillo come to life. Under black and hollow brows the man's eyes +were like a fixed blaze; his face looked dried up, his bald skull was +red, and his frame was a terror to behold, he was so emaciated. His +wife--no, you cannot imagine her. Her figure had the supple swing for +which the Spaniards created the word _meneho_; though pale, she was +still beautiful; her complexion was dazzlingly fair--a rare thing in +a Spaniard; and her gaze, full of the Spanish sun, fell on you like a +stream of melted lead. + +"'Madame,' said I to her, towards the end of the evening, 'what +occurrence led to the loss of your arm?' + +"'I lost it in the war of independence,' said she." + +"Spain is a strange country," said Madame de la Baudraye. "It still +shows traces of Arab manners." + +"Oh!" said the journalist, laughing, "the mania for cutting off arms +is an old one there. It turns up every now and then like some of our +newspaper hoaxes, for the subject has given plots for plays on the +Spanish stage so early as 1570--" + +"Then do you think me capable of inventing such a story?" said Monsieur +Gravier, nettled by Lousteau's impertinent tone. + +"Quite incapable of such a thing," said the journalist with grave irony. + +"Pooh!" said Bianchon, "the inventions of romances and play-writers are +quite as often transferred from their books and pieces into real life, +as the events of real life are made use of on the stage or adapted to a +tale. I have seen the comedy of _Tartufe_ played out--with the exception +of the close; Orgon's eyes could not be opened to the truth." + +"And the tragi-comedy of _Adolphe_ by Benjamin Constant is constantly +enacted," cried Lousteau. + +"And do you suppose," asked Madame de la Baudraye, "that such adventures +as Monsieur Gravier has related could ever occur now, and in France?" + +"Dear me!" cried Clagny, "of the ten or twelve startling crimes that are +annually committed in France, quite half are mixed up with circumstances +at least as extraordinary as these, and often outdoing them in romantic +details. Indeed, is not this proved by the reports in the _Gazette des +Tribunaux_--the Police news--in my opinion, one of the worst abuses of +the Press? This newspaper, which was started only in 1826 or '27, was +not in existence when I began my professional career, and the facts of +the crime I am about to speak of were not known beyond the limits of the +department where it was committed. + +"In the quarter of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps at Tours a woman whose husband +had disappeared at the time when the army of the Loire was disbanded, +and who had mourned him deeply, was conspicuous for her excess of +devotion. When the mission priests went through all the provinces to +restore the crosses that had been destroyed and to efface the traces +of revolutionary impiety, this widow was one of their most zealous +proselytes, she carried a cross and nailed to it a silver heart pierced +by an arrow; and, for a long time after, she went every evening to pray +at the foot of the cross which was erected behind the Cathedral apse. + +"At last, overwhelmed by remorse, she confessed to a horrible crime. She +had killed her husband, as Fualdes was murdered, by bleeding him; she +had salted the body and packed it in pieces into old casks, exactly as +if it have been pork; and for a long time she had taken a piece every +morning and thrown it into the Loire. Her confessor consulted his +superiors, and told her that it would be his duty to inform the +public prosecutor. The woman awaited the action of the Law. The public +prosecutor and the examining judge, on examining the cellar, found the +husband's head still in pickle in one of the casks.--'Wretched woman,' +said the judge to the accused, 'since you were so barbarous as to throw +your husband's body into the river, why did you not get rid of the head? +Then there would have been no proof.' + +"'I often tried, monsieur,' said she, 'but it was too heavy.'" + +"Well, and what became of the woman?" asked the two Parisians. + +"She was sentenced and executed at Tours," replied the lawyer; "but her +repentance and piety had attracted interest in spite of her monstrous +crime." + +"And do you suppose," said Bianchon, "that we know all the tragedies +that are played out behind the curtain of private life that the public +never lifts?--It seems to me that human justice is ill adapted to judge +of crimes as between husband and wife. It has every right to intervene +as the police; but in equity it knows nothing of the heart of the +matter." + +"The victim has in many cases been for so long the tormentor," said +Madame de la Baudraye guilelessly, "that the crime would sometimes seem +almost excusable if the accused could tell all." + +This reply, led up to by Bianchon and by the story which Clagny had +told, left the two Parisians excessively puzzled as to Dinah's position. + +At bedtime council was held, one of those discussions which take place +in the passages of old country-houses where the bachelors linger, candle +in hand, for mysterious conversations. + +Monsieur Gravier was now informed of the object in view during this +entertaining evening which had brought Madame de la Baudraye's innocence +to light. + +"But, after all," said Lousteau, "our hostess' serenity may indicate +deep depravity instead of the most child-like innocence. The Public +Prosecutor looks to me quite capable of suggesting that little La +Baudraye should be put in pickle----" + +"He is not to return till to-morrow; who knows what may happen in the +course of the night?" said Gatien. + +"We will know!" cried Monsieur Gravier. + +In the life of a country house a number of practical jokes are +considered admissible, some of them odiously treacherous. Monsieur +Gravier, who had seen so much of the world, proposed setting seals on +the door of Madame de la Baudraye and of the Public Prosecutor. The +ducks that denounced the poet Ibycus are as nothing in comparison with +the single hair that these country spies fasten across the opening of a +door by means of two little flattened pills of wax, fixed so high up, or +so low down, that the trick is never suspected. If the gallant comes out +of his own door and opens the other, the broken hair tells the tale. + +When everybody was supposed to be asleep, the doctor, the journalist, +the receiver of taxes, and Gatien came barefoot, like robbers, and +silently fastened up the two doors, agreeing to come again at five +in the morning to examine the state of the fastenings. Imagine their +astonishment and Gatien's delight when all four, candle in hand, and +with hardly any clothes on, came to look at the hairs, and found them in +perfect preservation on both doors. + +"Is it the same wax?" asked Monsieur Gravier. + +"Are they the same hairs?" asked Lousteau. + +"Yes," replied Gatien. + +"This quite alters the matter!" cried Lousteau. "You have been beating +the bush for a will-o'-the-wisp." + +Monsieur Gravier and Gatien exchanged questioning glances which were +meant to convey, "Is there not something offensive to us in that speech? +Ought we to laugh or to be angry?" + +"If Dinah is virtuous," said the journalist in a whisper to Bianchon, +"she is worth an effort on my part to pluck the fruit of her first +love." + +The idea of carrying by storm a fortress that had for nine years stood +out against the besiegers of Sancerre smiled on Lousteau. + +With this notion in his head, he was the first to go down and into the +garden, hoping to meet his hostess. And this chance fell out all the +more easily because Madame de la Baudraye on her part wished to converse +with her critic. Half such chances are planned. + +"You were out shooting yesterday, monsieur," said Madame de la Baudraye. +"This morning I am rather puzzled as to how to find you any new +amusement; unless you would like to come to La Baudraye, where you may +study more of our provincial life than you can see here, for you have +made but one mouthful of my absurdities. However, the saying about the +handsomest girl in the world is not less true of the poor provincial +woman!" + +"That little simpleton Gatien has, I suppose, related to you a speech I +made simply to make him confess that he adored you," said Etienne. +"Your silence, during dinner the day before yesterday and throughout the +evening, was enough to betray one of those indiscretions which we never +commit in Paris.--What can I say? I do not flatter myself that you +will understand me. In fact, I laid a plot for the telling of all those +stories yesterday solely to see whether I could rouse you and Monsieur +de Clagny to a pang of remorse.--Oh! be quite easy; your innocence is +fully proved. + +"If you had the slightest fancy for that estimable magistrate, you would +have lost all your value in my eyes.--I love perfection. + +"You do not, you cannot love that cold, dried-up, taciturn little +usurer on wine casks and land, who would leave any man in the lurch for +twenty-five centimes on a renewal. Oh, I have fully recognized Monsieur +de la Baudraye's similarity to a Parisian bill-discounter; their nature +is identical.--At eight-and-twenty, handsome, well conducted, and +childless--I assure you, madame, I never saw the problem of virtue more +admirably expressed.--The author of _Paquita la Sevillane_ must have +dreamed many dreams! + +"I can speak of such things without the hypocritical gloss lent them by +young men, for I am old before my time. I have no illusions left. Can a +man have any illusions in the trade I follow?" + +By opening the game in this tone, Lousteau cut out all excursions in the +_Pays de Tendre_, where genuine passion beats the bush so long; he went +straight to the point and placed himself in a position to force the +offer of what women often make a man pray for, for years; witness the +hapless Public Prosecutor, to whom the greatest favor had consisted +in clasping Dinah's hand to his heart more tenderly than usual as they +walked, happy man! + +And Madame de la Baudraye, to be true to her reputation as a Superior +Woman, tried to console the Manfred of the Press by prophesying such a +future of love as he had not had in his mind. + +"You have sought pleasure," said she, "but you have never loved. Believe +me, true love often comes late in life. Remember Monsieur de Gentz, who +fell in love in his old age with Fanny Ellsler, and left the Revolution +of July to take its course while he attended the dancer's rehearsals." + +"It seems to me unlikely," replied Lousteau. "I can still believe in +love, but I have ceased to believe in woman. There are in me, I suppose, +certain defects which hinder me from being loved, for I have often been +thrown over. Perhaps I have too strong a feeling for the ideal--like all +men who have looked too closely into reality----" + +Madame de la Baudraye at last heard the mind of a man who, flung into +the wittiest Parisian circles, represented to her its most daring +axioms, its almost artless depravity, its advanced convictions; who, if +he were not really superior, acted superiority extremely well. Etienne, +performing before Dinah, had all the success of a first night. _Paquita_ +of Sancerre scented the storms, the atmosphere of Paris. She spent one +of the most delightful days of her life with Lousteau and Bianchon, who +told her strange tales about the great men of the day, the anecdotes +which will some day form the _Ana_ of our century; sayings and doings +that were the common talk of Paris, but quite new to her. + +Of course, Lousteau spoke very ill of the great female celebrity of Le +Berry, with the obvious intention of flattering Madame de la Baudraye +and leading her into literary confidences, by suggesting that she could +rival so great a writer. This praise intoxicated Madame de la Baudraye; +and Monsieur de Clagny, Monsieur Gravier, and Gatien, all thought her +warmer in her manner to Etienne than she had been on the previous day. +Dinah's three _attaches_ greatly regretted having all gone to Sancerre +to blow the trumpet in honor of the evening at Anzy; nothing, to hear +them, had ever been so brilliant. The Hours had fled on feet so light +that none had marked their pace. The two Parisians they spoke of as +perfect prodigies. + +These exaggerated reports loudly proclaimed on the Mall brought +sixteen persons to Anzy that evening, some in family coaches, some in +wagonettes, and a few bachelors on hired saddle horses. By about seven +o'clock this provincial company had made a more or less graceful entry +into the huge Anzy drawing-room, which Dinah, warned of the invasion, +had lighted up, giving it all the lustre it was capable of by taking +the holland covers off the handsome furniture, for she regarded this +assembly as one of her great triumphs. Lousteau, Bianchon, and Dinah +exchanged meaning looks as they studied the attitudes and listened to +the speeches of these visitors, attracted by curiosity. + +What invalided ribbons, what ancestral laces, what ancient flowers, +more imaginative than imitative, were boldly displayed on some perennial +caps! The Presidente Boirouge, Bianchon's cousin, exchanged a few +words with the doctor, from whom she extracted some "advice gratis" +by expatiating on certain pains in the chest, which she declared were +nervous, but which he ascribed to chronic indigestion. + +"Simply drink a cup of tea every day an hour after dinner, as the +English do, and you will get over it, for what you suffer from is an +English malady," Bianchon replied very gravely. + +"He is certainly a great physician," said the Presidente, coming back to +Madame de Clagny, Madame Popinot-Chandier, and Madame Gorju, the Mayor's +wife. + +"They say," replied Madame de Clagny behind her fan, "that Dinah sent +for him, not so much with a view to the elections as to ascertain why +she has no children." + +In the first excitement of this success, Lousteau introduced the great +doctor as the only possible candidate at the ensuing elections. But +Bianchon, to the great satisfaction of the new Sous-prefet, remarked +that it seemed to him almost impossible to give up science in favor of +politics. + +"Only a physician without a practice," said he, "could care to be +returned as a deputy. Nominate statesmen, thinkers, men whose knowledge +is universal, and who are capable of placing themselves on the high +level which a legislator should occupy. That is what is lacking in our +Chambers, and what our country needs." + +Two or three young ladies, some of the younger men, and the elder women +stared at Lousteau as if he were a mountebank. + +"Monsieur Gatien Boirouge declares that Monsieur Lousteau makes twenty +thousand francs a year by his writings," observed the Mayor's wife to +Madame de Clagny. "Can you believe it?" + +"Is it possible? Why, a Public Prosecutor gets but a thousand crowns!" + +"Monsieur Gatien," said Madame Chandier, "get Monsieur Lousteau to talk +a little louder. I have not heard him yet." + +"What pretty boots he wears," said Mademoiselle Chandier to her brother, +"and how they shine!" + +"Yes--patent leather." + +"Why haven't you the same?" + +Lousteau began to feel that he was too much on show, and saw in the +manners of the good townsfolk indications of the desires that had +brought them there. + +"What trick can I play them?" thought he. + +At this moment the footman, so called--a farm-servant put into +livery--brought in the letters and papers, and among them a packet +of proof, which the journalist left for Bianchon; for Madame de la +Baudraye, on seeing the parcel, of which the form and string were +obviously from the printers, exclaimed: + +"What, does literature pursue you even here?" + +"Not literature," replied he, "but a review in which I am now finishing +a story to come out ten days hence. I have reached the stage of '_To +be concluded in our next_,' so I was obliged to give my address to +the printer. Oh, we eat very hard-earned bread at the hands of these +speculators in black and white! I will give you a description of these +editors of magazines." + +"When will the conversation begin?" Madame de Clagny asked of Dinah, as +one might ask, "When do the fireworks go off?" + +"I fancied we should hear some amusing stories," said Madame Popinot to +her cousin, the Presidente Boirouge. + +At this moment, when the good folks of Sancerre were beginning to murmur +like an impatient pit, Lousteau observed that Bianchon was lost in +meditation inspired by the wrapper round the proofs. + +"What is it?" asked Etienne. + +"Why, here is the most fascinating romance possible on some spoiled +proof used to wrap yours in. Here, read it. _Olympia, or Roman +Revenge_." + +"Let us see," said Lousteau, taking the sheet the doctor held out to +him, and he read aloud as follows:-- + + 240 OLYMPIA + + cavern. Rinaldo, indignant at his + companions' cowardice, for they had + no courage but in the open field, and + dared not venture into Rome, looked + at them with scorn. + + "Then I go alone?" said he. He + seemed to reflect, and then he went + on: "You are poor wretches. I shall + proceed alone, and have the rich + booty to myself.--You hear me! + Farewell." + + "My Captain," said Lamberti, "if + you should be captured without + having succeeded?" + + "God protects me!" said Rinaldo, + pointing to the sky. + + With these words he went out, + and on his way he met the steward + +"That is the end of the page," said Lousteau, to whom every one had +listened devoutly. + +"He is reading his work to us," said Gatien to Madame Popinot-Chandier's +son. + +"From the first word, ladies," said the journalist, jumping at an +opportunity of mystifying the natives, "it is evident that the brigands +are in a cave. But how careless romancers of that date were as to +details which are nowadays so closely, so elaborately studied under +the name of 'local color.' If the robbers were in a cavern, instead of +pointing to the sky he ought to have pointed to the vault above him.--In +spite of this inaccuracy, Rinaldo strikes me as a man of spirit, and his +appeal to God is quite Italian. There must have been a touch of local +color in this romance. Why, what with brigands, and a cavern, and +one Lamberti who could foresee future possibilities--there is a whole +melodrama in that page. Add to these elements a little intrigue, a +peasant maiden with her hair dressed high, short skirts, and a hundred +or so of bad couplets.--Oh! the public will crowd to see it! And then +Rinaldo--how well the name suits Lafont! By giving him black whiskers, +tightly-fitting trousers, a cloak, a moustache, a pistol, and a peaked +hat--if the manager of the Vaudeville Theatre were but bold enough to +pay for a few newspaper articles, that would secure fifty performances, +and six thousand francs for the author's rights, if only I were to cry +it up in my columns. + +"To proceed:-- + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 219 + + The Duchess of Bracciano found + her glove. Adolphe, who had brought + her back to the orange grove, might + certainly have supposed that there + was some purpose in her forgetful- + ness, for at this moment the arbor + was deserted. The sound of the fes- + tivities was audible in the distance. + The puppet show that had been + promised had attracted all the + guests to the ballroom. Never had + Olympia looked more beautiful. + Her lover's eyes met hers with an + answering glow, and they under- + stood each other. There was a mo- + ment of silence, delicious to their + souls, and impossible to describe. + They sat down on the same bench + where they had sat in the presence + of the Cavaliere Paluzzi and the + +"Devil take it! Our Rinaldo has vanished!" cried Lousteau. "But a +literary man once started by this page would make rapid progress in +the comprehension of the plot. The Duchesse Olympia is a lady who could +intentionally forget her gloves in a deserted arbor." + +"Unless she may be classed between the oyster and head-clerk of an +office, the two creatures nearest to marble in the zoological kingdom, +it is impossible to discern in Olympia--" Bianchon began. + +"A woman of thirty," Madame de la Baudraye hastily interposed, fearing +some all too medical term. + +"Then Adolphe must be two-and-twenty," the doctor went on, "for an +Italian woman at thirty is equivalent to a Parisian of forty." + +"From these two facts, the romance may easily be reconstructed," said +Lousteau. "And this Cavaliere Paluzzi--what a man!--The style is weak in +these two passages; the author was perhaps a clerk in the Excise Office, +and wrote the novel to pay his tailor!" + +"In his time," said Bianchon, "the censor flourished; you must show as +much indulgence to a man who underwent the ordeal by scissors in 1805 as +to those who went to the scaffold in 1793." + +"Do you understand in the least?" asked Madame Gorju timidly of Madame +de Clagny. + +The Public Prosecutor's wife, who, to use a phrase of Monsieur +Gravier's, might have put a Cossack to flight in 1814, straightened +herself in her chair like a horseman in his stirrups, and made a face at +her neighbor, conveying, "They are looking at us; we must smile as if we +understood." + +"Charming!" said the Mayoress to Gatien. "Pray go on, Monsieur +Lousteau." + +Lousteau looked at the two women, two Indian idols, and contrived to +keep his countenance. He thought it desirable to say, "Attention!" +before going on as follows:-- + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 209 + + dress rustled in the silence. Sud- + denly Cardinal Borborigano stood + before the Duchess. + + "His face was gloomy, his brow + was dark with clouds, and a bitter + smile lurked in his wrinkles. + + "Madame," said he, "you are under + suspicion. If you are guilty, fly. If + you are not, still fly; because, + whether criminal or innocent, you + will find it easier to defend yourself + from a distance." + + "I thank your Eminence for your + solicitude," said she. "The Duke of + Bracciano will reappear when I find + it needful to prove that he is alive." + +"Cardinal Borborigano!" exclaimed Bianchon. "By the Pope's keys! If you +do not agree with me that there is a magnificent creation in the very +name, if at those words _dress rustled in the silence_ you do not feel +all the poetry thrown into the part of Schedoni by Mrs. Radcliffe in +_The Black Penitent_, you do not deserve to read a romance." + +"For my part," said Dinah, who had some pity on the eighteen faces +gazing up at Lousteau, "I see how the story is progressing. I know it +all. I am in Rome; I can see the body of a murdered husband whose wife, +as bold as she is wicked, has made her bed on the crater of a +volcano. Every night, at every kiss, she says to herself, 'All will be +discovered!'" + +"Can you see her," said Lousteau, "clasping Monsieur Adolphe in her +arms, to her heart, throwing her whole life into a kiss?--Adolphe I see +as a well-made young man, but not clever--the sort of man an Italian +woman likes. Rinaldo hovers behind the scenes of a plot we do not know, +but which must be as full of incident as a melodrama by Pixerecourt. +Or we can imagine Rinaldo crossing the stage in the background like a +figure in one of Victor Hugo's plays." + +"He, perhaps, is the husband," exclaimed Madame de la Baudraye. + +"Do you understand anything of it all?" Madame Piedefer asked of the +Presidente. + +"Why, it is charming!" said Dinah to her mother. + +All the good folks of Sancerre sat with eyes as large as five-franc +pieces. + +"Go on, I beg," said the hostess. + +Lousteau went on:-- + + 210 OLYMPIA + + "Your key----" + + "Have you lost it?" + + "It is in the arbor." + + "Let us hasten." + + "Can the Cardinal have taken it?" + + "No, here it is." + + "What danger we have escaped!" + + Olympia looked at the key, and + fancied she recognized it as her own. + But Rinaldo had changed it; his + cunning had triumphed; he had the + right key. Like a modern Cartouche, + he was no less skilful than bold, + and suspecting that nothing but a + vast treasure could require a duchess + to carry it constantly at her belt. + +"Guess!" cried Lousteau. "The corresponding page is not here. We must +look to page 212 to relieve our anxiety." + + 212 OLYMPIA + + "If the key had been lost?" + + "He would now be a dead man." + + "Dead? But ought you not to + grant the last request he made, and + to give him his liberty on the con- + ditions----" + + "You do not know him." + + "But--" + + "Silence! I took you for my + lover, not for my confessor." + + Adolphe was silent. + +"And then comes an exquisite galloping goat, a tail-piece drawn by +Normand, and cut by Duplat.--the names are signed," said Lousteau. + +"Well, and then?" said such of the audience as understood. + +"That is the end of the chapter," said Lousteau. "The fact of this +tailpiece changes my views as to the authorship. To have his book got +up, under the Empire, with vignettes engraved on wood, the writer must +have been a Councillor of State, or Madame Barthelemy-Hadot, or the late +lamented Desforges, or Sewrin." + +"'Adolphe was silent.'--Ah!" cried Bianchon, "the Duchess must have been +under thirty." + +"If there is no more, invent a conclusion," said Madame de la Baudraye. + +"You see," said Lousteau, "the waste sheet has been printed fair on +one side only. In printer's lingo, it is a back sheet, or, to make it +clearer, the other side which would have to be printed is covered all +over with pages printed one above another, all experiments in making +up. It would take too long to explain to you all the complications of a +making-up sheet; but you may understand that it will show no more trace +of the first twelve pages that were printed on it than you would in the +least remember the first stroke of the bastinado if a Pasha condemned +you to have fifty on the soles of your feet." + +"I am quite bewildered," said Madame Popinot-Chandier to Monsieur +Gravier. "I am vainly trying to connect the Councillor of State, the +Cardinal, the key, and the making-up----" + +"You have not the key to the jest," said Monsieur Gravier. "Well! no +more have I, fair lady, if that can comfort you." + +"But here is another sheet," said Bianchon, hunting on the table where +the proofs had been laid. + +"Capital!" said Lousteau, "and it is complete and uninjured. It is +signed IV.; J, Second Edition. Ladies, the figure IV. means that this +is part of the fourth volume. The letter J, the tenth letter of the +alphabet, shows that this is the tenth sheet. And it is perfectly clear +to me, that in spite of any publisher's tricks, this romance in four +duodecimo volumes, had a great success, since it came to a second +edition.--We will read on and find a clue to the mystery. + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 21 + + corridor; but finding that he was + pursued by the Duchess' people + +"Oh, get along!" + +"But," said Madame de la Baudraye, "some important events have taken +place between your waste sheet and this page." + +"This complete sheet, madame, this precious made-up sheet. But does the +waste sheet in which the Duchess forgets her gloves in the arbor belong +to the fourth volume? Well, deuce take it--to proceed. + + Rinaldo saw no safer refuge than to + make forthwith for the cellar where + the treasures of the Bracciano fam- + ily no doubt lay hid. As light of + foot as Camilla sung by the Latin + poet, he flew to the entrance to the + Baths of Vespasian. The torchlight + already flickered on the walls when + Rinaldo, with the readiness be- + stowed on him by nature, discovered + the door concealed in the stone- + work, and suddenly vanished. A + hideous thought then flashed on + Rinaldo's brain like lightning rend- + ing a cloud: He was imprisoned! + He felt the wall with uneasy haste + +"Yes, this made-up sheet follows the waste sheet. The last page of the +damaged sheet was 212, and this is 217. In fact, since Rinaldo, who +in the earlier fragment stole the key of the Duchess' treasure by +exchanging it for another very much like it, is now--on the made-up +sheet--in the palace of the Dukes of Bracciano, the story seems to me to +be advancing to a conclusion of some kind. I hope it is as clear to you +as it is to me.--I understand that the festivities are over, the lovers +have returned to the Bracciano Palace; it is night--one o'clock in the +morning. Rinaldo will have a good time." + +"And Adolphe too!" said President Boirouge, who was considered rather +free in his speech. + +"And the style!" said Bianchon.--"Rinaldo, who saw _no better refuge +than to make for the cellar_." + +"It is quite clear that neither Maradan, nor Treuttel and Wurtz, +nor Doguereau, were the printers," said Lousteau, "for they employed +correctors who revised the proofs, a luxury in which our publishers +might very well indulge, and the writers of the present day, would +benefit greatly. Some scrubby pamphlet printer on the Quay--" + +"What quay?" a lady asked of her neighbor. "They spoke of baths--" + +"Pray go on," said Madame de la Baudraye. + +"At any rate, it is not by a councillor," said Bianchon. + +"It may be by Madame Hadot," replied Lousteau. + +"What has Madame Hadot of La Charite to do with it?" the Presidente +asked of her son. + +"This Madame Hadot, my dear friend," the hostess answered, "was an +authoress, who lived at the time of the Consulate." + +"What, did women write in the Emperor's time?" asked Madame +Popinot-Chandier. + +"What of Madame de Genlis and Madame de Stael?" cried the Public +Prosecutor, piqued on Dinah's account by this remark. + +"To be sure!" + +"I beg you to go on," said Madame de la Baudraye to Lousteau. + +Lousteau went on saying: "Page 218. + + 218 OLYMPIA + + and gave a shriek of despair when + he had vainly sought any trace of a + secret spring. It was impossible to + ignore the horrible truth. The door, + cleverly constructed to serve the + vengeful purposes of the Duchess, + could not be opened from within. + Rinaldo laid his cheek against the + wall in various spots; nowhere + could he feel the warmer air from + the passage. He had hoped he + might find a crack that would show + him where there was an opening in + the wall, but nothing, nothing! The + whole seemed to be of one block of + marble. + + Then he gave a hollow roar like + that of a hyaena---- + +"Well, we fancied that the cry of the hyaena was a recent invention +of our own!" said Lousteau, "and here it was already known to the +literature of the Empire. It is even introduced with a certain skill in +natural history, as we see in the word _hollow_." + +"Make no more comments, monsieur," said Madame de la Baudraye. + +"There, you see!" cried Bianchon. "Interest, the romantic demon, has you +by the collar, as he had me a while ago." + +"Read on," cried de Clagny, "I understand." + +"What a coxcomb!" said the Presiding Judge in a whisper to his neighbor +the Sous-prefet. + +"He wants to please Madame de la Baudraye," replied the new Sous-prefet. + +"Well, then I will read straight on," said Lousteau solemnly. + +Everybody listened in dead silence. + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 219 + + A deep groan answered Rinaldo's + cry, but in his alarm he took it for + an echo, so weak and hollow was + the sound. It could not proceed + from any human breast. + + "Santa Maria!" said the voice. + + "If I stir from this spot I shall + never find it again," thought Ri- + naldo, when he had recovered his + usual presence of mind. "If I knock, + I shall be discovered. What am I + to do?" + + "Who is here?" asked the voice. + + "Hallo!" cried the brigand; "do + the toads here talk?" + + "I am the Duke of Bracciano. + Whoever you may be, if you are not + a follower of the Duchess', in the + name of all the saints, come towards + me." + + 220 OLYMPIA + + "I should have to know where to + find you, Monsieur le Duc," said Ri- + naldo, with the insolence of a man + who knows himself to be necessary. + + "I can see you, my friend, for my + eyes are accustomed to the darkness. + Listen: walk straight forward-- + good; now turn to the left--come + on--this way. There, we are close + to each other." + + Rinaldo putting out his hands as + a precaution, touched some iron + bars. + + "I am being deceived," cried the + bandit. + + "No, you are touching my cage. + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 221 + + Sit down on a broken shaft of por- + phyry that is there." + + "How can the Duke of Bracciano + be in a cage?" asked the brigand. + + "My friend, I have been here for + thirty months, standing up, unable + to sit down----But you, who are + you?" + + "I am Rinaldo, prince of the Cam- + pagna, the chief of four-and-twenty + brave men whom the law describes + as miscreants, whom all the ladies + admire, and whom judges hang in + obedience to an old habit." + + "God be praised! I am saved. + An honest man would have been + afraid, whereas I am sure of coming + to an understanding with you," + cried the Duke. "Oh, my worthy + + 222 OLYMPIA + + deliverer, you must be armed to the + teeth." + + "_E verissimo_" (most true). + + "Do you happen to have--" + + "Yes, files, pincers--_Corpo di + Bacco_! I came to borrow the treas- + ures of the Bracciani on a long + loan." + + "You will earn a handsome share + of them very legitimately, my good + Rinaldo, and we may possibly go + man hunting together--" + + "You surprise me, Eccellenza!" + + "Listen to me, Rinaldo. I will + say nothing of the craving for + vengeance that gnaws at my heart. + I have been here for thirty months + --you too are Italian--you will un- + OR ROMAN REVENGE 223 + + derstand me! Alas, my friend, my + fatigue and my horrible incarcera- + tion are nothing in comparison + with the rage that devours my soul. + The Duchess of Bracciano is still + one of the most beautiful women in + Rome. I loved her well enough to + be jealous--" + + "You, her husband!" + + "Yes, I was wrong, no doubt." + + "It is not the correct thing, to be + sure," said Rinaldo. + + "My jealousy was roused by the + Duchess' conduct," the Duke went + on. "The event proved me right. A + young Frenchman fell in love with + Olympia, and she loved him. I had + proofs of their reciprocal affection + +"Pray excuse me, ladies," said Lousteau, "but I find it impossible to go +on without remarking to you how direct this Empire literature is, going +to the point without any details, a characteristic, as it seems to me, +of a primitive time. The literature of that period holds a place between +the summaries of chapters in _Telemaque_ and the categorical reports of +a public office. It had ideas, but refrained from expressing them, +it was so scornful! It was observant, but would not communicate its +observations to any one, it was so miserly! Nobody but Fouche ever +mentioned what he had observed. 'At that time,' to quote the words +of one of the most imbecile critics in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, +'literature was content with a clear sketch and the simple outline of +all antique statues. It did not dance over its periods.'--I should think +not! It had no periods to dance over. It had no words to play with. You +were plainly told that Lubin loved Toinette; that Toinette did not love +Lubin; that Lubin killed Toinette and the police caught Lubin, who was +put in prison, tried at the assizes, and guillotined.--A strong sketch, +a clear outline! What a noble drama! Well, in these days the barbarians +make words sparkle." + +"Like a hair in a frost," said Monsieur de Clagny. + +"So those are the airs you affect?"[*] retorted Lousteau. + + +[*] The rendering given above is only intended to link the various + speeches into coherence; it has no resemblance with the French. In + the original, "Font chatoyer les _mots_." + + "Et quelquefois les _morts_," dit Monsieur de Clagny. + + "Ah! Lousteau! vous vous donnez de ces R-la (airs-la)." + + Literally: "And sometimes the dead."--"Ah, are those the airs you + assume?"--the play on the insertion of the letter R (_mots, + morts_) has no meaning in English. + +"What can he mean?" asked Madame de Clagny, puzzled by this vile pun. + +"I seem to be walking in the dark," replied the Mayoress. + +"The jest would be lost in an explanation," remarked Gatien. + +"Nowadays," Lousteau went on, "a novelist draws characters, and instead +of a 'simple outline,' he unveils the human heart and gives you some +interest either in Lubin or in Toinette." + +"For my part, I am alarmed at the progress of public knowledge in the +matter of literature," said Bianchon. "Like the Russians, beaten by +Charles XII., who at least learned the art of war, the reader has +learned the art of writing. Formerly all that was expected of a romance +was that it should be interesting. As to style, no one cared for that, +not even the author; as to ideas--zero; as to local color--_non est_. +By degrees the reader has demanded style, interest, pathos, and complete +information; he insists on the five literary senses--Invention, Style, +Thought, Learning, and Feeling. Then some criticism commenting on +everything. The critic, incapable of inventing anything but calumny, +pronounces every work that proceeds from a not perfect brain to be +deformed. Some magicians, as Walter Scott, for instance, having appeared +in the world, who combined all the five literary senses, such writers +as had but one--wit or learning, style or feeling--these cripples, these +acephalous, maimed or purblind creatures--in a literary sense--have +taken to shrieking that all is lost, and have preached a crusade against +men who were spoiling the business, or have denounced their works." + +"The history of your last literary quarrel!" Dinah observed. + +"For pity's sake, come back to the Duke of Bracciano," cried Monsieur de +Clagny. + +To the despair of all the company, Lousteau went on with the made-up +sheet. + + 224 OLYMPIA + + I then wished to make sure of my + misfortune that I might be avenged + under the protection of Providence + and the Law. The Duchess guessed + my intentions. We were at war in + our purposes before we fought with + poison in our hands. We tried to + tempt each other to such confidence + as we could not feel, I to induce her + to drink a potion, she to get posses- + sion of me. She was a woman, and + she won the day; for women have a + snare more than we men. I fell into + it--I was happy; but I awoke next + day in this iron cage. All through + the day I bellowed with rage in the + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 225 + + darkness of this cellar, over which + is the Duchess' bedroom. At night + an ingenious counterpoise acting as + a lift raised me through the floor, + and I saw the Duchess in her lover's + arms. She threw me a piece of + bread, my daily pittance. + + "Thus have I lived for thirty + months! From this marble prison + my cries can reach no ear. There is + no chance for me. I will hope no + more. Indeed, the Duchess' room is + at the furthest end of the palace, + and when I am carried up there + none can hear my voice. Each time + I see my wife she shows me the + + 226 OLYMPIA + + poison I had prepared for her and + her lover. I crave it for myself, but + she will not let me die; she gives + me bread, and I eat it. + + "I have done well to eat and live; + I had not reckoned on robbers!" + + "Yes, Eccellenza, when those fools + the honest men are asleep, we are + wide awake." + + "Oh, Rinaldo, all I possess shall + be yours; we will share my treasure + like brothers; I would give you + everything--even to my Duchy----" + + "Eccellenza, procure from the + Pope an absolution _in articulo mor- + tis_. It would be of more use to me + in my walk of life." + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 227 + + "What you will. Only file + through the bars of my cage and + lend me your dagger. We have but + little time, quick, quick! Oh, if my + teeth were but files!--I have tried + to eat through this iron." + + "Eccellenza," said Rinaldo, "I + have already filed through one bar." + + "You are a god!" + + "Your wife was at the fete given + by the Princess Villaviciosa. She + brought home her little Frenchman; + she is drunk with love.--You have + plenty of time." + + "Have you done?" + + "Yes." + + 228 OLYMPIA + + "Your dagger?" said the Duke + eagerly to the brigand. + + "Here it is." + + "Good. I hear the clatter of the + spring." + + "Do not forget me!" cried the + robber, who knew what gratitude + was. + + "No more than my father," cried + the Duke. + + "Good-bye!" said Rinaldo. "Lord! + How he flies up!" he added to him- + self as the Duke disappeared.--"No + more than his father! If that is + all he means to do for me.--And I + + OR ROMAN REVENGE 229 + + had sworn a vow never to injure a + woman!" + + But let us leave the robber for a + moment to his meditations and go + up, like the Duke, to the rooms in + the palace. + +"Another tailpiece, a Cupid on a snail! And page 230 is blank," said the +journalist. "Then there are two more blank pages before we come to the +word it is such a joy to write when one is unhappily so happy as to be a +novelist--_Conclusion_! + + CONCLUSION + + Never had the Duchess been more + lovely; she came from her bath + clothed like a goddess, and on seeing + + 234 OLYMPIA + + Adolphe voluptuously reclining on + piles of cushions-- + + "You are beautiful," said she. + + "And so are you, Olympia!" + + "And you still love me?" + + "More and more," said he. + + "Ah, none but a Frenchman + knows how to love!" cried the + Duchess. "Do you love me well to- + night?" + + "Yes." + + "Then come!" + + And with an impulse of love and + hate--whether it was that Cardinal + Borborigano had reminded her of + her husband, or that she felt un- + wonted passion to display, she + pressed the springs and held out her + arms. + +"That is all," said Lousteau, "for the foreman has torn off the rest in +wrapping up my proofs. But it is enough to show that the author was full +of promise." + +"I cannot make head or tail of it," said Gatien Boirouge, who was the +first to break the silence of the party from Sancerre. + +"Nor I," replied Monsieur Gravier. + +"And yet it is a novel of the time of the Empire," said Lousteau. + +"By the way in which the brigand is made to speak," said Monsieur +Gravier, "it is evident that the author knew nothing of Italy. Banditti +do not allow themselves such graceful conceits." + +Madame Gorju came up to Bianchon, seeing him pensive, and with a glance +towards her daughter Mademoiselle Euphemie Gorju, the owner of a fairly +good fortune--"What a rhodomontade!" said she. "The prescriptions you +write are worth more than all that rubbish." + +The Mayoress had elaborately worked up this speech, which, in her +opinion, showed strong judgment. + +"Well, madame, we must be lenient, we have but twenty pages out of a +thousand," said Bianchon, looking at Mademoiselle Gorju, whose figure +threatened terrible things after the birth of her first child. + +"Well, Monsieur de Clagny," said Lousteau, "we were talking yesterday +of the forms of revenge invented by husbands. What do you say to those +invented by wives?" + +"I say," replied the Public Prosecutor, "that the romance is not by +a Councillor of State, but by a woman. For extravagant inventions the +imagination of women far outdoes that of men; witness _Frankenstein_ by +Mrs. Shelley, _Leone Leoni_ by George Sand, the works of Anne Radcliffe, +and the _Nouveau Promethee_ (New Prometheus) of Camille de Maupin." + +Dinah looked steadily at Monsieur de Clagny, making him feel, by an +expression that gave him a chill, that in spite of the illustrious +examples he had quoted, she regarded this as a reflection on _Paquita la +Sevillane_. + +"Pooh!" said little Baudraye, "the Duke of Bracciano, whom his wife puts +into a cage, and to whom she shows herself every night in the arms of +her lover, will kill her--and do you call that revenge?--Our laws and +our society are far more cruel." + +"Why, little La Baudraye is talking!" said Monsieur Boirouge to his +wife. + +"Why, the woman is left to live on a small allowance, the world turns +its back on her, she has no more finery, and no respect paid her--the +two things which, in my opinion, are the sum-total of woman," said the +little old man. + +"But she has happiness!" said Madame de la Baudraye sententiously. + +"No," said the master of the house, lighting his candle to go to bed, +"for she has a lover." + +"For a man who thinks of nothing but his vine-stocks and poles, he has +some spunk," said Lousteau. + +"Well, he must have something!" replied Bianchon. + +Madame de la Baudraye, the only person who could hear Bianchon's +remark, laughed so knowingly, and at the same time so bitterly, that the +physician could guess the mystery of this woman's life; her premature +wrinkles had been puzzling him all day. + +But Dinah did not guess, on her part, the ominous prophecy contained for +her in her husband's little speech, which her kind old Abbe Duret, if he +had been alive, would not have failed to elucidate. Little La Baudraye +had detected in Dinah's eyes, when she glanced at the journalist +returning the ball of his jests, that swift and luminous flash of +tenderness which gilds the gleam of a woman's eye when prudence is cast +to the winds, and she is fairly carried away. Dinah paid no more heed to +her husband's hint to her to observe the proprieties than Lousteau had +done to Dinah's significant warnings on the day of his arrival. + +Any other man than Bianchon would have been surprised at Lousteau's +immediate success; but he was so much the doctor, that he was not even +nettled at Dinah's marked preference for the newspaper-rather than the +prescription-writer! In fact, Dinah, herself famous, was naturally +more alive to wit than to fame. Love generally prefers contrast to +similitude. Everything was against the physician--his frankness, his +simplicity, and his profession. And this is why: Women who want +to love--and Dinah wanted to love as much as to be loved--have an +instinctive aversion for men who are devoted to an absorbing +occupation; in spite of superiority, they are all women in the matter +of encroachment. Lousteau, a poet and journalist, and a libertine with +a veneer of misanthropy, had that tinsel of the intellect, and led +the half-idle life that attracts women. The blunt good sense and keen +insight of the really great man weighed upon Dinah, who would not +confess her own smallness even to herself. She said in her mind--"The +doctor is perhaps the better man, but I do not like him." + +Then, again, she reflected on his professional duties, wondering whether +a woman could ever be anything but a _subject_ to a medical man, who saw +so many subjects in the course of a day's work. The first sentence of +the aphorism written by Bianchon in her album was a medical observation +striking so directly at woman, that Dinah could not fail to be hit by +it. And then Bianchon was leaving on the morrow; his practice required +his return. What woman, short of having Cupid's mythological dart in her +heart, could decide in so short a time? + +These little things, which lead to such great catastrophes--having been +seen in a mass by Bianchon, he pronounced the verdict he had come to as +to Madame de la Baudraye in a few words to Lousteau, to the journalist's +great amazement. + +While the two friends stood talking together, a storm was gathering in +the Sancerre circle, who could not in the least understand Lousteau's +paraphrases and commentaries, and who vented it on their hostess. Far +from finding in his talk the romance which the Public Prosecutor, the +Sous-prefet, the Presiding Judge, and his deputy, Lebas, had discovered +there--to say nothing of Monsieur de la Baudraye and Dinah--the ladies +now gathered round the tea-table, took the matter as a practical joke, +and accused the Muse of Sancerre of having a finger in it. They had all +looked forward to a delightful evening, and had all strained in vain +every faculty of their mind. Nothing makes provincial folks so angry as +the notion of having been a laughing-stock for Paris folks. + +Madame Piedefer left the table to say to her daughter, "Do go and talk +to the ladies; they are quite annoyed by your behavior." + +Lousteau could not fail to see Dinah's great superiority over the best +women of Sancerre; she was better dressed, her movements were graceful, +her complexion was exquisitely white by candlelight--in short, she stood +out against this background of old faces, shy and ill-dressed girls, +like a queen in the midst of her court. Visions of Paris faded from his +brain; Lousteau was accepting the provincial surroundings; and while he +had too much imagination to remain unimpressed by the royal splendor +of this chateau, the beautiful carvings, and the antique beauty of the +rooms, he had also too much experience to overlook the value of the +personality which completed this gem of the Renaissance. So by the time +the visitors from Sancerre had taken their leave one by one--for +they had an hour's drive before them--when no one remained in the +drawing-room but Monsieur de Clagny, Monsieur Lebas, Gatien, and +Monsieur Gravier, who were all to sleep at Anzy--the journalist had +already changed his mind about Dinah. His opinion had gone through the +evolution that Madame de la Baudraye had so audaciously prophesied at +their first meeting. + +"Ah, what things they will say about us on the drive home!" cried the +mistress of the house, as she returned to the drawing-room after seeing +the President and the Presidente to their carriage with Madame and +Mademoiselle Popinot-Chandier. + +The rest of the evening had its pleasant side. In the intimacy of a +small party each one brought to the conversation his contribution +of epigrams on the figure the visitors from Sancerre had cut during +Lousteau's comments on the paper wrapped round the proofs. + +"My dear fellow," said Bianchon to Lousteau as they went to bed--they +had an enormous room with two beds in it--"you will be the happy man of +this woman's choice--_nee_ Piedefer!" + +"Do you think so?" + +"It is quite natural. You are supposed here to have had many mistresses +in Paris; and to a woman there is something indescribably inviting in a +man whom other women favor--something attractive and fascinating; is it +that she prides herself on being longer remembered than all the rest? +that she appeals to his experience, as a sick man will pay more to +a famous physician? or that she is flattered by the revival of a +world-worn heart?" + +"Vanity and the senses count for so much in love affairs," said +Lousteau, "that there may be some truth in all those hypotheses. +However, if I remain, it will be in consequence of the certificate +of innocence, without ignorance, that you have given Dinah. She is +handsome, is she not?" + +"Love will make her beautiful," said the doctor. "And, after all, she +will be a rich widow some day or other! And a child would secure her the +life-interest in the Master of La Baudraye's fortune--" + +"Why, it is quite an act of virtue to make love to her," said Lousteau, +rolling himself up in the bed-clothes, "and to-morrow, with your +help--yes, to-morrow, I--well, good-night." + +On the following day, Madame de la Baudraye, to whom her husband had six +months since given a pair of horses, which he also used in the fields, +and an old carriage that rattled on the road, decided that she would +take Bianchon so far on his way as Cosne, where he would get into the +Lyons diligence as it passed through. She also took her mother and +Lousteau, but she intended to drop her mother at La Baudraye, to go on +to Cosne with the two Parisians, and return alone with Etienne. She +was elegantly dressed, as the journalist at once perceived--bronze kid +boots, gray silk stockings, a muslin dress, a green silk scarf with +shaded fringe at the ends, and a pretty black lace bonnet with flowers +in it. As to Lousteau, the wretch had assumed his war-paint--patent +leather boots, trousers of English kerseymere with pleats in front, +a very open waistcoat showing a particularly fine shirt and the black +brocade waterfall of his handsome cravat, and a very thin, very short +black riding-coat. + +Monsieur de Clagny and Monsieur Gravier looked at each other, feeling +rather silly as they beheld the two Parisians in the carriage, while +they, like two simpletons, were left standing at the foot of the steps. +Monsieur de la Baudraye, who stood at the top waving his little hand in +a little farewell to the doctor, could not forbear from smiling as he +heard Monsieur de Clagny say to Monsieur Gravier: + +"You should have escorted them on horseback." + +At this juncture, Gatien, riding Monsieur de la Baudraye's quiet little +mare, came out of the side road from the stables and joined the party in +the chaise. + +"Ah, good," said the Receiver-General, "the boy has mounted guard." + +"What a bore!" cried Dinah as she saw Gatien. "In thirteen years--for I +have been married nearly thirteen years--I have never had three hours' +liberty. + +"Married, madame?" said the journalist with a smile. "You remind me of +a saying of Michaud's--he was so witty! He was setting out for the Holy +Land, and his friends were remonstrating with him, urging his age, +and the perils of such an expedition. 'And then,' said one, 'you are +married.'--'Married!' said he, 'so little married.'" + +Even the rigid Madame Piedefer could not repress a smile. + +"I should not be surprised to see Monsieur de Clagny mounted on my pony +to complete the escort," said Dinah. + +"Well, if the Public Prosecutor does not pursue us, you can get rid +of this little fellow at Sancerre. Bianchon must, of course, have left +something behind on his table--the notes for the first lecture of his +course--and you can ask Gatien to go back to Anzy to fetch it." + +This simple little plot put Madame de la Baudraye into high spirits. +From the road between Anzy to Sancerre, a glorious landscape frequently +comes into view, of the noble stretches of the Loire, looking like +a lake, and it was got over very pleasantly, for Dinah was happy in +finding herself well understood. Love was discussed in theory, a subject +allowing lovers _in petto_ to take the measure, as it were, of each +other's heart. The journalist took a tone of refined corruption to prove +that love obeys no law, that the character of the lovers gives infinite +variety to its incidents, that the circumstances of social life add to +the multiplicity of its manifestations, that in love all is possible and +true, and that any given woman, after resisting every temptation and the +seductions of the most passionate lover, may be carried off her feet in +the course of a few hours by a fancy, an internal whirlwind of which God +alone would ever know the secret! + +"Why," said he, "is not that the key to all the adventures we have +talked over these three days past?" + +For these three days, indeed, Dinah's lively imagination had been +full of the most insidious romances, and the conversation of the two +Parisians had affected the woman as the most mischievous reading might +have done. Lousteau watched the effects of this clever manoeuvre, to +seize the moment when his prey, whose readiness to be caught was hidden +under the abstraction caused by irresolution, should be quite dizzy. + +Dinah wished to show La Baudraye to her two visitors, and the farce was +duly played out of remembering the papers left by Bianchon in his room +at Anzy. Gatien flew off at a gallop to obey his sovereign; Madame +Piedefer went to do some shopping in Sancerre; and Dinah went on to +Cosne alone with the two friends. Lousteau took his seat by the lady, +Bianchon riding backwards. The two friends talked affectionately +and with deep compassion for the fate of this choice nature so ill +understood and in the midst of such vulgar surroundings. Bianchon +served Lousteau well by making fun of the Public Prosecutor, of Monsieur +Gravier, and of Gatien; there was a tone of such genuine contempt in +his remarks, that Madame de la Baudraye dared not take the part of her +adorers. + +"I perfectly understand the position you have maintained," said the +doctor as they crossed the Loire. "You were inaccessible excepting to +that brain-love which often leads to heart-love; and not one of those +men, it is very certain, is capable of disguising what, at an early +stage of life, is disgusting to the senses in the eyes of a refined +woman. To you, now, love is indispensable." + +"Indispensable!" cried Dinah, looking curiously at the doctor. "Do you +mean that you prescribe love to me?" + +"If you go on living as you live now, in three years you will be +hideous," replied Bianchon in a dictatorial tone. + +"Monsieur!" said Madame de la Baudraye, almost frightened. + +"Forgive my friend," said Lousteau, half jestingly. "He is always the +medical man, and to him love is merely a question of hygiene. But he +is quite disinterested--it is for your sake only that he speaks--as is +evident, since he is starting in an hour--" + +At Cosne a little crowd gathered round the old repainted chaise, with +the arms on the panels granted by Louis XIV. to the new La Baudraye. +Gules, a pair of scales or; on a chief azure (color on color) three +cross-crosslets argent. For supporters two greyhounds argent, collared +azure, chained or. The ironical motto, _Deo sic patet fides et +hominibus_, had been inflicted on the converted Calvinist by Hozier the +satirical. + +"Let us get out; they will come and find us," said the Baroness, +desiring her coachman to keep watch. + +Dinah took Bianchon's arm, and the doctor set off by the banks of the +Loire at so rapid a pace that the journalist had to linger behind. The +physician had explained by a single wink that he meant to do Lousteau a +good turn. + +"You have been attracted by Etienne," said Bianchon to Dinah; "he has +appealed strongly to your imagination; last night we were talking about +you.--He loves you. But he is frivolous, and difficult to hold; his +poverty compels him to live in Paris, while everything condemns you to +live at Sancerre.--Take a lofty view of life. Make Lousteau your friend; +do not ask too much of him; he will come three times a year to spend a +few days with you, and you will owe to him your beauty, happiness, and +fortune. Monsieur de la Baudraye may live to be a hundred; but he might +die in a few days if he should leave off the flannel winding-sheet in +which he swathes himself. So run no risks, be prudent both of you.--Say +not a word--I have read your heart." + +Madame de la Baudraye was defenceless under this serried attack, and in +the presence of a man who spoke at once as a doctor, a confessor, and +confidential friend. + +"Indeed!" said she. "Can you suppose that any woman would care to +compete with a journalist's mistresses?--Monsieur Lousteau strikes me as +agreeable and witty; but he is _blase_, etc., etc.----" + +Dinah had turned back, and was obliged to check the flow of words by +which she tried to disguise her intentions; for Etienne, who seemed to +be studying progress in Cosne, was coming to meet them. + +"Believe me," said Bianchon, "what he wants is to be truly loved; and if +he alters his course of life, it will be to the benefit of his talent." + +Dinah's coachman hurried up breathlessly to say that the diligence had +come in, and they walked on quickly, Madame de la Baudraye between the +two men. + +"Good-bye, my children!" said Bianchon, before they got into the town, +"you have my blessing!" + +He released Madame de la Baudraye's hand from his arm, and allowed +Lousteau to draw it into his, with a tender look, as he pressed it +to his heart. What a difference to Dinah! Etienne's arm thrilled +her deeply. Bianchon's had not stirred her in the least. She and the +journalist exchanged one of those glowing looks that are more than an +avowal. + +"Only provincial women wear muslin gowns in these days," thought +Lousteau to himself, "the only stuff which shows every crease. This +woman, who has chosen me for her lover, will make a fuss over her frock! +If she had but put on a foulard skirt, I should be happy.--What is the +meaning of these difficulties----" + +While Lousteau was wondering whether Dinah had put on a muslin gown on +purpose to protect herself by an insuperable obstacle, Bianchon, with +the help of the coachman, was seeing his luggage piled on the diligence. +Finally, he came to take leave of Dinah, who was excessively friendly +with him. + +"Go home, Madame la Baronne, leave me here--Gatien will be coming," he +added in an undertone. "It is getting late," said he aloud. "Good-bye!" + +"Good-bye--great man!" cried Lousteau, shaking hands with Bianchon. + +When the journalist and Madame de la Baudraye, side by side in the +rickety old chaise, had recrossed the Loire, they both were unready to +speak. In these circumstances, the first words that break the silence +are full of terrible meaning. + +"Do you know how much I love you?" said the journalist point blank. + +Victory might gratify Lousteau, but defeat could cause him no grief. +This indifference was the secret of his audacity. He took Madame de la +Baudraye's hand as he spoke these decisive words, and pressed it in both +his; but Dinah gently released it. + +"Yes, I am as good as an actress or a _grisette_," she said in a voice +that trembled, though she spoke lightly. "But can you suppose that a +woman who, in spite of her absurdities, has some intelligence, will have +reserved the best treasures of her heart for a man who will regard her +merely as a transient pleasure?--I am not surprised to hear from your +lips the words which so many men have said to me--but----" + +The coachman turned round. + +"Here comes Monsieur Gatien," said he. + +"I love you, I will have you, you shall be mine, for I have never felt +for any woman the passion I have for you!" said Lousteau in her ear. + +"In spite of my will, perhaps?" said she, with a smile. + +"At least you must seem to have been assaulted to save my honor," said +the Parisian, to whom the fatal immaculateness of clean muslin suggested +a ridiculous notion. + +Before Gatien had reached the end of the bridge, the outrageous +journalist had crumpled up Madame de la Baudraye's muslin dress to such +an effect that she was absolutely not presentable. + +"Oh, monsieur!" she exclaimed in dignified reproof. + +"You defied me," said the Parisian. + +But Gatien now rode up with the vehemence of a duped lover. To regain a +little of Madame de la Baudraye's esteem, Lousteau did his best to hide +the tumbled dress from Gatien's eyes by leaning out of the chaise to +speak to him from Dinah's side. + +"Go back to our inn," said he, "there is still time; the diligence does +not start for half an hour. The papers are on the table of the room +Bianchon was in; he wants them particularly, for he will be lost without +his notes for the lecture." + +"Pray go, Gatien," said Dinah to her young adorer, with an imperious +glance. And the boy thus commanded turned his horse and was off with a +loose rein. + +"Go quickly to La Baudraye," cried Lousteau to the coachman. "Madame is +not well--Your mother only will know the secret of my trick," added he, +taking his seat by Dinah. + +"You call such infamous conduct a trick?" cried Madame de la Baudraye, +swallowing down a few tears that dried up with the fire of outraged +pride. + +She leaned back in the corner of the chaise, crossed her arms, and gazed +out at the Loire and the landscape, at anything rather than at Lousteau. +The journalist put on his most ingratiating tone, and talked till they +reached La Baudraye, where Dinah fled indoors, trying not to be seen +by any one. In her agitation she threw herself on a sofa and burst into +tears. + +"If I am an object of horror to you, of aversion or scorn, I will go," +said Lousteau, who had followed her. And he threw himself at her feet. + +It was at this crisis that Madame Piedefer came in, saying to her +daughter: + +"What is the matter? What has happened?" + +"Give your daughter another dress at once," said the audacious Parisian +in the prim old lady's ear. + +Hearing the mad gallop of Gatien's horse, Madame de la Baudraye fled to +her bedroom, followed by her mother. + +"There are no papers at the inn," said Gatien to Lousteau, who went out +to meet him. + +"And you found none at the Chateau d'Anzy either?" replied Lousteau. + +"You have been making a fool of me," said Gatien, in a cold, set voice. + +"Quite so," replied Lousteau. "Madame de la Baudraye was greatly annoyed +by your choosing to follow her without being invited. Believe me, to +bore a woman is a bad way of courting her. Dinah has played you a trick, +and you have given her a laugh; it is more than any of you has done in +these thirteen years past. You owe that success to Bianchon, for your +cousin was the author of the Farce of the 'Manuscript.'--Will the horse +get over it?" asked Lousteau with a laugh, while Gatien was wondering +whether to be angry or not. + +"The horse!" said Gatien. + +At this moment Madame de la Baudraye came in, dressed in a velvet gown, +and accompanied by her mother, who shot angry flashes at Lousteau. It +would have been too rash for Dinah to seem cold or severe to Lousteau +in Gatien's presence; and Etienne, taking advantage of this, offered his +arm to the supposed Lucretia; however, she declined it. + +"Do you mean to cast off a man who has vowed to live for you?" said +he, walking close beside her. "I shall stop at Sancerre and go home +to-morrow." + +"Are you coming, mamma?" said Madame de la Baudraye to Madame Piedefer, +thus avoiding a reply to the direct challenge by which Lousteau was +forcing her to a decision. + +Lousteau handed the mother into the chaise, he helped Madame de la +Baudraye by gently taking her arm, and he and Gatien took the front +seat, leaving the saddle horse at La Baudraye. + +"You have changed your gown," said Gatien, blunderingly, to Dinah. + +"Madame la Baronne was chilled by the cool air off the river," replied +Lousteau. "Bianchon advised her to put on a warm dress." + +Dinah turned as red as a poppy, and Madame Piedefer assumed a stern +expression. + +"Poor Bianchon! he is on the road to Paris. A noble soul!" said +Lousteau. + +"Oh, yes!" cried Madame de la Baudraye, "he is high-minded, full of +delicate feeling----" + +"We were in such good spirits when we set out," said Lousteau; "now +you are overdone, and you speak to me so bitterly--why? Are you not +accustomed to being told how handsome and how clever you are? For my +part, I say boldly, before Gatien, I give up Paris; I mean to stay at +Sancerre and swell the number of your _cavalieri serventi_. I feel so +young again in my native district; I have quite forgotten Paris and all +its wickedness, and its bores, and its wearisome pleasures.--Yes, my +life seems in a way purified." + +Dinah allowed Lousteau to talk without even looking at him; but at +last there was a moment when this serpent's rhodomontade was really so +inspired by the effort he made to affect passion in phrases and ideas of +which the meaning, though hidden from Gatien, found a loud response +in Dinah's heart, that she raised her eyes to his. This look seemed to +crown Lousteau's joy; his wit flowed more freely, and at last he +made Madame de la Baudraye laugh. When, under circumstances which so +seriously compromise her pride, a woman has been made to laugh, she is +finally committed. + +As they drove in by the spacious graveled forecourt, with its lawn in +the middle, and the large vases filled with flowers which so well set +off the facade of Anzy, the journalist was saying: + +"When women love, they forgive everything, even our crimes; when they +do not love, they cannot forgive anything--not even our virtues.--Do you +forgive me," he added in Madame de la Baudraye's ear, and pressing her +arm to his heart with tender emphasis. And Dinah could not help smiling. + +All through dinner, and for the rest of the evening, Etienne was in the +most delightful spirits, inexhaustibly cheerful; but while thus +giving vent to his intoxication, he now and then fell into the dreamy +abstraction of a man who seems rapt in his own happiness. + +After coffee had been served, Madame de la Baudraye and her mother left +the men to wander about the gardens. Monsieur Gravier then remarked to +Monsieur de Clagny: + +"Did you observe that Madame de la Baudraye, after going out in a muslin +gown came home in a velvet?" + +"As she got into the carriage at Cosne, the muslin dress caught on a +brass nail and was torn all the way down," replied Lousteau. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Gatien, stricken to the heart by hearing two such +different explanations. + +The journalist, who understood, took Gatien by the arm and pressed it +as a hint to him to be silent. A few minutes later Etienne left Dinah's +three adorers and took possession of little La Baudraye. Then Gatien +was cross-questioned as to the events of the day. Monsieur Gravier and +Monsieur de Clagny were dismayed to hear that on the return from Cosne +Lousteau had been alone with Dinah, and even more so on hearing the +two versions explaining the lady's change of dress. And the three +discomfited gentlemen were in a very awkward position for the rest of +the evening. + +Next day each, on various business, was obliged to leave Anzy; Dinah +remained with her mother, Lousteau, and her husband. The annoyance +vented by the three victims gave rise to an organized rebellion in +Sancerre. The surrender of the Muse of Le Berry, of the Nivernais, +and of Morvan was the cause of a perfect hue and cry of slander, evil +report, and various guesses in which the story of the muslin gown held a +prominent place. No dress Dinah had ever worn had been so much commented +on, or was half as interesting to the girls, who could not conceive what +the connection might be, that made the married women laugh, between love +and a muslin gown. + +The Presidente Boirouge, furious at her son's discomfiture, forgot +the praise she had lavished on the poem of _Paquita_, and fulminated +terrific condemnation on the woman who could publish such a disgraceful +work. + +"The wretched woman commits every crime she writes about," said she. +"Perhaps she will come to the same end as her heroine!" + +Dinah's fate among the good folks of Sancerre was like that of Marechal +Soult in the opposition newspapers; as long as he is minister he lost +the battle of Toulouse; whenever he is out of the Government he won it! +While she was virtuous, Dinah was a match for Camille de Maupin, a +rival of the most famous women; but as soon as she was happy, she was an +_unhappy creature_. + +Monsieur de Clagny was her valiant champion; he went several times to +the Chateau d'Anzy to acquire the right to contradict the rumors current +as to the woman he still faithfully adored, even in her fall; and he +maintained that she and Lousteau were engaged together on some great +work. But the lawyer was laughed to scorn. + +The month of October was lovely; autumn is the finest season in the +valley of the Loire; but in 1836 it was unusually glorious. Nature +seemed to aid and abet Dinah, who, as Bianchon had predicted, gradually +developed a heart-felt passion. In one month she was an altered +woman. She was surprised to find in herself so many inert and dormant +qualities, hitherto in abeyance. To her Lousteau seemed an angel; for +heart-love, the crowning need of a great nature, had made a new woman +of her. Dinah was alive! She had found an outlet for her powers, she +saw undreamed-of vistas in the future--in short, she was happy, happy +without alarms or hindrances. The vast castle, the gardens, the park, +the forest, favored love. + +Lousteau found in Madame de la Baudraye an artlessness, nay, if you +will, an innocence of mind which made her very original; there was much +more of the unexpected and winning in her than in a girl. Lousteau was +quite alive to a form of flattery which in most women is assumed, but +which in Dinah was genuine; she really learned from him the ways of +love; he really was the first to reign in her heart. And, indeed, he +took the trouble to be exceedingly amiable. + +Men, like women, have a stock in hand of recitatives, of _cantabile_, +of _nocturnes_, airs and refrains--shall we say of recipes, although we +speak of love--which each one believes to be exclusively his own. Men +who have reached Lousteau's age try to distribute the "movements" +of this repertoire through the whole opera of a passion. Lousteau, +regarding this adventure with Dinah as a mere temporary connection, was +eager to stamp himself on her memory in indelible lines; and during that +beautiful October he was prodigal of his most entrancing melodies and +most elaborate _barcarolles_. In fact, he exhausted every resource of +the stage management of love, to use an expression borrowed from the +theatrical dictionary, and admirably descriptive of his manoeuvres. + +"If that woman ever forgets me!" he would sometimes say to himself as +they returned together from a long walk in the woods, "I will owe her no +grudge--she will have found something better." + +When two beings have sung together all the duets of that enchanting +score, and still love each other, it may be said that they love truly. + +Lousteau, however, had not time to repeat himself, for he was to leave +Anzy in the early days of November. His paper required his presence +in Paris. Before breakfast, on the day before he was to leave, the +journalist and Dinah saw the master of the house come in with an artist +from Nevers, who restored carvings of all kinds. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Lousteau. "What is to be done to the +chateau?" + +"This is what I am going to do," said the little man, leading Lousteau, +the local artist, and Dinah out on the terrace. + +He pointed out, on the front of the building, a shield supported by two +sirens, not unlike that which may be seen on the arcade, now closed, +through which there used to be a passage from the Quai des Tuileries to +the courtyard of the old Louvre, and over which the words may still be +seen, "_Bibliotheque du Cabinet du Roi_." This shield bore the arms of +the noble House of Uxelles, namely, Or and gules party per fess, with +two lions or, dexter and sinister as supporters. Above, a knight's +helm, mantled of the tincture of the shield, and surmounted by a ducal +coronet. Motto, _Cy paroist!_ A proud and sonorous device. + +"I want to put my own coat of arms in the place of that of the Uxelles; +and as they are repeated six times on the two fronts and the two wings, +it is not a trifling affair." + +"Your arms, so new, and since 1830!" exclaimed Dinah. + +"Have I not created an entail?" + +"I could understand it if you had children," said the journalist. + +"Oh!" said the old man, "Madame de la Baudraye is still young; there is +no time lost." + +This allusion made Lousteau smile; he did not understand Monsieur de la +Baudraye. + +"There, Didine!" said he in Dinah's ear, "what a waste of remorse!" + +Dinah begged him to give her one day more, and the lovers parted after +the manner of certain theatres, which give ten last performances of a +piece that is paying. And how many promises they made! How many solemn +pledges did not Dinah exact and the unblushing journalist give her! + +Dinah, with superiority of the Superior Woman, accompanied Lousteau, in +the face of all the world, as far as Cosne, with her mother and little +La Baudraye. When, ten days later, Madame de la Baudraye saw in her +drawing-room at La Baudraye, Monsieur de Clagny, Gatien, and Gravier, +she found an opportunity of saying to each in turn: + +"I owe it to Monsieur Lousteau that I discovered that I had not been +loved for my own sake." + +And what noble speeches she uttered, on man, on the nature of his +feelings, on the end of his base passions, and so forth. Of Dinah's +three worshipers, Monsieur de Clagny only said to her: "I love you, come +what may"--and Dinah accepted him as her confidant, lavished on him all +the marks of friendship which women can devise for the Gurths who are +ready thus to wear the collar of gilded slavery. + + + +In Paris once more, Lousteau had, in a few weeks, lost the impression of +the happy time he had spent at the Chateau d'Anzy. This is why: Lousteau +lived by his pen. + +In this century, especially since the triumph of the _bourgeoisie_--the +commonplace, money-saving citizen--who takes good care not to imitate +Francis I. or Louis XIV.--to live by the pen is a form of penal +servitude to which a galley-slave would prefer death. To live by the pen +means to create--to create to-day, and to-morrow, and incessantly--or +to seem to create; and the imitation costs as dear as the reality. So, +besides his daily contribution to a newspaper, which was like the +stone of Sisyphus, and which came every Monday, crashing down on to the +feather of his pen, Etienne worked for three or four literary magazines. +Still, do not be alarmed; he put no artistic conscientiousness into his +work. This man of Sancerre had a facility, a carelessness, if you call +it so, which ranked him with those writers who are mere scriveners, +literary hacks. In Paris, in our day, hack-work cuts a man off from +every pretension to a literary position. When he can do no more, or no +longer cares for advancement, the man who can write becomes a journalist +and a hack. + +The life he leads is not unpleasing. Blue-stockings, beginners in +every walk of life, actresses at the outset or the close of a career, +publishers and authors, all make much of these writers of the ready +pen. Lousteau, a thorough man about town, lived at scarcely any expense +beyond paying his rent. He had boxes at all the theatres; the sale of +the books he reviewed or left unreviewed paid for his gloves; and he +would say to those authors who published at their own expense, "I have +your book always in my hands!" He took toll from vanity in the form of +drawings or pictures. Every day had its engagements to dinner, every +night its theatre, every morning was filled up with callers, visits, +and lounging. His serial in the paper, two novels a year for weekly +magazines, and his miscellaneous articles were the tax he paid for this +easy-going life. And yet, to reach this position, Etienne had struggled +for ten years. + +At the present time, known to the literary world, liked for the good or +the mischief he did with equally facile good humor, he let himself float +with the stream, never caring for the future. He ruled a little set +of newcomers, he had friendships--or rather, habits of fifteen years' +standing, and men with whom he supped, and dined, and indulged his wit. +He earned from seven to eight hundred francs a month, a sum which +he found quite insufficient for the prodigality peculiar to the +impecunious. Indeed, Lousteau found himself now just as hard up as when, +on first appearing in Paris, he had said to himself, "If I had but five +hundred francs a month, I should be rich!" + +The cause of this phenomenon was as follows: Lousteau lived in the Rue +des Martyrs in pretty ground-floor rooms with a garden, and splendidly +furnished. When he settled there in 1833 he had come to an agreement +with an upholsterer that kept his pocket money low for a long time. +These rooms were let for twelve hundred francs. The months of January, +April, July, and October were, as he phrased it, his indigent months. +The rent and the porter's account cleaned him out. Lousteau took no +fewer hackney cabs, spend a hundred francs in breakfasts all the same, +smoked thirty francs' worth of cigars, and could never refuse the +mistress of a day a dinner or a new dress. He thus dipped so deeply into +the fluctuating earnings of the following months, that he could no more +find a hundred francs on his chimney-piece now, when he was making seven +or eight hundred francs a month, than he could in 1822, when he was +hardly getting two hundred. + +Tired, sometimes, by the incessant vicissitudes of a literary life, and +as much bored by amusement as a courtesan, Lousteau would get out of the +tideway and sit on the bank, and say to one and another of his intimate +allies--Nathan or Bixiou, as they sat smoking in his scrap of garden, +looking out on an evergreen lawn as big as a dinner-table: + +"What will be the end of us? White hairs are giving us respectful +hints!" + +"Lord! we shall marry when we choose to give as much thought to the +matter as we give to a drama or a novel," said Nathan. + +"And Florine?" retorted Bixiou. + +"Oh, we all have a Florine," said Etienne, flinging away the end of his +cigar and thinking of Madame Schontz. + +Madame Schontz was a pretty enough woman to put a very high price on the +interest on her beauty, while reserving absolute ownership for Lousteau, +the man of her heart. Like all those women who get the name in Paris of +_Lorettes_, from the Church of Notre Dame de Lorette, round about +which they dwell, she lived in the Rue Flechier, a stone's throw from +Lousteau. This lady took a pride and delight in teasing her friends by +boasting of having a Wit for her lover. + +These details of Lousteau's life and fortune are indispensable, for this +penury and this bohemian existence of a man to whom Parisian luxury +had become a necessity, were fated to have a cruel influence on Dinah's +life. Those to whom the bohemia of Paris is familiar will now understand +how it was that, by the end of a fortnight, the journalist, up to his +ears in the literary environment, could laugh about his Baroness with +his friends and even with Madame Schontz. To such readers as regard such +things as utterly mean, it is almost useless to make excuses which they +will not accept. + +"What did you do at Sancerre?" asked Bixiou the first time he met +Lousteau. + +"I did good service to three worthy provincials--a Receiver-General +of Taxes, a little cousin of his, and a Public Prosecutor, who for ten +years had been dancing round and round one of the hundred 'Tenth Muses' +who adorn the Departments," said he. "But they had no more dared +to touch her than we touch a decorated cream at dessert till some +strong-minded person has made a hole in it." + +"Poor boy!" said Bixiou. "I said you had gone to Sancerre to turn +Pegasus out to grass." + +"Your joke is as stupid as my Muse is handsome," retorted Lousteau. "Ask +Bianchon, my dear fellow." + +"A Muse and a Poet! A homoeopathic cure then!" said Bixiou. + +On the tenth day Lousteau received a letter with the Sancerre post-mark. + +"Good! very good!" said Lousteau. + +"'Beloved friend, idol of my heart and soul----' twenty pages of it! all +at one sitting, and dated midnight! She writes when she finds herself +alone. Poor woman! Ah, ha! And a postscript-- + +"'I dare not ask you to write to me as I write, every day; still, I +hope to have a few lines from my dear one every week, to relieve my +mind.'--What a pity to burn it all! it is really well written," said +Lousteau to himself, as he threw the ten sheets of paper into the fire +after having read them. "That woman was born to reel off copy!" + +Lousteau was not much afraid of Madame Schontz, who really loved him for +himself, but he had supplanted a friend in the heart of a Marquise. This +Marquise, a lady nowise coy, sometimes dropped in unexpectedly at his +rooms in the evening, arriving veiled in a hackney coach; and she, as a +literary woman, allowed herself to hunt through all his drawers. + +A week later, Lousteau, who hardly remembered Dinah, was startled by +another budget from Sancerre--eight leaves, sixteen pages! He heard a +woman's step; he thought it announced a search from the Marquise, and +tossed these rapturous and entrancing proofs of affections into the +fire--unread! + +"A woman's letter!" exclaimed Madame Schontz, as she came in. "The +paper, the wax, are scented--" + +"Here you are, sir," said a porter from the coach office, setting down +two huge hampers in the ante-room. "Carriage paid. Please to sign my +book." + +"Carriage paid!" cried Madame Schontz. "It must have come from +Sancerre." + +"Yes, madame," said the porter. + +"Your Tenth Muse is a remarkably intelligent woman," said the courtesan, +opening one of the hampers, while Lousteau was writing his name. "I like +a Muse who understands housekeeping, and who can make game pies as well +as blots. And, oh! what beautiful flowers!" she went on, opening the +second hamper. "Why, you could get none finer in Paris!--And here, and +here! A hare, partridges, half a roebuck!--We will ask your friends +and have a famous dinner, for Athalie has a special talent for dressing +venison." + +Lousteau wrote to Dinah; but instead of writing from the heart, he +was clever. The letter was all the more insidious; it was like one of +Mirabeau's letters to Sophie. The style of a true lover is transparent. +It is a clear stream which allows the bottom of the heart to be seen +between two banks, bright with the trifles of existence, and covered +with the flowers of the soul that blossom afresh every day, full of +intoxicating beauty--but only for two beings. As soon as a love letter +has any charm for a third reader, it is beyond doubt the product of the +head, not of the heart. But a woman will always be beguiled; she always +believes herself to be the determining cause of this flow of wit. + +By the end of December Lousteau had ceased to read Dinah's letters; they +lay in a heap in a drawer of his chest that was never locked, under his +shirts, which they scented. + +Then one of those chances came to Lousteau which such bohemians ought +to clutch by every hair. In the middle of December, Madame Schontz, +who took a real interest in Etienne, sent to beg him to call on her one +morning on business. + +"My dear fellow, you have a chance of marrying." + +"I can marry very often, happily, my dear." + +"When I say marrying, I mean marrying well. You have no prejudices: I +need not mince matters. This is the position: A young lady has got +into trouble; her mother knows nothing of even a kiss. Her father is an +honest notary, a man of honor; he has been wise enough to keep it dark. +He wants to get his daughter married within a fortnight, and he will +give her a fortune of a hundred and fifty thousand francs--for he has +three other children; but--and it is not a bad idea--he will add a +hundred thousand francs, under the rose, hand to hand, to cover the +damages. They are an old family of Paris citizens, Rue des Lombards----" + +"Well, then, why does not the lover marry her?" + +"Dead." + +"What a romance! Such things are nowhere to be heard of but in the Rue +des Lombards." + +"But do not take it into your head that a jealous brother murdered the +seducer. The young man died in the most commonplace way of a pleurisy +caught as he came out of the theatre. A head-clerk and penniless, +the man entrapped the daughter in order to marry into the business--A +judgment from heaven, I call it!" + +"Where did you hear the story?" + +"From Malaga; the notary is her _milord_." + +"What, Cardot, the son of that little old man in hair-powder, +Florentine's first friend?" + +"Just so. Malaga, whose 'fancy' is a little tomtit of a fiddler of +eighteen, cannot in conscience make such a boy marry the girl. Besides, +she has no cause to do him an ill turn.--Indeed, Monsieur Cardot wants a +man of thirty at least. Our notary, I feel sure, will be proud to have a +famous man for his son-in-law. So just feel yourself all over.--You will +pay your debts, you will have twelve thousand francs a year, and be a +father without any trouble on your part; what do you say to that to the +good? And, after all, you only marry a very consolable widow. There is +an income of fifty thousand francs in the house, and the value of the +connection, so in due time you may look forward to not less than fifteen +thousand francs a year more for your share, and you will enter a family +holding a fine political position; Cardot is the brother-in-law of old +Camusot, the depute who lived so long with Fanny Beaupre." + +"Yes," said Lousteau, "old Camusot married little Daddy Cardot's eldest +daughter, and they had high times together!" + +"Well!" Madame Schontz went on, "and Madame Cardot, the notary's wife, +was a Chiffreville--manufacturers of chemical products, the aristocracy +of these days! Potash, I tell you! Still, this is the unpleasant side of +the matter. You will have a terrible mother-in-law, a woman capable of +killing her daughter if she knew--! This Cardot woman is a bigot; she +has lips like two faded narrow pink ribbons. + +"A man of the town like you would never pass muster with that woman, +who, in her well-meaning way, will spy out your bachelor life and know +every fact of the past. However, Cardot says he means to exert his +paternal authority. The poor man will be obliged to do the civil to his +wife for some days; a woman made of wood, my dear fellow; Malaga, who +has seen her, calls her a penitential scrubber. Cardot is a man of +forty; he will be mayor of his district, and perhaps be elected deputy. +He is prepared to give in lieu of the hundred thousand francs a nice +little house in the Rue Saint-Lazare, with a forecourt and a garden, +which cost him no more than sixty thousand at the time of the July +overthrow; he would sell, and that would be an opportunity for you to +go and come at the house, to see the daughter, and be civil to the +mother.--And it would give you a look of property in Madame Cardot's +eyes. You would be housed like a prince in that little mansion. Then, +by Camusot's interest, you may get an appointment as librarian to some +public office where there is no library.--Well, and then if you invest +your money in backing up a newspaper, you will get ten thousand francs +a year on it, you can earn six, your librarianship will bring you in +four.--Can you do better for yourself? + +"If you were to marry a lamb without spot, it might be a light woman by +the end of two years. What is the damage?--an anticipated dividend! It +is quite the fashion. + +"Take my word for it, you can do no better than come to dine with Malaga +to-morrow. You will meet your father-in-law; he will know the secret has +been let out--by Malaga, with whom he cannot be angry--and then you are +master of the situation. As to your wife!--Why her misconduct leaves you +as free as a bachelor----" + +"Your language is as blunt as a cannon ball." + +"I love you for your own sake, that is all--and I can reason. Well! why +do you stand there like a wax image of Abd-el-Kader? There is nothing to +meditate over. Marriage is heads or tails--well, you have tossed heads +up." + +"You shall have my reply to-morrow," said Lousteau. + +"I would sooner have it at once; Malaga will write you up to-night." + +"Well, then, yes." + +Lousteau spent the evening in writing a long letter to the Marquise, +giving her the reasons which compelled him to marry; his constant +poverty, the torpor of his imagination, his white hairs, his moral and +physical exhaustion--in short, four pages of arguments.--"As to Dinah, +I will send her a circular announcing the marriage," said he to himself. +"As Bixiou says, I have not my match for knowing how to dock the tail of +a passion." + +Lousteau, who at first had been on some ceremony with himself, by next +day had come to the point of dreading lest the marriage should not come +off. He was pressingly civil to the notary. + +"I knew monsieur your father," said he, "at Florentine's, so I may well +know you here, at Mademoiselle Turquet's. Like father, like son. A very +good fellow and a philosopher, was little Daddy Cardot--excuse me, +we always called him so. At that time, Florine, Florentine, Tullia, +Coralie, and Mariette were the five fingers of your hand, so to +speak--it is fifteen years ago. My follies, as you may suppose, are a +thing of the past.--In those days it was pleasure that ran away with me; +now I am ambitious; but, in our day, to get on at all a man must be +free from debt, have a good income, a wife, and a family. If I pay taxes +enough to qualify me, I may be a deputy yet, like any other man." + +Maitre Cardot appreciated this profession of faith. Lousteau had laid +himself out to please and the notary liked him, feeling himself more +at his ease, as may be easily imagined, with a man who had known his +father's secrets than he would have been with another. On the following +day Lousteau was introduced to the Cardot family as the purchaser of the +house in the Rue Saint-Lazare, and three days later he dined there. + +Cardot lived in an old house near the Place du Chatelet. In this house +everything was "good." Economy covered every scrap of gilding with green +gauze; all the furniture wore holland covers. Though it was impossible +to feel a shade of uneasiness as to the wealth of the inhabitants, at +the end of half an hour no one could suppress a yawn. Boredom perched +in every nook; the curtains hung dolefully; the dining-room was like +Harpagon's. Even if Lousteau had not known all about Malaga, he could +have guessed that the notary's real life was spent elsewhere. + +The journalist saw a tall, fair girl with blue eyes, at once shy and +languishing. The elder brother took a fancy to him; he was the fourth +clerk in the office, but strongly attracted by the snares of literary +fame, though destined to succeed his father. The younger sister was +twelve years old. Lousteau, assuming a little Jesuitical air, played +the Monarchist and Churchman for the benefit of the mother, was quite +smooth, deliberate, and complimentary. + +Within three weeks of their introduction, at his fourth dinner there, +Felicie Cardot, who had been watching Lousteau out of the corner of her +eye, carried him a cup of coffee where he stood in the window recess, +and said in a low voice, with tears in her eyes: + +"I will devote my whole life, monsieur, to thanking you for your +sacrifice in favor of a poor girl----" + +Lousteau was touched; there was so much expression in her look, her +accent, her attitude. "She would make a good man happy," thought he, +pressing her hand in reply. + +Madame Cardot looked upon her son-in-law as a man with a future before +him; but, above all the fine qualities she ascribed to him, she was +most delighted by his high tone of morals. Etienne, prompted by the wily +notary, had pledged his word that he had no natural children, no tie +that could endanger the happiness of her dear Felicie. + +"You may perhaps think I go rather too far," said the bigot to the +journalist; "but in giving such a jewel as my Felicie to any man, one +must think of the future. I am not one of those mothers who want to +be rid of their daughters. Monsieur Cardot hurries matters on, urges +forward his daughter's marriage; he wishes it over. This is the only +point on which we differ.--Though with a man like you, monsieur, a +literary man whose youth has been preserved by hard work from the moral +shipwreck now so prevalent, we may feel quite safe; still, you would be +the first to laugh at me if I looked for a husband for my daughter with +my eyes shut. I know you are not an innocent, and I should be very sorry +for my Felicie if you were" (this was said in a whisper); "but if you +had any _liaison_--For instance, monsieur, you have heard of Madame +Roguin, the wife of a notary who, unhappily for our faculty, was sadly +notorious. Madame Roguin has, ever since 1820, been kept by a banker--" + +"Yes, du Tillet," replied Etienne; but he bit his tongue as he +recollected how rash it was to confess to an acquaintance with du +Tillet. + +"Yes.--Well, monsieur, if you were a mother, would you not quake at the +thought that Madame du Tillet's fate might be your child's? At her age, +and _nee_ de Granville! To have as a rival a woman of fifty and more. +Sooner would I see my daughter dead than give her to a man who had such +a connection with a married woman. A grisette, an actress, you take her +and leave her.--There is no danger, in my opinion, from women of that +stamp; love is their trade, they care for no one, one down and another +to come on!--But a woman who has sinned against duty must hug her sin, +her only excuse is constancy, if such a crime can ever have an excuse. +At least, that is the view I hold of a respectable woman's fall, and +that is what makes it so terrible----" + +Instead of looking for the meaning of these speeches, Etienne made a +jest of them at Malaga's, whither he went with his father-in-law elect; +for the notary and the journalist were the best of friends. + +Lousteau had already given himself the airs of a person of importance; +his life at last was to have a purpose; he was in luck's way, and in +a few days would be the owner of a delightful little house in the Rue +Saint-Lazare; he was going to be married to a charming woman, he would +have about twenty thousand francs a year, and could give the reins to +his ambition; the young lady loved him, and he would be connected with +several respectable families. In short, he was in full sail on the blue +waters of hope. + + + +Madame Cardot had expressed a wish to see the prints for _Gil Blas_, one +of the illustrated volumes which the French publishers were at that time +bringing out, and Lousteau had taken the first numbers for the lady's +inspection. The lawyer's wife had a scheme of her own, she had borrowed +the book merely to return it; she wanted an excuse for walking in on her +future son-in-law quite unexpectedly. The sight of those bachelor rooms, +which her husband had described as charming, would tell her more, she +thought, as to Lousteau's habits of life than any information she could +pick up. Her sister-in-law, Madame Camusot, who knew nothing of the +fateful secret, was terrified at such a marriage for her niece. Monsieur +Camusot, a Councillor of the Supreme Court, old Camusot's son by his +first marriage, had given his step-mother, who was Cardot's sister, a +far from flattering account of the journalist. + +Lousteau, clever as he was, did not think it strange that the wife of +a rich notary should wish to inspect a volume costing fifteen francs +before deciding on the purchase. Your clever man never condescends to +study the middle-class, who escape his ken by this want of attention; +and while he is making game of them, they are at leisure to throttle +him. + +So one day early in January 1837, Madame Cardot and her daughter took +a hackney coach and went to the Rue des Martyrs to return the parts +of _Gil Blas_ to Felicie's betrothed, both delighted at the thought of +seeing Lousteau's rooms. These domiciliary visitations are not unusual +in the old citizen class. The porter at the front gate was not in; but +his daughter, on being informed by the worthy lady that she was in the +presence of Monsieur Lousteau's future mother-in-law and bride, handed +over the key of the apartment--all the more readily because Madame +Cardot placed a gold piece in her hand. + +It was by this time about noon, the hour at which the journalist would +return from breakfasting at the Cafe Anglais. As he crossed the open +space between the Church of Notre-Dame de Lorette and the Rue des +Martyrs, Lousteau happened to look at a hired coach that was toiling up +the Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, and he fancied it was a dream when he +saw the face of Dinah! He stood frozen to the spot when, on reaching his +house, he beheld his Didine at the coach door. + +"What has brought you here?" he inquired.--He adopted the familiar _tu_. +The formality of _vous_ was out of the question to a woman he must get +rid of. + +"Why, my love," cried she, "have you not read my letters?" + +"Certainly I have," said Lousteau. + +"Well, then?" + +"Well, then?" + +"You are a father," replied the country lady. + +"Faugh!" cried he, disregarding the barbarity of such an exclamation. +"Well," thought he to himself, "she must be prepared for the blow." + +He signed to the coachman to wait, gave his hand to Madame de la +Baudraye, and left the man with the chaise full of trunks, vowing that +he would send away _illico_, as he said to himself, the woman and her +luggage, back to the place she had come from. + +"Monsieur, monsieur," called out little Pamela. + +The child had some sense, and felt that three women must not be allowed +to meet in a bachelor's rooms. + +"Well, well!" said Lousteau, dragging Dinah along. + +Pamela concluded that the lady must be some relation; however, she +added: + +"The key is in the door; your mother-in-law is there." + +In his agitation, while Madame de la Baudraye was pouring out a flood of +words, Etienne understood the child to say, "Mother is there," the only +circumstance that suggested itself as possible, and he went in. + +Felicie and her mother, who were by this time in the bed-room, crept +into a corner on seeing Etienne enter with a woman. + +"At last, Etienne, my dearest, I am yours for life!" cried Dinah, +throwing her arms round his neck, and clasping him closely, while he +took the key from the outside of the door. "Life is a perpetual anguish +to me in that house at Anzy. I could bear it no longer; and when +the time came for me to proclaim my happiness--well, I had not the +courage.--Here I am, your wife with your child! And you have not written +to me; you have left me two months without a line." + +"But, Dinah, you place me in the greatest difficulty--" + +"Do you love me?" + +"How can I do otherwise than love you?--But would you not have been +wiser to remain at Sancerre?--I am in the most abject poverty, and I +fear to drag you into it--" + +"Your misery will be paradise to me. I only ask to live here, never to +go out--" + +"Good God! that is all very fine in words, but--" Dinah sat down and +melted into tears as she heard this speech, roughly spoken. + +Lousteau could not resist this distress. He clasped the Baroness in his +arms and kissed her. + +"Do not cry, Didine!" said he; and, as he uttered the words, he saw in +the mirror the figure of Madame Cardot, looking at him from the further +end of the rooms. "Come, Didine, go with Pamela and get your trunks +unloaded," said he in her ear. "Go; do not cry; we will be happy!" + +He led her to the door, and then came back to divert the storm. + +"Monsieur," said Madame Cardot, "I congratulate myself on having +resolved to see for myself the home of the man who was to have been my +son-in-law. If my daughter were to die of it, she should never be the +wife of such a man as you. You must devote yourself to making your +Didine happy, monsieur." + +And the virtuous lady walked out, followed by Felicie, who was crying +too, for she had become accustomed to Etienne. The dreadful Madame +Cardot got into her hackney-coach again, staring insolently at the +hapless Dinah, in whose heart the sting still rankled of "that is all +very fine in words"; but who, nevertheless, like every woman in love, +believed in the murmured, "Do not cry, Didine!" + +Lousteau, who was not lacking in the sort of decision which grows out of +the vicissitudes of a storm-tossed life, reflected thus: + +"Didine is high-minded; when once she knows of my proposed marriage, +she will sacrifice herself for my future prospects, and I know how I can +manage to let her know." Delighted at having hit on a trick of which the +success seemed certain, he danced round to a familiar tune: + +"_Larifla, fla, fla!_--And Didine once out of the way," he went +on, talking to himself, "I will treat Maman Cardot to a call and a +novelette: I have seduced her Felicie at Saint-Eustache--Felicie, guilty +through passion, bears in her bosom the pledge of our affection--and +_larifla, fla, fla!_ the father _Ergo_, the notary, his wife, and his +daughter are caught, nabbed----" + +And, to her great amazement, Dinah discovered Etienne performing a +prohibited dance. + +"Your arrival and our happiness have turned my head with joy," said he, +to explain this crazy mood. + +"And I had fancied you had ceased to love me!" exclaimed the poor woman, +dropping the handbag she was carrying, and weeping with joy as she sank +into a chair. + +"Make yourself at home, my darling," said Etienne, laughing in his +sleeve; "I must write two lines to excuse myself from a bachelor party, +for I mean to devote myself to you. Give your orders; you are at home." + +Etienne wrote to Bixiou: + + "MY DEAR BOY,--My Baroness has dropped into my arms, and will be + fatal to my marriage unless we perform one of the most familiar + stratagems of the thousand and one comedies at the Gymnase. I rely + on you to come here, like one of Moliere's old men, to scold your + nephew Leandre for his folly, while the Tenth Muse lies hidden in + my bedroom; you must work on her feelings; strike hard, be brutal, + offensive. I, you understand, shall express my blind devotion, and + shall seem to be deaf, so that you may have to shout at me. + + "Come, if you can, at seven o'clock. + + "Yours, + "E. LOUSTEAU." + + +Having sent this letter by a commissionaire to the man who, in all +Paris, most delighted in such practical jokes--in the slang of artists, +a _charge_--Lousteau made a great show of settling the Muse of Sancerre +in his apartment. He busied himself in arranging the luggage she had +brought, and informed her as to the persons and ways of the house with +such perfect good faith, and a glee which overflowed in kind words and +caresses, that Dinah believed herself the best-beloved woman in the +world. These rooms, where everything bore the stamp of fashion, pleased +her far better than her old chateau. + +Pamela Migeon, the intelligent damsel of fourteen, was questioned by +the journalist as to whether she would like to be waiting-maid to the +imposing Baroness. Pamela, perfectly enchanted, entered on her duties at +once, by going off to order dinner from a restaurant on the boulevard. +Dinah was able to judge of the extreme poverty that lay hidden under the +purely superficial elegance of this bachelor home when she found none +of the necessaries of life. As she took possession of the closets and +drawers, she indulged in the fondest dreams; she would alter Etienne's +habits, she would make him home-keeping, she would fill his cup of +domestic happiness. + +The novelty of the position hid its disastrous side; Dinah regarded +reciprocated love as the absolution of her sin; she did not yet look +beyond the walls of these rooms. Pamela, whose wits were as sharp as +those of a _lorette_, went straight to Madame Schontz to beg the loan of +some plate, telling her what had happened to Lousteau. After making +the child welcome to all she had, Madame Schontz went off to her friend +Malaga, that Cardot might be warned of the catastrophe that had befallen +his future son-in-law. + +The journalist, not in the least uneasy about the crisis as affecting +his marriage, was more and more charming to the lady from the provinces. +The dinner was the occasion of the delightful child's-play of lovers set +at liberty, and happy to be free. When they had had their coffee, and +Lousteau was sitting in front of the fire, Dinah on his knee, Pamela ran +in with a scared face. + +"Here is Monsieur Bixiou!" said she. + +"Go into the bedroom," said the journalist to his mistress; "I will soon +get rid of him. He is one of my most intimate friends, and I shall have +to explain to him my new start in life." + +"Oh, ho! dinner for two, and a blue velvet bonnet!" cried Bixiou. "I +am off.--Ah! that is what comes of marrying--one must go through some +partings. How rich one feels when one begins to move one's sticks, heh?" + +"Who talks of marrying?" said Lousteau. + +"What! are you not going to be married, then?" cried Bixiou. + +"No!" + +"No? My word, what next? Are you making a fool of yourself, if you +please?--What!--You, who, by the mercy of Heaven, have come across +twenty thousand francs a year, and a house, and a wife connected with +all the first families of the better middle class--a wife, in short, out +of the Rue des Lombards--" + +"That will do, Bixiou, enough; it is at an end. Be off!" + +"Be off? I have a friend's privileges, and I shall take every advantage +of them.--What has come over you?" + +"What has 'come over' me is my lady from Sancerre. She is a mother, and +we are going to live together happily to the end of our days.--You would +have heard it to-morrow, so you may as well be told it now." + +"Many chimney-pots are falling on my head, as Arnal says. But if this +woman really loves you, my dear fellow, she will go back to the place +she came from. Did any provincial woman ever yet find her sea-legs +in Paris? She will wound all your vanities. Have you forgotten what a +provincial is? She will bore you as much when she is happy as when she +is sad; she will have as great a talent for escaping grace as a Parisian +has in inventing it. + +"Lousteau, listen to me. That a passion should lead you to forget to +some extent the times in which we live, is conceivable; but I, my dear +fellow, have not the mythological bandage over my eyes.--Well, then +consider your position. For fifteen years you have been tossing in the +literary world; you are no longer young, you have padded the hoof till +your soles are worn through!--Yes, my boy, you turn your socks under +like a street urchin to hide the holes, so that the legs cover the +heels! In short, the joke is too stale. Your excuses are more familiar +than a patent medicine--" + +"I may say to you, like the Regent to Cardinal Dubois, 'That is kicking +enough!'" said Lousteau, laughing. + +"Oh, venerable young man," replied Bixiou, "the iron has touched the +sore to the quick. You are worn out, aren't you? Well, then; in the +heyday of youth, under the pressure of penury, what have you done? You +are not in the front rank, and you have not a thousand francs of your +own. That is the sum-total of the situation. Can you, in the decline of +your powers, support a family by your pen, when your wife, if she is an +honest woman, will not have at her command the resources of the woman +of the streets, who can extract her thousand-franc note from the depths +where milord keeps it safe? You are rushing into the lowest depths of +the social theatre. + +"And this is only the financial side. Now, consider the political +position. We are struggling in an essentially _bourgeois_ age, in which +honor, virtue, high-mindedness, talent, learning--genius, in short, is +summed up in paying your way, owing nobody anything, and conducting +your affairs with judgment. Be steady, be respectable, have a wife, and +children, pay your rent and taxes, serve in the National Guard, and be +on the same pattern as all the men of your company--then you may indulge +in the loftiest pretensions, rise to the Ministry!--and you have the +best chances possible, since you are no Montmorency. You were preparing +to fulfil all the conditions insisted on for turning out a political +personage, you are capable of every mean trick that is necessary in +office, even of pretending to be commonplace--you would have acted it to +the life. And just for a woman, who will leave you in the lurch--the +end of every eternal passion--in three, five, or seven years--after +exhausting your last physical and intellectual powers, you turn your +back on the sacred Hearth, on the Rue des Lombards, on a political +career, on thirty thousand francs per annum, on respectability and +respect!--Ought that to be the end of a man who has done with illusions? + +"If you had kept a pot boiling for some actress who gave you your fun +for it--well; that is what you may call a cabinet matter. But to live +with another man's wife? It is a draft at sight on disaster; it is +bolting the bitter pills of vice with none of the gilding." + +"That will do. One word answers it all; I love Madame de la Baudraye, +and prefer her to every fortune, to every position the world can +offer.--I may have been carried away by a gust of ambition, but +everything must give way to the joy of being a father." + +"Ah, ha! you have a fancy for paternity? But, wretched man, we are the +fathers only of our legitimate children. What is a brat that does not +bear your name? The last chapter of the romance.--Your child will be +taken from you! We have seen that story in twenty plays these ten years +past. + +"Society, my dear boy, will drop upon you sooner or later. Read +_Adolphe_ once more.--Dear me! I fancy I can see you when you and +she are used to each other;--I see you dejected, hang-dog, bereft of +position and fortune, and fighting like the shareholders of a bogus +company when they are tricked by a director!--Your director is +happiness." + +"Say no more, Bixiou." + +"But I have only just begun," said Bixiou. "Listen, my dear boy. +Marriage has been out of favor for some time past; but, apart from the +advantages it offers in being the only recognized way of certifying +heredity, as it affords a good-looking young man, though penniless, the +opportunity of making his fortune in two months, it survives in spite +of disadvantages. And there is not the man living who would not repent, +sooner or later, of having, by his own fault, lost the chance of +marrying thirty thousand francs a year." + +"You won't understand me," cried Lousteau, in a voice of exasperation. +"Go away--she is there----" + +"I beg your pardon; why did you not tell me sooner?--You are of age, and +so is she," he added in a lower voice, but loud enough to be heard by +Dinah. "She will make you repent bitterly of your happiness!----" + +"If it is a folly, I intend to commit it.--Good-bye." + +"A man gone overboard!" cried Bixiou. + +"Devil take those friends who think they have a right to preach to you," +said Lousteau, opening the door of the bedroom, where he found Madame de +la Baudraye sunk in an armchair and dabbing her eyes with an embroidered +handkerchief. + +"Oh, why did I come here?" sobbed she. "Good Heavens, why +indeed?--Etienne, I am not so provincial as you think me.--You are +making a fool of me." + +"Darling angel," replied Lousteau, taking Dinah in his arms, lifting her +from her chair, and dragging her half dead into the drawing-room, "we +have both pledged our future, it is sacrifice for sacrifice. While I was +loving you at Sancerre, they were engaging me to be married here, but I +refused.--Oh! I was extremely distressed----" + +"I am going," cried Dinah, starting wildly to her feet and turning to +the door. + +"You will stay here, my Didine. All is at an end. And is this fortune so +lightly earned after all? Must I not marry a gawky, tow-haired creature, +with a red nose, the daughter of a notary, and saddle myself with a +stepmother who could give Madame de Piedefer points on the score of +bigotry--" + +Pamela flew in, and whispered in Lousteau's ear: + +"Madame Schontz!" + +Lousteau rose, leaving Dinah on the sofa, and went out. + +"It is all over with you, my dear," said the woman. "Cardot does not +mean to quarrel with his wife for the sake of a son-in-law. The lady +made a scene--something like a scene, I can tell you! So, to conclude, +the head-clerk, who was the late head-clerk's deputy for two years, +agrees to take the girl with the business." + +"Mean wretch!" exclaimed Lousteau. "What! in two hours he has made up +his mind?" + +"Bless me, that is simple enough. The rascal, who knew all the dead +man's little secrets, guessed what a fix his master was in from +overhearing a few words of the squabble with Madame Cardot. The notary +relies on your honor and good feeling, for the affair is settled. The +clerk, whose conduct has been admirable, went so far as to attend mass! +A finished hypocrite, I say--just suits the mamma. You and Cardot +will still be friends. He is to be a director in an immense financial +concern, and he may be of use to you.--So you have been waked from a +sweet dream." + +"I have lost a fortune, a wife, and--" + +"And a mistress," said Madame Schontz, smiling. "Here you are, more than +married; you will be insufferable, you will be always wanting to get +home, there will be nothing loose about you, neither your clothes nor +your habits. And, after all, my Arthur does things in style. I will be +faithful to him and cut Malaga's acquaintance. + +"Let me peep at her through the door--your Sancerre Muse," she went +on. "Is there no finer bird than that to be found in the desert?" she +exclaimed. "You are cheated! She is dignified, lean, lachrymose; she +only needs Lady Dudley's turban!" + +"What is it now?" asked Madame de la Baudraye, who had heard the rustle +of a silk dress and the murmur of a woman's voice. + +"It is, my darling, that we are now indissolubly united.--I have just +had an answer to the letter you saw me write, which was to break off my +marriage----" + +"So that was the party which you gave up?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I will be more than your wife--I am your slave, I give you my +life," said the poor deluded creature. "I did not believe I could love +you more than I did!--Now I shall not be a mere incident, but your whole +life?" + +"Yes, my beautiful, my generous Didine." + +"Swear to me," said she, "that only death shall divide us." + +Lousteau was ready to sweeten his vows with the most fascinating +prettinesses. And this was why. Between the door of the apartment where +he had taken the lorette's farewell kiss, and that of the drawing-room, +where the Muse was reclining, bewildered by such a succession of shocks, +Lousteau had remembered little De la Baudraye's precarious health, his +fine fortune, and Bianchon's remark about Dinah, "She will be a rich +widow!" and he said to himself, "I would a hundred times rather have +Madame de la Baudraye for a wife than Felicie!" + +His plan of action was quickly decided on; he determined to play +the farce of passion once more, and to perfection. His mean +self-interestedness and his false vehemence of passion had disastrous +results. Madame de la Baudraye, when she set out from Sancerre for +Paris, had intended to live in rooms of her own quite near to Lousteau; +but the proofs of devotion her lover had given her by giving up such +brilliant prospects, and yet more the perfect happiness of the first +days of their illicit union, kept her from mentioning such a parting. +The second day was to be--and indeed was--a high festival, in which such +a suggestion proposed to "her angel" would have been a discordant note. + +Lousteau, on his part, anxious to make Dinah feel herself dependent +on him, kept her in a state of constant intoxication by incessant +amusement. These circumstances hindered two persons so clever as these +were from avoiding the slough into which they fell--that of a life in +common, a piece of folly of which, unfortunately, many instances may be +seen in Paris in literary circles. + +And thus was the whole programme played out of a provincial amour, so +satirically described by Lousteau to Madame de la Baudraye--a fact which +neither he nor she remembered. Passion is born a deaf-mute. + + + +This winter in Paris was to Madame de la Baudraye all that the month of +October had been at Sancerre. Etienne, to initiate "his wife" into Paris +life, varied this honeymoon by evenings at the play, where Dinah would +only go to the stage box. At first Madame de la Baudraye preserved some +remnants of her countrified modesty; she was afraid of being seen; she +hid her happiness. She would say: + +"Monsieur de Clagny or Monsieur Gravier may have followed me to Paris." +She was afraid of Sancerre even in Paris. + +Lousteau, who was excessively vain, educated Dinah, took her to the best +dressmakers, and pointed out to her the most fashionable women, advising +her to take them as models for imitation. And Madame de la Baudraye's +provincial appearance was soon a thing of the past. Lousteau, when his +friends met him, was congratulated on his conquest. + +All through that season Etienne wrote little and got very much into +debt, though Dinah, who was proud, bought all her clothes out of her +savings, and fancied she had not been the smallest expense to her +beloved. By the end of three months Dinah was acclimatized; she had +reveled in the music at the Italian opera; she knew the pieces "on" at +all theatres, and the actors and jests of the day; she had become +inured to this life of perpetual excitement, this rapid torrent in which +everything is forgotten. She no longer craned her neck or stood with her +nose in the air, like an image of Amazement, at the constant surprises +that Paris has for a stranger. She had learned to breathe that witty, +vitalizing, teeming atmosphere where clever people feel themselves in +their element, and which they can no longer bear to quit. + +One morning, as she read the papers, for Lousteau had them all, two +lines carried her back to Sancerre and the past, two lines that seemed +not unfamiliar--as follows: + +"Monsieur le Baron de Clagny, Public Prosecutor to the Criminal Court +at Sancerre, has been appointed Deputy Public Prosecutor to the Supreme +Court in Paris." + +"How well that worthy lawyer loves you!" said the journalist, smiling. + +"Poor man!" said she. "What did I tell you? He is following me." + +Etienne and Dinah were just then at the most dazzling and fervid stage +of a passion when each is perfectly accustomed to the other, and yet +love has not lost its freshness and relish. The lovers know each other +well, but all is not yet understood; they have not been a second time +to the same secret haunts of the soul; they have not studied each other +till they know, as they must later, the very thought, word, and gesture +that responds to every event, the greatest and the smallest. Enchantment +reigns; there are no collisions, no differences of opinion, no cold +looks. Their two souls are always on the same side. And Dinah would +speak the magical words, emphasized by the yet more magical expression +and looks which every woman can use under such circumstances. + +"When you cease to love me, kill me.--If you should cease to love me, I +believe I could kill you first and myself after." + +To this sweet exaggeration, Lousteau would reply: + +"All I ask of God is to see you as constant as I shall be. It is you who +will desert me!" + +"My love is supreme." + +"Supreme," echoed Lousteau. "Come, now? Suppose I am dragged away to +a bachelor party, and find there one of my former mistresses, and she +makes fun of me; I, out of vanity, behave as if I were free, and do not +come in here till next morning--would you still love me?" + +"A woman is only sure of being loved when she is preferred; and if you +came back to me, if--Oh! you make me understand what the happiness would +be of forgiving the man I adore." + +"Well, then, I am truly loved for the first time in my life!" cried +Lousteau. + +"At last you understand that!" said she. + +Lousteau proposed that they should each write a letter setting forth the +reasons which would compel them to end by suicide. Once in possession +of such a document, each might kill the other without danger in case of +infidelity. But in spite of mutual promises, neither wrote the letter. + +The journalist, happy for the moment, promised himself that he would +deceive Dinah when he should be tired of her, and would sacrifice +everything to the requirements of that deception. To him Madame de la +Baudraye was a fortune in herself. At the same time, he felt the yoke. + +Dinah, by consenting to this union, showed a generous mind and the power +derived from self-respect. In this absolute intimacy, in which both +lovers put off their masks, the young woman never abdicated her modesty, +her masculine rectitude, and the strength peculiar to ambitious souls, +which formed the basis of her character. Lousteau involuntarily held +her in high esteem. As a Parisian, Dinah was superior to the most +fascinating courtesan; she could be as amusing and as witty as Malaga; +but her extensive information, her habits of mind, her vast reading +enabled her to generalize her wit, while the Florines and the Schontzes +exerted theirs over a very narrow circle. + +"There is in Dinah," said Etienne to Bixiou, "the stuff to make both a +Ninon and a De Stael." + +"A woman who combines an encyclopaedia and a seraglio is very +dangerous," replied the mocking spirit. + +When the expected infant became a visible fact, Madame de la Baudraye +would be seen no more; but before shutting herself up, never to go out +unless into the country, she was bent on being present at the first +performance of a play by Nathan. This literary solemnity occupied the +minds of the two thousand persons who regard themselves as constituting +"all Paris." Dinah, who had never been at a first night's performance, +was very full of natural curiosity. She had by this time arrived at such +a pitch of affection for Lousteau that she gloried in her misconduct; +she exerted a sort of savage strength to defy the world; she was +determined to look it in the face without turning her head aside. + +She dressed herself to perfection, in a style suited to her delicate +looks and the sickly whiteness of her face. Her pallid complexion gave +her an expression of refinement, and her black hair in smooth bands +enhanced her pallor. Her brilliant gray eyes looked finer than ever, +set in dark rings. But a terribly distressing incident awaited her. By a +very simple chance, the box given to the journalist, on the first tier, +was next to that which Anna Grossetete had taken. The two intimate +friends did not even bow; neither chose to acknowledge the other. At +the end of the first act Lousteau left his seat, abandoning Dinah to the +fire of eyes, the glare of opera-glasses; while the Baronne de Fontaine +and the Comtesse Marie de Vandenesse, who accompanied her, received some +of the most distinguished men of fashion. + +Dinah's solitude was all the more distressing because she had not +the art of putting a good face to the matter by examining the company +through her opera-glass. In vain did she try to assume a dignified and +thoughtful attitude, and fix her eyes on vacancy; she was overpoweringly +conscious of being the object of general attention; she could not +disguise her discomfort, and lapsed a little into provincialism, +displaying her handkerchief and making involuntary movements of which +she had almost cured herself. At last, between the second and third +acts, a man had himself admitted to Dinah's box! It was Monsieur de +Clagny. + +"I am happy to see you, to tell you how much I am pleased by your +promotion," said she. + +"Oh! Madame, for whom should I come to Paris----?" + +"What!" said she. "Have I anything to do with your appointment?" + +"Everything," said he. "Since you left Sancerre, it had become +intolerable to me; I was dying--" + +"Your sincere friendship does me good," replied she, holding out her +hand. "I am in a position to make much of my true friends; I now know +their value.--I feared I must have lost your esteem, but the proof you +have given me by this visit touches me more deeply than your ten years' +attachment." + +"You are an object of curiosity to the whole house," said the lawyer. +"Oh! my dear, is this a part for you to be playing? Could you not be +happy and yet remain honored?--I have just heard that you are Monsieur +Etienne Lousteau's mistress, that you live together as man and +wife!--You have broken for ever with society; even if you should some +day marry your lover, the time will come when you will feel the want +of the respectability you now despise. Ought you not to be in a home of +your own with your mother, who loves you well enough to protect you with +her aegis?--Appearances at least would be saved." + +"I am in the wrong to have come here," replied she, "that is all.--I +have bid farewell to all the advantages which the world confers on women +who know how to reconcile happiness and the proprieties. My abnegation +is so complete that I only wish I could clear a vast space about me to +make a desert of my love, full of God, of _him_, and of myself.--We +have made too many sacrifices on both sides not to be united--united by +disgrace if you will, but indissolubly one. I am happy; so happy that I +can love freely, my friend, and confide in you more than of old--for I +need a friend." + +The lawyer was magnanimous, nay, truly great. To this declaration, in +which Dinah's soul thrilled, he replied in heartrending tones: + +"I wanted to go to see you, to be sure that you were loved: I shall now +be easy and no longer alarmed as to your future.--But will your lover +appreciate the magnitude of your sacrifice; is there any gratitude in +his affection?" + +"Come to the Rue des Martyrs and you will see!" + +"Yes, I will call," he replied. "I have already passed your door without +daring to inquire for you.--You do not yet know the literary world. +There are glorious exceptions, no doubt; but these men of letters drag +terrible evils in their train; among these I account publicity as one +of the greatest, for it blights everything. A woman may commit herself +with--" + +"With a Public Prosecutor?" the Baronne put in with a smile. + +"Well!--and then after a rupture there is still something to fall back +on; the world has known nothing. But with a more or less famous man the +public is thoroughly informed. Why look there! What an example you have +close at hand! You are sitting back to back with the Comtesse Marie +Vandenesse, who was within an ace of committing the utmost folly for a +more celebrated man than Lousteau--for Nathan--and now they do not even +recognize each other. After going to the very edge of the precipice, the +Countess was saved, no one knows how; she neither left her husband nor +her house; but as a famous man was scorned, she was the talk of the town +for a whole winter. But her husband's great fortune, great name, +and high position, but for the admirable management of that true +statesman--whose conduct to his wife, they say, was perfect--she would +have been ruined; in her position no other woman would have remained +respected as she is." + +"And how was Sancerre when you came away?" asked Madame de la Baudraye, +to change the subject. + +"Monsieur de la Baudraye announced that your expected confinement after +so many years made it necessary that it should take place in Paris, +and that he had insisted on your going to be attended by the first +physicians," replied Monsieur de Clagny, guessing what it was that Dinah +most wanted to know. "And so, in spite of the commotion to which your +departure gave rise, you still have your legal status." + +"Why!" she exclaimed, "can Monsieur de la Baudraye still hope----" + +"Your husband, madame, did what he always does--made a little +calculation." + +The lawyer left the box when the journalist returned, bowing with +dignity. + +"You are a greater hit than the piece," said Etienne to Dinah. + +This brief triumph brought greater happiness to the poor woman than she +had ever known in the whole of her provincial existence; still, as they +left the theatre she was very grave. + +"What ails you, my Didine?" asked Lousteau. + +"I am wondering how a woman succeeds in conquering the world?" + +"There are two ways. One is by being Madame de Stael, the other is by +having two hundred thousand francs a year." + +"Society," said she, "asserts its hold on us by appealing to our vanity, +our love of appearances.--Pooh! We will be philosophers!" + + + +That evening was the last gleam of the delusive well-being in which +Madame de la Baudraye had lived since coming to Paris. Three days later +she observed a cloud on Lousteau's brow as he walked round the little +garden-plot smoking a cigar. This woman, who had acquired from her +husband the habit and the pleasure of never owing anybody a sou, was +informed that the household was penniless, with two quarters' rent +owing, and on the eve, in fact, of an execution. + +This reality of Paris life pierced Dinah's heart like a thorn; she +repented of having tempted Etienne into the extravagances of love. It is +so difficult to pass from pleasure to work, that happiness has wrecked +more poems than sorrows ever helped to flow in sparkling jets. +Dinah, happy in seeing Etienne taking his ease, smoking a cigar after +breakfast, his face beaming as he basked like a lizard in the sunshine, +could not summon up courage enough to make herself the bum-bailiff of a +magazine. + +It struck her that through the worthy Migeon, Pamela's father, she might +pawn the few jewels she possessed, on which her "uncle," for she was +learning to talk the slang of the town, advanced her nine hundred +francs. She kept three hundred for her baby-clothes and the expenses +of her illness, and joyfully presented the sum due to Lousteau, who was +ploughing, furrow by furrow, or, if you will, line by line, through a +novel for a periodical. + +"Dearest heart," said she, "finish your novel without making any +sacrifice to necessity; polish the style, work up the subject.--I have +played the fine lady too long; I am going to be the housewife and attend +to business." + +For the last four months Etienne had been taking Dinah to the Cafe Riche +to dine every day, a corner being always kept for them. The countrywoman +was in dismay at being told that five hundred francs were owing for the +last fortnight. + +"What! we have been drinking wine at six francs a bottle! A sole +_Normande_ costs five francs!--and twenty centimes for a roll?" she +exclaimed, as she looked through the bill Lousteau showed her. + +"Well, it makes very little difference to us whether we are robbed at a +restaurant or by a cook," said Lousteau. + +"Henceforth, for the cost of your dinner, you shall live like a prince." + +Having induced the landlord to let her have a kitchen and two servants' +rooms, Madame de la Baudraye wrote a few lines to her mother, begging +her to send her some linen and a loan of a thousand francs. She received +two trunks full of linen, some plate, and two thousand francs, sent by +the hand of an honest and pious cook recommended her by her mother. + +Ten days after the evening at the theatre when they had met, Monsieur +de Clagny came to call at four o'clock, after coming out of court, and +found Madame de la Baudraye making a little cap. The sight of this proud +and ambitious woman, whose mind was so accomplished, and who had queened +it so well at the Chateau d'Anzy, now condescending to household cares +and sewing for the coming infant, moved the poor lawyer, who had just +left the bench. And as he saw the pricks on one of the taper fingers he +had so often kissed, he understood that Madame de la Baudraye was not +merely playing at this maternal task. + +In the course of this first interview the magistrate saw to the depths +of Dinah's soul. This perspicacity in a man so much in love was a +superhuman effort. He saw that Didine meant to be the journalist's +guardian spirit and lead him into a nobler road; she had seen that +the difficulties of his practical life were due to some moral defects. +Between two beings united by love--in one so genuine, and in the other +so well feigned--more than one confidence had been exchanged in the +course of four months. Notwithstanding the care with which Etienne +wrapped up his true self, a word now and then had not failed to +enlighten Dinah as to the previous life of a man whose talents were +so hampered by poverty, so perverted by bad examples, so thwarted by +obstacles beyond his courage to surmount. "He will be a greater man if +life is easy to him," said she to herself. And she strove to make him +happy, to give him the sense of a sheltered home by dint of such economy +and method as are familiar to provincial folks. Thus Dinah became +a housekeeper, as she had become a poet, by the soaring of her soul +towards the heights. + +"His happiness will be my absolution." + +These words, wrung from Madame de la Baudraye by her friend the lawyer, +accounted for the existing state of things. The publicity of his +triumph, flaunted by Etienne on the evening of the first performance, +had very plainly shown the lawyer what Lousteau's purpose was. To +Etienne, Madame de la Baudraye was, to use his own phrase, "a fine +feather in his cap." Far from preferring the joys of a shy and +mysterious passion, of hiding such exquisite happiness from the eyes of +the world, he found a vulgar satisfaction in displaying the first woman +of respectability who had ever honored him with her affection. + +The Judge, however, was for some time deceived by the attentions which +any man would lavish on any woman in Madame de la Baudraye's situation, +and Lousteau made them doubly charming by the ingratiating ways +characteristic of men whose manners are naturally attractive. There are, +in fact, men who have something of the monkey in them by nature, and to +whom the assumption of the most engaging forms of sentiment is so easy +that the actor is not detected; and Lousteau's natural gifts had been +fully developed on the stage on which he had hitherto figured. + +Between the months of April and July, when Dinah expected her +confinement, she discovered why it was that Lousteau had not triumphed +over poverty; he was idle and had no power of will. The brain, to be +sure, must obey its own laws; it recognizes neither the exigencies of +life nor the voice of honor; a man cannot write a great book because a +woman is dying, or to pay a discreditable debt, or to bring up a family; +at the same time, there is no great talent without a strong will. +These twin forces are requisite for the erection of the vast edifice of +personal glory. A distinguished genius keeps his brain in a productive +condition, just as the knights of old kept their weapons always ready +for battle. They conquer indolence, they deny themselves enervating +pleasures, or indulge only to a fixed limit proportioned to their +powers. This explains the life of such men as Walter Scott, Cuvier, +Voltaire, Newton, Buffon, Bayle, Bossuet, Leibnitz, Lopez de Vega, +Calderon, Boccacio, Aretino, Aristotle--in short, every man who +delighted, governed, or led his contemporaries. + +A man may and ought to pride himself more on his will than on his +talent. Though Talent has its germ in a cultivated gift, Will means +the incessant conquest of his instincts, of proclivities subdued and +mortified, and difficulties of every kind heroically defeated. The abuse +of smoking encouraged Lousteau's indolence. Tobacco, which can lull +grief, inevitably numbs a man's energy. + +Then, while the cigar deteriorated him physically, criticism as a +profession morally stultified a man so easily tempted by pleasure. +Criticism is as fatal to the critic as seeing two sides to a question is +to a pleader. In these professions the judgment is undermined, the mind +loses its lucid rectitude. The writer lives by taking sides. Thus, +we may distinguish two kinds of criticism, as in painting we may +distinguish art from practical dexterity. Criticism, after the pattern +of most contemporary leader-writers, is the expression of judgments +formed at random in a more or less witty way, just as an advocate pleads +in court on the most contradictory briefs. The newspaper critic always +finds a subject to work up in the book he is discussing. Done after this +fashion, the business is well adapted to indolent brains, to men devoid +of the sublime faculty of imagination, or, possessed of it indeed, but +lacking courage to cultivate it. Every play, every book comes to their +pen as a subject, making no demand on their imagination, and of which +they simply write a report, seriously or in irony, according to the +mood of the moment. As to an opinion, whatever it may be, French wit can +always justify it, being admirably ready to defend either side of any +case. And conscience counts for so little, these _bravi_ have so little +value for their own words, that they will loudly praise in the greenroom +the work they tear to tatters in print. + +Nay, men have been known to transfer their services from one paper to +another without being at the pains to consider that the opinions of the +new sheet must be diametrically antagonistic to those of the old. Madame +de la Baudraye could smile to see Lousteau with one article on the +Legitimist side and one on the side of the new dynasty, both on the same +occasion. She admired the maxim he preached: + +"We are the attorneys of public opinion." + +The other kind of criticism is a science. It necessitates a thorough +comprehension of each work, a lucid insight into the tendencies of the +age, the adoption of a system, and faith in fixed principles--that is to +say, a scheme of jurisprudence, a summing-up, and a verdict. The critic +is then a magistrate of ideas, the censor of his time; he fulfils a +sacred function; while in the former case he is but an acrobat who turns +somersaults for a living so long as he had a leg to stand on. Between +Claude Vignon and Lousteau lay the gulf that divides mere dexterity from +art. + +Dinah, whose mind was soon freed from rust, and whose intellect was by +no means narrow, had ere long taken literary measure of her idol. She +saw Lousteau working up to the last minute under the most discreditable +compulsion, and scamping his work, as painters say of a picture from +which sound technique is absent; but she would excuse him by saying, "He +is a poet!" so anxious was she to justify him in her own eyes. When she +thus guessed the secret of many a writer's existence, she also guessed +that Lousteau's pen could never be trusted to as a resource. + +Then her love for him led her to take a step she would never had thought +of for her own sake. Through her mother she tried to negotiate with her +husband for an allowance, but without Etienne's knowledge; for, as she +thought, it would be an offence to his delicate feelings, which must be +considered. A few days before the end of July, Dinah crumbled up in her +wrath the letter from her mother containing Monsieur de la Baudraye's +ultimatum: + +"Madame de la Baudraye cannot need an allowance in Paris when she can +live in perfect luxury at her Chateau of Anzy: she may return." + +Lousteau picked up this letter and read it. + +"I will avenge you!" said he to Dinah in the ominous tone that delights +a woman when her antipathies are flattered. + +Five days after this Bianchon and Duriau, the famous ladies' doctor, +were engaged at Lousteau's; for he, ever since little La Baudraye's +reply, had been making a great display of his joy and importance over +the advent of the infant. Monsieur de Clagny and Madame Piedefer--sent +for in all haste were to be the godparents, for the cautious magistrate +feared lest Lousteau should commit some compromising blunder. Madame de +la Baudraye gave birth to a boy that might have filled a queen with envy +who hoped for an heir-presumptive. + +Bianchon and Monsieur de Clagny went off to register the child at the +Mayor's office as the son of Monsieur and Madame de la Baudraye, unknown +to Etienne, who, on his part, rushed off to a printer's to have this +circular set up: + + _"Madame la Baronne de la Baudraye is happily delivered of a son._ + + _"Monsieur Etienne Lousteau has the pleasure of informing you of + the fact_. + + _"The mother and child are doing well."_ + +Lousteau had already sent out sixty of these announcements when Monsieur +de Clagny, on coming to make inquiries, happened to see the list of +persons at Sancerre to whom Lousteau proposed to send this amazing +notice, written below the names of the persons in Paris to whom it was +already gone. The lawyer confiscated the list and the remainder of the +circulars, showed them to Madame Piedefer, begging her on no account to +allow Lousteau to carry on this atrocious jest, and jumped into a +cab. The devoted friend then ordered from the same printer another +announcement in the following words: + + _"Madame la Baronne de la Baudraye is happily delivered of a son. + + "Monsieur le Baron de la Baudraye has the honor of informing you + of the fact. + + "Mother and child are doing well."_ + +After seeing the proofs destroyed, the form of type, everything that +could bear witness to the existence of the former document, Monsieur de +Clagny set to work to intercept those that had been sent; in many cases +he changed them at the porter's lodge, he got back thirty into his +own hands, and at last, after three days of hard work, only one of the +original notes existed, that, namely sent to Nathan. + +Five times had the lawyer called on the great man without finding +him. By the time Monsieur de Clagny was admitted, after requesting an +interview, the story of the announcement was known to all Paris. Some +persons regarded it as one of those waggish calumnies, a sort of stab to +which every reputation, even the most ephemeral, is exposed; others +said they had read the paper and returned it to some friend of the +La Baudraye family; a great many declaimed against the immorality of +journalists; in short, this last remaining specimen was regarded as a +curiosity. Florine, with whom Nathan was living, had shown it about, +stamped in the post as paid, and addressed in Etienne's hand. So, as +soon as the judge spoke of the announcement, Nathan began to smile. + +"Give up that monument of recklessness and folly?" cried he. "That +autograph is one of those weapons which an athlete in the circus cannot +afford to lay down. That note proves that Lousteau has no heart, no +taste, no dignity; that he knows nothing of the world nor of public +morality; that he insults himself when he can find no one else to +insult.--None but the son of a provincial citizen imported from Sancerre +to become a poet, but who is only the _bravo_ of some contemptible +magazine, could ever have sent out such a circular letter, as you must +allow, monsieur. This is a document indispensable to the archives of +the age.--To-day Lousteau flatters me, to-morrow he may ask for my +head.--Excuse me, I forgot you were a judge. + +"I have gone through a passion for a lady, a great lady, as far superior +to Madame de la Baudraye as your fine feeling, monsieur, is superior to +Lousteau's vulgar retaliation; but I would have died rather than utter +her name. A few months of her airs and graces cost me a hundred thousand +francs and my prospects for life; but I do not think the price too +high!--And I have never murmured!--If a woman betrays the secret of her +passion, it is the supreme offering of her love, but a man!--He must be +a Lousteau! + +"No, I would not give up that paper for a thousand crowns." + +"Monsieur," said the lawyer at last, after an eloquent battle lasting +half an hour, "I have called on fifteen or sixteen men of letters about +this affair, and can it be that you are the only one immovable by an +appeal of honor? It is not for Etienne Lousteau that I plead, but for +a woman and child, both equally ignorant of the damage done to their +fortune, their prospects, and their honor.--Who knows, monsieur, whether +you might not some day be compelled to plead for some favor of justice +for a friend, for some person whose honor was dearer to you than +your own.--It might be remembered against you that you had been +ruthless.--Can such a man as you are hesitate?" added Monsieur de +Clagny. + +"I only wished you to understand the extent of the sacrifice," replied +Nathan, giving up the letter, as he reflected on the judge's influence +and accepted this implied bargain. + +When the journalist's stupid jest had been counteracted, Monsieur de +Clagny went to give him a rating in the presence of Madame Piedefer; but +he found Lousteau fuming with irritation. + +"What I did monsieur, I did with a purpose!" replied Etienne. "Monsieur +de la Baudraye has sixty thousand francs a year and refuses to make his +wife an allowance; I wished to make him feel that the child is in my +power." + +"Yes, monsieur, I quite suspected it," replied the lawyer. "For that +reason I readily agreed to be little Polydore's godfather, and he is +registered as the son of the Baron and Baronne de la Baudraye; if you +have the feelings of a father, you ought to rejoice in knowing that the +child is heir to one of the finest entailed estates in France." + +"And pray, sir, is the mother to die of hunger?" + +"Be quite easy," said the lawyer bitterly, having dragged from Lousteau +the expression of feeling he had so long been expecting. "I will +undertake to transact the matter with Monsieur de la Baudraye." + +Monsieur de Clagny left the house with a chill at his heart. + +Dinah, his idol, was loved for her money. Would she not, when too late, +have her eyes opened? + +"Poor woman!" said the lawyer, as he walked away. And this justice we +will do him--for to whom should justice be done unless to a Judge?--he +loved Dinah too sincerely to regard her degradation as a means of +triumph one day; he was all pity and devotion; he really loved her. + + + +The care and nursing of the infant, its cries, the quiet needed for the +mother during the first few days, and the ubiquity of Madame Piedefer, +were so entirely adverse to literary labors, that Lousteau moved up +to the three rooms taken on the first floor for the old bigot. The +journalist, obliged to go to the first performances without Dinah, and +living apart from her, found an indescribable charm in the use of his +liberty. More than once he submitted to be taken by the arm and dragged +off to some jollification; more than once he found himself at the house +of a friend's mistress in the heart of bohemia. He again saw women +brilliantly young and splendidly dressed, in whom economy seemed treason +to their youth and power. Dinah, in spite of her striking beauty, after +nursing her baby for three months, could not stand comparison with these +perishable blossoms, so soon faded, but so showy as long as they live +rooted in opulence. + +Home life had, nevertheless, a strong attraction for Etienne. In three +months the mother and daughter, with the help of the cook from +Sancerre and of little Pamela, had given the apartment a quite changed +appearance. The journalist found his breakfast and his dinner served +with a sort of luxury. Dinah, handsome and nicely dressed, was careful +to anticipate her dear Etienne's wishes, and he felt himself the king +of his home, where everything, even the baby, was subject to his +selfishness. Dinah's affection was to be seen in every trifle, Lousteau +could not possibly cease the entrancing deceptions of his unreal +passion. + +Dinah, meanwhile, was aware of a source of ruin, both to her love and +to the household, in the kind of life into which Lousteau had allowed +himself to drift. At the end of ten months she weaned her baby, +installed her mother in the upstairs rooms, and restored the family +intimacy which indissolubly links a man and woman when the woman is +loving and clever. One of the most striking circumstances in Benjamin +Constant's novel, one of the explanations of Ellenore's desertion, is +the want of daily--or, if you will, of nightly--intercourse between +her and Adolphe. Each of the lovers has a separate home; they have both +submitted to the world and saved appearances. Ellenore, repeatedly +left to herself, is compelled to vast labors of affection to expel the +thoughts of release which captivate Adolphe when absent. The constant +exchange of glances and thoughts in domestic life gives a woman such +power that a man needs stronger reasons for desertion than she will ever +give him so long as she loves him. + +This was an entirely new phase both to Etienne and to Dinah. Dinah +intended to be indispensable; she wanted to infuse fresh energy into +this man, whose weakness smiled upon her, for she thought it a security. +She found him subjects, sketched the treatment, and at a pinch, would +write whole chapters. She revived the vitality of this dying talent by +transfusing fresh blood into his veins; she supplied him with ideas and +opinions. In short, she produced two books which were a success. More +than once she saved Lousteau's self-esteem by dictating, correcting, or +finishing his articles when he was in despair at his own lack of ideas. +The secret of this collaboration was strictly preserved; Madame Piedefer +knew nothing of it. + +This mental galvanism was rewarded by improved pay, enabling them to +live comfortably till the end of 1838. Lousteau became used to seeing +Dinah do his work, and he paid her--as the French people say in +their vigorous lingo--in "monkey money," nothing for her pains. This +expenditure in self-sacrifice becomes a treasure which generous souls +prize, and the more she gave the more she loved Lousteau; the time soon +came when Dinah felt that it would be too bitter a grief ever to give +him up. + +But then another child was coming, and this year was a terrible trial. +In spite of the precautions of the two women, Etienne contracted debts; +he worked himself to death to pay them off while Dinah was laid up; and, +knowing him as she did, she thought him heroic. But after this effort, +appalled at having two women, two children, and two maids on his hands, +he was incapable of the struggle to maintain a family by his pen when he +had failed to maintain even himself. So he let things take their chance. +Then the ruthless speculator exaggerated the farce of love-making at +home to secure greater liberty abroad. + +Dinah proudly endured the burden of life without support. The one idea, +"He loves me!" gave her superhuman strength. She worked as hard as +the most energetic spirits of our time. At the risk of her beauty +and health, Didine was to Lousteau what Mademoiselle Delachaux was to +Gardane in Diderot's noble and true tale. But while sacrificing herself, +she committed the magnanimous blunder of sacrificing dress. She had her +gowns dyed, and wore nothing but black. She stank of black, as Malaga +said, making fun mercilessly of Lousteau. + +By the end of 1839, Etienne, following the example of Louis XV., had, +by dint of gradual capitulations of conscience, come to the point of +establishing a distinction between his own money and the housekeeping +money, just as Louis XV. drew the line between his privy purse and the +public moneys. He deceived Dinah as to his earnings. On discovering +this baseness, Madame de la Baudraye went through fearful tortures of +jealousy. She wanted to live two lives--the life of the world and the +life of a literary woman; she accompanied Lousteau to every first-night +performance, and could detect in him many impulses of wounded vanity, +for her black attire rubbed off, as it were, on him, clouding his brow, +and sometimes leading him to be quite brutal. He was really the woman of +the two; and he had all a woman's exacting perversity; he would reproach +Dinah for the dowdiness of her appearance, even while benefiting by the +sacrifice, which to a mistress is so cruel--exactly like a woman who, +after sending a man through a gutter to save her honor, tells him she +"cannot bear dirt!" when he comes out. + +Dinah then found herself obliged to gather up the rather loose reins +of power by which a clever woman drives a man devoid of will. But in +so doing she could not fail to lose much of her moral lustre. Such +suspicions as she betrayed drag a woman into quarrels which lead to +disrespect, because she herself comes down from the high level on which +she had at first placed herself. Next she made some concession; Lousteau +was allowed to entertain several of his friends--Nathan, Bixiou, +Blondet, Finot, whose manners, language, and intercourse were depraving. +They tried to convince Madame de la Baudraye that her principles and +aversions were a survival of provincial prudishness; and they preached +the creed of woman's superiority. + +Before long, her jealousy put weapons into Lousteau's hands. During +the carnival of 1840, she disguised herself to go to the balls at the +Opera-house, and to suppers where she met courtesans, in order to keep +an eye on all Etienne's amusements. + +On the day of Mid-Lent--or rather, at eight on the morning after--Dinah +came home from the ball in her fancy dress to go to bed. She had gone to +spy on Lousteau, who, believing her to be ill, had engaged himself for +that evening to Fanny Beaupre. The journalist, warned by a friend, had +behaved so as to deceive the poor woman, only too ready to be deceived. + +As she stepped out of the hired cab, Dinah met Monsieur de la Baudraye, +to whom the porter pointed her out. The little old man took his wife by +the arm, saying, in an icy tone: + +"So this is you, madame!" + +This sudden advent of conjugal authority, before which she felt herself +so small, and, above all, these words, almost froze the heart of +the unhappy woman caught in the costume of a _debardeur_. To escape +Etienne's eye the more effectually, she had chosen a dress he was not +likely to detect her in. She took advantage of the mask she still had +on to escape without replying, changed her dress, and went up to her +mother's rooms, where she found her husband waiting for her. In spite of +her assumed dignity, she blushed in the old man's presence. + +"What do you want of me, monsieur?" she asked. "Are we not separated +forever?" + +"Actually, yes," said Monsieur de la Baudraye. "Legally, no." + +Madame Piedefer was telegraphing signals to her daughter, which Dinah +presently observed and understood. + +"Nothing could have brought you here but your own interests," she said, +in a bitter tone. + +"_Our_ interests," said the little man coldly, "for we have two +children.--Your Uncle Silas Piedefer is dead, at New York, where, after +having made and lost several fortunes in various parts of the world, he +has finally left some seven or eight hundred thousand francs--they say +twelve--but there is stock-in-trade to be sold. I am the chief in our +common interests, and act for you." + +"Oh!" cried Dinah, "in everything that relates to business, I trust no +one but Monsieur de Clagny. He knows the law, come to terms with him; +what he does, will be done right." + +"I have no occasion for Monsieur de Clagny," answered Monsieur de la +Baudraye, "to take my children from you--" + +"Your children!" exclaimed Dinah. "Your children, to whom you have not +sent a sou! _Your_ children!" She burst into a loud shout of laughter; +but Monsieur de la Baudraye's unmoved coolness threw ice on the +explosion. + +"Your mother has just brought them to show me," he went on. "They are +charming boys. I do not intend to part from them. I shall take them to +our house at Anzy, if it were only to save them from seeing their mother +disguised like a--" + +"Silence!" said Madame de la Baudraye imperatively. "What do you want of +me that brought you here?" + +"A power of attorney to receive our Uncle Silas' property." + +Dinah took a pen, wrote two lines to Monsieur de Clagny, and desired her +husband to call again in the afternoon. + +At five o'clock, Monsieur de Clagny--who had been promoted to the +post of Attorney-General--enlightened Madame de la Baudraye as to her +position; still, he undertook to arrange everything by a bargain with +the old fellow, whose visit had been prompted by avarice alone. Monsieur +de la Baudraye, to whom his wife's power of attorney was indispensable +to enable him to deal with the business as he wished, purchased it by +certain concessions. In the first place, he undertook to allow her +ten thousand francs a year so long as she found it convenient--so the +document was worded--to reside in Paris; the children, each on attaining +the age of six, were to be placed in Monsieur de la Baudraye's keeping. +Finally, the lawyer extracted the payment of the allowance in advance. + +Little La Baudraye, who came jauntily enough to say good-bye to his wife +and _his_ children, appeared in a white india-rubber overcoat. He was +so firm on his feet, and so exactly like the La Baudraye of 1836, that +Dinah despaired of ever burying the dreadful little dwarf. From the +garden, where he was smoking a cigar, the journalist could watch +Monsieur de la Baudraye for so long as it took the little reptile to +cross the forecourt, but that was enough for Lousteau; it was plain to +him that the little man had intended to wreck every hope of his dying +that his wife might have conceived. + +This short scene made a considerable change in the writer's secret +scheming. As he smoked a second cigar, he seriously reviewed the +position. + +His life with Madame de la Baudraye had hitherto cost him quite as much +as it had cost her. To use the language of business, the two sides +of the account balanced, and they could, if necessary, cry quits. +Considering how small his income was, and how hardly he earned it, +Lousteau regarded himself, morally speaking, as the creditor. It was, no +doubt, a favorable moment for throwing the woman over. Tired at the end +of three years of playing a comedy which never can become a habit, +he was perpetually concealing his weariness; and this fellow, who was +accustomed to disguise none of his feelings, compelled himself to wear +a smile at home like that of a debtor in the presence of his creditor. +This compulsion was every day more intolerable. + +Hitherto the immense advantages he foresaw in the future had given him +strength; but when he saw Monsieur de la Baudraye embark for the United +States, as briskly as if it were to go down to Rouen in a steamboat, he +ceased to believe in the future. + +He went in from the garden to the pretty drawing-room, where Dinah had +just taken leave of her husband. + +"Etienne," said Madame de la Baudraye, "do you know what my lord and +master has proposed to me? In the event of my wishing to return to live +at Anzy during his absence, he has left his orders, and he hopes that my +mother's good advice will weigh with me, and that I shall go back there +with my children." + +"It is very good advice," replied Lousteau drily, knowing the passionate +disclaimer that Dinah expected, and indeed begged for with her eyes. + +The tone, the words, the cold look, all hit the hapless woman so hard, +who lived only in her love, that two large tears trickled slowly down +her cheeks, while she did not speak a word, and Lousteau only saw them +when she took out her handkerchief to wipe away these two beads of +anguish. + +"What is it, Didine?" he asked, touched to the heart by this excessive +sensibility. + +"Just as I was priding myself on having won our freedom," said she--"at +the cost of my fortune--by selling--what is most precious to a mother's +heart--selling my children!--for he is to have them from the age of +six--and I cannot see them without going to Sancerre!--and that is +torture!--Ah, dear God! What have I done----?" + +Lousteau knelt down by her and kissed her hands with a lavish display of +coaxing and petting. + +"You do not understand me," said he. "I blame myself, for I am not +worth such sacrifices, dear angel. I am, in a literary sense, a quite +second-rate man. If the day comes when I can no longer cut a figure at +the bottom of the newspaper, the editors will let me lie, like an old +shoe flung into the rubbish heap. Remember, we tight-rope dancers have +no retiring pension! The State would have too many clever men on its +hands if it started on such a career of beneficence. I am forty-two, and +I am as idle as a marmot. I feel it--I know it"--and he took her by the +hand--"my love can only be fatal to you. + +"As you know, at two-and-twenty I lived on Florine; but what is +excusable in a youth, what then seems smart and charming, is a disgrace +to a man of forty. Hitherto we have shared the burden of existence, and +it has not been lovely for this year and half. Out of devotion to me you +wear nothing but black, and that does me no credit."--Dinah gave one +of those magnanimous shrugs which are worth all the words ever +spoken.--"Yes," Etienne went on, "I know you sacrifice everything to my +whims, even your beauty. And I, with a heart worn out in past struggles, +a soul full of dark presentiments as to the future, I cannot repay your +exquisite love with an equal affection. We were very happy--without a +cloud--for a long time.--Well, then, I cannot bear to see so sweet a +poem end badly. Am I wrong?" + +Madame de la Baudraye loved Etienne so truly, that this prudence, worthy +of de Clagny, gratified her and stanched her tears. + +"He loves me for myself alone!" thought she, looking at him with smiling +eyes. + +After four years of intimacy, this woman's love now combined every shade +of affection which our powers of analysis can discern, and which modern +society has created; one of the most remarkable men of our age, whose +death is a recent loss to the world of letters, Beyle (Stendhal), was +the first to delineate them to perfection. + +Lousteau could produce in Dinah the acute agitation which may be +compared to magnetism, that upsets every power of the mind and body, and +overcomes every instinct of resistance in a woman. A look from him, or +his hand laid on hers, reduced her to implicit obedience. A kind word or +a smile wreathed the poor woman's soul with flowers; a fond look elated, +a cold look depressed her. When she walked, taking his arm and keeping +step with him in the street or on the boulevard, she was so entirely +absorbed in him that she lost all sense of herself. Fascinated by this +fellow's wit, magnetized by his airs, his vices were but trivial defects +in her eyes. She loved the puffs of cigar smoke that the wind brought +into her room from the garden; she went to inhale them, and made no +wry faces, hiding herself to enjoy them. She hated the publisher or +the newspaper editor who refused Lousteau money on the ground of the +enormous advances he had had already. She deluded herself so far as to +believe that her bohemian was writing a novel, for which the payment was +to come, instead of working off a debt long since incurred. + +This, no doubt, is true love, and includes every mode of loving; the +love of the heart and of the head--passion, caprice, and taste--to +accept Beyle's definitions. Didine loved him so wholly, that in certain +moments when her critical judgment, just by nature, and constantly +exercised since she had lived in Paris, compelled her to read to the +bottom of Lousteau's soul, sense was still too much for reason, and +suggested excuses. + +"And what am I?" she replied. "A woman who has put herself outside the +pale. Since I have sacrificed all a woman's honor, why should you not +sacrifice to me some of a man's honor? Do we not live outside the limits +of social conventionality? Why not accept from me what Nathan can accept +from Florine? We will square accounts when we part, and only death can +part us--you know. My happiness is your honor, Etienne, as my constancy +and your happiness are mine. If I fail to make you happy, all is at an +end. If I cause you a pang, condemn me. + +"Our debts are paid; we have ten thousand francs a year, and between +us we can certainly make eight thousand francs a year--I will write +theatrical articles.--With fifteen hundred francs a month we shall be as +rich as Rothschild.--Be quite easy. I will have some lovely dresses, +and give you every day some gratified vanity, as on the first night of +Nathan's play--" + +"And what about your mother, who goes to Mass every day, and wants to +bring a priest to the house and make you give up this way of life?" + +"Every one has a pet vice. You smoke, she preaches at me, poor woman! +But she takes great care of the children, she takes them out, she is +absolutely devoted, and idolizes me. Would you hinder her from crying?" + +"What will be thought of me?" + +"But we do not live for the world!" cried she, raising Etienne and +making him sit by her. "Besides, we shall be married some day--we have +the risks of a sea voyage----" + +"I never thought of that," said Lousteau simply; and he added to +himself, "Time enough to part when little La Baudraye is safe back +again." + + + +From that day forth Etienne lived in luxury; and Dinah, on first nights, +could hold her own with the best dressed women in Paris. Lousteau was +so fatuous as to affect, among his friends, the attitude of a man +overborne, bored to extinction, ruined by Madame de la Baudraye. + +"Oh, what would I not give to the friend who would deliver me from +Dinah! But no one ever can!" said he. "She loves me enough to throw +herself out of the window if I told her." + +The journalist was duly pitied; he would take precautions against +Dinah's jealousy when he accepted an invitation. And then he was +shamelessly unfaithful. Monsieur de Clagny, really in despair at seeing +Dinah in such disgraceful circumstances when she might have been so +rich, and in so wretched a position at the time when her original +ambitions would have been fulfilled, came to warn her, to tell her--"You +are betrayed," and she only replied, "I know it." + +The lawyer was silenced; still he found his tongue to say one thing. + +Madame de la Baudraye interrupted him when he had scarcely spoken a +word. + +"Do you still love me?" she asked. + +"I would lose my soul for you!" he exclaimed, starting to his feet. + +The hapless man's eyes flashed like torches, he trembled like a leaf, +his throat was rigid, his hair thrilled to the roots; he believed he was +so blessed as to be accepted as his idol's avenger, and this poor joy +filled him with rapture. + +"Why are you so startled?" said she, making him sit down again. "That is +how I love him." + +The lawyer understood this argument _ad hominem_. And there were tears +in the eyes of the Judge, who had just condemned a man to death! + +Lousteau's satiety, that odious conclusion of such illicit relations, +had betrayed itself in a thousand little things, which are like grains +of sand thrown against the panes of the little magical hut where +those who love dwell and dream. These grains of sand, which grow to +be pebbles, had never been discerned by Dinah till they were as big +as rocks. Madame de la Baudraye had at last thoroughly understood +Lousteau's character. + +"He is," she said to her mother, "a poet, defenceless against disaster, +mean out of laziness, not for want of heart, and rather too prone to +pleasure; in short, a great cat, whom it is impossible to hate. What +would become of him without me? I hindered his marriage; he has no +prospects. His talent would perish in privations." + +"Oh, my Dinah!" Madame Piedefer had exclaimed, "what a hell you live in! +What is the feeling that gives you strength enough to persist?" + +"I will be a mother to him!" she had replied. + +There are certain horrible situations in which we come to no decision +till the moment when our friends discern our dishonor. We accept +compromises with ourself so long as we escape a censor who comes to play +prosecutor. Monsieur de Clagny, as clumsy as a tortured man, had been +torturing Dinah. + +"To preserve my love I will be all that Madame de Pompadour was to +preserve her power," said she to herself when Monsieur de Clagny had +left her. And this phrase sufficiently proves that her love was becoming +a burden to her, and would presently be a toil rather than a pleasure. + +The part now assumed by Dinah was horribly painful, and Lousteau made +it no easier to play. When he wanted to go out after dinner he would +perform the tenderest little farces of affection, and address Dinah in +words full of devotion; he would take her by the chain, and when he had +bruised her with it, even while he hurt her, the lordly ingrate would +say, "Did I wound you?" + +These false caresses and deceptions had degrading consequences for +Dinah, who believed in a revival of his love. The mother, alas, gave +way to the mistress with shameful readiness. She felt herself a mere +plaything in the man's hands, and at last she confessed to herself: + +"Well, then, I will be his plaything!" finding joy in it--the rapture of +damnation. + +When this woman, of a really manly spirit, pictured herself as living in +solitude, she felt her courage fail. She preferred the anticipated and +inevitable miseries of this fierce intimacy to the absence of the joys, +which were all the more exquisite because they arose from the midst of +remorse, of terrible struggles with herself, of a _No_ persuaded to +be _Yes_. At every moment she seemed to come across the pool of bitter +water found in a desert, and drunk with greater relish than the traveler +would find in sipping the finest wines at a prince's table. + +When Dinah wondered to herself at midnight: + +"Will he come home, or will he not?" she was not alive again till she +heard the familiar sound of Lousteau's boots, and his well-known ring at +the bell. + +She would often try to restrain him by giving him pleasure; she would +hope to be a match for her rivals, and leave them no hold on that +agitated heart. How many times a day would she rehearse the tragedy of +_Le Dernier Jour d'un condamne_, saying to herself, "To-morrow we part." +And how often would a word, a look, a kiss full of apparently artless +feeling, bring her back to the depths of her love! + +It was terrible. More than once had she meditated suicide as she paced +the little town garden where a few pale flowers bloomed. In fact, she +had not yet exhausted the vast treasure of devotion and love which a +loving woman bears in her heart. + +The romance of _Adolphe_ was her Bible, her study, for above all else +she would not be an Ellenore. She allowed herself no tears, she avoided +all the bitterness so cleverly described by the critic to whom we owe +an analysis of this striking work; whose comments indeed seemed to Dinah +almost superior to the book. And she read again and again this fine +essay by the only real critic who has written in the _Revue des Deux +Mondes_, an article now printed at the beginning of the new edition of +_Adolphe_. + +"No," she would say to herself, as she repeated the author's fateful +words, "no, I will not 'give my requests the form of an order,' I will +not 'fly to tears as a means of revenge,' I will not 'condemn the things +I once approved without reservation,' I will not 'dog his footsteps with +a prying eye'; if he plays truant, he shall not on his return 'see a +scornful lip, whose kiss is an unanswerable command.' No, 'my silence +shall not be a reproach nor my first word a quarrel.'--I will not be +like every other woman!" she went on, laying on her table the little +yellow paper volume which had already attracted Lousteau's remark, +"What! are you studying _Adolphe_?"--"If for one day only he should +recognize my merits and say, 'That victim never uttered a cry!'--it will +be all I ask. And besides, the others only have him for an hour; I have +him for life!" + +Thinking himself justified by his private tribunal in punishing his +wife, Monsieur de la Baudraye robbed her to achieve his cherished +enterprise of reclaiming three thousand acres of moorland, to which he +had devoted himself ever since 1836, living like a mouse. He manipulated +the property left by Monsieur Silas Piedefer so ingeniously, that he +contrived to reduce the proved value to eight hundred thousand francs, +while pocketing twelve hundred thousand. He did not announce his return; +but while his wife was enduring unspeakable woes, he was building farms, +digging trenches, and ploughing rough ground with a courage that ranked +him among the most remarkable agriculturists of the province. + +The four hundred thousand francs he had filched from his wife were spent +in three years on this undertaking, and the estate of Anzy was expected +to return seventy-two thousand francs a year of net profits after the +taxes were paid. The eight hundred thousand he invested at four and a +half per cent in the funds, buying at eighty francs, at the time of the +financial crisis brought about by the Ministry of the First of March, +as it was called. By thus securing to his wife an income of forty-eight +thousand francs he considered himself no longer in her debt. Could he +not restore the odd twelve hundred thousand as soon as the four and a +half per cents had risen above a hundred? He was now the greatest man +in Sancerre, with the exception of one--the richest proprietor in +France--whose rival he considered himself. He saw himself with an income +of a hundred and forty thousand francs, of which ninety thousand formed +the revenue from the lands he had entailed. Having calculated that +besides this net income he paid ten thousand francs in taxes, three +thousand in working expenses, ten thousand to his wife, and twelve +hundred to his mother-in-law, he would say in the literary circles of +Sancerre: + +"I am reputed miserly, and said to spend nothing; but my outlay amounts +to twenty-six thousand five hundred francs a year. And I have still to +pay for the education of my two children! I daresay it is not a pleasing +fact to the Milauds of Nevers, but the second house of La Baudraye may +yet have as noble a center as the first.--I shall most likely go to +Paris and petition the King of the French to grant me the title of +Count--Monsieur Roy is a Count--and my wife would be pleased to be +Madame la Comtesse." + +And this was said with such splendid coolness that no one would have +dared to laugh at the little man. Only Monsieur Boirouge, the Presiding +Judge, remarked: + +"In your place, I should not be happy unless I had a daughter." + +"Well, I shall go to Paris before long----" said the Baron. + +In the early part of 1842 Madame de la Baudraye, feeling that she was to +Lousteau no more than a reserve in the background, had again sacrificed +herself absolutely to secure his comfort; she had resumed her black +raiment, but now it was in sign of mourning, for her pleasure was +turning to remorse. She was too often put to shame not to feel the +weight of the chain, and her mother found her sunk in those moods of +meditation into which visions of the future cast unhappy souls in a sort +of torpor. + +Madame Piedefer, by the advice of her spiritual director, was on the +watch for the moment of exhaustion, which the priest told her would +inevitably supervene, and then she pleaded in behalf of the children. +She restricted herself to urging that Dinah and Lousteau should live +apart, not asking her to give him up. In real life these violent +situations are not closed as they are in books, by death or cleverly +contrived catastrophes; they end far less poetically--in disgust, in the +blighting of every flower of the soul, in the commonplace of habit, and +very often too in another passion, which robs a wife of the interest +which is traditionally ascribed to women. So, when common sense, the law +of social proprieties, family interest--all the mixed elements which, +since the Restoration, have been dignified by the name of Public Morals, +out of sheer aversion to the name of the Catholic religion--where this +is seconded by a sense of insults a little too offensive; when the +fatigue of constant self-sacrifice has almost reached the point of +exhaustion; and when, under these circumstances, a too cruel blow--one +of those mean acts which a man never lets a woman know of unless he +believes himself to be her assured master--puts the crowning touch +to her revulsion and disenchantment, the moment has come for the +intervention of the friend who undertakes the cure. Madame Piedefer had +no great difficulty now in removing the film from her daughter's eyes. + +She sent for Monsieur de Clagny, who completed the work by assuring +Madame de la Baudraye that if she would give up Etienne, her husband +would allow her to keep the children and to live in Paris, and would +restore her to the command of her own fortune. + +"And what a life you are leading!" said he. "With care and judgment, and +the support of some pious and charitable persons, you may have a salon +and conquer a position. Paris is not Sancerre." + +Dinah left it to Monsieur de Clagny to negotiate a reconciliation with +the old man. + +Monsieur de la Baudraye had sold his wine well, he had sold his wool, +he had felled his timber, and, without telling his wife, he had come +to Paris to invest two hundred thousand francs in the purchase of a +delightful residence in the Rue de l'Arcade, that was being sold in +liquidation of an aristocratic House that was in difficulties. He had +been a member of the Council for the Department since 1826, and now, +paying ten thousand francs in taxes, he was doubly qualified for a +peerage under the conditions of the new legislation. + +Some time before the elections of 1842 he had put himself forward as +candidate unless he were meanwhile called to the Upper House as Peer +of France. At the same time, he asked for the title of Count, and for +promotion to the higher grade of the Legion of Honor. In the matter of +the elections, the dynastic nominations; now, in the event of Monsieur +de la Baudraye being won over to the Government, Sancerre would be +more than ever a rotten borough of royalism. Monsieur de Clagny, +whose talents and modesty were more and more highly appreciated by the +authorities, gave Monsieur de la Baudraye his support; he pointed +out that by raising this enterprising agriculturist to the peerage, a +guarantee would be offered to such important undertakings. + +Monsieur de la Baudraye, then, a Count, a Peer of France, and Commander +of the Legion of Honor, was vain enough to wish to cut a figure with +a wife and handsomely appointed house.--"He wanted to enjoy life," he +said. + +He therefore addressed a letter to his wife, dictated by Monsieur de +Clagny, begging her to live under his roof and to furnish the house, +giving play to the taste of which the evidences, he said, had charmed +him at the Chateau d'Anzy. The newly made Count pointed out to his wife +that while the interests of their property forbade his leaving Sancerre, +the education of their boys required her presence in Paris. The +accommodating husband desired Monsieur de Clagny to place sixty thousand +francs at the disposal of Madame la Comtesse for the interior decoration +of their mansion, requesting that she would have a marble tablet +inserted over the gateway with the inscription: _Hotel de la Baudraye_. + +He then accounted to his wife for the money derived from the estate of +Silas Piedefer, told her of the investment at four and a half per cent +of the eight hundred thousand francs he had brought from New York, and +allowed her that income for her expenses, including the education of the +children. As he would be compelled to stay in Paris during some part of +the session of the House of Peers, he requested his wife to reserve for +him a little suite of rooms in an _entresol_ over the kitchens. + +"Bless me! why, he is growing young again--a gentleman!--a +magnifico!--What will he become next? It is quite alarming," said Madame +de la Baudraye. + +"He now fulfils all your wishes at the age of twenty," replied the +lawyer. + +The comparison of her future prospects with her present position was +unendurable to Dinah. Only the day before, Anna de Fontaine had +turned her head away in order to avoid seeing her bosom friend at the +Chamarolles' school. + +"I am a countess," said Dinah to herself. "I shall have the peer's blue +hammer-cloth on my carriage, and the leaders of the literary world in my +drawing-room--and I will look at her!"--And it was this little triumph +that told with all its weight at the moment of her rehabilitation, as +the world's contempt had of old weighed on her happiness. + + + +One fine day, in May 1842, Madame de la Baudraye paid all her little +household debts and left a thousand crowns on top of the packet of +receipted bills. After sending her mother and the children away to the +Hotel de la Baudraye, she awaited Lousteau, dressed ready to leave the +house. When the deposed king of her heart came into dinner, she said: + +"I have upset the pot, my dear. Madame de la Baudraye requests the +pleasure of your company at the _Rocher de Cancale_." + +She carried off Lousteau, quite bewildered by the light and easy manners +assumed by the woman who till that morning has been the slave of his +least whim, for she too had been acting a farce for two months past. + +"Madame de la Baudraye is figged out as if for a first night," said +he--_une premiere_, the slang abbreviation for a first performance. + +"Do not forget the respect you owe to Madame de la Baudraye," said Dinah +gravely. "I do not mean to understand such a word as _figged out_." + +"Didine a rebel!" said he, putting his arm round her waist. + +"There is no such person as Didine; you have killed her, my dear," she +replied, releasing herself. "I am taking you to the first performance of +_Madame la Comtesse de la Baudraye_." + +"It is true, then, that our insect is a peer of France?" + +"The nomination is to be gazetted in this evening's _Moniteur_, as I am +told by Monsieur de Clagny, who is promoted to the Court of Appeal." + +"Well, it is quite right," said the journalist. "The entomology of +society ought to be represented in the Upper House." + +"My friend, we are parting for ever," said Madame de la Baudraye, +trying to control the trembling of her voice. "I have dismissed the +two servants. When you go in, you will find the house in order, and no +debts. I shall always feel a mother's affection for you, but in secret. +Let us part calmly, without a fuss, like decent people. + +"Have you had a fault to find with my conduct during the past six +years?" + +"None, but that you have spoiled my life, and wrecked my prospects," +said he in a hard tone. "You have read Benjamin Constant's book very +diligently; you have even studied the last critique on it; but you +have read with a woman's eyes. Though you have one of those superior +intellects which would make a fortune of a poet, you have never dared to +take the man's point of view. + +"That book, my dear, is of both sexes.--We agreed that books were male +or female, dark or fair. In _Adolphe_ women see nothing but Ellenore; +young men see only Adolphe; men of experience see Ellenore and Adolphe; +political men see the whole of social existence. You did not think it +necessary to read the soul of Adolphe--any more than your critic indeed, +who saw only Ellenore. What kills that poor fellow, my dear, is that +he has sacrificed his future for a woman; that he never can be what he +might have been--an ambassador, a minister, a chamberlain, a poet--and +rich. He gives up six years of his energy at that stage of his life when +a man is ready to submit to the hardships of any apprenticeship--to +a petticoat, which he outstrips in the career of ingratitude, for the +woman who has thrown over her first lover is certain sooner or later to +desert the second. Adolphe is, in fact, a tow-haired German, who has +not spirit enough to be false to Ellenore. There are Adolphes who spare +their Ellenores all ignominious quarreling and reproaches, who say to +themselves, 'I will not talk of what I have sacrificed; I will not for +ever be showing the stump of my wrist to let that incarnate selfishness +I have made my queen,' as Ramorny does in _The Fair Maid of Perth_. But +men like that, my dear, get cast aside. + +"Adolphe is a man of birth, an aristocratic nature, who wants to get +back into the highroad to honors and recover his social birthright, his +blighted position.--You, at this moment, are playing both parts. You +are suffering from the pangs of having lost your position, and think +yourself justified in throwing over a hapless lover whose misfortune +it has been that he fancied you so far superior as to understand that, +though a man's heart ought to be true, his sex may be allowed to indulge +its caprices." + +"And do you suppose that I shall not make it my business to restore to +you all you have lost by me? Be quite easy," said Madame de la Baudraye, +astounded by this attack. "Your Ellenore is not dying; and if God +gives her life, if you amend your ways, if you give up courtesans and +actresses, we will find you a better match than a Felicie Cardot." + +The two lovers were sullen. Lousteau affected dejection, he aimed at +appearing hard and cold; while Dinah, really distressed, listened to the +reproaches of her heart. + +"Why," said Lousteau presently, "why not end as we ought to have +begun--hide our love from all eyes, and see each other in secret?" + +"Never!" cried the new-made Countess, with an icy look. "Do you not +comprehend that we are, after all, but finite creatures? Our feelings +seem infinite by reason of our anticipation of heaven, but here on earth +they are limited by the strength of our physical being. There are some +feeble, mean natures which may receive an endless number of wounds and +live on; but there are some more highly-tempered souls which snap at +last under repeated blows. You have--" + +"Oh! enough!" cried he. "No more copy! Your dissertation is unnecessary, +since you can justify yourself by merely saying--'I have ceased to +love!'" + +"What!" she exclaimed in bewilderment. "Is it I who have ceased to +love?" + +"Certainly. You have calculated that I gave you more trouble, more +vexation than pleasure, and you desert your partner--" + +"I desert!----" cried she, clasping her hands. + +"Have not you yourself just said 'Never'?" + +"Well, then, yes! _Never_," she repeated vehemently. + +This final _Never_, spoken in the fear of falling once more under +Lousteau's influence, was interpreted by him as the death-warrant of his +power, since Dinah remained insensible to his sarcastic scorn. + +The journalist could not suppress a tear. He was losing a sincere and +unbounded affection. He had found in Dinah the gentlest La Valliere, +the most delightful Pompadour that any egoist short of a king could hope +for; and, like a boy who has discovered that by dint of tormenting a +cockchafer he has killed it, Lousteau shed a tear. + +Madame de la Baudraye rushed out of the private room where they had been +dining, paid the bill, and fled home to the Rue de l'Arcade, scolding +herself and thinking herself a brute. + + + +Dinah, who had made her house a model of comfort, now metamorphosed +herself. This double metamorphosis cost thirty thousand francs more than +her husband had anticipated. + +The fatal accident which in 1842 deprived the House of Orleans of the +heir-presumptive having necessitated a meeting of the Chambers in August +of that year, little La Baudraye came to present his titles to the Upper +House sooner than he had expected, and then saw what his wife had +done. He was so much delighted, that he paid the thirty thousand +francs without a word, just as he had formerly paid eight thousand for +decorating La Baudraye. + +On his return from the Luxembourg, where he had been presented according +to custom by two of his peers--the Baron de Nucingen and the Marquis +de Montriveau--the new Count met the old Duc de Chaulieu, a former +creditor, walking along, umbrella in hand, while he himself sat perched +in a low chaise on which his coat-of-arms was resplendent, with the +motto, _Deo sic patet fides et hominibus_. This contrast filled his +heart with a large draught of the balm on which the middle class has +been getting drunk ever since 1840. + +Madame de la Baudraye was shocked to see her husband improved and +looking better than on the day of his marriage. The little dwarf, full +of rapturous delight, at sixty-four triumphed in the life which had so +long been denied him; in the family, which his handsome cousin Milaud of +Nevers had declared he would never have; and in his wife--who had asked +Monsieur and Madame de Clagny to dinner to meet the cure of the parish +and his two sponsors to the Chamber of Peers. He petted the children +with fatuous delight. + +The handsome display on the table met with his approval. + +"These are the fleeces of the Berry sheep," said he, showing Monsieur de +Nucingen the dish-covers surmounted by his newly-won coronet. "They are +of silver, you see!" + +Though consumed by melancholy, which she concealed with the +determination of a really superior woman, Dinah was charming, witty, and +above all, young again in her court mourning. + +"You might declare," cried La Baudraye to Monsieur de Nucingen with a +wave of his hand to his wife, "that the Countess was not yet thirty." + +"Ah, ha! Matame is a voman of dirty!" replied the baron, who was +prone to time-honored remarks, which he took to be the small change of +conversation. + +"In every sense of the words," replied the Countess. "I am, in fact, +five-and-thirty, and mean to set up a little passion--" + +"Oh, yes, my wife ruins me in curiosities and china images--" + +"She started that mania at an early age," said the Marquis de Montriveau +with a smile. + +"Yes," said La Baudraye, with a cold stare at the Marquis, whom he had +known at Bourges, "you know that in '25, '26, and '27, she picked a +million francs' worth of treasures. Anzy is a perfect museum." + +"What a cool hand!" thought Monsieur de Clagny, as he saw this little +country miser quite on the level of his new position. + +But misers have savings of all kinds ready for use. + +On the day after the vote on the Regency had passed the Chambers, the +little Count went back to Sancerre for the vintage and resumed his old +habits. + +In the course of that winter, the Comtesse de la Baudraye, with the +support of the Attorney-General to the Court of Appeals, tried to form a +little circle. Of course, she had an "at home" day, she made a selection +among men of mark, receiving none but those of serious purpose and ripe +years. She tried to amuse herself by going to the Opera, French and +Italian. Twice a week she appeared there with her mother and Madame de +Clagny, who was made by her husband to visit Dinah. Still, in spite of +her cleverness, her charming manners, her fashionable stylishness, she +was never really happy but with her children, on whom she lavished all +her disappointed affection. + +Worthy Monsieur de Clagny tried to recruit women for the Countess' +circle, and he succeeded; but he was more successful among the advocates +of piety than the women of fashion. + +"And they bore her!" said he to himself with horror, as he saw his idol +matured by grief, pale from remorse, and then, in all the splendor of +recovered beauty, restored by a life of luxury and care for her boys. +This devoted friend, encouraged in his efforts by her mother and by the +cure was full of expedient. Every Wednesday he introduced some celebrity +from Germany, England, Italy, or Prussia to his dear Countess; he +spoke of her as a quite exceptional woman to people to whom she hardly +addressed two words; but she listened to them with such deep attention +that they went away fully convinced of her superiority. In Paris, Dinah +conquered by silence, as at Sancerre she had conquered by loquacity. Now +and then, some smart saying about affairs, or sarcasm on an absurdity, +betrayed a woman accustomed to deal with ideas--the woman who, four +years since, had given new life to Lousteau's articles. + +This phase was to the poor lawyer's hapless passion like the late season +known as the Indian summer after a sunless year. He affected to be older +than he was, to have the right to befriend Dinah without doing her +an injury, and kept himself at a distance as though he were young, +handsome, and compromising, like a man who has happiness to conceal. He +tried to keep his little attentions a profound secret, and the trifling +gifts which Dinah showed to every one; he endeavored to suggest a +dangerous meaning for his little services. + +"He plays at passion," said the Countess, laughing. She made fun of +Monsieur de Clagny to his face, and the lawyer said, "She notices me." + +"I impress that poor man so deeply," said she to her mother, laughing, +"that if I would say Yes, I believe he would say No." + +One evening Monsieur de Clagny and his wife were taking his dear +Countess home from the theatre, and she was deeply pensive. They had +been to the first performance of Leon Gozlan's first play, _La Main +Droite et la Main Gauche_ (The Right Hand and the Left). + +"What are you thinking about?" asked the lawyer, alarmed at his idol's +dejection. + +This deep and persistent melancholy, though disguised by the Countess, +was a perilous malady for which Monsieur de Clagny knew no remedy; for +true love is often clumsy, especially when it is not reciprocated. True +love takes its expression from the character. Now, this good man loved +after the fashion of Alceste, when Madame de la Baudraye wanted to be +loved after the manner of Philinte. The meaner side of love can never +get on with the Misanthrope's loyalty. Thus, Dinah had taken care never +to open her heart to this man. How could she confess to him that she +sometimes regretted the slough she had left? + +She felt a void in this fashionable life; she had no one for whom to +dress, or whom to tell of her successes and triumphs. Sometimes the +memory of her wretchedness came to her, mingled with memories of +consuming joys. She would hate Lousteau for not taking any pains to +follow her; she would have liked to get tender or furious letters from +him. + +Dinah made no reply, so Monsieur de Clagny repeated the question, taking +the Countess' hand and pressing it between his own with devout respect. + +"Will you have the right hand or the left?" said she, smiling. + +"The left," said he, "for I suppose you mean the truth or a fib." + +"Well, then, I saw him," she said, speaking into the lawyer's ear. "And +as I saw him looking so sad, so out of heart, I said to myself, Has he a +cigar? Has he any money?" + +"If you wish for the truth, I can tell it you," said the lawyer. "He is +living as a husband with Fanny Beaupre. You have forced me to tell you +this secret; I should never have told you, for you might have suspected +me perhaps of an ungenerous motive." + +Madame de la Baudraye grasped his hand. + +"Your husband," said she to her chaperon, "is one of the rarest +souls!--Ah! Why----" + +She shrank into her corner, looking out of the window, but she did not +finish her sentence, of which the lawyer could guess the end: "Why had +not Lousteau a little of your husband's generosity of heart?" + +This information served, however, to cure Dinah of her melancholy; she +threw herself into the whirl of fashion. She wished for success, and she +achieved it; still, she did not make much way with women, and found it +difficult to get introductions. + +In the month of March, Madame Piedefer's friends the priests and +Monsieur de Clagny made a fine stroke by getting Madame de la Baudraye +appointed receiver of subscriptions for the great charitable work +founded by Madame de Carcado. Then she was commissioned to collect from +the Royal Family their donations for the benefit of the sufferers from +the earthquake at Guadeloupe. The Marquise d'Espard, to whom Monsieur +de Canalis read the list of ladies thus appointed, one evening at the +Opera, said, on hearing that of the Countess: + +"I have lived a long time in the world, and I can remember nothing finer +than the manoeuvres undertaken for the rehabilitation of Madame de la +Baudraye." + + + +In the early spring, which, by some whim of our planets, smiled on Paris +in the first week of March in 1843, making the Champs-Elysees green and +leafy before Longchamp, Fanny Beaupre's attache had seen Madame de la +Baudraye several times without being seen by her. More than once he +was stung to the heart by one of those promptings of jealousy and envy +familiar to those who are born and bred provincials, when he beheld +his former mistress comfortably ensconced in a handsome carriage, well +dressed, with dreamy eyes, and his two little boys, one at each window. +He accused himself with all the more virulence because he was waging +war with the sharpest poverty of all--poverty unconfessed. Like all +essentially light and frivolous natures, he cherished the singular point +of honor which consists in never derogating in the eyes of one's own +little public, which makes men on the Bourse commit crimes to escape +expulsion from the temple of the goddess Per-cent, and has given some +criminals courage enough to perform acts of virtue. + +Lousteau dined and breakfasted and smoked as if he were a rich man. Not +for an inheritance would he have bought any but the dearest cigars, for +himself as well as for the playwright or author with whom he went into +the shop. The journalist took his walks abroad in patent leather boots; +but he was constantly afraid of an execution on goods which, to use the +bailiff's slang, had already received the last sacrament. Fanny Beaupre +had nothing left to pawn, and her salary was pledged to pay her +debts. After exhausting every possible advance of pay from newspapers, +magazines, and publishers, Etienne knew not of what ink he could churn +gold. Gambling-houses, so ruthlessly suppressed, could no longer, as of +old, cash I O U's drawn over the green table by beggary in despair. In +short, the journalist was reduced to such extremity that he had just +borrowed a hundred francs of the poorest of his friends, Bixiou, from +whom he had never yet asked for a franc. What distressed Lousteau was +not the fact of owing five thousand francs, but seeing himself bereft +of his elegance, and of the furniture purchased at the cost of so many +privations, and added to by Madame de la Baudraye. + +On April the 3rd, a yellow poster, torn down by the porter after +being displayed on the wall, announced the sale of a handsome suite of +furniture on the following Saturday, the day fixed for sales under +legal authority. Lousteau was taking a walk, smoking cigars, and seeking +ideas--for, in Paris, ideas are in the air, they smile on you from a +street corner, they splash up with a spurt of mud from under the wheels +of a cab! Thus loafing, he had been seeking ideas for articles, and +subjects for novels for a month past, and had found nothing but friends +who carried him off to dinner or to the play, and who intoxicated his +woes, telling him that champagne would inspire him. + +"Beware," said the virulent Bixiou one night, the man who would at the +same moment give a comrade a hundred francs and stab him to the heart +with a sarcasm; "if you go to sleep drunk every night, one day you will +wake up mad." + +On the day before, the Friday, the unhappy wretch, although he was +accustomed to poverty, felt like a man condemned to death. Of old he +would have said: + +"Well, the furniture is very old! I will buy new." + +But he was incapable now of literary legerdemain. Publishers, undermined +by piracy, paid badly; the newspapers made close bargains with +hard-driven writers, as the Opera managers did with tenors that sang +flat. + +He walked on, his eye on the crowd, though seeing nothing, a cigar +in his mouth, and his hands in his pockets, every feature of his face +twitching, and an affected smile on his lips. Then he saw Madame de la +Baudraye go by in a carriage; she was going to the Boulevard by the Rue +de la Chaussee d'Antin to drive in the Bois. + +"There is nothing else left!" said he to himself, and he went home to +smarten himself up. + +That evening, at seven, he arrived in a hackney cab at Madame de +la Baudraye's door, and begged the porter to send a note up to the +Countess--a few lines, as follows: + +"Would Madame la Comtesse do Monsieur Lousteau the favor of receiving +him for a moment, and at once?" + +This note was sealed with a seal which as lovers they had both used. +Madame de la Baudraye had had the word _Parce que_ engraved on a +genuine Oriental carnelian--a potent word--a woman's word--the word that +accounts for everything, even for the Creation. + +The Countess had just finished dressing to go to the Opera; Friday was +her night in turn for her box. At the sight of this seal she turned +pale. + +"I will come," she said, tucking the note into her dress. + +She was firm enough to conceal her agitation, and begged her mother to +see the children put to bed. She then sent for Lousteau, and received +him in a boudoir, next to the great drawing-room, with open doors. She +was going to a ball after the Opera, and was wearing a beautiful dress +of brocade in stripes alternately plain and flowered with pale blue. Her +gloves, trimmed with tassels, showed off her beautiful white arms. She +was shimmering with lace and all the dainty trifles required by fashion. +Her hair, dressed _a la Sevigne_, gave her a look of elegance; a +necklace of pearls lay on her bosom like bubbles on snow. + +"What is the matter, monsieur?" said the Countess, putting out her +foot from below her skirt to rest it on a velvet cushion. "I thought, I +hoped, I was quite forgotten." + +"If I should reply _Never_, you would refuse to believe me," said +Lousteau, who remained standing, or walked about the room, chewing the +flowers he plucked from the flower-stands full of plants that scented +the room. + +For a moment silence reigned. Madame de la Baudraye, studying Lousteau, +saw that he was dressed as the most fastidious dandy might have been. + +"You are the only person in the world who can help me, or hold out a +plank to me--for I am drowning, and have already swallowed more than one +mouthful----" said he, standing still in front of Dinah, and seeming to +yield to an overpowering impulse. "Since you see me here, it is because +my affairs are going to the devil." + +"That is enough," said she; "I understand." + +There was another pause, during which Lousteau turned away, took out his +handkerchief, and seemed to wipe away a tear. + +"How much do you want, Etienne," she went on in motherly tones. "We are +at this moment old comrades; speak to me as you would to--to Bixiou." + +"To save my furniture from vanishing into thin air to-morrow morning at +the auction mart, eighteen hundred francs! To repay my friends, as much +again! Three quarters' rent to the landlord--whom you know.--My 'uncle' +wants five hundred francs--" + +"And you!--to live on?" + +"Oh! I have my pen----" + +"It is heavier to lift than any one could believe who reads your +articles," said she, with a subtle smile.--"I have not such a sum as +you need, but come to-morrow at eight; the bailiff will surely wait till +nine, especially if you bring him away to pay him." + +She must, she felt, dismiss Lousteau, who affected to be unable to look +at her; she herself felt such pity as might cut every social Gordian +knot. + +"Thank you," she added, rising and offering her hand to Lousteau. "Your +confidence has done me good! It is long indeed since my heart has known +such joy----" + +Lousteau took her hand and pressed it tenderly to his heart. + +"A drop of water in the desert--and sent by the hand of an angel! God +always does things handsomely!" + +He spoke half in jest and half pathetically; but, believe me, as a piece +of acting it was as fine as Talma's in his famous part of _Leicester_, +which was played throughout with touches of this kind. Dinah felt his +heart beating through his coat; it was throbbing with satisfaction, for +the journalist had had a narrow escape from the hulks of justice; but +it also beat with a very natural fire at seeing Dinah rejuvenescent and +restored by wealth. + +Madame de la Baudraye, stealing an examining glance at Etienne, saw that +his expression was in harmony with the flowers of love, which, as she +thought, had blossomed again in that throbbing heart; she tried to look +once into the eyes of the man she had loved so well, but the seething +blood rushed through her veins and mounted to her brain. Their eyes met +with the same fiery glow as had encouraged Lousteau on the Quay by the +Loire to crumple Dinah's muslin gown. The Bohemian put his arm round her +waist, she yielded, and their cheeks were touching. + +"Here comes my mother, hide!" cried Dinah in alarm. And she hurried +forward to intercept Madame Piedefer. + +"Mamma," said she--this word was to the stern old lady a coaxing +expression which never failed of its effect--"will you do me a great +favor? Take the carriage and go yourself to my banker, Monsieur +Mongenod, with a note I will give you, and bring back six thousand +francs. Come, come--it is an act of charity; come into my room." + +And she dragged away her mother, who seemed very anxious to see who it +was that her daughter had been talking with in the boudoir. + +Two days afterwards, Madame Piedefer held a conference with the cure of +the parish. After listening to the lamentations of the old mother, who +was in despair, the priest said very gravely: + +"Any moral regeneration which is not based on a strong religious +sentiment, and carried out in the bosom of the Church, is built on +sand.--The many means of grace enjoined by the Catholic religion, small +as they are, and not understood, are so many dams necessary to restrain +the violence of evil promptings. Persuade your daughter to perform all +her religious duties, and we shall save her yet." + +Within ten days of this meeting the Hotel de la Baudraye was shut +up. The Countess, the children, and her mother, in short, the whole +household, including a tutor, had gone away to Sancerre, where Dinah +intended to spend the summer. She was everything that was nice to the +Count, people said. + +And so the Muse of Sancerre had simply come back to family and married +life; but certain evil tongues declared that she had been compelled +to come back, for that the little peer's wishes would no doubt be +fulfilled--he hoped for a little girl. + +Gatien and Monsieur Gravier lavished every care, every servile attention +on the handsome Countess. Gatien, who during Madame de la Baudraye's +long absence had been to Paris to learn the art of _lionnerie_ or +dandyism, was supposed to have a good chance of finding favor in the +eyes of the disenchanted "Superior Woman." Others bet on the tutor; +Madame Piedefer urged the claims of religion. + +In 1844, about the middle of June, as the Comte de la Baudraye was +taking a walk on the Mall at Sancerre with the two fine little boys, +he met Monsieur Milaud, the Public Prosecutor, who was at Sancerre on +business, and said to him: + +"These are my children, cousin." + +"Ah, ha! so these are our children!" replied the lawyer, with a +mischievous twinkle. + + +PARIS, June 1843-August 1844. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + + Beaupre, Fanny + A Start in Life + Modeste Mignon + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + + Berthier, Madame (Felicie Cardot) + Cousin Pons + + Bianchon, Horace + Father Goriot + The Atheist's Mass + Cesar Birotteau + The Commission in Lunacy + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Secrets of a Princess + The Government Clerks + Pierrette + A Study of Woman + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Honorine + The Seamy Side of History + The Magic Skin + A Second Home + A Prince of Bohemia + Letters of Two Brides + The Imaginary Mistress + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + The Country Parson + In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: + Another Study of Woman + La Grande Breteche + + Bixiou, Jean-Jacques + The Purse + A Bachelor's Establishment + The Government Clerks + Modeste Mignon + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Firm of Nucingen + Cousin Betty + The Member for Arcis + Beatrix + A Man of Business + Gaudissart II. + The Unconscious Humorists + Cousin Pons + + Camusot + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + Cousin Pons + Cesar Birotteau + At the Sign of the Cat and Racket + + Cardot (Parisian notary) + A Man of Business + Jealousies of a Country Town + Pierre Grassou + The Middle Classes + Cousin Pons + + Chargeboeuf, Melchior-Rene, Vicomte de + The Member for Arcis + + Falcon, Jean + The Chouans + Cousin Betty + + Grosstete (younger brother of F. Grosstete) + The Country Parson + + Hulot (Marshal) + The Chouans + Cousin Betty + + La Baudraye, Madame Polydore Milaud de + A Prince of Bohemia + Cousin Betty + + Lebas + Cousin Betty + + Listomere, Baronne de + The Vicar of Tours + Cesar Birotteau + + Lousteau, Etienne + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + A Daughter of Eve + Beatrix + Cousin Betty + A Prince of Bohemia + A Man of Business + The Middle Classes + The Unconscious Humorists + + Lupeaulx, Clement Chardin des + Eugenie Grandet + A Bachelor's Establishment + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + The Government Clerks + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Ursule Mirouet + + Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de + The Secrets of a Princess + Modeste Mignon + Jealousies of a Country Town + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Letters of Two Brides + Another Study of Woman + The Gondreville Mystery + The Member for Arcis + + Milaud + Lost Illusions + + Nathan, Raoul + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + Letters of Two Brides + The Seamy Side of History + A Prince of Bohemia + A Man of Business + The Unconscious Humorists + + Nathan, Madame Raoul + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Government Clerks + A Bachelor's Establishment + Ursule Mirouet + Eugenie Grandet + The Imaginary Mistress + A Prince of Bohemia + A Daughter of Eve + The Unconscious Humorists + + Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor's Establishment + Colonel Chabert + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Peasantry + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + Cousin Betty + + Nucingen, Baron Frederic de + The Firm of Nucingen + Father Goriot + Pierrette + Cesar Birotteau + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Another Study of Woman + The Secrets of a Princess + A Man of Business + Cousin Betty + The Unconscious Humorists + + Ronceret, Madame Fabien du + Beatrix + Cousin Betty + The Unconscious Humorists + + Rouget, Jean-Jacques + A Bachelor's Establishment + + Touches, Mademoiselle Felicite des + Beatrix + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + A Bachelor's Establishment + Another Study of Woman + A Daughter of Eve + Honorine + Beatrix + + Turquet, Marguerite + The Imaginary Mistress + A Man of Business + Cousin Betty + + Vandenesse, Comtesse Felix de + A Second Home + A Daughter of Eve + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Parisians in the Country, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARISIANS IN THE COUNTRY *** + +***** This file should be named 7929.txt or 7929.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/2/7929/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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