diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3944.txt | 3502 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3944.zip | bin | 0 -> 66235 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 3518 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3944.txt b/3944.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1762731 --- /dev/null +++ b/3944.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3502 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Monsieur de Camors by Octave Feuillet, v2 +#31 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy +#2 in our series by Octave Feuillet + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below, including for donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: Monsieur de Camors, v2 + +Author: Octave Feuillet + +Release Date: April, 2003 [Etext #3944] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 09/12/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Monsieur de Camors by Octave Feuillet, v2 +*********This file should be named 3944.txt or 3944.zip*********** + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.org +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of July 12, 2001 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, +Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, +Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North +Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, +Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork +to legally request donations in all 50 states. If +your state is not listed and you would like to know +if we have added it since the list you have, just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in +states where we are not yet registered, we know +of no prohibition against accepting donations +from donors in these states who approach us with +an offer to donate. + + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum +extent permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +MONSIEUR DE CAMORS + +By OCTAVE FEUILLET + + + +BOOK 2. + + +CHAPTER IX + +LOVE CONQUERS PHILOSOPHY + +To M. de Camors, in principle it was a matter of perfect indifference +whether France was centralized or decentralized. But his Parisian +instinct induced him to prefer the former. In spite of this preference, +he would not have scrupled to adopt the opinions of M. des Rameures, had +not his own fine tact shown him that the proud old gentleman was not to +be won by submission. + +He therefore reserved for him the triumph of his gradual conversion. +Be that as it might, it was neither of centralization nor of +decentralization that the young Count proposed to speak to Madame de +Tecle, when, at the appointed hour, he presented himself before her. +He found her in the garden, which, like the house, was of an ancient, +severe, and monastic style. A terrace planted with limetrees extended on +one side of the garden. It was at this spot that Madame de Tecle was +seated under a group of lime-trees, forming a rustic bower. + +She was fond of this place, because it recalled to her that evening when +her unexpected apparition had suddenly inspired with a celestial joy the +pale, disfigured face of her betrothed. + +She was seated on a low chair beside a small rustic table, covered with +pieces of wool and silk; her feet rested on a stool, and she worked on a +piece of tapestry, apparently with great tranquillity. + +M. de Camors, an expert in all the niceties and exquisite devices of the +feminine mind, smiled to himself at this audience in the open air. He +thought he fathomed its meaning. Madame de Tecle desired to deprive this +interview of the confidential character which closed doors would have +given it. + +It was the simple truth. This young woman, who was one of the noblest of +her sex, was not at all simple. She had not passed ten years of her +youth, her beauty, and her widowhood without receiving, under forms more +or less direct, dozens of declarations that had inspired her with +impressions, which, although just, were not always too flattering to the +delicacy and discretion of the opposite sex. Like all women of her age, +she knew her danger, and, unlike most of them, she did not love it. +She had invariably turned into the broad road of friendship all those she +had surprised rambling within the prohibited limits of love. The request +of M. de Camors for a private interview had seriously preoccupied her +since the previous evening. What could be the object of this mysterious +interview? She puzzled her brain to imagine, but could not divine. + +It was not probable that M. de Camors, at the beginning of their +acquaintance, would feel himself entitled to declare a passion. However +vividly the famed gallantry of the young Count rose to her memory, she +thought so noted a ladykiller as he might adopt unusual methods, and +might think himself entitled to dispense with much ceremony in dealing +with an humble provincial. + +Animated by these ideas, she resolved to receive him in the garden, +having remarked, during her short experience, that open air and a wide, +open space were not favorable to bold wooers. + +M. de Camors bowed to Madame de Tecle as an Englishman would have bowed +to his queen; then seating himself, drew his chair nearer to hers, +mischievously perhaps, and lowering his voice into a confidential tone, +said: "Madame, will you permit me to confide a secret to you, and to ask +your counsel?" + +She raised her graceful head, fixed upon the Count her soft, bright gaze, +smiled vaguely, and by a slight movement of the hand intimated to him, +"You surprise me; but I will listen to you." + +"This is my first secret, Madame--I desire to become deputy for this +district." + +At this unexpected declaration, Madame de Tecle looked at him, breathed a +slight sigh of relief, and gravely awaited what he had to say. + +"The General de Campvallon, Madame," continued the young man, "has +manifested a father's kindness to me. He intends to resign in my favor, +and has not concealed from me that the support of your uncle is +indispensable to my success as a candidate. I have therefore come here, +by the General's advice, in the hope of obtaining this support, but the +ideas and opinions expressed yesterday by your uncle appear to me so +directly opposed to my pretensions that I feel truly discouraged. To be +brief, Madame, in my perplexity I conceived the idea--indiscreet +doubtless--to appeal to your kindness, and ask your advice--which I am +determined to follow, whatever it may be." + +"But, Monsieur! you embarrass me greatly," said the young woman, whose +pretty face, at first clouded, brightened up immediately with a frank +smile. + +"I have no special claims on your kindness--on the contrary perhaps--but +I am a human being, and you are charitable. Well, in truth, Madame, this +matter seriously concerns my fortune, my future, and my whole destiny. +This opportunity which now presents itself for me to enter public life so +young is exceptional. I should regret very much to lose it; would you +therefore be so kind as to aid me?" + +"But how can I?" replied Madame de Tecle. "I never interfere in +politics, and that is precisely what you ask me." + +"Nevertheless, Madame, I pray you not to oppose me." + +"Why should I oppose you?" + +"Ah, Madame! You have a right more than any other person to be severe. +My youth was a little dissipated. My reputation, in some respects, is +not over-good, I know, and I doubt not you may have heard so, and I can +not help fearing it has inspired you with some dislike to me." + +"Monsieur, we lived a retired life here. We know nothing of what passes +in Paris. If we did, this would not prevent my assisting you, if I knew +how, for I think that serious and elevated labors could not fail happily +to change your ordinary habits." + +"It is truly a delicious thing," thought the young Count, "to mystify so +spiritual a person." + +"Madame," he continued, with his quiet grace, "I join in your hopes, and +as you deign to encourage my ambition, I believe I shall succeed in +obtaining your uncle's support. You know him well. What shall I do to +conciliate him? What course shall I adopt?--because I can not do without +his assistance. Were I to renounce that, I should be compelled to +renounce my projects." + +"It is truly difficult," said Madame de Tecle, with a reflective air-- +"very difficult!" + +"Is it not, Madame?" + +Camors's voice expressed such confidence and submission that Madame de +Tecle was quite touched, and even the devil himself would have been +charmed by it, had he heard it in Gehenna. + +"Let me reflect on this a little," she said, and she placed her elbows on +the table, leaned her head on her hands, her fingers, like a fan, half +shading her eyes, while sparks of fire from her rings glittered in the +sunshine, and her ivory nails shone against her smooth brow. M. de +Camors continued to regard her with the same submissive and candid air. + +"Well, Monsieur," she said at last, smiling, "I think you can do nothing +better than keep on." + +"Pardon me, but how?" + +"By persevering in the same system you have already adopted with my +uncle! Say nothing to him for the present. Beg the General also to be +silent. Wait quietly until intimacy, time, and your own good qualities +have sufficiently prepared my uncle for your nomination. My role is very +simple. I cannot, at this moment, aid you, without betraying you. My +assistance would only injure you, until a change comes in the aspect of +affairs. You must conciliate him." + +"You overpower me," said Camors, "in taking you for my confidante in my +ambitious projects, I have committed a blunder and an impertinence, which +a slight contempt from you has mildly punished. But speaking seriously, +Madame, I thank you with all my heart. I feared to find in you a +powerful enemy, and I find in you a strong neutral, almost an ally." + +"Oh! altogether an ally, however secret," responded Madame de Tecle, +laughing. "I am glad to be useful to you; as I love General Campvallon +very much, I am happy to enter into his views. Come here, Marie?" These +last words were addressed to her daughter, who appeared on the steps of +the terrace, her cheeks scarlet, and her hair dishevelled, holding a card +in her hand. She immediately approached her mother, giving M. de Camors +one of those awkward salutations peculiar to young, growing girls. + +"Will you permit me," said Madame de Tecle, "to give to my daughter a few +orders in English, which we are translating? You are too warm--do not +run any more. Tell Rosa to prepare my bodice with the small buttons. +While I am dressing, you may say your catechism to me." + +"Yes, mother." + +"Have you written your exercise?" + +"Yes, mother. How do you say 'joli' in English for a man?" asked the +little girl. + +"Why?" + +"That question is in my exercise, to be said of a man who is 'beau, joli, +distingue.'" + +"Handsome, nice, and charming," replied her mother. + +"Very well, mother, this gentleman, our neighbor, is altogether handsome, +nice, and charming." + +"Silly child!" exclaimed Madame de Tecle, while the little girl rushed +down the steps. + +M. de Camors, who had listened to this dialogue with cool calmness, rose. +"I thank you again, Madame," he said; "and will you now excuse me? You +will allow me, from time to time, to confide in you my political hopes +and fears?" + +"Certainly, Monsieur." + +He bowed and retired. As he was crossing the courtyard, he found himself +face to face with Mademoiselle Marie. He gave her a most respectful bow. +"Another time, Miss Mary, be more careful. I understand English +perfectly well!" + +Mademoiselle Marie remained in the same attitude, blushed up to the roots +of her hair, and cast on M. de Camors a startled look of mingled shame +and anger. + +"You are not satisfied, Miss Mary," continued Camors. + +"Not at all," said the child, quickly, her strong voice somewhat husky. + +M. Camors laughed, bowed again, and departed, leaving Mademoiselle Marie +in the midst of the court, transfixed with indignation. + +A few moments later Marie threw herself into the arms of her mother, +weeping bitterly, and told her, through her tears, of her cruel mishap. + +Madame de Tecle, in using this opportunity of giving her daughter a +lesson on reserve and on convenance, avoided treating the matter too +seriously and even seemed to laugh heartily at it, although she had +little inclination to do so, and the child finished by laughing with her. + +Camors, meanwhile, remained at home, congratulating himself on his +campaign, which seemed to him, not without reason, to have been a +masterpiece of stratagem. By a clever mingling of frankness and cunning +he had quickly enlisted Madame de Tecle in his interest. From that +moment the realization of his ambitious dreams seemed assured, for he was +not ignorant of the incomparable value of woman's assistance, and knew +all the power of that secret and continued labor, of those small but +cumulative efforts, and of those subterranean movements which assimilate +feminine influence with the secret and irresistible forces of nature. +Another point gained-he had established a secret between that pretty +woman and himself, and had placed himself on a confidential footing with +her. He had gained the right to keep secret their clandestine words and +private conversation, and such a situation, cleverly managed, might aid +him to pass very agreeably the period occupied in his political canvass. + +Camors on entering the house sat down to write the General, to inform him +of the opening of his operations, and admonish him to have patience. +From that day he turned his attention to following up the two persons who +could control his election. + +His policy as regarded M. des Rameures was as simple as it was clever. +It has already been clearly indicated, and further details would be +unnecessary. Profiting by his growing familiarity as neighbor, he went +to school, as it were, at the model farm of the gentleman-farmer, and +submitted to him the direction of his own domain. By this quiet +compliment, enhanced by his captivating courtesy, he advanced insensibly +in the good graces of the old man. But every day, as he grew to know +M. de Rameures better, and as he felt more the strength of his character, +he began to fear that on essential points he was quite inflexible. + +After some weeks of almost daily intercourse, M. des Rameures graciously +praised his young neighbor as a charming fellow, an excellent musician, +an amiable associate; but, regarding him as a possible deputy, he saw +some things which might disqualify him. Madame de Tecle feared this, and +did not hide it from M. de Camors. The young Count did not preoccupy +himself so much on this subject as might be supposed, for his second +ambition had superseded his first; in other words his fancy for Madame de +Tecle had become more ardent and more pressing than his desire for the +deputyship. We are compelled to admit, not to his credit, that he first +proposed to himself, to ensnare his charming neighbor as a simple +pastime, as an interesting adventure, and, above all, as a work of art, +which was extremely difficult and would greatly redound to his honor. +Although he had met few women of her merit, he judged her correctly. He +believed Madame de Tecle was not virtuous simply from force of habit or +duty. She had passion. She was not a prude, but was chaste. She was +not a devotee, but was pious. He discerned in her at the same time a +spirit elevated, yet not narrow; lofty and dignified sentiments, and +deeply rooted principles; virtue without rigor, pure and lambent as +flame. + +Nevertheless he did not despair, trusting to his own principles, to the +fascinations of his manner and his previous successes. Instinctively, +he knew that the ordinary forms of gallantry would not answer with her. +All his art was to surround her with absolute respect, and to leave the +rest to time and to the growing intimacy of each day. + +There was something very touching to Madame de Tecle in the reserved and +timid manner of this 'mauvais sujet', in her presence--the homage of a +fallen spirit, as if ashamed of being such, in presence of a spirit of +light. + +Never, either in public or when tete-a-tete, was there a jest, a word, or +a look which the most sensitive virtue could fear. + +This young man, ironical with all the rest of the world, was serious with +her. From the moment he turned toward her, his voice, face, and +conversation became as serious as if he had entered a church. He had a +great deal of wit, and he used and abused it beyond measure in +conversations in the presence of Madame de Tecle, as if he were making a +display of fireworks in her honor. But on coming to her this was +suddenly extinguished, and he became all submission and respect. + +Not every woman who receives from a superior man such delicate flattery +as this necessarily loves him, but she does like him. In the shadow of +the perfect security in which M. de Camors had placed her, Madame de +Tecle could not but be pleased in the company of the most distinguished +man she had ever met, who had, like herself, a taste for art, music, and +for high culture. + +Thus these innocent relations with a young man whose reputation was +rather equivocal could not but awaken in the heart of Madame de Tecle a +sentiment, or rather an illusion, which the most prudish could not +condemn. + +Libertines offer to vulgar women an attraction which surprises, but which +springs from a reprehensible curiosity. To a woman of society they offer +another, more noble yet not less dangerous--the attraction of reforming +them. It is rare that virtuous women do not fall into the error of +believing that it is for virtue's sake alone such men love them. These, +in brief, were the secret sympathies whose slight tendrils intertwined, +blossomed, and flowered little by little in this soul, as tender as it +was pure. + +M. de Camors had vaguely foreseen all this: that which he had not +foreseen was that he himself would be caught in his own snare, and would +be sincere in the role which he had so judiciously adopted. From the +first, Madame de Tecle had captivated him. Her very puritanism, united +with her native grace and worldly elegance, composed a kind of daily +charm which piqued the imagination of the cold young man. If it was a +powerful temptation for the angels to save the tempted, the tempted could +not harbor with more delight the thought of destroying the angels. They +dream, like the reckless Epicureans of the Bible, of mingling, in a new +intoxication, the earth with heaven. To these sombre instincts of +depravity were soon united in the feelings of Camors a sentiment more +worthy of her. Seeing her every day with that childlike intimacy which +the country encourages--enhancing the graceful movements of this +accomplished person, ever self-possessed and equally prepared for duty or +for pleasure--as animated as passion, yet as severe as virtue--he +conceived for her a genuine worship. It was not respect, for that +requires the effort of believing in such merits, and he did not wish to +believe. He thought Madame de Tecle was born so. He admired her as he +would admire a rare plant, a beautiful object, an exquisite work, in +which nature had combined physical and moral grace with perfect +proportion and harmony. His deportment as her slave when near her was +not long a mere bit of acting. Our fair readers have doubtless remarked +an odd fact: that where a reciprocal sentiment of two feeble human beings +has reached a certain point of maturity, chance never fails to furnish a +fatal occasion which betrays the secret of the two hearts, and suddenly +launches the thunderbolt which has been gradually gathering in the +clouds. This is the crisis of all love. This occasion presented itself +to Madame de Tecle and M. de Camors in the form of an unpoetic incident. + +It occurred at the end of October. Camors had gone out after dinner to +take a ride in the neighborhood. Night had already fallen, clear and +cold; but as the Count could not see Madame de Tecle that evening, he +began only to think of being near her, and felt that unwillingness to +work common to lovers--striving, if possible, to kill time, which hung +heavy on his hands. + +He hoped also that violent exercise might calm his spirit, which never +had been more profoundly agitated. Still young and unpractised in his +pitiless system, he was troubled at the thought of a victim so pure as +Madame de Tecle. To trample on the life, the repose, and the heart of +such a woman, as the horse tramples on the grass of the road, with as +little care or pity, was hard for a novice. + +Strange as it may appear, the idea of marrying her had occurred to him. +Then he said to himself that this weakness was in direct contradiction to +his principles, and that she would cause him to lose forever his mastery +over himself, and throw him back into the nothingness of his past life. +Yet with the corrupt inspirations of his depraved soul he foresaw that +the moment he touched her hands with the lips of a lover a new sentiment +would spring up in her soul. As he abandoned himself to these passionate +imaginings, the recollection of young Madame Lescande came back suddenly +to his memory. He grew pale in the darkness. At this moment he was +passing the edge of a little wood belonging to the Comte de Tecle, of +which a portion had recently been cleared. It was not chance alone that +had directed the Count's ride to this point. Madame de Tecle loved this +spot, and had frequently taken him there, and on the preceding evening, +accompanied by her daughter and her father-in-law, had visited it with +him. + +The site was a peculiar one. Although not far from houses, the wood was +very wild, as if a thousand miles distant from any inhabited place. + +You would have said it was a virgin forest, untouched by the axe of the +pioneer. Enormous stumps without bark, trunks of gigantic trees, covered +the declivity of the hill, and barricaded, here and there, in a +picturesque manner, the current of the brook which ran into the valley. +A little farther up the dense wood of tufted trees contributed to diffuse +that religious light half over the rocks, the brushwood and the fertile +soil, and on the limpid water, which is at once the charm and the horror +of old neglected woods. In this solitude, and on a space of cleared +ground, rose a sort of rude hut, constructed by a poor devil who was a +sabot-maker by trade, and who had been allowed to establish himself there +by the Comte de Tecle, and to use the beech-trees to gain his humble +living. This Bohemian interested Madame de Tecle, probably because, like +M. de Camors, he had a bad reputation. He lived in his cabin with a +woman who was still pretty under her rags, and with two little boys with +golden curls. + +He was a stranger in the neighborhood, and the woman was said not to be +his wife. He was very taciturn, and his features seemed fine and +determined under his thick, black beard. + +Madame de Tecle amused herself seeing him make his sabots. She loved the +children, who, though dirty, were beautiful as angels; and she pitied the +woman. She had a secret project to marry her to the man, in case she had +not yet been married, which seemed probable. + +Camors walked his horse slowly over the rocky and winding path on the +slope of the hillock. This was the moment when the ghost of Madame +Lescande had risen before him, and he believed he could almost hear her +weep. Suddenly this illusion gave place to a strange reality. The voice +of a woman plainly called him by name, in accents of distress--"Monsieur +de Camors!" + +Stopping his horse on the instant, he felt an icy shudder pass through +his frame. The same voice rose higher and called him again. He +recognized it as the voice of Madame de Tecle. Looking around him in the +obscure light with a rapid glance, he saw a light shining through the +foliage in the direction of the cottage of the sabot-maker. Guided by +this, he put spurs to his horse, crossed the cleared ground up the +hillside, and found himself face to face with Madame de Tecle. She was +standing at the threshold of the hut, her head bare, and her beautiful +hair dishevelled under a long, black lace veil. She was giving a servant +some hasty orders. When she saw Camors approach, she came toward him. + +"Pardon me," she said, "but I thought I recognized you, and I called you. +I am so much distressed--so distressed! The two children of this man are +dying! What is to be done? Come in--come in, I beg of you!" + +He leaped to the ground, threw the reins to his servant, and followed +Madame de Tekle into the interior of the cabin. + +The two children with the golden hair were lying side by side on a little +bed, immovable, rigid, their eyes open and the pupils strangely dilated-- +their faces red, and agitated by slight convulsions. They seemed to be +in the agony of death. The old doctor, Du Rocher, was leaning over them, +looking at them with a fixed, anxious, and despairing eye. The mother +was on her knees, her head clasped in her hands, and weeping bitterly. +At the foot of the bed stood the father, with his savage mien--his arms +crossed, and his eyes dry. He shuddered at intervals, and murmured, in a +hoarse, hollow voice: "Both of them! Both of them!" Then he relapsed +into his mournful attitude. M. Durocher, approached Camors quickly. +"Monsieur," said he, "what can this be? I believe it to be poisoning, +but can detect no definite symptoms: otherwise, the parents should know-- +but they know nothing! A sunstroke, perhaps; but as both were struck at +the same time--and then at this season--ah! our profession is quite +useless sometimes." + +Camors made rapid inquiries. They had sought M. Durocher, who was dining +with Madame de Tecle an hour before. He had hastened, and found the +children already speechless, in a state of fearful congestion. It +appeared they had fallen into this state when first attacked, and had +become delirious. + +Camors conceived an idea. He asked to see the clothes the children had +worn during the day. The mother gave them to him. He examined them with +care, and pointed out to the doctor several red stains on the poor rags. +The doctor touched his forehead, and turned over with a feverish hand the +small linen--the rough waistcoat--searched the pockets, and found dozens +of a small fruit-like cherries, half crushed. "Belladonna!" he +exclaimed. "That idea struck me several times, but how could I be sure? +You can not find it within twenty miles of this place, except in this +cursed wood--of that I am sure." + +"Do you think there is yet time?" asked the young Count, in a low voice. +"The children seem to me to be very ill." + +"Lost, I fear; but everything depends on the time that has passed, the +quantity they have taken, and the remedies I can procure." + +The old man consulted quickly with Madame de Tecle, who found she had not +in her country pharmacy the necessary remedies, or counter-irritants, +which the urgency of the case demanded. The doctor was obliged to +content himself with the essence of coffee, which the servant was ordered +to prepare in haste, and to send to the village for the other things +needed. + +"To the village!" cried Madame de Tecle. "Good heavens! it is four +leagues--it is night, and we shall have to wait probably three or four +hours!" + +Camors heard this: "Doctor, write your prescription," he said: "Trilby is +at the door, and with him I can do the four leagues in an hour--in one +hour I promise to return here." + +"Oh! thank you, Monsieur!" said Madame de Tecle. + +He took the prescription which Dr. Durocher had rapidly traced on a leaf +of his pocketbook, mounted his horse, and departed. + +The highroad was fortunately not far distant. When he reached it he rode +like the phantom horseman. + +It was nine o'clock when Madame de Tecle witnessed his departure--it was +a few moments after ten when she heard the tramp of his horse at the foot +of the hill and ran to the door of the hut. The condition of the two +children seemed to have grown worse in the interval, but the old doctor +had great hopes in the remedies which Camors was to bring. She waited +with impatience, and received him like the dawn of the last hope. She +contented herself with pressing his hand, when, breathless, he descended +from his horse. But this adorable creature threw herself on Trilby, who +was covered with foam and steaming like a furnace. + +"Poor Trilby," she said, embracing him in her two arms, "dear Trilby-- +good Trilby! you are half dead, are you not? But I love you well. Go +quickly, Monsieur de Camors, I will attend to Trilby"--and while the +young man entered the cabin, she confided Trilby to the charge of her +servant, with orders to take him to the stable, and a thousand minute +directions to take good care of him after his noble conduct. +Dr. Durocher had to obtain the aid of Camors to pass the new medicine +through the clenched teeth of the unfortunate children. While both were +engaged in this work, Madame de Tecle was sitting on a stool with her +head resting against the cabin wall. Durocher suddenly raised his eyes +and fixed them on her. + +"My dear Madame," he said, "you are ill. You have had too much +excitement, and the odors here are insupportable. You must go home." + +"I really do not feel very well," she murmured. + +"You must go at once. We shall send you the news. One of your servants +will take you home." + +She raised herself, trembling; but one look from the young wife of the +sabot-maker arrested her. To this poor woman, it seemed that Providence +deserted her with Madame de Tecle. + +"No!" she said with a divine sweetness; "I will not go. I shall only +breathe a little fresh air. I will remain until they are safe, I promise +you;" and she left the room smiling upon the poor woman. After a few +minutes, Durocher said to M. de Camors: + +"My dear sir, I thank you--but I really have no further need of your +services; so you too may go and rest yourself, for you also are growing +pale." + +Camors, exhausted by his long ride, felt suffocated by the atmosphere of +the hut, and consented to the suggestion of the old man, saying that he +would not go far. + +As he put his foot outside of the cottage, Madame de Tecle, who was +sitting before the door, quickly rose and threw over his shoulders a +cloak which they had brought for her. She then reseated herself without +speaking. + +"But you can not remain here all night," he said. + +"I should be too uneasy at home." + +"But the night is very cold--shall I make you a fire?" + +"If you wish," she said. + +"Let us see where we can make this little fire. In the midst of this +wood it is impossible--we should have a conflagration to finish the +picture. Can you walk? + +"Then take my arm, and we shall go and search for a place for our +encampment." + +She leaned lightly on his arm, and took a few steps with him toward the +forest. + +"Do you think they are saved?" she asked. + +"I hope so," he replied. "The face of Doctor Durocher is more cheerful." + +"Oh! how glad I am!" + +Both of them stumbled over a root, and laughed like two children for +several minutes. + +"We shall soon be in the woods," said Madame de Tecle, "and I declare I +can go no farther: good or bad, I choose this spot." + +They were still quite close to the hut, but the branches of the old trees +which had been spared by the axe spread like a sombre dome over their +heads. Near by was a large rock, slightly covered with moss, and a +number of old trunks of trees, on which Madame de Tecle took her seat. + +"Nothing could be better," said Camors, gayly. "I must collect my +materials." + +A moment after he reappeared, bringing in his arms brushwood, and also a +travelling-rug which his servant had brought him. + +He got on his knees in front of the rock, prepared the fagots, and +lighted them with a match. When the flame began to flicker on the rustic +hearth Madame de Tecle trembled with joy, and held out both hands to the +blaze. + +"Ah! how nice that is!" she said; "and then it is so amusing; one would +say we had been shipwrecked. + +"Now, Monsieur, if you would be perfect go and see what Durocher reports." + +He ran to the hut. When he returned he could not avoid stopping half way +to admire the elegant and simple silhouette of the young woman, defined +sharply against the blackness of the wood, her fine countenance slightly. +illuminated by the firelight. The moment she saw him: + +"Well!" she cried. + +"A great deal of hope." + +"Oh! what happiness, Monsieur!" She pressed his hand. + +"Sit down there," she said. + +He sat down on a rock contiguous to hers, and replied to her eager +questions. He repeated, in detail, his conversation with the doctor, and +explained at length the properties of belladonna. She listened at first +with interest, but little by little, with her head wrapped in her veil +and resting on the boughs interlaced behind her, she seemed to be +uncomfortably resting from fatigue. + +"You are likely to fall asleep there," he said, laughing. + +"Perhaps!" she murmured--smiled, and went to sleep. + +Her sleep resembled death, it was so profound, and so calm was the +beating of her heart, so light her breathing. + +Camors knelt down again by the fire, to listen breathlessly and to gaze +upon her. From time to time he seemed to meditate, and the solitude was +disturbed only by the rustling of the leaves. His eyes followed the +flickering of the flame, sometimes resting on the white cheek, sometimes +on the grove, sometimes on the arches of the high trees, as if he wished +to fix in his memory all the details of this sweet scene. Then his gaze +rested again on the young woman, clothed in her beauty, grace, and +confiding repose. + +What heavenly thoughts descended at that moment on this sombre soul--what +hesitation, what doubt assailed it! What images of peace, truth, virtue, +and happiness passed into that brain full of storm, and chased away the +phantoms of the sophistries he cherished! He himself knew, but never +told. + +The brisk crackling of the wood awakened her. She opened her eyes in +surprise, and as soon as she saw the young man kneeling before her, +addressed him: + +"How are they now, Monsieur?" + +He did not know how to tell her that for the last hour he had had but one +thought, and that was of her. Durocher appeared suddenly before them. + +"They are saved, Madame," said the old man, brusquely; "come quickly, +embrace them, and return home, or we shall have to treat you to-morrow. +You are very imprudent to have remained in this damp wood, and it was +absurd of Monsieur to let you do so." + +She took the arm of the old doctor, smiling, and reentered the hut. The +two children, now roused from the dangerous torpor, but who seemed still +terrified by the threatened death, raised their little round heads. She +made them a sign to keep quiet, and leaned over their pillow smiling upon +them, and imprinted two kisses on their golden curls. + +"To-morrow, my angels," she said. But the mother, half laughing, half +crying, followed Madame de Tecle step by step, speaking to her, and +kissing her garments. + +"Let her alone," cried the old doctor, querulously. "Go home, Madame. +Monsieur de Camors, take her home." + +She was going out, when the man, who had not before spoken, and who was +sitting in the corner of his but as if stupefied, rose suddenly, seized +the arm of Madame de Tecle, who, slightly terrified, turned round, for +the gesture of the man was so violent as to seem menacing; his eyes, hard +and dry, were fixed upon her, and he continued to press her arm with a +contracted hand. + +"My friend!" she said, although rather uncertain. + +"Yes, your friend," muttered the man with a hollow voice; "yes, your +friend." + +He could not continue, his mouth worked as if in a convulsion, suppressed +weeping shook his frame; he then threw himself on his knees, and they saw +a shower of tears force themselves through the hands clasped over his +face. + +"Take her away, Monsieur," said the old doctor. + +Camors gently pushed her out of the but and followed her. She took his +arm and descended the rugged path which led to her home. + +It was a walk of twenty minutes from the wood. Half the distance was +passed without interchanging a word. Once or twice, when the rays of the +moon pierced through the clouds, Camors thought he saw her wipe away a +tear with the end of her glove. He guided her cautiously in the +darkness, although the light step of the young woman was little slower in +the obscurity. Her springy step pressed noiselessly the fallen leaves-- +avoided without assistance the ruts and marshes, as if she had been +endowed with a magical clairvoyance. When they reached a crossroad, and +Camors seemed uncertain, she indicated the way by a slight pressure of +the arm. Both were no doubt embarrassed by the long silence--it was +Madame de Tecle who first broke it. + +"You have been very good this evening, Monsieur," she said in a low and +slightly agitated voice. + +"I love you so much!" said the young man. + +He pronounced these simple words in such a deep impassioned tone that +Madame de Tecle trembled and stood still in the road. + +"Monsieur de Camors!" + +"What, Madame?" he demanded, in a strange tone. + +"Heavens!--in fact-nothing!" said she, "for this is a declaration of +friendship, I suppose--and your friendship gives me much pleasure." + +He let go her arm at once, and in a hoarse and angry voice said-- +"I am not your friend!" + +"What are you then, Monsieur?" + +Her voice was calm, but she recoiled a few steps, and leaned against one +of the trees which bordered the road. The explosion so long pent up +burst forth, and a flood of words poured from the young man's lips with +inexpressible impetuosity. + +"What I am I know not! I no longer know whether I am myself--if I am +dead or alive--if I am good or bad--whether I am dreaming or waking. Oh, +Madame, what I wish is that the day may never rise again--that this night +would never finish--that I should wish to feel always--always--in my +head, my heart, my entire being--that which I now feel, near you--of you +--for you! I should wish to be stricken with some sudden illness, +without hope, in order to be watched and wept for by you, like those +children--and to be embalmed in your tears; and to see you bowed down in +terror before me is horrible to me! By the name of your God, whom you +have made me respect, I swear you are sacred to me--the child in the arms +of its mother is not more so!" + +"I have no fear," she murmured. + +"Oh, no!--have no fear!" he repeated in a tone of voice infinitely +softened and tender. "It is I who am afraid--it is I who tremble--you +see it; for since I have spoken, all is finished. I expect nothing more +--I hope for nothing--this night has no possible tomorrow. I know it. +Your husband I dare not be--your lover I should not wish to be. I ask +nothing of you--understand well! I should like to burn my heart at your +feet, as on an altar--this is all. Do you believe me? Answer! Are you +tranquil? Are you confident? Will you hear me? May I tell you what +image I carry of you in the secret recesses of my heart? Dear creature +that you are, you do not--ah, you do not know how great is your worth; +and I fear to tell you; so much am I afraid of stripping you of your +charms, or of one of your virtues. If you had been proud of yourself, +as you have a right to be, you would be less perfect, and I should love +you less. But I wish to tell you how lovable and how charming you are. +You alone do not know it. You alone do not see the soft flame of your +large eyes--the reflection of your heroic soul on your young but serene +brow. Your charm is over everything you do--your slightest gesture is +engraven on my heart. Into the most ordinary duties of every-day life +you carry a peculiar grace, like a young priestess who recites her daily +devotions. Your hand, your touch, your breath purifies everything--even +the most humble and the most wicked beings--and myself first of all! + +"I am astonished at the words which I dare to pronounce, and the +sentiments which animate me, to whom you have made clear new truths. +Yes, all the rhapsodies of the poets, all the loves of the martyrs, +I comprehend in your presence. This is truth itself. I understand those +who died for their faith by the torture--because I should like to suffer +for you--because I believe in you--because I respect you--I cherish you-- +I adore you!" + +He stopped, shivering, and half prostrating himself before her, seized +the end of her veil and kissed it. + +"Now," he continued, with a kind of grave sadness, "go, Madame, I have +forgotten too long that you require repose. Pardon me--proceed. I shall +follow you at a distance, until you reach your home, to protect you--but +fear nothing from me." + +Madame de Tecle had listened, without once interrupting him even by a +sigh. Words would only excite the young man more. Probably she +understood, for the first time in her life, one of those songs of love-- +one of those hymns alive with passion, which every woman wishes to hear +before she dies. Should she die because she had heard it? She remained +without speaking, as if just awakening from a dream, and said quite +simply, in a voice as soft and feeble as a sigh, "My God!" After another +pause she advanced a few steps on the road. + +"Give me your arm as far as my house, Monsieur," she said. + +He obeyed her, and they continued their walk toward the house, the lights +of which they soon saw. They did not exchange a word--only as they +reached the gate, Madame de Tecle turned and made him a slight gesture +with her hand, in sign of adieu. In return, M. de Camors bowed low, and +withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PROLOGUE TO THE TRAGEDY + +The Comte de Camors had been sincere. When true passion surprises the +human soul, it breaks down all resolves, sweeps away all logic, and +crushes all calculations. + +In this lies its grandeur, and also its danger. It suddenly seizes on +you, as the ancient god inspired the priestess on her tripod--speaks +through your lips, utters words you hardly comprehend, falsifies your +thoughts, confounds your reason, and betrays your secrets. When this +sublime madness possesses you, it elevates you--it transfigures you. +It can suddenly convert a common man into a poet, a coward into a hero, +an egotist into a martyr, and Don Juan himself into an angel of purity. + +With women--and it is to their honor--this metamorphosis can be durable, +but it is rarely so with men. Once transported to this stormy sky, women +frankly accept it as their proper home, and the vicinity of the thunder +does not disquiet them. + +Passion is their element--they feel at home there. There are few women +worthy of the name who are not ready to put in action all the words which +passion has caused to bubble from their lips. If they speak of flight, +they are ready for exile. If they talk of dying, they are ready for +death. Men are far less consistent with their ideas. + +It was not until late the next morning that Camors regretted his outbreak +of sincerity; for, during the remainder of the night, still filled with +his excitement, agitated and shaken by the passage of the god, sunk into +a confused and feverish reverie, he was incapable of reflection. But +when, on awakening, he surveyed the situation calmly and by the plain +light of day, and thought over the preceding evening and its events, he +could not fail to recognize the fact that he had been cruelly duped by +his own nervous system. To love Madame de Tecle was perfectly proper, +and he loved her still--for she was a person to be loved and desired-- +but to elevate that love or any other as the master of his life, instead +of its plaything, was one of those weaknesses interdicted by his system +more than any other. In fact, he felt that he had spoken and acted like +a school-boy on a holiday. He had uttered words, made promises, and +taken engagements on himself which no one demanded of him. No conduct +could have been more ridiculous. Happily, nothing was lost. He had yet +time to give his love that subordinate place which this sort of fantasy +should occupy in the life of man. He had been imprudent; but this very +imprudence might finally prove of service to him. All that remained of +this scene was a declaration--gracefully made, spontaneous, natural-- +which subjected Madame de Tecle to the double charm of a mystic idolatry +which pleased her sex, and to a manly ardor which could not displease +her. + +He had, therefore, nothing to regret--although he certainly would have +preferred, from the point of view of his principles, to have displayed a +somewhat less childish weakness. + +But what course should he now adopt? Nothing could be more simple. He +would go to Madame de Tecle--implore her forgiveness--throw himself again +at her feet, promising eternal respect, and succeed. Consequently, about +ten o'clock, M. de Camors wrote the following note: + + "MADAME + + "I can not leave without bidding you adieu, and once more demanding + your forgiveness. + + "Will you permit me? + + "CAMORS." + +This letter he was about despatching, when he received one containing the +following words: + + "I shall be happy, Monsieur, if you will call upon me to-day, about + four o'clock. + "ELISE DE TECLE." + +Upon which M. de Camors threw his own note in the fire, as entirely +superfluous. + +No matter what interpretation he put upon this note, it was an evident +sign that love had triumphed and that virtue was defeated; for, after +what had passed the previous evening between Madame de Tecle and himself, +there was only one course for a virtuous woman to take; and that was +never to see him again. To see him was to pardon him; to pardon him was +to surrender herself to him, with or without circumlocution. Camors did +not allow himself to deplore any further an adventure which had so +suddenly lost its gravity. He soliloquized on the weakness of women. +He thought it bad taste in Madame de Tecle not to have maintained longer +the high ideal his innocence had created for her. Anticipating the +disenchantment which follows possession, he already saw her deprived of +all her prestige, and ticketed in the museum of his amorous souvenirs. + +Nevertheless, when he approached her house, and had the feeling of her +near presence, he was troubled. Doubt--and anxiety assailed him. When +he saw through the trees the window of her room, his heart throbbed so +violently that he had to sit down on the root of a tree for a moment. + +"I love her like a madman!" he murmured; then leaping up suddenly he +exclaimed, "But she is only a woman, after all--I shall go on!" + +For the first time Madame de Tecle received him in her own apartment. +This room M. de Camors had never seen. It was a large and lofty +apartment, draped and furnished in sombre tints. + +It contained gilded mirrors, bronzes, engravings, and old family jewelry +lying on tables--the whole presenting the appearance of the ornamentation +of a church. + +In this severe and almost religious interior, however rich, reigned a +vague odor of flowers; and there were also to be seen boxes of lace, +drawers of perfumed linen, and that dainty atmosphere which ever +accompanies refined women. + +But every one has her personal individuality, and forms her own +atmosphere which fascinates her lover. Madame de Tecle, finding herself +almost lost in this very large room, had so arranged some pieces of +furniture as to make herself a little private nook near the chimneypiece, +which her daughter called, "My mother's chapel." It was there Camors now +perceived her, by the soft light of a lamp, sitting in an armchair, and, +contrary to her custom, having no work in her hands. She appeared calm, +though two dark circles surrounded her eyes. She had evidently suffered +much, and wept much. + +On seeing that dear face, worn and haggard with grief, Camors forgot the +neat phrases he had prepared for his entrance. He forgot all except that +he really adored her. + +He advanced hastily toward her, seized in his two hands those of the +young woman and, without speaking, interrogated her eyes with tenderness +and profound pity. + +"It is nothing," she said, withdrawing her hand and bending her pale face +gently; "I am better; I may even be very happy, if you wish it." + +There was in the smile, the look, and the accent of Madame de Tecle +something indefinable, which froze the blood of Camors. + +He felt confusedly that she loved him, and yet was lost to him; that he +had before him a species of being he did not understand, and that this +woman, saddened, broken, and lost by love, yet loved something else in +this world better even than that love. + +She made him a slight sign, which he obeyed like a child, and he sat down +beside her. + +"Monsieur," she said to him, in a voice tremulous at first, but which +grew stronger as she proceeded, "I heard you last night perhaps with a +little too much patience. I shall now, in return, ask from you the same +kindness. You have told me that you love me, Monsieur; and I avow +frankly that I entertain a lively affection for you. Such being the +case, we must either separate forever, or unite ourselves by the only tie +worthy of us both. To part:--that will afflict me much, and I also +believe it would occasion much grief to you. To unite ourselves:--for my +own part, Monsieur, I should be willing to give you my life; but I can +not do it, I can not wed you without manifest folly. You are younger +than I; and as good and generous as I believe you to be, simple reason +tells me that by so doing I should bring bitter repentance on myself. +But there is yet another reason. I do not belong to myself, I belong to +my daughter, to my family, to my past. In giving up my name for yours I +should wound, I should cruelly afflict, all the friends who surround me, +and, I believe, some who exist no longer. Well, Monsieur," she +continued, with a smile of celestial grace and resignation, "I have +discovered a way by which we yet can avoid breaking off an intimacy so +sweet to both of us--in fact, to make it closer and more dear. My +proposal may surprise you, but have the kindness to think over it, +and do not say no, at once." + +She glanced at him, and was terrified at the pallor which overspread his +face. She gently took his hand, and said: + +"Have patience!" + +"Speak on!" he muttered, hoarsely. + +"Monsieur," she continued, with her smile of angelic charity, "God be +praised, you are quite young; in our society men situated as you are do +not marry early, and I think they are right. Well, then, this is what I +wish to do, if you will allow me to tell you. I wish to blend in one +affection the two strongest sentiments of my heart! I wish to +concentrate all my care, all my tenderness, all my joy on forming a wife +worthy of you--a young soul who will make you happy, a cultivated +intellect of which you can be proud. I will promise you, Monsieur, I +will swear to you, to consecrate to you this sweet duty, and to +consecrate to it all that is best in myself. I shall devote to it all my +time, every instant of my life, as to the holy work of a saint. I swear +to you that I shall be very happy if you will only tell me that you will +consent to this." + +His answer was an impatient exclamation of irony and anger: then he +spoke: + +"You will pardon me, Madame," he said, "if so sudden a change in my +sentiments can not be as prompt as you wish." + +She blushed slightly. + +"Yes," she said, with a faint smile; "I can understand that the idea of +my being your mother-in-law may seem strange to you; but in some years, +even in a very few years' time, I shall be an old woman, and then it will +seem to you very natural." + +To consummate her mournful sacrifice, the poor woman did not shrink from +covering herself, even in the presence of the man she loved, with the +mantle of old age. + +The soul of Camors was perverted, but not base, and it was suddenly +touched at this simple heroism. He rendered it the greatest homage he +could pay, for his eyes suddenly filled with tears. She observed it, +for she watched with an anxious eye the slightest impression she produced +upon him. So she continued more cheerfully: + +"And see, Monsieur, how this will settle everything. In this way we can +continue to see each other without danger, because your little affianced +wife will be always between us. Our sentiments will soon be in harmony +with our new thoughts. Even your future prospects, which are now also +mine, will encounter fewer obstacles, because I shall push them more +openly, without revealing to my uncle what ought to remain a secret +between us two. I can let him suspect my hopes, and that will enlist him +in your service. Above all, I repeat to you that this will insure my +happiness. Will you thus accept my maternal affection?" + +M. de Camors, by a powerful effort of will, had recovered his self- +control. + +"Pardon me, Madame," he said, with a faint smile, "but I should wish at +least to preserve honor. What do you ask of me? Do you yourself fully +comprehend? Have you reflected well on this? Can either of us contract, +without imprudence, an engagement of so delicate a nature for so long a +time?" + +"I demand no engagement of you," she replied, "for I feel that would be +unreasonable. I only pledge myself as far as I can, without compromising +the future fate of my daughter. I shall educate her for you. I shall, +in my secret heart, destine her for you, and it is in this light I shall +think of you for the future. Grant me this. Accept it like an honest +man, and remain single. This is probably a folly, but I risk my repose +upon it. I will run all the risk, because I shall have all the joy. +I have already had a thousand thoughts on this subject, which I can not +yet tell you, but which I shall confess to God this night. I believe-- +I am convinced that my daughter, when I have done all that I can for her, +will make an excellent wife for you. She will benefit you, and be an +honor to you, and will, I hope, one day thank me with all her heart; for +I perceive already what she wishes, and what she loves. You can not +know, you can not even suspect--but I--I know it. There is already a +woman in that child, and a very charming woman--much more charming than +her mother, Monsieur, I assure you." + +Madame de Tecle stopped suddenly, the door opened, and Mademoiselle Marie +entered the room brusquely, holding in each hand a gigantic doll. + +M. Camors rose, bowed gravely to her, and bit his lip to avoid smiling, +which did not altogether escape Madame de Tecle. + +"Marie!" she cried out, "really you are absurd with your dolls!" + +"My dolls! I adore them!" replied Mademoiselle Marie. + +"You are absurd! Go away with your dolls," said her mother. + +"Not without embracing you," said the child. + +She laid her dolls on the carpet, sprang on her mother's neck, and kissed +her on both cheeks passionately, after which she took up her dolls, +saying to them: + +"Come, my little dears!" and left the room. + +"Good heavens!" said Madame de Tecle, laughing, "this is an unfortunate +incident; but I still insist, and I implore you to take my word. She +will have sense, courage, and goodness. Now," she continued in a more +serious tone, "take time to think over it, and return to give me your +decision, should it be favorable. If not, we must bid each other adieu." + +"Madame," said Camors, rising and standing before her, "I will promise +never to address a word to you which a son might not utter to his mother. +Is it not this which you demand?" + +Madame de Tecle fixed upon him for an instant her beautiful eyes, full of +joy and gratitude, then suddenly covered her face with her two hands. + +"I thank you!" she murmured, "I am very happy!" She extended her hand, +wet with her tears, which he took and pressed to his lips, bowed low, and +left the room. + +If there ever was a moment in his fatal career when the young man was +really worthy of admiration, it was this. His love for Madame de Tecle, +however unworthy of her it might be, was nevertheless great. It was the +only true passion he had ever felt. At the moment when he saw this love, +the triumph of which he thought certain, escape him forever, he was not +only wounded in his pride but was crushed in his heart. + +Yet he took the stroke like a gentleman. His agony was well borne. His +first bitter words, checked at once, alone betrayed what he suffered. + +He was as pitiless for his own sorrows as he sought to be for those of +others. He indulged in none of the common injustice habitual to +discarded lovers. + +He recognized the decision of Madame de Tecle as true and final, and was +not tempted for a moment to mistake it for one of those equivocal +arrangements by which women sometimes deceive themselves, and of which +men always take advantage. He realized that the refuge she had sought +was inviolable. He neither argued nor protested against her resolve. +He submitted to it, and nobly kissed the noble hand which smote him. +As to the miracle of courage, chastity, and faith by which Madame de +Tecle had transformed and purified her love, he cared not to dwell upon +it. This example, which opened to his view a divine soul, naked, so to +speak, destroyed his theories. One word which escaped him, while passing +to his own house, proved the judgment which he passed upon it, from his +own point of view. "Very childish," he muttered, "but sublime!" + +On returning home Camors found a letter from General Campvallon, +notifying him that his marriage with Mademoiselle d'Estrelles would take +place in a few days, and inviting him to be present. The marriage was to +be strictly private, with only the family to assist at it. + +Camors did not regret this invitation, as it gave him the excuse for some +diversion in his thoughts, of which he felt the need. He was greatly +tempted to go away at once to diminish his sufferings, but conquered this +weakness. The next evening he passed at the chateau of M. des Rameures; +and though his heart was bleeding, he piqued himself on presenting an +unclouded brow and an inscrutable smile to Madame de Tecle. He announced +the brief absence he intended, and explained the reason. + +"You will present my best wishes to the General," said M. des Rameures. +"I hope he may be happy, but I confess I doubt it devilishly." + +"I shall bear your good wishes to the General, Monsieur." + +"The deuce you will! 'Exceptis excipiendis', I hope," responded the old +gentleman, laughing. + +As for Madame de Tecle, to tell of all the tender attentions and +exquisite delicacies, that a sweet womanly nature knows so well how to +apply to heal the wounds it has inflicted--how graciously she glided into +her maternal relation with Camors--to tell all this would require a pen +wielded by her own soft hands. + +Two days later M. de Camors left Reuilly for Paris. The morning after +his arrival, he repaired at an early hour to the General's house, a +magnificent hotel in the Rue Vanneau. The marriage contract was to be +signed that evening, and the civil and religious ceremonies were to take +place next morning. + +Camors found the General in a state of extraordinary agitation, pacing up +and down the three salons which formed the ground floor of the hotel. +The moment he perceived the young man entering--" Ah, it is you!" he +cried, darting a ferocious glance upon him. "By my faith, your arrival +is fortunate." + +"But, General!" + +"Well, what! Why do you not embrace me?" + +"Certainly, General!" + +"Very well! It is for to-morrow, you know!" + +"Yes, General." + +"Sacrebleu! You are very cool! Have you seen her?" + +"Not yet, General. I have just arrived." + +"You must go and see her this morning. You owe her this mark of +interest; and if you discover anything, you must tell me." + +"But what should I discover, General?" + +"How do I know? But you understand women much better than I! Does she +love me, or does she not love me? You understand, I make no pretensions +of turning her head, but still I do not wish to be an object of repulsion +to her. Nothing has given me reason to suppose so, but the girl is so +reserved, so impenetrable." + +"Mademoiselle d'Estrelles is naturally cold," said Camors. + +"Yes," responded the General. "Yes, and in some respects I--but really +now, should you discover anything, I rely on your communicating it to me. +And stop!--when you have seen her, have the kindness to return here, for +a few moments--will you? You will greatly oblige me!" + +"Certainly, General, I shall do so." + +"For my part, I love her like a fool." + +"That is only right, General!" + +"Hum--and what of Des Rameures?" + +"I think we shall agree, General!" + +"Bravo! we shall talk more of this later. Go and see her, my dear +child!" + +Camors proceeded to the Rue St. Dominique, where Madame de la Roche-Jugan +resided. + +"Is my aunt in, Joseph?" he inquired of the servant whom he found in the +antechamber, very busy in the preparations which the occasion demanded. + +"Yes, Monsieur le Comte, Madame la Comtesse is in and will see you." + +"Very well," said Camors; and directed his steps toward his aunt's +chamber. But this chamber was no longer hers. This worthy woman had +insisted on giving it up to Mademoiselle Charlotte, for whom she +manifested, since she had become the betrothed of the seven hundred +thousand francs' income of the General, the most humble deference. +Mademoiselle d'Estrelles had accepted this change with a disdainful +indifference. Camors, who was ignorant of this change, knocked therefore +most innocently at the door. Obtaining no answer, he entered without +hesitation, lifted the curtain which hung in the doorway, and was +immediately arrested by a strange spectacle. At the other extremity of +the room, facing him, was a large mirror, before which stood Mademoiselle +d'Estrelles. Her back was turned to him. + +She was dressed, or rather draped, in a sort of dressing-gown of white +cashmere, without sleeves, which left her arms and shoulders bare. Her +auburn hair was unbound and floating, and fell in heavy masses almost to +her feet. One hand rested lightly on the toilet-table, the other held +together, over her bust, the folds of her dressing-gown. + +She was gazing at herself in the glass, and weeping bitterly. + +The tears fell drop by drop on her white, fresh bosom, and glittered +there like the drops of dew which one sees shining in the morning on the +shoulders of the marble nymphs in the gardens. + +Then Camors noiselessly dropped the portiere and noiselessly retired, +taking with him, nevertheless, an eternal souvenir of this stolen visit. +He made inquiries; and finally received the embraces of his aunt, who had +taken refuge in the chamber of her son, whom she had put in the little +chamber formerly occupied by Mademoiselle d'Estrelles. His aunt, after +the first greetings, introduced her nephew into the salon, where were +displayed all the pomps of the trousseau. Cashmeres, laces, velvets, +silks of the finest quality, covered the chairs. On the chimneypiece, +the tables, and the consoles, were strewn the jewel-cases. + +While Madame de la Roche-Jugan was exhibiting to Camors these magnificent +things--of which she failed not to give him the prices--Charlotte, +who had been notified of the Count's presence, entered the salon. + +Her face was not only serene--it was joyous. "Good morning, cousin!" +she said gayly, extending her hand to Camors. "How very kind of you to +come! Well, you see how the General spoils me?" + +"This is the trousseau of a princess, Mademoiselle!" + +"And if you knew, Louis," said Madame de la Roche, "how well all this +suits her! Dear child! you would suppose she had been born to a throne. +However, you know she is descended from the kings of Spain." + +"Dear aunt!" said Mademoiselle, kissing her on the forehead. + +"You know, Louis, that I wish her to call me aunt now?" said the +Countess, affecting the plaintive tone, which she thought the highest +expression of human tenderness. + +"Ah, indeed!" said Camors. + +"Let us see, little one! Only try on your coronet before your cousin." + +"I should like to see it on your brow," said Camors. + +"Your slightest wishes are commands," replied Charlotte, in a voice +harmonious and grave, but not untouched with irony. + +In the midst of the jewelry which encumbered the salon was a full +marquise's coronet set in precious stones and pearls. The young girl +adjusted it on her head before the glass, and then stood near Camors with +majestic composure. + +"Look!" she said; and he gazed at her bewildered, for she looked +wonderfully beautiful and proud under her coronet. + +Suddenly she darted a glance full into the eyes of the young man, and +lowering her voice to a tone of inexpressible bitterness, said: + +"At least I sell myself dearly, do I not?" Then turning her back to him +she laughed, and took off her coronet. + +After some further conversation Camors left, saying to himself that this +adorable person promised to become very dangerous; but not admitting that +he might profit by it. + +In conformity with his promise he returned immediately to the General, +who continued to pace the three rooms, and cried out as he saw him: + +"Eh, well?" + +"Very well indeed, General, perfect--everything goes well." + +"You have seen her?" + +"Yes, certainly." + +"And she said to you--" + +"Not much; but she seemed enchanted." + +"Seriously, you did not remark anything strange?" + +"I remarked she was very lovely!" + +"Parbleu! and you think she loves me a little?" + +"Assuredly, after her way--as much as she can love, for she has naturally +a very cold disposition." + +"Ah! as to that I console myself. All that I demand is not to be +disagreeable to her. Is it not so? Very well, you give me great +pleasure. Now, go where you please, my dear boy, until this evening." + +"Adieu until this evening, General!" + +The signing of the contract was marked by no special incident; only when +the notary, with a low, modest voice read the clause by which the General +made Mademoiselle d'Estrelles heiress to all his fortune, Camors was +amused to remark the superb indifference of Mademoiselle Charlotte, the +smiling exasperation of Mesdames Bacquiere and Van-Cuyp, and the amorous +regard which Madame de la Roche-Jugan threw at the same time on +Charlotte, her son, and the notary. Then the eye of the Countess rested +with a lively interest on the General, and seemed to say that it detected +with pleasure in him an unhealthy appearance. + +The next morning, on leaving the Church of St. Thomas daikon, the young +Marquise only exchanged her wedding-gown for a travelling-costume, and +departed with her husband for Campvallon, bathed in the tears of Madame +de la Roche-Jugan, whose lacrimal glands were remarkably tender. + +Eight days later M. de Camors returned to Reuilly. Paris had revived +him, his nerves were strong again. + +As a practical man he took a more healthy view of his adventure with +Madame de Tecle, and began to congratulate himself on its denouement. +Had things taken a different turn, his future destiny would have been +compromised and deranged for him. His political future especially would +have been lost, or indefinitely postponed, for his liaison with Madame de +Tecle would have been discovered some day, and would have forever +alienated the friendly feelings of M. des Rameures. + +On this point he did not deceive himself. Madame de Tecle, in the first +conversation she had with him, confided to him that her uncle seemed much +pleased when she laughingly let him see her idea of marrying her daughter +some day to M. de Camors. + +Camors seized this occasion to remind Madame de Tecle, that while +respecting her projects for the future, which she did him the honor to +form, he had not pledged himself to their realization; and that both +reason and honor compelled him in this matter to preserve his absolute +independence. + +She assented to this with her habitual sweetness. From this moment, +without ceasing to exhibit toward him every mark of affectionate +preference, she never allowed herself the slightest allusion to the dear +dream she cherished. Only her tenderness for her daughter seemed to +increase, and she devoted herself to the care of her education with +redoubled fervor. All this would have touched the heart of M. de Camors, +if the heart of M. de Camors had not lost, in its last effort at virtue, +the last trace of humanity. + +His honor set at rest by his frank avowals to Madame de Tecle, he did not +hesitate to profit by the advantages of the situation. He allowed her to +serve him as much as she desired, and she desired it passionately. +Little by little she had persuaded her uncle that M. de Camors was +destined by his character and talents for a great future, and that he +would, one day, be an excellent match for Marie; that he was becoming +daily more attached to agriculture, which turned toward decentralization, +and that he should be attached by firmer bonds to a province which he +would honor. While this was going on General Campvallon brought the +Marquise to present her to Madame de Tecle; and in a confidential +interview with M. des Rameures unmasked his batteries. He was going to +Italy to remain some time, but desired first to tender his resignation, +and to recommend Camors to his faithful electors. + +M. des Rameures, gained over beforehand, promised his aid; and that aid +was equivalent to success. Camors had only to make some personal visits +to the more influential electors; but his appearance was as seductive as +it was striking, and he was one of those fortunate men who can win a +heart or a vote by a smile. Finally, to comply with the requisitions, +he established himself for several weeks in the chief town of the +department. He made his court to the wife of the prefect, sufficiently +to flatter the functionary without disquieting the husband. The prefect +informed the minister that the claims of the Comte de Camors were pressed +upon the department by an irresistible influence; that the politics of +the young Count appeared undecided and a little suspicious, but that the +administration, finding it useless to oppose, thought it more politic to +sustain him. + +The minister, not less politic than the prefect, was of the same opinion. + +In consequence of this combination of circumstances, M. de Camors, toward +the end of his twenty-eighth year, was elected, at intervals of a few +days, member of the Council-General, and deputy to the Corps Legislatif. + +"You have desired it, my dear Elise," said M. des Rameures, on learning +this double result "you have desired it, and I have supported this young +Parisian with all my influence. But I must say, he does not possess my +confidence. May we never regret our triumph. May we never have to say +with the poet: 'Vita Dais oxidated Malians.'"--[The evil gods have heard +our vows.] + + + +CHAPTER XI + +NEW MAN OF THE NEW EMPIRE + +It was now five years since the electors of Reuilly had sent the Comte de +Camors to the Corps Legislatif, and they had seen no cause to regret +their choice. He understood marvellously well their little local +interests, and neglected no occasion of forwarding them. Furthermore, +if any of his constituents, passing through Paris, presented themselves +at his small hotel on the Rue de l'Imperatrice--it had been built by an +architect named Lescande, as a compliment from the deputy to his old +friend--they were received with a winning affability that sent them back +to the province with softened hearts. M. de Camors would condescend to +inquire whether their wives or their daughters had borne them company; +he would place at their disposal tickets for the theatres and passes into +the Legislative Chamber; and would show them his pictures and his +stables. He also trotted out his horses in the court under their eyes. +They found him much improved in personal appearance, and even reported +affectionately that his face was fuller and had lost the melancholy cast +it used to wear. His manner, once reserved, was now warmer, without any +loss of dignity; his expression, once morose, was now marked by a +serenity at once pleasing and grave. His politeness was almost a royal +grace; for he showed to women--young or old, rich or poor, virtuous or +otherwise--the famous suavity of Louis the Fourteenth. + +To his equals, as to his inferiors, his urbanity was perfection; for he +cultivated in the depths of his soul--for women, for his inferiors, for +his equals, and for his constituents--the same contempt. + +He loved, esteemed, and respected only himself; but that self he loved, +esteemed, and respected as a god! In fact, he had now, realized as +completely as possible, in his own person, that almost superhuman ideal +he had conceived in the most critical hour of his life. + +When he surveyed himself from head to foot in the mental mirror before +him, he was content! He was truly that which he wished to be. The +programme of his life, as he had laid it down, was faithfully carried +out. + +By a powerful effort of his mighty will, he succeeded in himself +adopting, rather than disdaining in others, all those animal instincts +that govern the vulgar. These he believed fetters which bound the +feeble, but which the strong could use. He applied himself ceaselessly +to the development and perfection of his rare physical and intellectual +gifts, only that he might, during the short passage from the cradle to +the tomb, extract from them the greatest amount of pleasure. Fully +convinced that a thorough knowledge of the world, delicacy of taste and +elegance, refinement and the point of honor constituted a sort of moral +whole which formed the true gentleman, he strove to adorn his person with +the graver as well as the lighter graces. He was like a conscientious +artist, who would leave no smallest detail incomplete. The result of his +labor was so satisfactory, that M. de Camors, at the moment we rejoin +him, was not perhaps one of the best men in the world, but he was beyond +doubt one of the happiest and most amiable. Like all men who have +determined to cultivate ability rather than scrupulousness, he saw all +things developing to his satisfaction. Confident of his future, he +discounted it boldly, and lived as if very opulent. His rapid elevation +was explained by his unfailing audacity, by his cool judgment and neat +finesse, by his great connection and by his moral independence. He had a +hard theory, which he continually expounded with all imaginable grace: +"Humanity," he would say, "is composed of speculators!" + +Thoroughly imbued with this axiom, he had taken his degree in the grand +lodge of financiers. There he at once made himself an authority by his +manner and address; and he knew well how to use his name, his political +influence, and his reputation for integrity. Employing all these, yet +never compromising one of them, he influenced men by their virtues, or +their vices, with equal indifference. He was incapable of meanness; he +never wilfully entrapped a friend, or even an enemy, into a disastrous +speculation; only, if the venture proved unsuccessful, he happened to get +out and leave the others in it. But in financial speculations, as in +battles, there must be what is called "food for powder;" and if one be +too solicitous about this worthless pabulum, nothing great can be +accomplished. So Camors passed as one of the most scrupulous of this +goodly company; and his word was as potential in the region of "the +rings," as it was in the more elevated sphere of the clubs and of the +turf. + +Nor was he less esteemed in the Corps Legislatif, where he assumed the +curious role of a working member until committees fought for him. It +surprised his colleagues to see this elegant young man, with such fine +abilities, so modest and so laborious--to see him ready on the dryest +subjects and with the most tedious reports. Ponderous laws of local +interest neither frightened nor mystified him. He seldom spoke in the +public debates, except as a reporter; but in the committee he spoke +often, and there his manner was noted for its grave precision, tinged +with irony. No one doubted that he was one of the statesmen of the +future; but it could be seen he was biding his time. + +The exact shade of his politics was entirely unknown. He sat in the +"centre left;" polite to every one, but reserved with all. Persuaded, +like his father, that the rising generation was preparing, after a time, +to pass from theories to revolution--and calculating with pleasure that +the development of this periodical catastrophe would probably coincide +with his fortieth year, and open to his blase maturity a source of new +emotions--he determined to wait and mold his political opinions according +to circumstances. + +His life, nevertheless, had sufficient of the agreeable to permit him to +wait the hour of ambition. Men respected, feared, and envied him. Women +adored him. + +His presence, of which he was not prodigal, adorned an entertainment: his +intrigues could not be gossiped about, being at the same time choice, +numerous, and most discreetly conducted. + +Passions purely animal never endure long, and his were most ephemeral; +but he thought it due to himself to pay the last honors to his victims, +and to inter them delicately under the flowers of his friendship. He had +in this way made many friends among the Parisian women--a few only of +whom detested him. As for the husbands--they were universally fond of +him. + +To these elegant pleasures he sometimes added a furious debauch, when his +imagination was for the moment maddened by champagne. But low company +disgusted him, and he shunned it; he was not a man for frequent orgies, +and economized his health, his energies, and his strength. His tastes +were as thoroughly elevated as could be those of a being who strove to +repress his soul. Refined intrigues, luxury in music, paintings, books, +and horses--these constituted all the joy of his soul, of his sense, and +of his pride. He hovered over the flowers of Parisian elegance; as a bee +in the bosom of a rose, he drank in its essence and revelled in its +beauty. + +It is easy to understand that M. de Camors, relishing this prosperity, +attached himself more and more to the moral and religious creed that +assured it to him; that he became each day more and more confirmed in the +belief that the testament of his father and his own reflection had +revealed to him the true evangel of men superior to their species. He +was less and less tempted to violate the rules of the game of life; but +among all the useless cards, to hold which might disturb his system, the +first he discarded was the thought of marriage. He pitied himself too +tenderly at the idea of losing the liberty of which he made such +agreeable use; at the idea of taking on himself gratuitously the +restraints, the tedium, the ridicule, and even the danger of a household. +He shuddered at the bare thought of a community of goods and interest; +and of possible paternity. + +With such views he was therefore but little disposed to encourage the +natural hopes in which Madame de Tecle had entombed her love. He +determined so to conduct himself toward her as to leave no ground for the +growth of her illusion. He ceased to visit Reuilly, remaining there but +two or three weeks in each year, as such time as the session of the +Council-General summoned him to the province. + +It is true that during these rare visits Camors piqued himself on +rendering Madame de Tecle and M. des Rameures all the duties of +respectful gratitude. Yet avoiding all allusion to the past, guarding +himself scrupulously from confidential converse, and observing a frigid +politeness to Mademoiselle Marie, there remained doubt in his mind that, +the fickleness of the fair sex aiding him, the young mother of the girl +would renounce her chimerical project. His error was great: and it may +be here remarked that a hard and scornful scepticism may in this world +engender as many false judgments and erroneous calculations as candor or +even inexperience can. He believed too much in what had been written of +female fickleness; in deceived lovers, who truly deserved to be such; +and in what disappointed men had judged of them. + +The truth is, women are generally remarkable for the tenacity of their +ideas and for fidelity to their sentiments. Inconstancy of heart is the +special attribute of man; but he deems it his privilege as well, and when +woman disputes the palm with him on this ground, he cries aloud as if the +victim of a robber. + +Rest assured this theory is no paradox; as proven by the prodigies of +patient devotion--tenacious, inviolable--every day displayed by women of +the lower classes, whose natures, if gross, retain their primitive +sincerity. Even with women of the world, depraved though they be by the +temptations that assail them, nature asserts herself; and it is no rarity +to see them devote an entire life to one idea, one thought, or one +affection! Their lives do not know the thousand distractions which at +once disturb and console men; and any idea that takes hold upon them +easily becomes fixed. They dwell upon it in the crowd and in solitude; +when they read and while they sew; in their dreams and in their prayers. +In it they live--for it they die. + +It was thus that Madame de Tecle had dwelt year after year on the project +of this alliance with unalterable fervor, and had blended the two pure +affections that shared her heart in this union of her daughter with +Camors, and in thus securing the happiness of both. Ever since she had +conceived this desire--which could only have had its birth in a soul as +pure as it was tender--the education of her child had become the sweet +romance of her life. She dreamed of it always, and of nothing else. + +Without knowing or even suspecting the evil traits lurking in the +character of Camors, she still understood that, like the great majority +of the young men of his day, the young Count was not overburdened with +principle. But she held that one of the privileges of woman, in our +social system, was the elevation of their husbands by connection with a +pure soul, by family affections, and by the sweet religion of the heart. +Seeking, therefore, by making her daughter an amiable and lovable woman, +to prepare her for the high mission for which she was destined, she +omitted nothing which could improve her. What success rewarded her care +the sequel of this narrative will show. It will suffice, for the +present, to inform the reader that Mademoiselle de Tecle was a young girl +of pleasing countenance, whose short neck was placed on shoulders a +little too high. She was not beautiful, but extremely pretty, well +educated, and much more vivacious than her mother. + +Mademoiselle Marie was so quick-witted that her mother often suspected +she knew the secret which concerned herself. Sometimes she talked too +much of M. de Camors; sometimes she talked too little, and assumed a +mysterious air when others spoke of him. + +Madame de Tecle was a little disturbed by these eccentricities. The +conduct of M. de Camors, and his more than reserved bearing, annoyed her +occasionally; but when we love any one we are likely to interpret +favorably all that he does, or all that he omits to do. Madame de Tecle +readily attributed the equivocal conduct of the Count to the inspiration +of a chivalric loyalty. As she believed she knew him thoroughly, she +thought he wished to avoid committing himself, or awakening public +observation, before he had made up his mind. + +He acted thus to avoid disturbing the repose of both mother and daughter. +Perhaps also the large fortune which seemed destined for Mademoiselle de +Tecle might add to his scruples by rousing his pride. + +His not marrying was in itself a good augury, and his little fiancee was +reaching a marriageable age. She therefore did not despair that some day +M. de Camors would throw himself at her feet, and say, "Give her to met!" + +If God did not intend that this delicious page should ever be written in +the book of her destiny, and she was forced to marry her daughter to +another, the poor woman consoled herself with the thought that all the +cares she lavished upon her would not be lost, and that her dear child +would thus be rendered better and happier. + +The long months which intervened between the annual apparition of Camors +at Reuilly, filled up by Madame de Tecle with a single idea and by the +sweet monotony of a regular life, passed more rapidly than the Count +could have imagined. His own life, so active and so occupied, placed +ages and abysses between each of his periodical voyages. But Madame de +Tecle, after five years, was always only a day removed from the cherished +and fatal night on which her dream had begun. Since that period there +had been no break in her thoughts, no void in her heart, no wrinkle on +her forehead. Her dream continued young, like herself. But in spite of +the peaceful and rapid succession of her days, it was not without anxiety +that she saw the approach of the season which always heralded the return +of Camors. + +As her daughter matured, she preoccupied herself with the impression she +would make on the mind of the Count, and felt more sensibly the solemnity +of the matter. + +Mademoiselle Marie, as we have already stated, was a cunning little puss, +and had not failed to perceive that her tender mother chose habitually +the season of the convocation of the Councils-General to try a new style +of hair-dressing for her. The same year on which we have resumed our +recital there passed, on one occasion, a little scene which rather +annoyed Madame de Tecle. She was trying a new coiffure on Mademoiselle +Marie, whose hair was very pretty and very black; some stray and +rebellious portions had frustrated her mother's efforts. + +There was one lock in particular, which in spite of all combing and +brushing would break away from the rest, and fall in careless curls. +Madame de Tecle finally, by the aid of some ribbons, fastened down the +rebellious curl: + +"Now I think it will do," she said sighing, and stepping back to admire +the effect of her work. + +"Don't believe it," said Marie, who was laughing and mocking. "I do not +think so. I see exactly what will happen: the bell rings--I run out-- +my net gives way--Monsieur de Camors walks in--my mother is annoyed-- +tableau!" + +"I should like to know what Monsieur de Camors has to do with it?" said +Madame de Tecle. + +Her daughter threw her arms around her neck--"Nothing!" she said. + +Another time Madame de Tecle detected her speaking of M. de Camors in a +tone of bitter irony. He was "the great man"--"the mysterious +personage"--"the star of the neighborhood"--"the phoenix of guests in +their woods"--or simply "the Prince!" + +Such symptoms were of so serious a nature as not to escape Madame de +Tecle. + +In presence of "the Prince," it is true, the young girl lost her gayety; +but this was another cross. Her mother found her cold, awkward, and +silent--brief, and slightly caustic in her replies. She feared M. de +Camors would misjudge her from such appearances. + +But Camors formed no judgment, good or bad; Mademoiselle de Tecle was for +him only an insignificant little girl, whom he never thought of for a +moment in the year. + +There was, however, at this time in society a person who did interest him +very much, and the more because against his will. This was the Marquise +de Campvallon, nee de Luc d'Estrelles. + +The General, after making the tour of Europe with his young wife, had +taken possession of his hotel in the Rue Vanneau, where he lived in great +splendor. They resided at Paris during the winter and spring, but in +July returned to their chateau at Campvallon, where they entertained in +great state until the autumn. The General invited Madame de Tecle and +her daughter, every year, to pass some weeks at Campvallon, rightly +judging that he could not give his young wife better companions. Madame +de Tecle accepted these invitations cheerfully, because it gave her an +opportunity of seeing the elite of the Parisian world, from whom the +whims of her uncle had always isolated her. For her own part, she did +not much enjoy it; but her daughter, by moving in the midst of such +fashion and elegance could thus efface some provincialisms of toilet or +of language; perfect her taste in the delicate and fleeting changes of +the prevailing modes, and acquire some additional graces. The young +Marquise, who reigned and scintillated like a bright star in these high +regions of social life, lent herself to the designs of her neighbor. +She seemed to take a kind of maternal interest in Mademoiselle de Tecle, +and frequently added her advice to her example. She assisted at her +toilet and gave the final touches with her own dainty hands; and the +young girl, in return, loved, admired, and confided in her. + +Camors also enjoyed the hospitalities of the General once every season, +but was not his guest as often as he wished. He seldom remained at +Campvallon longer than a week. Since the return of the Marquise to +France he had resumed the relations of a kinsman and friend with her +husband and herself; but, while trying to adopt the most natural manner, +he treated them both with a certain reserve, which astonished the +General. It will not surprise the reader, who recollects the secret and +powerful reasons which justified this circumspection. + +For Camors, in renouncing the greater part of the restraints which +control and bind men in their relations with one another, had religiously +intended to preserve one--the sentiment of honor. Many times, in the +course of this life, he had felt himself embarrassed to limit and fix +with certainty the boundaries of the only moral law he wished to respect. + +It is easy to know exactly what is in the Bible; it is not easy to know +exactly what the code of honor commands. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CIRCE + +But there exists, nevertheless, in this code one article, as to which M. +de Camors could not deceive himself, and it was that which forbade his +attempting to assail the honor of the General under penalty of being in +his own eyes, as a gentleman, a felon and foresworn. He had accepted +from this old man confidence, affection, services, benefits--everything +which could bind one man inviolably to another man--if there be beneath +the heavens anything called honor. He felt this profoundly. + +His conduct toward Madame de Campvallon had been irreproachable; and all +the more so, because the only woman he was interdicted from loving was +the only woman in Paris, or in the universe, who naturally pleased him +most. He entertained for her, at once, the interest which attaches to +forbidden fruit, to the attraction of strange beauty, and to the mystery +of an impenetrable sphinx. She was, at this time, more goddess-like than +ever. The immense fortune of her husband, and the adulation which it +brought her, had placed her on a golden car. On this she seated herself +with a gracious and native majesty, as if in her proper place. + +The luxury of her toilet, of her jewels, of her house and of her +equipages, was of regal magnificence. She blended the taste of an artist +with that of a patrician. Her person appeared really to be made divine +by the rays of this splendor. Large, blonde, graceful, the eyes blue and +unfathomable, the forehead grave, the mouth pure and proud it was +impossible to see her enter a salon with her light, gliding step, or to +see her reclining in her carriage, her hands folded serenely, without +dreaming of the young immortals whose love brought death. + +She had even those traits of physiognomy, stern and wild, which the +antique sculptors doubtless had surprised in supernatural visitations, +and which they have stamped on the eyes and the lips of their marble +gods. Her arms and shoulders, perfect in form, seemed models, in the +midst of the rosy and virgin snow which covered the neighboring +mountains. She was truly superb and bewitching. The Parisian world +respected as much as it admired her, for she played her difficult part of +young bride to an old man so perfectly as to avoid scandal. Without any +pretence of extraordinary devotion, she knew how to join to her worldly +pomps the exercise of charity, and all the other practices of an elegant +piety. Madame de la Roche-Jugan, who watched her closely, as one +watching a prey, testified, herself, in her favor; and judged her more +and more worthy of her son. And Camors, who observed her, in spite of +himself, with an eager curiosity, was finally induced to believe, as did +his aunt and all the world, that she conscientiously performed her +difficult duties, and that she found in the eclat of her life and the +gratification of her pride a sufficient compensation for the sacrifice of +her youth, her heart, and her beauty; but certain souvenirs of the past, +joined to certain peculiarities, which he fancied he remarked in the +Marquise, induced him to distrust. + +There were times, when recalling all that he had once witnessed--the +abysses and the flame at the bottom of that heart--he was tempted to +suspect the existence of many storms under all this calm exterior, and +perhaps some wickedness. It is true she never was with him precisely as +she was before the world. The character of their relations was marked by +a peculiar tone. It was precisely that tone of covert irony adopted by +two persons who desired neither to remember nor to forget. This tone, +softened in the language of Camors by his worldly tact and his respect, +was much more pointed, and had much more of bitterness on the side of the +young woman. + +He even fancied, at times, that he discovered a shade of coquetry under +this treatment; and this provocation, vague as it was, coming from this +beautiful, cold, and inscrutable creature, seemed to him a game fearfully +mysterious, that at once attracted and disturbed him. + +This was the state of things when the Count came, according to custom, +to pass the first days of September at the chateau of Campvallon, and met +there Madame de Tecle and her daughter. The visit was a painful one, +this year, for Madame de Tecle. Her confidence deserted her, and serious +concern took its place. She had, it is true, fixed in her mind, as the +last point of her hopes, the moment when her daughter should have reached +twenty years of age; and Marie was only eighteen. + +But she already had had several offers, and several times public rumor +had already declared her to be betrothed. + +Now, Camors could not have been ignorant of the rumors circulating in the +neighborhood, and yet he did not speak. His countenance did not change. +He was coldly affectionate to Madame de Tecle, but toward Marie, in spite +of her beautiful blue eyes, like her mother's, and her curly hair, +he preserved a frozen indifference. For Camors had other anxieties, +of which Madame de Tecle knew nothing. The manner of Madame Campvallon +toward him had assumed a more marked character of aggressive raillery. +A defensive attitude is never agreeable to a man, and Camors felt it more +disagreeable than most men--being so little accustomed to it. + +He resolved promptly to shorten his visit at Campvallon. + +On the eve of his departure, about five o'clock in the afternoon, he was +standing at his window, looking beyond the trees at the great black +clouds sailing over the valley, when he heard the sound of a voice that +had power to move him deeply--"Monsieur de Camors!" He saw the Marquise +standing under his window. + +"Will you walk with me?" she added. + +He bowed and descended immediately. At the moment he reached her: + +"It is suffocating," she said. "I wish to walk round the park and will +take you with me." + +He muttered a few polite phrases, and they began walking, side by side, +through the alleys of the park. + +She moved at a rapid pace, with her majestic motion, her body swaying, +her head erect. One would have looked for a page behind her, but she had +none, and her long blue robe--she rarely wore short skirts--trailed on +the sand and over the dry leaves with the soft rustle of silk. + +"I have disturbed you, probably?" she said, after a moment's pause. +"What were you dreaming of up there?" + +"Nothing--only watching the coming storm." + +"Are you becoming poetical, cousin?" + +"There is no necessity for becoming, for I already am infinitely so!" + +"I do not think so. Shall you leave to-morrow?" + +"I shall." + +"Why so soon?" + +"I have business elsewhere." + +"Very well. But Vau--Vautrot--is he not there?" + +Vautrot was the secretary of M. de Camors. + +"Vautrot can not do everything," he replied. + +"By the way, I do not like your Vautrot." + +"Nor I. But he was recommended to me by my old friend, Madame d'Oilly, +as a freethinker, and at the same time by my aunt, Madame de la Roche- +Jugan, as a religious man!" + +"How amusing!" + +"Nevertheless," said Camors, "he is intelligent and witty, and writes a +fine hand." + +"And you?" + +"How? What of me?" + +"Do you also write a good hand?" + +"I will show you, whenever you wish!" + +"Ah! and will you write to me?" + +It is difficult to imagine the tone of supreme indifference and haughty +persiflage with which the Marquise sustained this dialogue, without once +slackening her pace, or glancing at her companion, or changing the proud +and erect pose of her head. + +"I will write you either prose or verse, as you wish," said Camors. + +"Ah! you know how to compose verses?" + +"When I am inspired!" + +"And when are you inspired?" + +"Usually in the morning." + +"And we are now in the evening. That is not complimentary to me." + +"But you, Madame, had no desire to inspire me, I think." + +"Why not, then? I should be happy and proud to do so. Do you know what +I should like to put there?" and she stopped suddenly before a rustic +bridge, which spanned a murmuring rivulet. + +"I do not know!" + +"You can not even guess? I should like to put an artificial rock there." + +"Why not a natural one? In your place I should put a natural one!" + +"That is an idea," said the Marquise, and walking on she crossed the +bridge. + +"But it really thunders. I like to hear thunder in the country. Do +you?" + +"I prefer to hear it thunder at Paris." + +"Why?" + +"Because then I should not hear it." + +"You have no imagination." + +"I have; but I smother it." + +"Possibly. I have suspected you of hiding your merits, and particularly +from me." + +"Why should I conceal my merits from you?" + +"'Why should I conceal my merits' is good!" said the Marquise, +ironically. "Why? Out of charity, Monsieur, not to dazzle me, and in +regard for my repose! You are really too good, I assure you. Here comes +the rain." + +Large drops of rain began to fall on the dry leaves, and on the yellow +sand of the alley. The day was dying, and the sudden shower bent the +boughs of the trees. + +"We must return," said the young woman; "this begins to get serious." + +She took, in haste, the path which led to the chateau; but after a few +steps a bright flash broke over her head, the noise of the thunder +resounded, and a deluge of rain fell upon the fields. + +There was fortunately, near by, a shelter in which the Marquise and her +companion could take refuge. It was a ruin, preserved as an ornament to +the park, which had formerly been the chapel of the ancient chateau. +It was almost as large as the village chapel--the broken walls half +concealed under a thick mantle of ivy. Its branches had pushed through +the roof and mingled with the boughs of the old trees which surrounded +and shaded it. The timbers had disappeared. The extremity of the choir, +and the spot formerly occupied by the altar, were alone covered by the +remains of the roof. Wheelbarrows, rakes, spades, and other garden tools +were piled there. + +The Marquise had to take refuge in the midst of this rubbish, in the +narrow space, and her companion followed her. + +The storm, in the mean time, increased in violence. The rain fell in +torrents through the old walls, inundating the soil in the ancient nave. +The lightning flashed incessantly. Every now and then fragments of earth +and stone detached themselves from the roof, and fell into the choir. + +"I find this magnificent!" said Madame de Campvallon. + +"I also," said Camors, raising his eyes to the crumbling roof which half +protected them; "but I do not know whether we are safe here!" + +"If you fear, you would better go!" said the Marquise. + +"I fear for you." + +"You are too good, I assure you." + +She took off her cap and brushed it with her glove, to remove the drops +of rain which had fallen upon it. After a slight pause, she suddenly +raised her uncovered head and cast on Camors one of those searching looks +which prepares a man for an important question. + +"Cousin!" she said, "if you were sure that one of these flashes of +lightning would kill you in a quarter of an hour, what would you do?" + +"Why, cousin, naturally I should take a last farewell of you." + +"How?" + +He regarded her steadily, in his turn. "Do you know," he said, "there +are moments when I am tempted to think you a devil?" + +"Truly! Well, there are times when I am tempted to think so myself--for +example, at this moment. Do you know what I should wish? I wish I could +control the lightning, and in two seconds you would cease to exist." + +"For what reason?" + +"Because I recollect there was a man to whom I offered myself, and who +refused me, and that this man still lives. And this displeases me a +little--a great deal--passionately." + +"Are you serious, Madame?" replied Camors. + +She laughed. + +"I hope you did not think so. I am not so wicked. It was a joke--and in +bad taste, I admit. But seriously now, cousin, what is your opinion of +me? What kind of woman has time made me?" + +"I swear to you I am entirely ignorant." + +"Admitting I had become, as you did me the honor to suppose, a diabolical +person, do you think you had nothing to do with it? Tell me! Do you not +believe that there is in the life of a woman a decisive hour, when the +evil seed which is cast upon her soul may produce a terrible harvest? +Do you not believe this? Answer me! And should I not be excusable if I +entertained toward you the sentiment of an exterminating angel; and have +I not some merit in being what I am--a good woman, who loves you well-- +with a little rancor, but not much--and who wishes you all sorts of +prosperity in this world and the next? Do not answer me: it might +embarrass you, and it would be useless." + +She left her shelter, and turned her face toward the lowering sky to see +whether the storm was over. + +"It has stopped raining," she said, "let us go." + +She then perceived that the lower part of the nave had been transformed +into a lake of mud and water. She stopped at its brink, and uttered a +little cry: + +"What shall I do?" she said, looking at her light shoes. Then, turning +toward Camors, she added, laughing: + +"Monsieur, will you get me a boat?" + +Camors, himself, recoiled from stepping into the greasy mud and stagnant +water which filled the whole space of the nave. + +"If you will wait a little," he said, "I shall find you some boots or +sabots, no matter what." + +"It will be much easier," she said abruptly, "for you to carry me to the +door;" and without waiting for the young man's reply, she tucked up her +skirts carefully, and when she had finished, she said, "Carry me!" + +He looked at her with astonishment, and thought for a moment she was +jesting; but soon saw she was perfectly serious. + +"Of what are you afraid?" she asked. + +"I am not at all afraid," he answered. + +"Is it that you are not strong enough?" + +"Mon Dieu! I should think I was." + +He took her in his arms, as in a cradle, while she held up her skirts +with both hands. He then descended the steps and moved toward the door +with his strange burden. He was obliged to be very careful not to slip +on the wet earth, and this absorbed him during the first few steps; but +when he found his footing more sure, he felt a natural curiosity to +observe the countenance of the Marquise. + +The uncovered head of the young woman rested a little on the arm with +which he held her. Her lips were slightly parted with a half-wicked +smile that showed her fine white teeth; the same expression of +ungovernable malice burned in her dark eyes, which she riveted for some +seconds on those of Camors with persistent penetration--then suddenly +veiled them under the fringe of her dark lashes. This glance sent a +thrill like lightning to his very marrow. + +"Do you wish to drive me mad?" he murmured. + +"Who knows?" she replied. + +The same moment she disengaged herself from his arms, and placing her +foot on the ground again, left the ruin. + +They reached the chateau without exchanging a word. Just before entering +the house the young Marquise turned toward Camors and said to him: + +"Be sure that at heart I am very good, really." + +Notwithstanding this assertion, Camors was yet more determined to leave +the next morning, as he had previously decided. He carried away the most +painful impression of the scene of that evening. + +She had wounded his pride, inflamed his hopeless passion, and disquieted +his honor. + +"What is this woman, and what does she want of me? Is it love or +vengeance that inspires her with this fiendish coquetry?" he asked +himself. Whatever it was, Camors was not such a novice in similar +adventures as not to perceive clearly the yawning abyss under the broken +ice. He resolved sincerely to close it again between them, and forever. +The best way to succeed in this, avowedly, was to cease all intercourse +with the Marquise. But how could such conduct be explained to the +General, without awakening his suspicion and lowering his wife in his +esteem? That plan was impossible. He armed himself with all his +courage, and resigned himself to endure with resolute soul all the trials +which the love, real or pretended, of the Marquise reserved for him. + +He had at this time a singular idea. He was a member of several of the +most aristocratic clubs. He organized a chosen group of men from the +elite of his companions, and formed with them a secret association, of +which the object was to fix and maintain among its members the principles +and points of honor in their strictest form. This society, which had +only been vaguely spoken of in public under the name of "Societe des +Raffines," and also as "The Templars" which latter was its true name-- +had nothing in common with "The Devourers," illustrated by Balzac. +It had nothing in it of a romantic or dramatic character. Those who +composed this club did not, in any way, defy ordinary morals, nor set +themselves above the laws of their country. They did not bind themselves +by any vows of mutual aid in extremity. They bound themselves simply by +their word of honor to observe, in their reciprocal relations, the rules +of purest honor. + +These rules were specified in their code. The text it is difficult to +give; but it was based entirely on the point of honor, and regulated the +affairs of the club, such as the card-table, the turf, duelling, and +gallantry. For example, any member was disqualified from belonging to +this association who either insulted or interfered with the wife or +relative of one of his colleagues. The only penalty was exclusion: but +the consequences of this exclusion were grave; for all the members ceased +thereafter to associate with, recognize, or even bow to the offender. +The Templars found in this secret society many advantages. It was a +great security in their intercourse with one another, and in the +different circumstances of daily life, where they met continually either +at the opera, in salons, or on the turf. + +Camors was an exception among his companions and rivals in Parisian life +by the systematic decision of his doctrine. It was not so much an +embodiment of absolute scepticism and practical materialism; but the want +of a moral law is so natural to man, and obedience to higher laws so +sweet to him, that the chosen adepts to whom the project of Camors was +submitted accepted it with enthusiasm. They were happy in being able to +substitute a sort of positive and formal religion for restraints so +limited as their own confused and floating notions of honor. For Camors +himself, as is easily understood, it was a new barrier which he wished to +erect between himself and the passion which fascinated him. He attached +himself to this with redoubled force, as the only moral bond yet left +him. He completed his work by making the General accept the title of +President of the Association. The General, to whom Honor was a sort of +mysterious but real goddess, was delighted to preside over the worship of +his idol. He felt flattered by his young friend's selection, and +esteemed him the more. + +It was the middle of winter. The Marquise Campvallon had resumed for +some time her usual course of life, which was at the same time strict but +elegant. Punctual at church every morning, at the Bois and at charity +bazaars during the day, at the opera or the theatres in the evening, she +had received M. de Camors without the shadow of apparent emotion. She +even treated him more simply and more naturally than ever, with no +recurrence to the past, no allusion to the scene in the park during the +storm; as if she had, on that day, disclosed everything that had lain +hidden in her heart. This conduct so much resembled indifference, that +Camors should have been delighted; but he was not--on the contrary he was +annoyed by it. A cruel but powerful interest, already too dear to his +blase soul, was disappearing thus from his life. He was inclined to +believe that Madame de Campvallon possessed a much less complicated +character than he had fancied; and that little by little absorbed in +daily trifles, she had become in reality what she pretended to be--a good +woman, inoffensive, and contented with her lot. + +He was one evening in his orchestra-stall at the opera. They were +singing The Huguenots. The Marquise occupied her box between the +columns. The numerous acquaintances Camors met in the passages during +the first entr'acte prevented his going as soon as usual to pay his +respects to his cousin. At last, after the fourth act, he went to visit +her in her box, where he found her alone, the General having descended to +the parterre for a few moments. He was astonished, on entering, to find +traces of tears on the young woman's cheeks. Her eyes were even moist. +She seemed displeased at being surprised in the very act of +sentimentality. + +"Music always excites my nerves," she said. + +"Indeed!" said Camors. "You, who always reproach me with hiding my +merits, why do you hide yours? If you are still capable of weeping, so +much the better." + +"No! I claim no merit for that. Oh, heavens! If you only knew! It is +quite the contrary." + +"What a mystery you are!" + +"Are you very curious to fathom this mystery? Only that? Very well--be +happy! It is time to put an end to this." + +She drew her chair from the front of the box out of public view, and, +turning toward Camors, continued: "You wish to know what I am, what I +feel, and what I think; or rather, you wish to know simply whether I +dream of love? Very well, I dream only of that! Have I lovers, or have +I not? I have none, and never shall have, but that will not be because +of my virtue. I believe in nothing, except my own self-esteem and my +contempt of others. The little intrigues, the petty passions, which I +see in the world, make me indignant to the bottom of my soul. It seems +to me that women who give themselves for so little must be base +creatures. As for myself, I remember having said to you one day--it is a +million years since then!--that my person is sacred to me; and to commit +a sacrilege I should wish, like the vestals of Rome, a love as great as +my crime, and as terrible as death. I wept just now during that +magnificent fourth act. It was not because I listened to the most +marvellous music ever heard on this earth; it was because I admire and +envy passionately the superb and profound love of that time. And it is +ever thus--when I read the history of the glorious sixteenth century, I +am in ecstacies. How well those people knew how to love and how to die! +One night of love--then death. That is delightful. Now, cousin, you +must leave me. We are observed. They will believe we love each other, +and as we have not that pleasure, it is useless to incur the penalties. +Since I am still in the midst of the court of Charles Tenth, I pity you, +with your black coat and round hat. Good-night." + +"I thank you very much," replied Camors, taking the hand she extended to +him coldly, and left the box. He met M. de Campvallon in the passage. + +"Parbleu! my dear friend," said the General, seizing him by the arm. +"I must communicate to you an idea which has been in my brain all the +evening." + +"What idea, General?" + +"Well, there are here this evening a number of charming young girls. +This set me to thinking of you, and I even said to my wife that we must +marry you to one of these young women!" + +"Oh, General!" + +"Well, why not?" + +"That is a very serious thing--if one makes a mistake in his choice--that +is everything." + +"Bah! it is not so difficult a thing. Take a wife like mine, who has a +great deal of religion, not much imagination, and no fancies. That is +the whole secret. I tell you this in confidence, my dear fellow!" + +"Well, General, I will think of it." + +"Do think of it," said the General, in a serious tone; and went to join +his young wife, whom he understood so well. + +As to her, she thoroughly understood herself, and analyzed her own +character with surprising truth. + +Madame de Campvallon was just as little what her manner indicated as was +M. de Camors on his side. Both were altogether exceptional in French +society. Equally endowed by nature with energetic souls and enlightened +minds, both carried innate depravity to a high degree. The artificial +atmosphere of high Parisian civilization destroys in women the sentiment +and the taste for duty, and leaves them, nothing but the sentiment and +the taste for pleasure. They lose in the midst of this enchanted and +false life, like theatrical fairyland, the true idea of life in general, +and Christian life in particular. And we can confidently affirm that all +those who do not make for themselves, apart from the crowd, a kind of +Thebaid--and there are such--are pagans. They are pagans, because the +pleasures of the senses and of the mind alone interest them, and they +have not once, during the year, an impression of the moral law, unless +the sentiment, which some of them detest, recalls it to them. They are +pagans, like the beautiful, worldly Catholics of the fifteenth century-- +loving luxury, rich stuffs, precious furniture, literature, art, +themselves, and love. They were charming pagans, like Marie Stuart, +and capable, like her, of remaining true Catholics even under the axe. + +We are speaking, let it be understood, of the best of the elite--of those +that read, and of those that dream. As to the rest, those who +participate in the Parisian life on its lighter side, in its childish +whirl, and the trifling follies it entails, who make rendezvous, waste +their time, who dress and are busy day and night doing nothing, who dance +frantically in the rays of the Parisian sun, without thought, without +passion, without virtue, and even without vice--we must own it is +impossible to imagine anything more contemptible. + +The Marquise de Campvallon was then--as she truly said to the man she +resembled--a great pagan; and, as she also said to herself in one of her +serious moments when a woman's destiny is decided by the influence of +those they love, Camors had sown in her heart a seed which had +marvellously fructified. + +Camors dreamed little of reproaching himself for it, but struck with all +the harmony that surrounded the Marquise, he regretted more bitterly than +ever the fatality which separated them. + +He felt, however, more sure of himself, since he had bound himself by the +strictest obligations of honor. He abandoned himself from this moment +with less scruple to the emotions, and to the danger against which he +believed himself invincibly protected. He did not fear to seek often the +society of his beautiful cousin, and even contracted the habit of +repairing to her house two or three times a week, after leaving the +Chamber of Deputies. Whenever he found her alone, their conversation +invariably assumed a tone of irony and of raillery, in which both +excelled. He had not forgotten her reckless confidences at the opera, +and recalled it to her, asking her whether she had yet discovered that +hero of love for whom she was looking, who should be, according to her +ideas, a villain like Bothwell, or a musician like Rizzio. + +"There are," she replied, "villains who are also musicians; but that is +imagination. Sing me, then, something apropos." + +It was near the close of winter. The Marquise gave a ball. Her fetes +were justly renowned for their magnificence and good taste. She did the +honors with the grace of a queen. This evening she wore a very simple +costume, as was becoming in the courteous hostess. It was a gown of dark +velvet, with a train; her arms were bare, without jewels; a necklace of +large pearls lay on her rose-tinted bosom, and the heraldic coronet +sparkled on her fair hair. + +Camors caught her eye as he entered, as if she were watching for him. +He had seen her the previous evening, and they had had a more lively +skirmish than usual. He was struck by her brilliancy--her beauty +heightened, without doubt, by the secret ardor of the quarrel, as if +illuminated by an interior flame, with all the clear, soft splendor of a +transparent alabaster vase. + +When he advanced to join her and salute her, yielding, against his will, +to an involuntary movement of passionate admiration, he said: + +"You are truly beautiful this evening. Enough so to make one commit a +crime." + +She looked fixedly in his eyes, and replied: + +"I should like to see that," and then left him, with superb nonchalance. + +The General approached, and tapping the Count on the shoulder, said: + +"Camors! you do not dance, as usual. Let us play a game of piquet." + +"Willingly, General;" and traversing two or three salons they reached the +private boudoir of the Marquise. It was a small oval room, very lofty, +hung with thick red silk tapestry, covered with black and white flowers. +As the doors were removed, two heavy curtains isolated the room +completely from the neighboring gallery. It was there that the General +usually played cards and slept during his fetes. A small card-table was +placed before a divan. Except this addition, the boudoir preserved its +every-day aspect. Woman's work, half finished, books, journals, and +reviews were strewn upon the furniture. They played two or three games, +which the General won, as Camors was very abstracted. + +"I reproach myself, young man," said the former, "in having kept you so +long away from the ladies. I give you back your liberty--I shall cast my +eye on the journals." + +"There is nothing new in them, I think," said Camors, rising. He took up +a newspaper himself, and placing his back against the mantelpiece, warmed +his feet, one after the other. The General threw himself on the divan, +ran his eye over the 'Moniteur de l'Armee', approving of some military +promotions, and criticising others; and, little by little, he fell into a +doze, his head resting on his chest. + +But Camors was not reading. He listened vaguely to the music of the +orchestra, and fell into a reverie. Through these harmonies, through the +murmurs and warm perfume of the ball, he followed, in thought, all the +evolutions of her who was mistress and queen of all. He saw her proud +and supple step--he heard her grave and musical voice--he felt her +breath. + +This young man had exhausted everything. Love and pleasure had no longer +for him secrets or temptations; but his imagination, cold and blase, had +arisen all inflamed before this beautiful, living, palpitating statue. +She was really for him more than a woman--more than a mortal. +The antique fables of amorous goddesses and drunken Bacchantes--the +superhuman voluptuousness unknown in terrestrial pleasures--were in reach +of his hand, separated from him only by the shadow of this sleeping old +man. But a shadow was ever between them--it was honor. + +His eyes, as if lost in thought, were fixed straight before him on the +curtain opposite the chimney. Suddenly this curtain was noiselessly +raised, and the young Marquise appeared, her brow surmounted by her +coronet. She threw a rapid glance over the boudoir, and after a moment's +pause, let the curtain fall gently, and advanced directly toward Camors, +who stood dazzled and immovable. She took both his hands, without +speaking, looked at his steadily--throwing a rapid glance at her husband, +who still slept--and, standing on tiptoe, offered her lips to the young +man. + +Bewildered, and forgetting all else, he bent, and imprinted a kiss on her +lips. + +At that very moment, the General made a sudden movement and woke up; but +the same instant the Marquise was standing before him, her hands resting +on the card-table; and smiling upon him, she said, "Good-morning, my +General!" + +The General murmured a few words of apology, but she laughingly pushed +him back on his divan. + +"Continue your nap," she said; "I have come in search of my cousin, for +the last cotillon." The General obeyed. + +She passed out by the gallery. The young man; pale as a spectre, +followed her. + +Passing under the curtain, she turned toward him with a wild light +burning in her eyes. Then, before she was lost in the throng, she +whispered, in a low, thrilling voice: + +"There is the crime!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FIRST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY + +Camors did not attempt to rejoin the Marquise, and it seemed to him that +she also avoided him. A quarter of an hour later, he left the Hotel +Campvallon. + +He returned immediately home. A lamp was burning in his chamber. When +he saw himself in the mirror, his own face terrified him. This exciting +scene had shaken his nerves. + +He could no longer control himself. His pupil had become his master. +The fact itself did not surprise him. Woman is more exalted than man in +morality. There is no virtue, no devotion, no heroism in which she does +not surpass him; but once impelled to the verge of the abyss, she falls +faster and lower than man. This is attributable to two causes: she has +more passion, and she has no honor. For honor is a reality and must not +be underrated. It is a noble, delicate, and salutary quality. It +elevates manly attributes; in fact, it constitutes the modesty of man. +It is sometimes a force, and always a grace. But to think that honor is +all-sufficient; that in the face of great interests, great passions, +great trials in life, it is a support and an infallible defence; that it +can enforce the precepts which come from God--in fact that it can replace +God--this is a terrible mistake. It exposes one in a fatal moment to the +loss of one's self-esteem, and to fall suddenly and forever into that +dismal ocean of bitterness where Camors at that instant was struggling in +despair, like a drowning man in the darkness of midnight. + +He abandoned himself, on this evil night, to a final conflict full of +agony; and he was beaten. + +The next evening at six o'clock he was at the house of the Marquise. He +found her in her boudoir, surrounded by all her regal luxury. She was +half buried in a fauteuil in the chimney-corner, looking a little pale +and fatigued. She received him with her usual coldness and self- +possession. + +"Good-day," she said. "How are you?" + +"Not very well," replied Camors. + +"What is the matter?" + +"I fancy that you know." + +She opened her large eyes wide with surprise, but did not reply. + +"I entreat you, Madame," continued Camors, smiling--" no more music, the +curtain is raised, and the drama has begun." + +"Ah! we shall see." + +"Do you love me?" he continued; "or were you simply acting, to try me, +last night? Can you, or will you, tell me?" + +"I certainly could, but I do not wish to do so." + +"I had thought you more frank." + +"I have my hours." + +"Well, then," said Camors, "if your hours of frankness have passed, mine +have begun." + +"That would be compensation," she replied. + +"And I will prove it to you," continued Camors. + +"I shall make a fete of it," said the Marquise, throwing herself back on +the sofa, as if to make herself comfortable in order to enjoy an +agreeable conversation. + +"I love you, Madame; and as you wish to be loved. I love you devotedly +and unto death--enough to kill myself, or you!" + +"That is well," said the Marquise, softly. + +"But," he continued in a hoarse and constrained tone, "in loving you, in +telling you of it, in trying to make you share my love, I violate basely +the obligations of honor of which you know, and others of which you know +not. It is a crime, as you have said. I do not try to extenuate my +offence. I see it, I judge it, and I accept it. I break the last moral +tie that is left me; I leave the ranks of men of honor, and I leave also +the ranks of humanity. I have nothing human left except my love, nothing +sacred but you; but my crime elevates itself by its magnitude. Well, I +interpret it thus: I imagine two beings, equally free and strong, loving +and valuing each other beyond all else, having no affection, no loyalty, +no devotion, no honor, except toward each other--but possessing all for +each other in a supreme degree. + +"I give and consecrate absolutely to you, my person, all that I can be, +or may become, on condition of an equal return, still preserving the same +social conventionalities, without which we should both be miserable. + +"Secretly united, and secretly isolated; though in the midst of the human +herd, governing and despising it; uniting our gifts, our faculties, and +our powers, our two Parisian royalties--yours, which can not be greater, +and mine, which shall become greater if you love me and living thus, one +for the other, until death. You have dreamed, you told me, of strange +and almost sacrilegious love. Here it is; only before accepting it, +reflect well, for I assure you it is a serious thing. My love for you is +boundless. I love you enough to disdain and trample under foot that +which the meanest human being still respects. I love you enough to find +in you alone, in your single esteem, and in your sole tenderness, in the +pride and madness of being yours, oblivion and consolation for friendship +outraged, faith betrayed, and honor lost. But, Madame, this is a +sentiment which you will do well not to trifle with. You should +thoroughly understand this. If you desire my love, if you consent to +this alliance, opposed to all human laws, but grand and singular also, +deign to tell me so, and I shall fall at your feet. If you do not wish +it, if it terrifies you, if you are not prepared for the double +obligation it involves, tell me so, and fear not a word of reproach. +Whatever it might cost me--I would ruin my life, I would leave you +forever, and that which passed yesterday should be eternally forgotten." + +He ceased, and remained with his eyes fixed on the young woman with a +burning anxiety. As he went on speaking her air became more grave; she +listened to him, her head a little inclined toward him in an attitude of +overpowering interest, throwing upon him at intervals a glance full of +gloomy fire. A slight but rapid palpitation of the bosom, a scarcely +perceptible quivering of the nostrils, alone betrayed the storm raging +within her. + +"This," she said, after a moment's silence, "becomes really interesting; +but you do not intend to leave this evening, I suppose?" + +"No," said Camors. + +"Very well," she replied, inclining her head in sign of dismissal, +without offering her hand; "we shall see each other again." + +"But when?" + +"At an early day." + +He thought she required time for reflection, a little terrified doubtless +by the monster she had evoked; he saluted her gravely and departed. + +The next day, and on the two succeeding days, he vainly presented himself +at her door. + +The Marquise was either dining out or dressing. + +It was for Camors a whole century of torment. One thought which often +disquieted him revisited him with double poignancy. The Marquise did not +love him. She only wished to revenge herself for the past, and after +disgracing him would laugh at him. She had made him sign the contract, +and then had escaped him. In the midst of these tortures of his pride, +his passion, instead of weakening, increased. + +The fourth day after their interview he did not go to her house. He +hoped to meet her in the evening at the Viscountess d'Oilly's, where he +usually saw her every Friday. This lady had been formerly the most +tender friend of the Count's father. It was to her the Count had thought +proper to confide the education of his son. + +Camors had preserved for her a kind of affection. She was an amiable +woman, whom he liked and laughed at. + +No longer young, she had been compelled to renounce gallantry, which had +been the chief occupation of her youth, and never having had much taste +for devotion, she conceived the idea of having a salon. She received +there some distinguished men, savants and artists, who piqued themselves +on being free-thinkers. + +The Viscountess, in order to fit herself for her new position, resolved +to enlighten herself. She attended public lectures and conferences, +which began to be fashionable. She spoke easily about spontaneous +generation. She manifested a lively surprise when Camors, who delighted +in tormenting her, deigned to inform her that men were descended from +monkeys. + +"Now, my friend," she said to him, "I can not really admit that. How can +you think your grandfather was a monkey, you who are so handsome?" + +She reasoned on everything with the same force. + +Although she boasted of being a sceptic, sometimes in the morning she +went out, concealed by a thick veil, and entered St. Sulpice, where she +confessed and put herself on good terms with God, in case He should +exist. She was rich and well connected, and in spite of the +irregularities of her youth, the best people visited her house. + +Madame de Campvallon permitted herself to be introduced by M. de Camors. +Madame de la Roche-Jugan followed her there, because she followed her +everywhere, and took her son Sigismund. On this evening the reunion was +small. M. de Camors had only been there a few moments, when he had the +satisfaction of seeing the General and the Marquise enter. She +tranquilly expressed to him her regret at not having been at home the +preceding day; but it was impossible to hope for a more decided +explanation in a circle so small, and under the vigilant eye of Madame de +la Roche-Jugan. Camors interrogated vainly the face of his young cousin. +It was as beautiful and cold as usual. His anxiety increased; he would +have given his life at that moment to hear her say one word of love. + +The Viscountess liked the play of wit, as she had little herself. They +played at her house such little games as were then fashionable. Those +little games are not always innocent, as we shall see. + +They had distributed pencils, pens, and packages of paper--some of the +players sitting around large tables, and some in separate chairs--and +scratched mysteriously, in turn, questions and answers. During this time +the General played whist with Madame de la Roche-Jugan. Madame +Campvallon did not usually take part in these games, as they fatigued +her. Camors was therefore astonished to see her accept the pencil and +paper offered her. + +This singularity awakened his attention and put him on his guard. He +himself joined in the game, contrary to his custom, and even charged +himself with collecting in the basket the small notes as they were +written. + +An hour passed without any special incident. The treasures of wit were +dispensed. The most delicate and unexpected questions--such as, "What is +love?" "Do you think that friendship can exist between the sexes?" +"Is it sweeter to love or to beloved?"--succeeded each other with +corresponding replies. All at once the Marquise gave a slight scream, +and they saw a drop of blood trickle down her forehead. She laughed, and +showed her little silver pencil-case, which had a pen at one end, with +which she had scratched her forehead in her abstraction. + +The attention of Camors was redoubled from this moment--the more so from +a rapid and significant glance from the Marquise, which seemed to warn +him of an approaching event. She was sitting a little in shadow in one +corner, in order to meditate more at ease on questions and answers. An +instant later Camors was passing around the room collecting notes. She +deposited one in the basket, slipping another into his hand with the cat- +like dexterity of her sex. In the midst of these papers, which each +person amused himself with reading, Camors found no difficulty in +retaining without remark the clandestine note of the Marquise. It was +written in red ink, a little pale, but very legible, and contained these +words: + + "I belong, soul, body, honor, riches, to my best-beloved cousin, + Louis de Camors, from this moment and forever. + + "Written and signed with the pure blood of my veins, March 5, 185-. + + "CHARLOTTE DE LUC. D'ESTRELLES." + + +All the blood of Camors surged to his brain--a cloud came over his eyes +--he rested his hand on the marble table, then suddenly his face was +covered with a mortal paleness. These symptoms did not arise from +remorse or fear; his passion overshadowed all. He felt a boundless joy. +He saw the world at his feet. + +It was by this act of frankness and of extraordinary audacity, seasoned +by the bloody mysticism so familiar to the sixteenth century, which she +adored, that the Marquise de Campvallon surrendered herself to her lover +and sealed their fatal union. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AN ANONYMOUS LETTER + +Nearly six weeks had passed after this last episode. It was five o'clock +in the afternoon and the Marquise awaited Camors, who was to come after +the session of the Corps Legislatif. There was a sudden knock at one of +the doors of her room, which communicated with her husband's apartment. +It was the General. She remarked with surprise, and even with fear, that +his countenance was agitated. + +"What is the matter with you, my dear?" she said. "Are you ill?" + +"No," replied the General, "not at all." + +He placed himself before her, and looked at her some moments before +speaking, his eyes rolling wildly. + +"Charlotte!" he said at last, with a painful smile, "I must own to you +my folly. I am almost mad since morning--I have received such a singular +letter. Would you like to see it?" + +"If you wish," she replied. + +He took a letter from his pocket, and gave it to her. The writing was +evidently carefully disguised, and it was not signed. + +"An anonymous letter?" said the Marquise, whose eyebrows were slightly +raised, with an expression of disdain; then she read the letter, which +was as follows: + + "A true friend, General, feels indignant at seeing your confidence + and your loyalty abused. You are deceived by those whom you love + most. + + "A man who is covered with your favors and a woman who owes + everything to you are united by a secret intimacy which outrages + you. They are impatient for the hour when they can divide your + spoils. + + "He who regards it as a pious duty to warn you does not desire to + calumniate any one. He is sure that your honor is respected by her + to whom you have confided it, and that she is still worthy of your + confidence and esteem. She wrongs you in allowing herself to count + upon the future, which your best friend dates from your death. He + seeks your widow and your estate. + + "The poor woman submits against her will to the fascinations of a + man too celebrated for his successful affairs of the heart. But + this man, your friend--almost your son--how can he excuse his + conduct? Every honest person must be shocked by such behavior, and + particularly he whom a chance conversation informed of the fact, and + who obeys his conscience in giving you this information." + +The Marquise, after reading it, returned the letter coldly to the +General. + +"Sign it Eleanore-Jeanne de la Roche-Jugan!" she said. + +"Do you think so?" asked the General. + +"It is as clear as day," replied the Marquise. "These expressions betray +her--'a pious duty to warn you--'celebrated for his successful affairs of +the heart'--'every honest person.' She can disguise her writing, but not +her style. But what is still more conclusive is that which she +attributes to Monsieur de Camors--for I suppose it alludes to him--and to +his private prospects and calculations. This can not have failed to +strike you, as it has me, I suppose?" + +"If I thought this vile letter was her work," cried the General, "I never +would see her again during my life." + +"Why not? It is better to laugh at it!" + +The General began one of his solemn promenades across the room. The +Marquise looked uneasily at the clock. Her husband, intercepting one of +these glances, suddenly stopped. + +"Do you expect Camors to-day?" he inquired. + +"Yes; I think he will call after the session." + +"I think he will," responded the General, with a convulsive smile. "And +do you know, my dear," he added, "the absurd idea which has haunted me +since I received this infamous letter?--for I believe that infamy is +contagious." + +"You have conceived the idea of observing our interview?" said the +Marquise, in a tone of indolent raillery. + +"Yes," said the General, "there--behind that curtain--as in a theatre; +but, thank God! I have been able to resist this base intention. If ever +I allow myself to play so mean a part, I should wish at least to do it +with your knowledge and consent." + +"And do you ask me to consent to it?" asked the Marquise. + +"My poor Charlotte!" said the General, in a sad and almost supplicating +tone, "I am an old fool--an overgrown child--but I feel that this +miserable letter will poison my life. I shall have no more an hour of +peace and confidence. What can you expect? I was so cruelly deceived +before. I am an honorable man, but I have been taught that all men are +not like myself. There are some things which to me seem as impossible as +walking on my head, yet I see others doing these things every day. What +can I say to you? After reading this perfidious letter, I could not help +recollecting that your intimacy with Camors has greatly increased of +late!" + +"Without doubt," said the Marquise, "I am very fond of him!" + +"I remembered also your tete-a-tete with him, the other night, in the +boudoir, during the ball. When I awoke you had both an air of mystery. +What mysteries could there be between you two?" + +"Ah, what indeed!" said the Marquise, smiling. + +"And will you not tell me?" + +"You shall know it at the proper time." + +"Finally, I swear to you that I suspect neither of you--I neither suspect +you of wronging me--of disgracing me--nor of soiling my name . . . God +help me! + +"But if you two should love each other, even while respecting my honor: +if you love each other and confess it--if you two, even at my side, in my +heart--if you, my two children, should be calculating with impatient eyes +the progress of my old age--planning your projects for the future, and +smiling at my approaching death--postponing your happiness only for my +tomb you may think yourselves guiltless, but no, I tell you it would be +shameful!" + +Under the empire of the passion which controlled him, the voice of the +General became louder. His common features assumed an air of sombre +dignity and imposing grandeur. A slight shade of paleness passed over +the lovely face of the young woman and a slight frown contracted her +forehead. + +By an effort, which in a better cause would have been sublime, she +quickly mastered her weakness, and, coldly pointing out to her husband +the draped door by which he had entered, said: + +"Very well, conceal yourself there!" + +"You will never forgive me?" + +"You know little of women, my friend, if you do not know that jealousy is +one of the crimes they not only pardon but love." + +"My God, I am not jealous!" + +"Call it yourself what you will, but station yourself there!" + +"And you are sincere in wishing me to do so?" + +"I pray you to do so! Retire in the interval, leave the door open, and +when you hear Monsieur de Camors enter the court of the hotel, return." + +"No!" said the General, after a moment's hesitation; "since I have gone +so far"--and he sighed deeply "I do not wish to leave myself the least +pretext for distrust. If I leave you before he comes, I am capable of +fancying--" + +"That I might secretly warn him? Nothing more natural. Remain here, +then. Only take a book; for our conversation, under such circumstances, +can not be lively." + +He sat down. + +"But," he said, "what mystery can there be between you two?" + +"You shall hear!" she said, with her sphinx-like smile. + +The General mechanically took up a book. She stirred the fire, and +reflected. As she liked terror, danger, and dramatic incidents to blend +with her intrigues, she should have been content; for at that moment +shame, ruin, and death were at her door. But, to tell the truth, it was +too much for her; and when she looked, in the midst of the silence which +surrounded her, at the true character and scope of the perils which +surrounded her, she thought her brain would fail and her heart break. + +She was not mistaken as to the origin of the letter. This shameful work +had indeed been planned by Madame de la Roche-Jugan. To do her justice, +she had not suspected the force of the blow she was dealing. She still +believed in the virtue of the Marquise; but during the perpetual +surveillance she had never relaxed, she could not fail to see the changed +nature of the intercourse between Camors and the Marquise. It must not +be forgotten that she dreamed of securing for her son Sigismund the +succession to her old friend; and she foresaw a dangerous rivalry--the +germ of which she sought to destroy. To awaken the distrust of the +General toward Camors, so as to cause his doors to be closed against him, +was all she meditated. But her anonymous letter, like most villainies of +this kind, was a more fatal and murderous weapon than its base author +imagined. + +The young Marquise, then, mused while stirring the fire, casting, from +time to time, a furtive glance at the clock. + +M. de Camors would soon arrive--how could she warn him? In the present +state of their relations it was not impossible that the very first words +of. Camors might immediately divulge their secret: and once betrayed, +there was not only for her personal dishonor, a scandalous fall, poverty, +a convent--but for her husband or her lover--perhaps for both--death! + +When the bell in the lower court sounded, announcing the Count's +approach, these thoughts crowded into the brain of the Marquise like a +legion of phantoms. But she rallied her courage by a desperate effort +and strained all her faculties to the execution of the plan she had +hastily conceived, which was her last hope. And one word, one gesture, +one mistake, or one carelessness of her lover, might overthrow it in a +second. A moment later the door was opened by a servant, announcing M. +de Camors. Without speaking, she signed to her husband to gain his +hiding-place. The General, who had risen at the sound of the bell, +seemed still to hesitate, but shrugging his shoulders, as if in disdain +of himself, retired behind the curtain which faced the door. + +M. de Camors entered the room carelessly, and advanced toward the +fireplace where sat the Marquise; his smiling lips half opened to speak, +when he was struck by the peculiar expression on the face of the +Marquise, and the words were frozen on his lips. This look, fixed upon +him from his entrance, had a strange, weird intensity, which, without +expressing anything, made him fear everything. But he was accustomed to +trying situations, and as wary and prudent as he was intrepid. He ceased +to smile and did not speak, but waited. + +She gave him her hand without ceasing to look at him with the same +alarming intensity. + +"Either she is mad," he said to himself, "or there is some great peril!" + +With the rapid perception of her genius and of her love, she felt he +understood her; and not leaving him time to speak and compromise her, +instantly said: + +"It is very kind of you to keep your promise." + +"Not at all," said Camors, seating himself. + +"Yes! For you know you come here to be tormented." There was a pause. + +"Have you at last become a convert to my fixed idea?" she added after a +second. + +"What fixed idea? It seems to me you have a great many!" + +"Yes! But I speak of a good one--my best one, at least--of your +marriage!" + +"What! again, cousin?" said Camors, who, now assured of his danger and +its nature, marched with a firmer foot over the burning soil. + +"Yes, again, cousin; and I will tell you another thing--I have found the +person." + +"Ah! Then I shall run away!" + +She met his smile with an imperious glance. + +"Then you still adhere to that plan?" said Camors, laughing. + +"Most firmly! I need not repeat to you my reasons--having preached about +it all winter--in fact so much so as to disturb the General, who suspects +some mystery between us." + +"The General? Indeed!" + +"Oh, nothing serious, you must understand. Well, let us resume the +subject. Miss Campbell will not do--she is too blonde--an odd objection +for me to make by the way; not Mademoiselle de Silas--too thin; not +Mademoiselle Rolet, in spite of her millions; not Mademoiselle +d'Esgrigny--too much like the Bacquieres and Van-Cuyps. All this is a +little discouraging, you will admit; but finally everything clears up. +I tell you I have discovered the right one--a marvel!" + +"Her name?" said Camors. + +"Marie de Tecle!" + +There was silence. + +"Well, you say nothing," resumed the Marquise, "because you can have +nothing to say! Because she unites everything--personal beauty, family, +fortune, everything--almost like a dream. Then, too, your properties +join. You see how I have thought of everything, my friend! I can not +imagine how we never came to think of this before!" + +M. de Camors did not reply, and the Marquise began to be surprised at his +silence. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed; "you may look a long time--there can not be a +single objection--you are caught this time. Come, my friend, say yes, I +implore you!" And while her lips said "I implore you," in a tone of +gracious entreaty, her look said, with terrible emphasis, "You must!" + +"Will you allow me to reflect upon it, Madame?" he said at last. + +"No, my friend!" + +"But really," said Camors, who was very pale, "it seems to me you dispose +of the hand of Mademoiselle de Tecle very readily. Mademoiselle de Tecle +is rich and courted on all sides--also, her great-uncle has ideas of the +province, and her mother, ideas of religion, which might well--" + +"I charge myself with all that," interrupted the Marquise. + +"What a mania you have for marrying people!" + +"Women who do not make love, cousin, always have a mania for +matchmaking." + +"But seriously, you will give me a few days for reflection?" + +"To reflect about what? Have you not always told me you intended +marrying and have been only waiting the chance? Well, you never can find +a better one than this; and if you let it slip, you will repent the rest +of your life." + +"But give me time to consult my family!" + +"Your family--what a joke! It seems to me you have reached full age; and +then--what family? Your aunt, Madame de la Roche-Jugan?" + +"Doubtless! I do not wish to offend her:" + +"Ah, my dear cousin, don't be uneasy; suppress this uneasiness; I assure +you she will be delighted!" + +"Why should she?" + +"I have my reasons for thinking so;" and the young woman in uttering +these words was seized with a fit of sardonic laughter which came near +convulsion, so shaken were her nerves by the terrible tension. + +Camors, to whom little by little the light fell stronger on the more +obscure points of the terrible enigma proposed to him, saw the necessity +of shortening a scene which had overtasked her faculties to an almost +insupportable degree. He rose: + +"I am compelled to leave you," he said; "for I am not dining at home. +But I will come to-morrow, if you will permit me." + +"Certainly. You authorize me to speak to the General?" + +"Well, yes, for I really can see no reasonable objection." + +"Very good. I adore you!" said the Marquise. She gave him her hand, +which he kissed and immediately departed. + +It would have required a much keener vision than that of M. de Campvallon +to detect any break, or any discordance, in the audacious comedy which +had just been played before him by these two great artists. + +The mute play of their eyes alone could have betrayed them; and that he +could not see. + +As to their tranquil, easy, natural dialogue there was not in it a word +which he could seize upon, and which did not remove all his disquietude, +and confound all his suspicions. From this moment, and ever afterward, +every shadow was effaced from his mind; for the ability to imagine such +a plot as that in which his wife in her despair had sought refuge, or to +comprehend such depth of perversity, was not in the General's pure and +simple spirit. + +When he reappeared before his wife, on leaving his concealment, he was +constrained and awkward. With a gesture of confusion and humility he +took her hand, and smiled upon her with all the goodness and tenderness +of his soul beaming from his face. + +At this moment the Marquise, by a new reaction of her nervous system, +broke into weeping and sobbing; and this completed the General's despair. + +Out of respect to this worthy man, we shall pass over a scene the +interest of which otherwise is not sufficient to warrant the unpleasant +effect it would produce on all honest people. We shall equally pass over +without record the conversation which took place the next day between the +Marquise and M. de Camors. + +Camors had experienced, as we have observed, a sentiment of repulsion at +hearing the name of Mademoiselle de Tecle appear in the midst of this +intrigue. It amounted almost to horror, and he could not control the +manifestation of it. How could he conquer this supreme revolt of his +conscience to the point of submitting to the expedient which would make +his intrigue safe? By what detestable sophistries he dared persuade +himself that he owed everything to his accomplice--even this, we shall +not attempt to explain. To explain would be to extenuate, and that we +wish not to do. We shall only say that he resigned himself to this +marriage. On the path which he had entered a man can check himself as +little as he can check a flash of lightning. + +As to the Marquise, one must have formed no conception of this depraved +though haughty spirit, if astonished at her persistence, in cold blood, +and after reflection, in the perfidious plot which the imminence of her +danger had suggested to her. She saw that the suspicions of the General +might be reawakened another day in a more dangerous manner, if this +marriage proved only a farce. She loved Camors passionately; and she +loved scarcely less the dramatic mystery of their liaison. She had also +felt a frantic terror at the thought of losing the great fortune which +she regarded as her own; for the disinterestedness of her early youth had +long vanished, and the idea of sinking miserably in the Parisian world, +where she had long reigned by her luxury as well as her beauty, was +insupportable to her. + +Love, mystery, fortune-she wished to preserve them all at any price; and +the more she reflected, the more the marriage of Camors appeared to her +the surest safeguard. + +It was true, it would give her a sort of rival. But she had too high an +opinion of herself to fear anything; and she preferred Mademoiselle de +Tecle to any other, because she knew her, and regarded her as an inferior +in everything. + +About fifteen days after, the General called on Madame de Tecle one +morning, and demanded for M. de Camors her daughter's hand. It would be +painful to dwell on the joy which Madame de Tecle felt; and her only +surprise was that Camors had not come in person to press his suit. But +Camors had not the heart to do so. He had been at Reuilly since that +morning, and called on Madame de Tecle, where he learned his overture was +accepted. Once having resolved on this monstrous action, he was +determined to carry it through in the most correct manner, and we know he +was master of all social arts. + +In the evening Madame de Tecle and her daughter, left alone, walked +together a long time on their dear terrace, by the soft light of the +stars--the daughter blessing her mother, and the mother thanking God-- +both mingling their hearts, their dreams, their kisses, and their tears +--happier, poor women, than is permitted long to human beings. The +marriage took place the ensuing month. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A defensive attitude is never agreeable to a man +Believing that it is for virtue's sake alone such men love them +Determined to cultivate ability rather than scrupulousness +Disenchantment which follows possession +Have not that pleasure, it is useless to incur the penalties +Inconstancy of heart is the special attribute of man +Knew her danger, and, unlike most of them, she did not love it +Put herself on good terms with God, in case He should exist +Two persons who desired neither to remember nor to forget + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Monsieur de Camors, v2 +by Octave Feuillet + diff --git a/3944.zip b/3944.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ff03af --- /dev/null +++ b/3944.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce94ca0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3944 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3944) |