SCENE FIRST.
(A room in the house of Raoul de Frescas.)
Lafouraille (alone)
Would my late excellent father, who advised me to frequent none but
the best society, have been satisfied with me yesterday? I spent all
night with ministers' valets, attendants of the embassy, princes',
dukes', peers' coachmen--none but these, all reliable men, in good
luck; they steal only from their masters. My master danced with a fine
chit of a girl whose hair was powdered with a million's worth of
diamonds, and he had no eyes for anything but the bouquet she carried
in her hand; simple young man, we sympathize with you. Old Jacques
Collin--Botheration! There I trip again, I cannot reconcile myself to
this common name--I mean Monsieur Vautrin, will arrange all that. In a
little time diamonds and dowry will take an airing, and they have need
of it; to think of them as always in the same strong boxes! 'Tis
against the laws of circulation. What a joker he is!--He sets you up
as a young man of means. He is so kind, he talks so finely, the
heiress comes in, the trick is done, and we all cry shares! The money
will have been well earned. You see we have been here six months.
Haven't we put on the look of idiots! Everybody in the neighborhood
takes us for good simple folk. And who would refuse to do anything for
Vautrin? He said to us: "Be virtuous," and virtuous we became. I fear
him as I fear the police, and yet I love him even more than money.
Vautrin (calling from outside)
Lafouraille!
Lafouraille
There he is! I haven't seen his face this morning--that means a storm;
I prefer it should fall upon some one else, and will get out. (He
starts to the door but encounters Vautrin.)
SCENE SECOND.
Vautrin and Lafouraille.
(Vautrin is dressed in long white duck trousers and a waistcoat of the
same material, slippers of red morocco,--the morning dress of a
business man.)
Vautrin
Lafouraille.
Lafouraille
Sir?
Vautrin
Where are you going?
Lafouraille
To get your letters.
Vautrin
I have them. Have you anything else to do?
Lafouraille
Yes, your chamber--
Vautrin
In so many words you want to avoid me. I have always found that
restless legs never go with a quiet conscience. Stay where you are.
I want to talk with you.
Lafouraille
I am at your service.
Vautrin
I hope you are. Come here. You told us, under the fair sky of
Provence, a certain story which was little to your credit. A steward
beat you at play; do you recollect?
Lafouraille
A steward? Yes, that fellow Charles Blondet, the only man who ever
robbed me! Can a fellow forget that?
Vautrin
Had you not on one occasion sold your master to him? That's common
enough.
Lafouraille
On one occasion? I sold him three times over.
Vautrin
That was better. And what business was the steward then engaged in?
Lafouraille
I was going to tell you. I was footman at eighteen with the De
Langeacs--
Vautrin
I thought it was in the Duc de Montsorel's house.
Lafouraille
No; the duke, fortunately, has only twice set eyes on me, and has, I
hope, forgotten me.
Vautrin
Did you rob him?
Lafouraille
Well, to some small extent.
Vautrin
Why do you want him to forget you?
Lafouraille
Because, after seeing him again, yesterday, at the embassy, I should
then feel safe.
Vautrin
And it is the same man?
Lafouraille
We are both older by twenty-five years, and that is the only
difference.
Vautrin
Tell me all about him. I knew I had heard you mention his name. Go on.
Lafouraille
The Vicomte de Langeac, one of my masters, and this Duc de Montsorel
were like peas in the same pod. When I was forced to choose between
the nobles and the people, I did not hesitate; from a mere footman, I
became a citizen, and citizen Philip Boulard was an earnest worker. I
had enthusiasm, and acquired influence in the faubourg.
Vautrin
And so you have been a politician, have you?
Lafouraille
Not for long. I did a pretty thing, and that ruined me.
Vautrin
Aha! My boy, pretty things are like pretty women--better light shy of
them; they often bring trouble. What was this pretty thing?
Lafouraille
I'll tell you. In the scrimmage of the Tenth of August, the duke
confided to my care the Vicomte de Langeac; I disguised and hid him, I
gave him food at the risk of my popularity and my life. The duke had
greatly encouraged me by such trifles as a thousand gold pieces, and
that Blondet had the infamy to offer me a bigger pile to give up our
young master.
Vautrin
Did you give him up?
Lafouraille
Immediately. He was jugged in the Abbaye, and I became the happy
possessor of sixty good thousands of francs in gold, in real gold.
Vautrin
And what has this to do with the Duc de Montsorel?
Lafouraille
Wait a little. When the days of September came, my conduct seemed to
me slightly reprehensible; and to quiet my conscience, I determined to
propose to the duke, who was leaving the country that I should rescue
his friend.
Vautrin
Did your remorse prove a good investment?
Lafouraille
That it did; for it was rare in those days! The duke promised me
twenty thousand francs if I delivered the viscount from the hands of
my comrades, and I succeeded in doing so.
Vautrin
Twenty thousand francs for a viscount!
Lafouraille
And he was all the more worth it, because he was the last. I found
that out too late. The steward had disposed of all the other Langeacs,
even to the poor grandmother whom he had sent to the Carmelites.
Vautrin
That was good!
Lafouraille
But then something else happened. That Blondet heard of my devotion,
he traced me out and found me in the neighborhood of Mortagne, where
my master was at the house of one of my uncles waiting for a chance to
reach the sea. The noodle offered me as much money as he had already
given me. I saw before me an honest life for the rest of my days; and
I was weak. My friend Blondet caused the viscount to be shot as a spy;
and my uncle and myself were imprisoned as his accomplices. We were
not released until I had disgorged all my gold.
Vautrin
That is the way a knowledge of the human heart is acquired. You were
dealing with a stronger man than yourself.
Lafouraille
That remains to be seen; for I am still alive.
Vautrin
Enough of that! There is nothing of use to me in your tale.
Lafouraille
Can I go now?
Vautrin
Come, come. You seem to experience a keen longing to be where I am
not. But you went into society yesterday; did you do anything?
Lafouraille
The servants said such funny things about their masters, that I could
not leave the antechamber.
Vautrin
Yet I saw you nibbling at the sideboard; what did you take?
Lafouraille
Nothing--but stay--I took a wineglass of Madeira.
Vautrin
What did you do with the dozen of gold spoons that went with the glass
of Madeira?
Lafouraille
Gold spoons! I've searched diligently, but find nothing of that kind
in my memory.
Vautrin
Possibly; but you will find them in your mattress. And was Philosopher
also absent-minded?
Lafouraille
Poor Philosopher! Since morning he has been a laughing-stock below
stairs. He induced a coachman who was very young to strip off his gold
lace for him. It was all false on the underside. In these days masters
are thieves. You cannot be sure of anything, more's the pity.
Vautrin (whistles)
This is no joking matter. You will make me lose the house: this must
be put a stop to--Here, father Buteux, ahoy! Philosopher! Come here.
Fil-de-Soie! My dear friends, let us have a clearing up. You are a
pack of scoundrels.
SCENE THIRD.
The same persons, Buteux, Philosopher and Fil-de-Soie.
Buteux
Present! Is the house on fire?
Fil-de-Soie
Is it some one burning with curiosity?
Buteux
A fire would be better, for it can be put out.
Philosopher
But the other can be choked.
Lafouraille
Bah! He has had enough of this trifling.
Buteux
So we are to have more moralizing--thank you for that.
Fil-de-Soie
He cannot want me for I have not been out.
Vautrin (to Fil-de-Soie)
You? The evening when I bade you exchange your scullion's cap for a
footman's hat--poisoner--
Fil-de-Soie
We will drop the extra names.
Vautrin
And you accompanied me as my footman to the field marshal's; while
helping me on with my cloak, you stole the watch of the Cossack
prince.
Fil-de-Soie
One of the enemies of France.
Vautrin
You, Buteux, you old malefactor, carried off the opera-glass of the
Princesse d'Arjos the evening she set down your young master at our
gate.
Buteux
It dropped on the carriage step.
Vautrin
You should have respectfully handed it back to her; but the gold and
the pearls appealed to your tigerish talons.
Lafouraille
Now, now, surely people can have a little fun? Devil take it! Did not
you, Jacques--
Vautrin
What do you mean?
Lafouraille
Did not you, Monsieur Vautrin, require thirty thousand francs that
this young man might live in princely style? We succeeded in
satisfying you in the fashion of foreign governments, by borrowing,
and getting credit. All those who come to ask for me leave some with
us. And you are not satisfied.
Fil-de-Soie
And if, when I am sent to buy provisions without a sou, I may not be
allowed to bring back some cash with me,--I might as well send in my
resignation.
Philosopher
And didn't I sell our custom to four different coach-builders--5,000
francs each clip--and the man who got the order lost all? One evening
Monsieur de Frescas starts off from home with wretched screws, and we
bring him back, Lafouraille and I, with a span worth ten thousand
francs, which have cost him only twenty glasses of brandy.
Lafouraille
No, it was Kirchenwasser.
Philosopher
Yes, and yet you fly into a rage--
Fil-de-Soie
How are you going to keep house now?
Vautrin
Do you expect to do things of this kind for long? What I have
permitted in order to set up our establishment, from this day forth I
forbid. You wish, I suppose, to descend from robbery to swindling? If
you do not understand what I say I will look out for better servants.
Buteux
And where will you find them?
Lafouraille
Let him hunt for them!
Vautrin
You forget, I see, that I have pledged myself to save your necks!
Dear, dear, do you think I have sifted you, like seeds in a colander,
through three different places of residence, to let you hover round a
gibbet, like flies round a candle? I wish you to know that any
imprudence that brings you to such a position, is, to men of my stamp,
a crime. You ought to appear as supremely innocent as you,
Philosopher, appeared to him who let you rip off his lace. Never
forget the part you are playing; you are honest fellows, faithful
domestics, and adore Raoul de Frescas, your master.
Buteux
Do you take this young man for a god? You have harnessed us to his
car; but we know him no better than he knows us.
Philosopher
Tell me, is he one of our kind?
Fil-de-Soie
What is he going to bring us to?
Lafouraille
We obey on condition that the Society of the Ten Thousand be
reconstituted, so that never less than ten thousand francs at a time
be assigned to us; at present we have not any funds in common.
Fil-de-Soie
When are we all to be capitalists?
Buteux
If the gang knew that for the last six months I have been disguising
myself as an old porter, without any object, I should be disgraced. If
I am willing to risk my neck, it is that I may give bread to my Adele,
whom you have forbidden me to see, and who for six months must have
been as dry as a match.
Lafouraille (to the other two)
She is in prison. Poor man! Let us spare his feelings.
Vautrin
Have you finished? Come now, you have made merry here for six months,
eaten like diplomats, drunk like Poles, and have wanted nothing.
Buteux
Yes, we are rusting out!
Vautrin
Thanks to me, the police have forgotten you! You owe your good luck to
me alone! I have erased the brand from your foreheads. I am the head,
whose ideas you, the arms, carry out.
Philosopher
We are satisfied.
Vautrin
You must all obey me blindly.
Lafouraille
Blindly.
Vautrin
Without a murmur.
Fil-de-Soie
Without a murmur.
Vautrin
Or else let us break our compact, and be off with you! If I meet with
ingratitude from you, to whom can I venture hereafter to do a service?
Philosopher
To no one, my emperor.
Lafouraille
I should rather say, our great teacher!
Buteux
I love you more than I love Adele.
Fil-de-Soie
We worship you.
Vautrin
If necessary, I shall even have to beat you.
Philosopher
We'll take it without a murmur.
Vautrin
To spit in your face; to bowl over your lives like a row of skittles.
Buteux
But I bowl over with a knife.
Vautrin
Very well--Kill me this instant.
Buteux
It is no use being vexed with this man. Do you wish me to restore the
opera-glass? I intended it for Adele!
All (surrounding Vautrin)
Would you abandon us, Vautrin?
Lafouraille
Vautrin! Our friend.
Philosopher
Mighty Vautrin!
Fil-de-Soie
Our old companion, deal with us as you will.
Vautrin
Yes, and I can deal with you as I will. When I think what trouble you
make, in your trinket-stealing, I feel inclined to send you back to
the place I took you from. You are either above or below the level of
society, dregs or foam; but I desire to make you enter into society.
People used to hoot you as you went by. I wish them to bow to you; you
were once the basest of mankind, I wish you to be more than honest
men.
Philosopher
Is there such a class?
Buteux
There are those who are nothing at all.
Vautrin
There are those who decide upon the honesty of others. You will never
be honest burgesses, you must belong either to the wretched or the
rich; you must therefore master one-half of the world! Take a bath of
gold, and you will come forth from it virtuous!
Fil-de-Soie
To think, that, when I have need of nothing, I shall be a good prince!
Vautrin
Of course. And you, Lafouraille, you can become Count of Saint Helena;
and what would you like to be, Buteux?
Buteux
I should like to be a philanthropist, for the philanthropist always
becomes a millionaire.
Philosopher
And I, a banker.
Fil-de-Soie
He wishes to be a licensed professional.
Vautrin
Show yourselves then, according as occasion demands it, blind and
clear-sighted, adroit and clumsy, stupid and clever, like all those
who make their fortune. Never judge me, and try to understand my
meaning. You ask who Raoul de Frescas is? I will explain to you; he
will soon have an income of twelve hundred thousand francs. He will be
a prince. And I picked him up when he was begging on the high road,
and ready to become a drummer-boy; in his twelfth year he had neither
name nor family; he came from Sardinia, where he must have got into
some trouble, for he was a fugitive from justice.
Buteux
Oh, now that we know his antecedents and his social position--
Vautrin
Be off to your lodge!
Buteux
Little Nini, daughter of Giroflee is there--
Vautrin
She may let a spy pass in.
Buteux
She! She is a little cat to whom it is not necessary to point out the
stool-pigeons.
Vautrin
You may judge my power from what I am in process of doing for Raoul.
Ought he not to be preferred before all? Raoul de Frescas is a young
man who has remained pure as an angel in the midst of our mire-pit; he
is our conscience; moreover, he is my creation; I am at once his
father, his mother, and I desire to be his guiding providence. I, who
can never know happiness, still delight in making other people happy.
I breathe through his lips, I live in his life, his passions are my
own; and it is impossible for me to know noble and pure emotions
excepting in the heart of this being unsoiled by crime. You have your
fancies, here I show you mine. In exchange for the blight which
society has brought upon me, I give it a man of honor, and enter upon
a struggle with destiny; do you wish to be of my party? Obey me.
All
In life, and death--
Vautrin (aside)
So my savage beasts are once more brought to submission. (Aloud)
Philosopher, try to put on the air, the face, the costume of an
_employe_ of the lost goods bureau, and take back to the embassy the
plate borrowed by Lafouraille. (To Fil-de-Soie) You, Fil-de-Soie, must
prepare a sumptuous dinner, as Monsieur de Frescas is to entertain a
few friends. You will afterwards dress yourself as a respectable man,
and assume the air of a lawyer. You will go to number six, Rue Oblin,
ring seven times at the fourth-story door, and ask for Pere Giroflee.
When they ask where you come from, you will answer from a seaport in
Bohemia. They will let you in. I want certain letters and papers of
the Duc de Christoval; here are the text and patterns. I want an
absolute fac-simile, with the briefest possible delay. Lafouraille,
you must go and insert a few lines in the newspapers, notifying the
arrival of . . . (He whispers into his ear.) This forms part of my
plan. Now leave me.
Lafouraille
Well, are you satisfied?
Vautrin
Yes.
Philosopher
You want nothing more of us?
Vautrin
Nothing.
Fil-de-Soie
There will be no more rebellion; every one will be good.
Buteux
Let your mind rest easy; we are going to be not only polite, but
honest.
Vautrin
That is right, boys; a little integrity, a great deal of address, and
you will be respected.
(Exeunt all except Vautrin.)
SCENE FOURTH.
Vautrin (alone)
In order to lead them it is only necessary to let them think they have
an honorable future. They have no future, no prospects! Pshaw! If
generals took their soldiers seriously, not a cannon would be fired!
In a few days, following upon years of subterranean labors, I shall
have won for Raoul a commanding position; it must be made sure to him.
Lafouraille and Philosopher will be necessary to me in the country
where I am to give him a family. Ah, this love! It has put out of the
question the life I had destined him to. I wished to win for him a
solitary glory, to see him conquering for me and under my direction,
the world which I am forbidden to enter. Raoul is not only the child
of my intellect and of my malice, he is also my instrument of revenge.
These fellows of mine cannot understand these sentiments; they are
happy; they have never fallen, not they! They were born criminals. But
I have attempted to raise myself. Yet though a man can raise himself
in the eyes of God, he can never do so in the eyes of the world.
People tell you to repent, and then refuse to pardon. Men possess in
their dealings with each other the instincts of savage animals. Once
wounded, one is down-trodden by his fellows. Moreover, to ask the
protection of a world whose laws you have trampled under foot is like
returning to a house which you have burnt and whose roof would fall
and crush you. I have well polished and perfected the magnetic
instrument of my domination. Raoul was brave, he would have sacrificed
his life, like a fool; I had to make him cold and domineering, and to
dispel from his mind, one by one, his exalted ideas of life; to render
him suspicious and tricky as--an old bill-broker, while all the while
he knew not who I was. And at this moment love has broken down the
whole scaffolding. He should have been great; now, he can only be
happy. I shall therefore retire to live in a corner at the height of
his prosperity; his happiness will have been my work. For two days I
have been asking myself whether it would not be better that the
Princesse d'Arjos should die of some ailment--say brain fever. It's
singular how many plans a woman can upset!
SCENE FIFTH.
Vautrin and Lafouraille.
Vautrin
What is the matter? Cannot I be alone one moment? Did I call?
Lafouraille
We are likely to feel the claws of justice scratch our shoulders.
Vautrin
What new blunder have you committed?
Lafouraille
The fact is little Nini has admitted a well-dressed gentleman who asks
to see you. Buteux is whistling the air, _There's No Place Like Home_,
so it must be a sleuth.
Vautrin
Nothing of the kind, I know who it is; tell him to wait. Everybody in
arms! Vautrin must then vanish; I will be the Baron de Vieux-Chene.
Speak in a German account, fool him well, until I can play the master
stroke. (Exit.)
SCENE SIXTH.
Lafouraille and Saint-Charles.
Lafouraille (speaking with a German accent)
M. de Frescas is not at home, sir, and his steward, the Baron de
Vieux-Chene, is engaged with an architect, who is to build a grand
house for my master.
Saint-Charles
I beg your pardon, my dear sir, you said--
Lafouraille
I said Baron de Vieux-Chene.
Saint-Charles
Baron!
Lafouraille
Yes! Yes!
Saint-Charles
He is a baron?
Lafouraille
Baron de Vieux-Chene.
Saint-Charles
You are a German.
Lafouraille
Not I! Not I! I am an Alsatian, a very different thing.
Saint-Charles (aside)
This man has certainly an accent too decidedly German to be a
Parisian.
Lafouraille (aside)
I know this man well. Here's a go!
Saint-Charles
If the baron is busy, I will wait.
Lafouraille (aside)
Ah! Blondet, my beauty, you can disguise your face, but not your
voice; if you get out of our clutches now, you will be a wonder.
(Aloud) What shall I tell the baron brings you here? (He makes as if
to go out.)
Saint-Charles
Stay a moment, my friend; you speak German, I speak French, we may
misunderstand one another. (Puts a purse into his hand.) There can be
no mistake with this for an interpreter.
Lafouraille
No, sir.
Saint-Charles
That is merely on account.
Lafouraille (aside)
Yes, on account of my eighty thousand francs. (Aloud) And do you wish
me to shadow my master?
Saint-Charles
No, my friend, I merely ask for some information, which cannot
compromise you.
Lafouraille
In good German we call that spying.
Saint-Charles
But no--that is not it--it is--
Lafouraille
To shadow him. And what shall I say to his lordship the baron?
Saint-Charles
Announce the Chevalier de Saint-Charles.
Lafouraille
We understand each other. I will induce him to see you. But do not
offer money to the steward; he is more honest than the rest of us. (He
gives a sly wink.)
Saint-Charles
That means he will cost more.
Lafouraille
Yes, sir. (Exit.)
SCENE SEVENTH.
Saint-Charles (alone)
A bad beginning! Ten louis thrown away. To shadow him indeed! It is
too stupid not to have a spice of wit in it, this habit of calling
things by their right name, at the outset. If the pretended steward,
for there is no steward here, if the baron is as clever as his
footman, I shall have nothing to base my information on, excepting
what they conceal from me. This room is very fine. There is neither
portrait of the king, nor emblem of royalty here. Well, it is plain
they do not frame their opinions. Is the furniture suggestive of
anything? No. It is too new to have been even paid for. But for the
air which the porter whistled, doubtless a signal, I should be
inclined to believe in the De Frescas people.
SCENE EIGHTH.
Saint-Charles, Vautrin and Lafouraille.
(Vautrin wears a bright maroon coat, of old-fashioned cut, with large
heavy buttons; his breeches are black silk, as are his stockings. His
shoes have gold buckles, his waistcoat is flowered, he wears two
watch-chains, his cravat belongs to the time of the Revolution; his
wig is white, his face old, keen, withered, dissipated looking. He
speaks low, and his voice is cracked.)
Vautrin (to Lafouraille)
Very good; you may go. (Exit Lafouraille. Aside) Now for the tug of
war, Monsieur Blondet. (Aloud) I am at your service, sir.
Saint-Charles (aside)
A worn out fox is still dangerous. (Aloud) Excuse me, baron, for
disturbing you, while yet unknown to you.
Vautrin
I can guess what your business is.
Saint-Charles (aside)
Indeed?
Vautrin
You are an architect, and have a proposal to make to me; but I have
already received most excellent offers.
Saint-Charles
Excuse me, your Dutchman must have mispronounced my name. I am the
Chevalier de Saint-Charles.
Vautrin (raising his spectacles)
Let me see--we are old acquaintances. You were at the Congress of
Vienna, and then bore the name of Count of Gorcum--a fine name!
Saint-Charles (aside)
Go choke yourself, old man! (Aloud) So you were there also?
Vautrin
I should think so! And I am glad to have come upon you again. You were
a deuced clever fellow, you know. How you fooled them all!
Saint-Charles (aside)
We'll stick to Vienna, then. (Aloud) Ah, baron! I recall you perfectly
now; you also steered your bark pretty cleverly there.
Vautrin
Of course I did, and what women we had there! Yes, indeed! And have
you still your fair Italian?
Saint-Charles
Did you know her? She was a woman of such tact.
Vautrin
My dear fellow, wasn't she, though? She actually wanted to find out
who I was.
Saint-Charles
And did she find out?
Vautrin
Well, my dear friend, I know you will be glad to hear it, she
discovered nothing.
Saint-Charles
Come, baron, since we are speaking freely to each other to-day, I for
my part must confess that your admirable Pole--
Vautrin
You also had the pleasure?
Saint-Charles
On my honor, yes!
Vautrin (laughing)
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Saint Charles (laughing)
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Vautrin
We can safely laugh now, for I suppose you left her there?
Saint-Charles
Immediately, as you did. I see that we are both come to throw away our
money in Paris, and we have done well; but it seems to me, baron, that
you have accepted a very secondary position, though one which attracts
notice.
Vautrin
Ah! thank you, chevalier. I hope, however, we may still be friends for
many a day.
Saint-Charles
Forever, I hope.
Vautrin
You can be extremely useful to me, I can be of immense service to you,
we understand each other! Let me know what your present business is,
and I will tell you mine.
Saint-Charles (aside)
I should like to know whether he is being set on me, or I on him.
Vautrin (aside)
It is going to be a somewhat slow business.
Saint-Charles
I will tell you.
Vautrin
I am attention!
Saint-Charles
Baron, between ourselves, I admire you immensely.
Vautrin
What a compliment from a man like you!
Saint-Charles
Not at all! To create a De Frescas in the face of all Paris shows an
inventive genius which transcends by a thousand points that of our
countesses at the Congress. You are angling for the dowry with rare
nerve.
Vautrin
I angling for a dowry?
Saint-Charles
But, my dear friend, you would be found out, unless I your friend had
been the man chosen to watch you, for I am appointed your shadower by
a very high authority. Permit me also to ask how can you dare to
interfere with the family of Montsorel in their pursuit of an heiress?
Vautrin
To think that I innocently believed you came to propose we should work
in company, and speculate, both of us, with the money of Monsieur de
Frescas, of which I have entire control--and here you talk to me of
something entirely different! Frescas, my good friend, is one of the
legal titles of this young man, who has seven in all. Stringent
reasons prevent him from revealing the name of his family, which I
know, for the next twenty-four hours. Their property is vast, I have
seen their estate, from which I am just returned. I do not mind being
taken by you for a rogue, for there is no disgrace in the vast sums at
stake; but to be taken for an imbecile, capable of dancing attendance
on a sham nobleman, and so silly as to defy the Montsorels on behalf
of a counterfeit--Really, my friend, it would seem that you have never
been to Vienna! We are not in the same class!
Saint-Charles
Do not grow angry, worthy steward! Let us leave off entangling
ourselves in a web of lies more or less agreeable; you cannot expect
to make me swallow any more of them. Our cash box is better furnished
than yours, therefore come over to us. Your young man is as much
Frescas as I am chevalier and you baron. You picked him up on the
frontier of Italy; he was then a vagabond, to-day he is an adventurer,
and that's the whole truth of it.
Vautrin
You are right. We must leave off entangling ourselves in the web of
falsehoods more or less agreeable; we must speak the truth.
Saint-Charles
I will pay you for it.
Vautrin
I will give it you for nothing. You are an infamous cur, my friend.
Your name is Charles Blondet; you were steward in the household of De
Langeac; twice have you bought the betrayal of the viscount, and never
have you paid the money--it is shameful! You owe eighty thousand
francs to one of my footmen. You caused the viscount to be shot at
Mortagne in order that you might appropriate the property entrusted to
you by the family. If the Duc de Montsorel, who sent you here, knew
who you are, ha! ha! He would make you settle some old accounts! Take
off your moustache, your whiskers, your wig, your sham decorations and
your badges of foreign orders. (He tears off from him his wig, his
whiskers and decorations.) Good day, you rascal! How did you manage to
eat up a fortune so cleverly won? It was colossal; how did you lose
it?
Saint-Charles
Through ill-luck.
Vautrin
I understand. . . . What are you going to do now?
Saint-Charles
Whoever you are, stop there; I surrender, I haven't a chance left! You
are either the devil or Jacques Collin!
Vautrin
I am and wish to be nothing but the Baron de Vieux-Chene to you.
Listen to my ultimatum. I can cause you to be buried this instant in
one of my cellars, and no one will inquire for you.
Saint-Charles
I know it.
Vautrin
It would be prudent to do so. But are you willing to do for me in
Montsorel's house, what Montsorel sent you to do here?
Saint-Charles
I accept the offer; but what are the profits?
Vautrin
All you can take.
Saint-Charles
From either party?
Vautrin
Certainly! You will send me by the person who accompanies you back all
the deeds that relate to the De Langeac family; they must still be in
your possession. In case Monsieur de Frescas marries Mademoiselle de
Christoval, you cannot be their steward, but you shall receive a
hundred thousand francs. You are dealing with exacting masters. Walk
straight, and they will not betray you.
Saint-Charles
It is a bargain!
Vautrin
I will not ratify it until I have the documents in hand. Until then,
be careful! (He rings; all the household come in.) Attend Monsieur
le Chevalier home, with all the respect due his high rank. (To
Saint-Charles, pointing out to him Philosopher) This man will
accompany you. (To Philosopher) Do not leave him.
Saint-Charles (aside)
Once I get safe and sound out of their clutches, I will come down
heavy on this nest of thieves.
Vautrin
Monsieur le Chevalier, I am yours to command!
SCENE NINTH.
Vautrin and Lafouraille.
Lafouraille
M. Vautrin!
Vautrin
Well?
Lafouraille
Are you letting him go?
Vautrin
Unless he considers himself at liberty, what can we hope to learn from
him? I have given my instructions; he will be taught not to put ropes
in the way of hangmen. When Philosopher brings for me the documents
which this fellow is to hand him, they will be given to me, wherever I
happen to be.
Lafouraille
But afterwards, will you spare his life?
Vautrin
You are always a little premature, my dear. Have you forgotten how
seriously the dead interfere with the peace of the living? Hush! I
hear Raoul--leave us to ourselves.
SCENE TENTH.
Vautrin and Raoul de Frescas.
Raoul (soliloquizing)
After a glimpse of heaven, still to remain on earth--such is my fate!
I am a lost man; Vautrin, an infernal yet a kindly genius, a man who
knows everything, and seems able to do everything, a man as harsh to
others as he is good to me, a man who is inexplicable except by a
supposition of witchcraft, a maternal providence if I may so call him,
is not after all the providence divine. (Vautrin enters wearing a
plain black peruke, a blue coat, gray pantaloons, a black waistcoat,
the costume of a stock-broker.) Oh! I know what love is; but I did not
know what revenge was, until I felt I could not die before I had
wreaked my vengeance on these two Montsorels.
Vautrin (aside)
He is in trouble. (Aloud) Raoul, my son, what ails you?
Raoul
Nothing ails me. Pray leave me.
Vautrin
Do you again repulse me? You abuse the right you have to ill-treat a
friend--What are you thinking about?
Raoul
Nothing.
Vautrin
Nothing? Come, sir, do you think that he who has taught you that
English coldness, under the veil of which men of worth would conceal
their feelings, was not aware of the transparency which belongs to
this cuirass of pride? Try concealment with others, but not with me.
Dissimulation is more than a blunder, for in friendship a blunder is a
crime.
Raoul
To game no more, to come home tipsy no more, to shun the menagerie of
the opera, to become serious, to study, to desire a position in life,
this you call dissimulation.
Vautrin
You are as yet but a poor diplomatist. You will be a great one, when
you can deceive me. Raoul, you have made the mistake which I have
taken most pains to save you from. My son, why did you not take women
for what they are, creatures of inconsequence, made to enslave without
being their slave, like a sentimental shepherd? But instead, my
Lovelace has been conquered by a Clarissa. Ah, young people will
strike against these idols a great many times, before they discover
them to be hollow!
Raoul
Is this a sermon?
Vautrin
What? Do you take me, who have trained your hand to the pistol, who
have shown you how to draw the sword, have taught you not to dread the
strongest laborer of the faubourg, who have done for your brains what
I have done for your body, have set you above all men, and anointed
you my king, do you take me for a dolt? Come, now, let us have a
little more frankness.
Raoul
Do you wish me to tell you what I was thinking?--But no, that would be
to accuse my benefactor.
Vautrin
Your benefactor! You insult me. Do you think I have devoted to you my
life, my blood, shown myself ready to kill, to assassinate your enemy,
in order that I may receive that exorbitant interest called gratitude?
Have I become an usurer of this kind? There are some men who would
hang the weight of a benefit around your heart like a cannon-ball
attached to the feet of----, but let that pass! Such men I would crush
as I would a worm, without thinking that I had committed homicide! No!
I have asked you to adopt me as your father, that my heart may be to
you what heaven is to the angels, a space where all is happiness and
confidence; that you may tell me all your thoughts, even those which
are evil. Speak, I shall understand everything, even an act of
cowardice.
Raoul
God and Satan must have conspired to cast this man of bronze.
Vautrin
It is quite possible.
Raoul
I will tell you all.
Vautrin
Very good, my son; let us sit down.
Raoul
You have been the cause to me of opprobrium and despair.
Vautrin
Where? When? Blood of a man! Who has wounded you? Who has proved false
to you? Tell me the place, name the people--the wrath of Vautrin shall
descend upon them!
Raoul
You can do nothing.
Vautrin
Child, there are two kinds of men who can do anything.
Raoul
And who are they?
Vautrin
Kings, who are, or who ought to be, above the law; and--this will give
you pain--criminals, who are below it.
Raoul
But since you are not king--
Vautrin
Well! I reign in the region below.
Raoul
What horrible mockery is this, Vautrin?
Vautrin
Did you not say that God and the devil hobnobbed to cast me?
Raoul
Heavens, sir, you make me shudder!
Vautrin
Return to your seat! Calm yourself, my son. You must not be astonished
at anything, if you wish to escape being an ordinary man.
Raoul
Am I in the hands of a demon, or of an angel? You have brought me up
without debauching the generous instincts I feel within me; you have
enlightened without dazzling me; you have given me the experience of
the old, without depriving me of the graces of youth; but it is not
with impunity that you have whetted the edge of my intellect, expanded
my view, roused my perspicacity. Tell me, what is the source of your
wealth, is it an honorable one? Why do you forbid me to confess to you
the sufferings of my childhood? Why have you given me the name of the
village where you found me? Why do you prevent me from searching out
my father and mother? Why do you bow me down under a load of
falsehoods? An orphan may rouse the interest of people; an imposter,
never. I live in a style which makes me a equal to the son of a duke
or a peer; you have educated me well, without expense to the state;
you have launched me into the empyrean of the world, and now they
fling into my face the declaration, that there are no longer such
people as De Frescas in existence. I have been asked who my family
are, and you have forbidden me to answer. I am at once a great
nobleman and a pariah. I must swallow insults which would drive me to
rend alive marquises and dukes; rage fills my heart; I should like to
fight twenty duels, and to die. Do you wish me to suffer any further
insults? No more secrets for me! Prometheus of hell, either finish
your work, or shatter it to pieces!
Vautrin
Who could fail to respond with a glow of sympathy to this burst of
youthful generosity? What flashes of courage blaze forth! It is
inspiring to see sentiment at its full tide! You must be the son of a
noble race. But, Raoul, let us come down to what I call plain reason.
Raoul
Ah! At last!
Vautrin
You ask me for an account of my guardianship. Here it is.
Raoul
But have I any right to ask this? Could I live without you?
Vautrin
Silence, you had nothing, I made you rich. You knew nothing, I have
given you a good education. Oh! I have not yet done all for you. A
father--all fathers give their life to their children, and as for me,
happiness is a debt which I owe you. But is this really the cause of
your gloom? There are here--in this casket (he points to a casket) a
portrait, and certain letters. Often while reading the letters you
sign as if--
Raoul
Then you know all--?
Vautrin
I know all.--Are you not touched to the heart?
Raoul
To the heart.
Vautrin
O fool! Love lives by treachery, friendship by confidence.--And you
--you must seek happiness in your own way.
Raoul
But have I the power? I will become a soldier, and--wherever the
cannot oars, I will win a glorious name, or die.
Vautrin
Indeed! Why should you? You talk nonsense.
Raoul
You are too old to possess the power of understanding me, and it is no
use trying to explain.
Vautrin
Well, I will explain to you. You are in love with Inez de Christoval,
Princesse d'Arjos in her own right, daughter of a duke banished by
King Ferdinand--an Andalusian who loves you and pleases me, not as a
woman, but as a ravishing money-box, whose eyes are the finest in the
world, whose dowry is captivating, and who is the most delightful
piece of cash, graceful and elegant as some black corvette with white
sails which convoys the long-expected galleons of America, and yields
all the joys of life, exactly like the Fortune which is painted over
the entrance of the lottery agencies. I approve of you here. You did
wrong to fall in love, love will involve you in a thousand follies
--but I understand.
Raoul
Do not score me with such frightful sarcasms.
Vautrin
See how quickly he feels his ardor damped, and his hat wreathed in
crepe!
Raoul
Yes. For it is impossible for the child flung by accident into the
bosom of a fisher family at Alghero to become Prince of Arjos, while
to lose Inez is for me to die of grief.
Vautrin
An income of twelve thousand francs, the title of prince, grandeur,
and amassed wealth are not things to be contemplated with melancholy.
Raoul
If you love me, why do you mock me thus in the hour of my despair?
Vautrin
And what is the cause of your despair?
Raoul
The duke and the marquis have insulted me, in their own house, in her
presence, and I have seen then all my hopes extinguished. The door of
the Christoval mansion is closed upon me. I do not know why the
Duchesse de Montsorel made me come and see her. For the last few days
she has manifested an interest in me which I do not understand.
Vautrin
And what brought you to the house of your rival?
Raoul
It seems you know all about it.
Vautrin
Yes, and many other things besides. Is it true you desire Inez de
Christoval? Then you can get over this present despondency.
Raoul
You are trifling with me.
Vautrin
Look here, Raoul! The Christovals have shut their doors upon you.
Well--to-morrow you shall be the accepted lover of the princess, and
the Montsorels shall be turned away, Montsorels though they be.
Raoul
The sight of my distress has crazed you.
Vautrin
What reason have you ever had for doubting my word? Did I not give you
an Arabian horse, to drive mad with envy the foreign and native
dandies of the Bois de Boulogne? Who paid your gambling debts? Who
made provision for your excesses? Who gave you boots, you who once
went barefoot?
Raoul
You, my friend, my father, my family!
Vautrin
Many, many thanks. In those words is a recompense for all my
sacrifices. But, alas! when once you become rich, a grandee of Spain,
a part of the great world, you will forget me; a change of atmosphere
brings a change of ideas; you will despise me, and--you will be right
in doing so.
Raoul
Do I see before me a genie, a spirit materialized from the Arabian
Nights? I question my own existence. But, my friend, my protector, I
have no family.
Vautrin
Well, we are making up a family for you at this very moment. The
Louvre could not contain the portraits of your ancestors, they would
overcrowd the quays.
Raoul
You rekindle all my hopes.
Vautrin
Do you wish to obtain Inez?
Raoul
By any means possible.
Vautrin
You will shrink from nothing? Magic and hell will not intimidate you?
Raoul
Hell is nothing, if it yields me paradise.
Vautrin
What is hell but the hulks and the convicts decorated by justice and
the police with brandings and manacles, and driven on their course by
that wretchedness from which they have no escape? Paradise is a fine
house, sumptuous carriages, delightful women, and the prestige of
rank. In this world there exist two worlds. I put you in the fairest
of them, I remain myself in the foulest, and if you remember me, it is
all I ask of you.
Raoul
While you make me shudder with horror, you fill me with the frenzy of
delight.
Vautrin (slapping him on the shoulder)
You are a child! (Aside) Have I not said too much to him? (He rings.)
Raoul (aside)
There are moments when my inmost nature revolts from the acceptance
of his benefits. When he put his hand on my shoulder it was like a
red-hot iron; and yet he has never done anything but good to me! He
conceals from me the means, but the ends are all for me.
Vautrin
What are you saying there?
Raoul
I am resolved to accept nothing, unless my honor--
Vautrin
We will cake care of your honor! Is it not I who have fostered your
sense of honor? Have I ever compromised it?
Raoul
You must explain to me--
Vautrin
I will explain nothing.
Raoul
Nothing?
Vautrin
Did you not say, "By any possible means"? When Inez is once yours,
does it matter what I have done, or who I am? You will take Inez away;
you will travel. The Christoval family will protect the Prince of
Arjos. (To Lafouraille) Put some bottles of champagne on ice; your
master is to be married, he bids farewell to bachelor life. His
friends are invited. Go and seek his mistresses, if there are any
left! All shall attend the wedding--a general turn-out in full dress.
Raoul (aside)
His confidence terrifies me, but he is always right.
Vautrin
Now for the dinner!
All
Now for the dinner!
Vautrin
Do not take your pleasure gloomily; laugh for the last time, while
liberty is still yours; I will order none but Spanish wines, for they
are in fashion to-day.
Curtain to the Third Act.