_From the French._
How rapid is the progress of oblivion, with respect to those who are no
more! How many a quadrille shall we see, this winter, exclusively made
up from the ranks of inconsolable widows! Widows of this order exist
only in the literature of the tombstone. In the world, and after the
lapse of a certain period, there is but one sort of widows
inconsolable--those who refuse to be comforted, because they can't get
married again!
One of our most distinguished sculptors was summoned, a short time
since, to the house of a young lady, connected by birth with a family of
the highest grade in the aristocracy of wealth, and united in marriage
to the heir of a title illustrious in the military annals of the Empire.
The union, formed under the happiest auspices, had been, alas! of short
duration. Death, unpitying death, had ruptured it, by prematurely
carrying off the young husband. The sculptor was summoned by the widow.
He traversed apartments silent and deserted, until he was introduced
into a bed-room, and found himself in presence of a lady, young and
beautiful, but habited in the deepest mourning, and with a face furrowed
by tears.
"You are aware," said she, with a painful effort and a voice half choked
by sobs, "You are aware of the blow which I have received?"
The artist bowed, with an air of respectful condolence.
"Sir," continued the widow, "I am anxious to have a funeral monument
erected, in honour of the husband whom I have lost."
The artist bowed again.
"I wish that the monument should be superb, worthy of the man whose loss
I weep, proportioned to the unending grief into which his loss has
plunged me. I care not what it costs. I am rich, and I will willingly
sacrifice all my fortune to do honour to the memory of an adored
husband. I must have a temple--with columns--in marble--and in the
middle--on a pedestal--his statue."
"I will do my best to fulfill your wishes, Madam," replied the artist;
"but I had not the honour of acquaintance with the deceased, and a
likeness of him is indispensable for the due execution of my work.
Without doubt, you have his portrait?"
The widow raised her arm, and pointed despairingly to a splendid
likeness by Amaury Duval.
"A most admirable picture!" observed the artist; "and the painter's
name is sufficient guarantee for its striking resemblance to the
original."
"Those are his very features, Sir; it is himself. It wants but life. Ah!
Would that I could restore it to him at the cost of all my blood!"
"I will have this portrait carried to my studio, Madam, and I promise
you that the marble shall reproduce it exactly."
The widow, at these words, sprung up, and at a single bound throwing
herself towards the picture, with arms stretched out as though to defend
it, exclaimed:
"Take away this portrait! carry off my only consolation! my sole
remaining comfort! never! never!"
"But Madam, you will only be deprived of it for a short time, and--"
"Not an hour! not a minute! could I exist without his beloved image!
Look you, Sir, I have had it placed here, in my own room, that my eyes
might be fastened upon it, without ceasing, and through my tears. His
portrait shall never leave this spot one single instant, and in
contemplating that will I pass the remainder of a miserable and
sorrowful existence."
"In that case, Madam, you will be compelled to permit me to take a copy
of it. But do not be uneasy--I shall not have occasion to trouble your
solitude for any length of time; one sketch--one sitting will suffice."
The widow agreed to this arrangement; she only insisted that the artist
should come back the following day. She wanted him to set to work on the
instant, so great was her longing to see the mausoleum erected. The
sculptor, however, remarked that he had another work to finish first.
This difficulty she sought to overcome by means of money.
"Impossible," replied the artist, "I have given my word; but do not
distress yourself; I will apply to it so diligently, that the monument
shall be finished in as short a time as any other sculptor would
require, who could apply himself to it forthwith."
"You see my distress," said the widow; "you can make allowance for my
impatience. Be speedy, then, and above all, be lavish of magnificence.
Spare no expense; only let me have a masterpiece."
Several letters echoed these injunctions, during the few days
immediately following the interview.
At the expiration of three months the artist called again. He found the
widow still in weeds, but a little less pallid, and a little more
coquettishly dressed in her mourning garb.
"Madam," said he, "I am entirely at your service."
"Ah! at last; this is fortunate," replied the widow, with a gracious
smile.
"I have made my design, but I still want one sitting, for the likeness.
Will you permit me to go into your bed-room?"
"Into my bed-room? For what?"
"To look at the portrait again."
"Oh! yes; have the goodness to walk into the drawing-room; you will find
it there now."
"Ah!"
"Yes; it hangs better there; it is better lighted in the drawing-room,
than in my own room."
"Would you like, Madam, to look at the design for the monument?"
"With pleasure. Oh! what a size! What profusion of decorations! Why, it
is a palace, Sir, this tomb!"
"Did you not tell me, Madam, that nothing could be too magnificent? I
have not considered the expense; and by the way, here is a memorandum of
what the monument will cost you."
"Oh, Heavens!" exclaimed the widow, after having cast an eye over the
total adding-up. "Why, this is enormous!"
"You begged me to spare no expense."
"Yes, no doubt, I desire to do things properly, but not exactly to make
a fool of myself."
"This, at present, you see, is only a design; and there is time yet to
cut it down."
"Well, then, suppose we were to leave out the temple, and the columns,
and all the architectural part, and content ourselves with the statue?
It seems to me that would be very appropriate."
"Certainly it would."
"So let it be, then--just the statue alone."
Shortly after this second visit, the sculptor fell desperately ill. He
was compelled to give up work; but, on returning from a tour in Italy,
prescribed by his physician, he presented himself once more before the
widow, who was then in the tenth month of her mourning. He found, this
time, a few roses among the cypress, and some smiling colours playing
over half-shaded grounds.
The artist brought with him a little model of his statue, done in
plaster, and offering in miniature the idea of what his work was to be.
"What do you think of the likeness?" he inquired of the widow.
"It seems to me a little flattered; my husband was all very well, no
doubt; but you are making him an Apollo!"
"Really? well, then, I can correct my work by the portrait."
"Don't take the trouble--a little more, or less like, what does it
matter?"
"Excuse me, but I am particular about likenesses."
"If you absolutely must--"
"It is in the drawing-room, yonder, is it not? I'll go in there."
"It is not there any longer," replied the widow, ringing the bell.
"Baptiste," said she to the servant who came in, "bring down the
portrait of your master."
"The portrait that you sent up to the garret, last week, Madam?"
"Yes."
At this moment the door opened, and a young man of distinguished air
entered; his manners were easy and familiar, he kissed the fair widow's
hand, and tenderly inquired after her health.
"Who in the world is this good man in plaster?" asked he, pointing with
his finger to the statuette, which the artist had placed upon the
mantel-piece.
"It is the model of a statue for my husband's tomb."
"You are having a statue of him made? The devil! it's very majestic!"
"Do you think so?"
"It is only great men who are thus cut out of marble, and at full
length; it seems to me, too, that the deceased was a very ordinary
personage."
"In fact, his bust would be sufficient."
"Just as you please, Madam," said the sculptor.
"Well, let it be a bust, that's--determined!"
Two months later, the artist, carrying the bust, encountered on the
stairs a merry party. The widow, giving her hand to the elegant dandy
who had caused the statue of the deceased to be cut down, was on his way
to the Mayor's office, where she was about to take a second oath of
conjugal fidelity.
If the bust had not been completed, it would willingly have been
dispensed with. When, some time later, the artist called for his money,
there was an outcry about the price; and it required very little less
than a threat of legal proceedings, before the widow, consoled and
remarried, concluded by resigning herself to pay for this funeral
homage, reduced as it was, to the memory of her departed husband.