The Friend of the Family.
Then began for Frederick an existence of misery. He became the parasite
of the house.
If anyone were indisposed, he called three times a day to know how the
patient was, went to the piano-tuner's, contrived to do a thousand acts
of kindness; and he endured with an air of contentment Mademoiselle
Marthe's poutings and the caresses of little Eugène, who was always
drawing his dirty hands over the young man's face. He was present at
dinners at which Monsieur and Madame, facing each other, did not
exchange a word, unless it happened that Arnoux provoked his wife with
the absurd remarks he made. When the meal was over, he would play about
the room with his son, conceal himself behind the furniture, or carry
the little boy on his back, walking about on all fours, like the
Bearnais.[11] At last, he would go out, and she would at once plunge
into the eternal subject of complaint--Arnoux.
[Footnote 11: Henry IV.--Translator.]
It was not his misconduct that excited her indignation, but her pride
appeared to be wounded, and she did not hide her repugnance towards this
man, who showed an absence of delicacy, dignity, and honour.
"Or rather, he is mad!" she said.
Frederick artfully appealed to her to confide in him. Ere long he knew
all the details of her life. Her parents were people in a humble rank in
life at Chartres. One day, Arnoux, while sketching on the bank of the
river (at this period he believed himself to be a painter), saw her
leaving the church, and made her an offer of marriage. On account of his
wealth, he was unhesitatingly accepted. Besides, he was desperately in
love with her. She added:
"Good heavens! he loves me still, after his fashion!"
They spent the few months immediately after their marriage in travelling
through Italy.
Arnoux, in spite of his enthusiasm at the sight of the scenery and the
masterpieces, did nothing but groan over the wine, and, to find some
kind of amusement, organised picnics along with some English people. The
profit which he had made by reselling some pictures tempted him to take
up the fine arts as a commercial speculation. Then, he became infatuated
about pottery. Just now other branches of commerce attracted him; and,
as he had become more and more vulgarised, he contracted coarse and
extravagant habits. It was not so much for his vices she had to reproach
him as for his entire conduct. No change could be expected in him, and
her unhappiness was irreparable.
Frederick declared that his own life in the same way was a failure.
He was still a young man, however. Why should he despair? And she gave
him good advice: "Work! and marry!" He answered her with bitter smiles;
for in place of giving utterance to the real cause of his grief, he
pretended that it was of a different character, a sublime feeling, and
he assumed the part of an Antony to some extent, the man accursed by
fate--language which did not, however, change very materially the
complexion of his thoughts.
For certain men action becomes more difficult as desire becomes
stronger. They are embarrassed by self-distrust, and terrified by the
fear of making themselves disliked. Besides, deep attachments resemble
virtuous women: they are afraid of being discovered, and pass through
life with downcast eyes.
Though he was now better acquainted with Madame Arnoux (for that very
reason perhaps), he was still more faint-hearted than before. Each
morning he swore in his own mind that he would take a bold course. He
was prevented from doing so by an unconquerable feeling of bashfulness;
and he had no example to guide him, inasmuch as she was different from
other women. From the force of his dreams, he had placed her outside the
ordinary pale of humanity. At her side he felt himself of less
importance in the world than the sprigs of silk that escaped from her
scissors.
Then he thought of some monstrous and absurd devices, such as surprises
at night, with narcotics and false keys--anything appearing easier to
him than to face her disdain.
Besides, the children, the two servant-maids, and the relative position
of the rooms caused insurmountable obstacles. So then he made up his
mind to possess her himself alone, and to bring her to live with him
far away in the depths of some solitude. He even asked himself what lake
would be blue enough, what seashore would be delightful enough for her,
whether it would be in Spain, Switzerland, or the East; and expressly
fixing on days when she seemed more irritated than usual, he told her
that it would be necessary for her to leave the house, to find out some
ground to justify such a step, and that he saw no way out of it but a
separation. However, for the sake of the children whom she loved, she
would never resort to such an extreme course. So much virtue served to
increase his respect for her.
He spent each afternoon in recalling the visit he had paid the night
before, and in longing for the evening to come in order that he might
call again. When he did not dine with them, he posted himself about nine
o'clock at the corner of the street, and, as soon as Arnoux had slammed
the hall-door behind him, Frederick quickly ascended the two flights of
stairs, and asked the servant-girl in an ingenuous fashion:
"Is Monsieur in?"
Then he would exhibit surprise at finding that Arnoux was gone out.
The latter frequently came back unexpectedly. Then Frederick had to
accompany him to the little café in the Rue Sainte-Anne, which Regimbart
now frequented.
The Citizen began by giving vent to some fresh grievance which he had
against the Crown. Then they would chat, pouring out friendly abuse on
one another, for the earthenware manufacturer took Regimbart for a
thinker of a high order, and, vexed at seeing him neglecting so many
chances of winning distinction, teased the Citizen about his laziness.
It seemed to Regimbart that Arnoux was a man full of heart and
imagination, but decidedly of lax morals, and therefore he was quite
unceremonious towards a personage he respected so little, refusing even
to dine at his house on the ground that "such formality was a bore."
Sometimes, at the moment of parting, Arnoux would be seized with hunger.
He found it necessary to order an omelet or some roasted apples; and, as
there was never anything to eat in the establishment, he sent out for
something. They waited. Regimbart did not leave, and ended by consenting
in a grumbling fashion to have something himself. He was nevertheless
gloomy, for he remained for hours seated before a half-filled glass. As
Providence did not regulate things in harmony with his ideas, he was
becoming a hypochondriac, no longer cared even to read the newspapers,
and at the mere mention of England's name began to bellow with rage. On
one occasion, referring to a waiter who attended on him carelessly, he
exclaimed:
"Have we not enough of insults from the foreigner?"
Except at these critical periods he remained taciturn, contemplating "an
infallible stroke of business that would burst up the whole shop."
Whilst he was lost in these reflections, Arnoux in a monotonous voice
and with a slight look of intoxication, related incredible anecdotes in
which he always shone himself, owing to his assurance; and Frederick
(this was, no doubt, due to some deep-rooted resemblances) felt more or
less attracted towards him. He reproached himself for this weakness,
believing that on the contrary he ought to hate this man.
Arnoux, in Frederick's presence, complained of his wife's ill-temper,
her obstinacy, her unjust accusations. She had not been like this in
former days.
"If I were you," said Frederick, "I would make her an allowance and live
alone."
Arnoux made no reply; and the next moment he began to sound her praises.
She was good, devoted, intelligent, and virtuous; and, passing to her
personal beauty, he made some revelations on the subject with the
thoughtlessness of people who display their treasures at taverns.
His equilibrium was disturbed by a catastrophe.
He had been appointed one of the Board of Superintendence in a kaolin
company. But placing reliance on everything that he was told, he had
signed inaccurate reports and approved, without verification, of the
annual inventories fraudulently prepared by the manager. The company had
now failed, and Arnoux, being legally responsible, was, along with the
others who were liable under the guaranty, condemned to pay damages,
which meant a loss to him of thirty thousand francs, not to speak of the
costs of the judgment.
Frederick read the report of the case in a newspaper, and at once
hurried off to the Rue de Paradis.
He was ushered into Madame's apartment. It was breakfast-time. A round
table close to the fire was covered with bowls of _café au lait_.
Slippers trailed over the carpet, and clothes over the armchairs. Arnoux
was attired in trousers and a knitted vest, with his eyes bloodshot and
his hair in disorder. Little Eugène was crying at the pain caused by an
attack of mumps, while nibbling at a slice of bread and butter. His
sister was eating quietly. Madame Arnoux, a little paler than usual, was
attending on all three of them.
"Well," said Arnoux, heaving a deep sigh, "you know all about it?"
And, as Frederick gave him a pitying look: "There, you see, I have been
the victim of my own trustfulness!"
Then he relapsed into silence, and so great was his prostration, that he
pushed his breakfast away from him. Madame Arnoux raised her eyes with a
shrug of the shoulders. He passed his hand across his forehead.
"After all, I am not guilty. I have nothing to reproach myself with.
'Tis a misfortune. It will be got over--ay, and so much the worse,
faith!"
He took a bite of a cake, however, in obedience to his wife's
entreaties.
That evening, he wished that she should go and dine with him alone in a
private room at the Maison d'Or. Madame Arnoux did not at all understand
this emotional impulse, taking offence, in fact, at being treated as if
she were a light woman. Arnoux, on the contrary, meant it as a proof of
affection. Then, as he was beginning to feel dull, he went to pay the
Maréchale a visit in order to amuse himself.
Up to the present, he had been pardoned for many things owing to his
reputation for good-fellowship. His lawsuit placed him amongst men of
bad character. No one visited his house.
Frederick, however, considered that he was bound in honour to go there
more frequently than ever. He hired a box at the Italian opera, and
brought them there with him every week. Meanwhile, the pair had reached
that period in unsuitable unions when an invincible lassitude springs
from concessions which people get into the habit of making, and which
render existence intolerable. Madame Arnoux restrained her pent-up
feelings from breaking out; Arnoux became gloomy; and Frederick grew sad
at witnessing the unhappiness of these two ill-fated beings.
She had imposed on him the obligation, since she had given him her
confidence, of making enquiries as to the state of her husband's
affairs. But shame prevented him from doing so. It was painful to him to
reflect that he coveted the wife of this man, at whose dinner-table he
constantly sat. Nevertheless, he continued his visits, excusing himself
on the ground that he was bound to protect her, and that an occasion
might present itself for being of service to her.
Eight days after the ball, he had paid a visit to M. Dambreuse. The
financier had offered him twenty shares in a coal-mining speculation;
Frederick did not go back there again. Deslauriers had written letters
to him, which he left unanswered. Pellerin had invited him to go and see
the portrait; he always put it off. He gave way, however, to Cisy's
persistent appeals to be introduced to Rosanette.
She received him very nicely, but without springing on his neck as she
used to do formerly. His comrade was delighted at being received by a
woman of easy virtue, and above all at having a chat with an actor.
Delmar was there when he called. A drama in which he appeared as a
peasant lecturing Louis XIV. and prophesying the events of '89 had made
him so conspicuous, that the same part was continually assigned to him;
and now his function consisted of attacks on the monarchs of all
nations. As an English brewer, he inveighed against Charles I.; as a
student at Salamanca, he cursed Philip II.; or, as a sensitive father,
he expressed indignation against the Pompadour--this was the most
beautiful bit of acting! The brats of the street used to wait at the
door leading to the side-scenes in order to see him; and his biography,
sold between the acts, described him as taking care of his aged mother,
reading the Bible, assisting the poor, in fact, under the aspect of a
Saint Vincent de Paul together with a dash of Brutus and Mirabeau.
People spoke of him as "Our Delmar." He had a mission; he became another
Christ.
All this had fascinated Rosanette; and she had got rid of Père Oudry,
without caring one jot about consequences, as she was not of a covetous
disposition.
Arnoux, who knew her, had taken advantage of the state of affairs for
some time past to spend very little money on her. M. Roque had appeared
on the scene, and all three of them carefully avoided anything like a
candid explanation. Then, fancying that she had got rid of the other
solely on his account, Arnoux increased her allowance, for she was
living at a very expensive rate. She had even sold her cashmere in her
anxiety to pay off her old debts, as she said; and he was continually
giving her money, while she bewitched him and imposed upon him
pitilessly. Therefore, bills and stamped paper rained all over the
house. Frederick felt that a crisis was approaching.
One day he called to see Madame Arnoux. She had gone out. Monsieur was
at work below stairs in the shop. In fact, Arnoux, in the midst of his
Japanese vases, was trying to take in a newly-married pair who happened
to be well-to-do people from the provinces. He talked about
wheel-moulding and fine-moulding, about spotted porcelain and glazed
porcelain; the others, not wishing to appear utterly ignorant of the
subject, listened with nods of approbation, and made purchases.
When the customers had gone out, he told Frederick that he had that very
morning been engaged in a little altercation with his wife. In order to
obviate any remarks about expense, he had declared that the Maréchale
was no longer his mistress. "I even told her that she was yours."
Frederick was annoyed at this; but to utter reproaches might only betray
him. He faltered: "Ah! you were in the wrong--greatly in the wrong!"
"What does that signify?" said Arnoux. "Where is the disgrace of passing
for her lover? I am really so myself. Would you not be flattered at
being in that position?"
Had she spoken? Was this a hint? Frederick hastened to reply:
"No! not at all! on the contrary!"
"Well, what then?"
"Yes, 'tis true; it makes no difference so far as that's concerned."
Arnoux next asked: "And why don't you call there oftener?"
Frederick promised that he would make it his business to go there again.
"Ah! I forgot! you ought, when talking about Rosanette, to let out in
some way to my wife that you are her lover. I can't suggest how you can
best do it, but you'll find out that. I ask this of you as a special
favour--eh?"
The young man's only answer was an equivocal grimace. This calumny had
undone him. He even called on her that evening, and swore that Arnoux's
accusation was false.
"Is that really so?"
He appeared to be speaking sincerely, and, when she had taken a long
breath of relief, she said to him:
"I believe you," with a beautiful smile. Then she hung down her head,
and, without looking at him:
"Besides, nobody has any claim on you!"
So then she had divined nothing; and she despised him, seeing that she
did not think he could love her well enough to remain faithful to her!
Frederick, forgetting his overtures while with the other, looked on the
permission accorded to him as an insult to himself.
After this she suggested that he ought now and then to pay Rosanette a
visit, to get a little glimpse of what she was like.
Arnoux presently made his appearance, and, five minutes later, wished to
carry him off to Rosanette's abode.
The situation was becoming intolerable.
His attention was diverted by a letter from a notary, who was going to
send him fifteen thousand francs the following day; and, in order to
make up for his neglect of Deslauriers, he went forthwith to tell him
this good news.
The advocate was lodging in the Rue des Trois-Maries, on the fifth
floor, over a courtyard. His study, a little tiled apartment, chilly,
and with a grey paper on the walls, had as its principal decoration a
gold medal, the prize awarded him on the occasion of taking out his
degree as a Doctor of Laws, which was fixed in an ebony frame near the
mirror. A mahogany bookcase enclosed under its glass front a hundred
volumes, more or less. The writing-desk, covered with sheep-leather,
occupied the centre of the apartment. Four old armchairs upholstered in
green velvet were placed in the corners; and a heap of shavings made a
blaze in the fireplace, where there was always a bundle of sticks ready
to be lighted as soon as he rang the bell. It was his consultation-hour,
and the advocate had on a white cravat.
The announcement as to the fifteen thousand francs (he had, no doubt,
given up all hope of getting the amount) made him chuckle with delight.
"That's right, old fellow, that's right--that's quite right!"
He threw some wood into the fire, sat down again, and immediately began
talking about the journal. The first thing to do was to get rid of
Hussonnet.
"I'm quite tired of that idiot! As for officially professing opinions,
my own notion is that the most equitable and forcible position is to
have no opinions at all."
Frederick appeared astonished.
"Why, the thing is perfectly plain. It is time that politics should be
dealt with scientifically. The old men of the eighteenth century began
it when Rousseau and the men of letters introduced into the political
sphere philanthropy, poetry, and other fudge, to the great delight of
the Catholics--a natural alliance, however, since the modern reformers
(I can prove it) all believe in Revelation. But, if you sing high masses
for Poland, if, in place of the God of the Dominicans, who was an
executioner, you take the God of the Romanticists, who is an
upholsterer, if, in fact, you have not a wider conception of the
Absolute than your ancestors, Monarchy will penetrate underneath your
Republican forms, and your red cap will never be more than the headpiece
of a priest. The only difference will be that the cell system will take
the place of torture, the outrageous treatment of Religion that of
sacrilege, and the European Concert that of the Holy Alliance; and in
this beautiful order which we admire, composed of the wreckage of the
followers of Louis XIV., the last remains of the Voltaireans, with some
Imperial white-wash on top, and some fragments of the British
Constitution, you will see the municipal councils trying to give
annoyance to the Mayor, the general councils to their Prefect, the
Chambers to the King, the Press to Power, and the Administration to
everybody. But simple-minded people get enraptured about the Civil Code,
a work fabricated--let them say what they like--in a mean and tyrannical
spirit, for the legislator, in place of doing his duty to the State,
which simply means to observe customs in a regular fashion, claims to
model society like another Lycurgus. Why does the law impede fathers of
families with regard to the making of wills? Why does it place shackles
on the compulsory sale of real estate? Why does it punish as a
misdemeanour vagrancy, which ought not even to be regarded as a
technical contravention of the Code. And there are other things! I know
all about them! and so I am going to write a little novel, entitled
'The History of the Idea of Justice,' which will be amusing. But I am
infernally thirsty! And you?"
He leaned out through the window, and called to the porter to go and
fetch them two glasses of grog from the public-house over the way.
"To sum up, I see three parties--no! three groups--in none of which do I
take the slightest interest: those who have, those who have nothing, and
those who are trying to have. But all agree in their idiotic worship of
Authority! For example, Mably recommends that the philosophers should be
prevented from publishing their doctrines; M. Wronsky, the geometrician,
describes the censorship as the 'critical expression of speculative
spontaneity'; Père Enfantin gives his blessing to the Hapsburgs for
having passed a hand across the Alps in order to keep Italy down; Pierre
Leroux wishes people to be compelled to listen to an orator; and Louis
Blanc inclines towards a State religion--so much rage for government
have these vassals whom we call the people! Nevertheless, there is not a
single legitimate government, in spite of their sempiternal principles.
But 'principle' signifies 'origin.' It is always necessary to go back to
a revolution, to an act of violence, to a transitory fact. Thus, our
principle is the national sovereignty embodied in the Parliamentary
form, though the Parliament does not assent to this! But in what way
could the sovereignty of the people be more sacred than the Divine
Right? They are both fictions. Enough of metaphysics; no more phantoms!
There is no need of dogmas in order to get the streets swept! It will be
said that I am turning society upside down. Well, after all, where would
be the harm of that? It is, indeed, a nice thing--this society of
yours."
Frederick could have given many answers. But, seeing that his theories
were far less advanced than those of Sénécal, he was full of indulgence
towards Deslauriers. He contented himself with arguing that such a
system would make them generally hated.
"On the contrary, as we should have given to each party a pledge of
hatred against his neighbour, all will reckon on us. You are about to
enter into it yourself, and to furnish us with some transcendent
criticism!"
It was necessary to attack accepted ideas--the Academy, the Normal
School, the Consérvatoire, the Comédie Française, everything that
resembled an institution. It was in that way that they would give
uniformity to the doctrines taught in their review. Then, as soon as it
had been thoroughly well-established, the journal would suddenly be
converted into a daily publication. Thereupon they could find fault with
individuals.
"And they will respect us, you may be sure!"
Deslauriers touched upon that old dream of his--the position of
editor-in-chief, so that he might have the unutterable happiness of
directing others, of entirely cutting down their articles, of ordering
them to be written or declining them. His eyes twinkled under his
goggles; he got into a state of excitement, and drank a few glasses of
brandy, one after the other, in an automatic fashion.
"You'll have to stand me a dinner once a week. That's indispensable,
even though you should have to squander half your income on it. People
would feel pleasure in going to it; it would be a centre for the
others, a lever for yourself; and by manipulating public opinion at its
two ends--literature and politics--you will see how, before six months
have passed, we shall occupy the first rank in Paris."
Frederick, as he listened to Deslauriers, experienced a sensation of
rejuvenescence, like a man who, after having been confined in a room for
a long time, is suddenly transported into the open air. The enthusiasm
of his friend had a contagious effect upon him.
"Yes, I have been an idler, an imbecile--you are right!"
"All in good time," said Deslauriers. "I have found my Frederick again!"
And, holding up his jaw with closed fingers:
"Ah! you have made me suffer! Never mind, I am fond of you all the
same."
They stood there gazing into each other's faces, both deeply affected,
and were on the point of embracing each other.
A woman's cap appeared on the threshold of the anteroom.
"What brings you here?" said Deslauriers.
It was Mademoiselle Clémence, his mistress.
She replied that, as she happened to be passing, she could not resist
the desire to go in to see him, and in order that they might have a
little repast together, she had brought some cakes, which she laid on
the table.
"Take care of my papers!" said the advocate, sharply. "Besides,
this is the third time that I have forbidden you to come at my
consultation-hours."
She wished to embrace him.
"All right! Go away! Cut your stick!"
He repelled her; she heaved a great sigh.
"Ah! you are plaguing me again!"
"'Tis because I love you!"
"I don't ask you to love me, but to oblige me!"
This harsh remark stopped Clémence's tears. She took up her station
before the window, and remained there motionless, with her forehead
against the pane.
Her attitude and her silence had an irritating effect on Deslauriers.
"When you have finished, you will order your carriage, will you not?"
She turned round with a start.
"You are sending me away?"
"Exactly."
She fixed on him her large blue eyes, no doubt as a last appeal, then
drew the two ends of her tartan across each other, lingered for a minute
or two, and went away.
"You ought to call her back," said Frederick.
"Come, now!"
And, as he wished to go out, Deslauriers went into the kitchen, which
also served as his dressing-room. On the stone floor, beside a pair of
boots, were to be seen the remains of a meagre breakfast, and a mattress
with a coverlid was rolled up on the floor in a corner.
"This will show you," said he, "that I receive few marchionesses. 'Tis
easy to get enough of them, ay, faith! and some others, too! Those who
cost nothing take up your time--'tis money under another form. Now, I'm
not rich! And then they are all so silly, so silly! Can you chat with a
woman yourself?"
As they parted, at the corner of the Pont Neuf, Deslauriers said: "It's
agreed, then; you'll bring the thing to me to-morrow as soon as you have
it!"
"Agreed!" said Frederick.
When he awoke next morning, he received through the post a cheque on the
bank for fifteen thousand francs.
This scrap of paper represented to him fifteen big bags of money; and he
said to himself that, with such a sum he could, first of all, keep his
carriage for three years instead of selling it, as he would soon be
forced to do, or buy for himself two beautiful damaskeened pieces of
armour, which he had seen on the Quai Voltaire, then a quantity of other
things, pictures, books and what a quantity of bouquets of flowers,
presents for Madame Arnoux! anything, in short, would have been
preferable to risking losing everything in that journal! Deslauriers
seemed to him presumptuous, his insensibility on the night before having
chilled Frederick's affection for him; and the young man was indulging
in these feelings of regret, when he was quite surprised by the sudden
appearance of Arnoux, who sat down heavily on the side of the bed, like
a man overwhelmed with trouble.
"What is the matter now?"
"I am ruined!"
He had to deposit that very day at the office of Maître Beaumont,
notary, in the Rue Saint-Anne, eighteen thousand francs lent him by one
Vanneroy.
"'Tis an unaccountable disaster. I have, however, given him a mortgage,
which ought to keep him quiet. But he threatens me with a writ if it is
not paid this afternoon promptly."
"And what next?"
"Oh! the next step is simple enough; he will take possession of my real
estate. Once the thing is publicly announced, it means ruin to
me--that's all! Ah! if I could find anyone to advance me this cursed
sum, he might take Vanneroy's place, and I should be saved! You don't
chance to have it yourself?"
The cheque had remained on the night-table near a book. Frederick took
up a volume, and placed it on the cheque, while he replied:
"Good heavens, my dear friend, no!"
But it was painful to him to say "no" to Arnoux.
"What, don't you know anyone who would----?"
"Nobody! and to think that in eight days I should be getting in money!
There is owing to me probably fifty thousand francs at the end of the
month!"
"Couldn't you ask some of the persons that owe you money to make you an
advance?"
"Ah! well, so I did!"
"But have you any bills or promissory notes?"
"Not one!"
"What is to be done?" said Frederick.
"That's what I'm asking myself," said Arnoux. "'Tisn't for myself, my
God! but for my children and my poor wife!"
Then, letting each phrase fall from his lips in a broken fashion:
"In fact--I could rough it--I could pack off all I have--and go and seek
my fortune--I don't know where!"
"Impossible!" exclaimed Frederick.
Arnoux replied with an air of calmness:
"How do you think I could live in Paris now?"
There was a long silence. Frederick broke it by saying:
"When could you pay back this money?"
Not that he had it; quite the contrary! But there was nothing to prevent
him from seeing some friends, and making an application to them.
And he rang for his servant to get himself dressed.
Arnoux thanked him.
"The amount you want is eighteen thousand francs--isn't it?"
"Oh! I could manage easily with sixteen thousand! For I could make two
thousand five hundred out of it, or get three thousand on my silver
plate, if Vanneroy meanwhile would give me till to-morrow; and, I repeat
to you, you may inform the lender, give him a solemn undertaking, that
in eight days, perhaps even in five or six, the money will be
reimbursed. Besides, the mortgage will be security for it. So there is
no risk, you understand?"
Frederick assured him that he thoroughly understood the state of
affairs, and added that he was going out immediately.
He would be sure on his return to bestow hearty maledictions on
Deslauriers, for he wished to keep his word, and in the meantime, to
oblige Arnoux.
"Suppose I applied to M. Dambreuse? But on what pretext could I ask for
money? 'Tis I, on the contrary, that should give him some for the shares
I took in his coal-mining company. Ah! let him go hang himself--his
shares! I am really not liable for them!"
And Frederick applauded himself for his own independence, as if he had
refused to do some service for M. Dambreuse.
"Ah, well," said he to himself afterwards, "since I'm going to meet with
a loss in this way--for with fifteen thousand francs I might gain a
hundred thousand! such things sometimes happen on the Bourse--well,
then, since I am breaking my promise to one of them, am I not free?
Besides, when Deslauriers might wait? No, no; that's wrong; let us go
there."
He looked at his watch.
"Ah! there's no hurry. The bank does not close till five o'clock."
And, at half-past four, when he had cashed the cheque:
"'Tis useless now; I should not find him in. I'll go this evening." Thus
giving himself the opportunity of changing his mind, for there always
remain in the conscience some of those sophistries which we pour into it
ourselves. It preserves the after-taste of them, like some unwholesome
liquor.
He walked along the boulevards, and dined alone at the restaurant. Then
he listened to one act of a play at the Vaudeville, in order to divert
his thoughts. But his bank-notes caused him as much embarrassment as if
he had stolen them. He would not have been very sorry if he had lost
them.
When he reached home again he found a letter containing these words:
"What news? My wife joins me, dear friend, in the hope, etc.--Yours."
And then there was a flourish after his signature.
"His wife! She appeals to me!"
At the same moment Arnoux appeared, to have an answer as to whether he
had been able to obtain the sum so sorely needed.
"Wait a moment; here it is," said Frederick.
And, twenty-four hours later, he gave this reply to Deslauriers:
"I have no money."
The advocate came back three days, one after the other, and urged
Frederick to write to the notary. He even offered to take a trip to
Havre in connection with the matter.
At the end of the week, Frederick timidly asked the worthy Arnoux for
his fifteen thousand francs. Arnoux put it off till the following day,
and then till the day after. Frederick ventured out late at night,
fearing lest Deslauriers might come on him by surprise.
One evening, somebody knocked against him at the corner of the
Madeleine. It was he.
And Deslauriers accompanied Frederick as far as the door of a house in
the Faubourg Poissonnière.
"Wait for me!"
He waited. At last, after three quarters of an hour, Frederick came out,
accompanied by Arnoux, and made signs to him to have patience a little
longer. The earthenware merchant and his companion went up the Rue de
Hauteville arm-in-arm, and then turned down the Rue de Chabrol.
The night was dark, with gusts of tepid wind. Arnoux walked on slowly,
talking about the Galleries of Commerce--a succession of covered
passages which would have led from the Boulevard Saint-Denis to the
Châtelet, a marvellous speculation, into which he was very anxious to
enter; and he stopped from time to time in order to have a look at the
grisettes' faces in front of the shop-windows, and then, raising his
head again, resumed the thread of his discourse.
Frederick heard Deslauriers' steps behind him like reproaches, like
blows falling on his conscience. But he did not venture to claim his
money, through a feeling of bashfulness, and also through a fear that
it would be fruitless. The other was drawing nearer. He made up his mind
to ask.
Arnoux, in a very flippant tone, said that, as he had not got in his
outstanding debts, he was really unable to pay back the fifteen thousand
francs.
"You have no need of money, I fancy?"
At that moment Deslauriers came up to Frederick, and, taking him aside:
"Be honest. Have you got the amount? Yes or no?"
"Well, then, no," said Frederick; "I've lost it."
"Ah! and in what way?"
"At play."
Deslauriers, without saying a single word in reply, made a very low bow,
and went away. Arnoux had taken advantage of the opportunity to light a
cigar in a tobacconist's shop. When he came back, he wanted to know from
Frederick "who was that young man?"
"Oh! nobody--a friend."
Then, three minutes later, in front of Rosanette's door:
"Come on up," said Arnoux; "she'll be glad to see you. What a savage you
are just now!"
A gas-lamp, which was directly opposite, threw its light on him; and,
with his cigar between his white teeth and his air of contentment, there
was something intolerable about him.
"Ha! now that I think of it, my notary has been at your place this
morning about that mortgage-registry business. 'Tis my wife reminded me
about it."
"A wife with brains!" returned Frederick automatically.
"I believe you."
And once more Arnoux began to sing his wife's praises. There was no one
like her for spirit, tenderness, and thrift; he added in a low tone,
rolling his eyes about: "And a woman with so many charms, too!"
"Good-bye!" said Frederick.
Arnoux made a step closer to him.
"Hold on! Why are you going?" And, with his hand half-stretched out
towards Frederick, he stared at the young man, quite abashed by the look
of anger in his face.
Frederick repeated in a dry tone, "Good-bye!"
He hurried down the Rue de Bréda like a stone rolling headlong, raging
against Arnoux, swearing in his own mind that he would never see the man
again, nor her either, so broken-hearted and desolate did he feel. In
place of the rupture which he had anticipated, here was the other, on
the contrary, exhibiting towards her a most perfect attachment from the
ends of her hair to the inmost depths of her soul. Frederick was
exasperated by the vulgarity of this man. Everything, then, belonged to
him! He would meet Arnoux again at his mistress's door; and the
mortification of a rupture would be added to rage at his own
powerlessness. Besides, he felt humiliated by the other's display of
integrity in offering him guaranties for his money. He would have liked
to strangle him, and over the pangs of disappointment floated in his
conscience, like a fog, the sense of his baseness towards his friend.
Rising tears nearly suffocated him.
Deslauriers descended the Rue des Martyrs, swearing aloud with
indignation; for his project, like an obelisk that has fallen, now
assumed extraordinary proportions. He considered himself robbed, as if
he had suffered a great loss. His friendship for Frederick was dead, and
he experienced a feeling of joy at it--it was a sort of compensation to
him! A hatred of all rich people took possession of him. He leaned
towards Sénécal's opinions, and resolved to make every effort to
propagate them.
All this time, Arnoux was comfortably seated in an easy-chair near the
fire, sipping his cup of tea, with the Maréchale on his knees.
Frederick did not go back there; and, in order to distract his attention
from his disastrous passion, he determined to write a "History of the
Renaissance." He piled up confusedly on his table the humanists, the
philosophers, and the poets, and he went to inspect some engravings of
Mark Antony, and tried to understand Machiavelli. Gradually, the
serenity of intellectual work had a soothing effect upon him. While his
mind was steeped in the personality of others, he lost sight of his
own--which is the only way, perhaps, of getting rid of suffering.
One day, while he was quietly taking notes, the door opened, and the
man-servant announced Madame Arnoux.
It was she, indeed! and alone? Why, no! for she was holding little
Eugène by the hand, followed by a nurse in a white apron. She sat down,
and after a preliminary cough:
"It is a long time since you came to see us."
As Frederick could think of no excuse at the moment, she added:
"It was delicacy on your part!"
He asked in return:
"Delicacy about what?"
"About what you have done for Arnoux!" said she.
Frederick made a significant gesture. "What do I care about him, indeed?
It was for your sake I did it!"
She sent off the child to play with his nurse in the drawing-room. Two
or three words passed between them as to their state of health; then the
conversation hung fire.
She wore a brown silk gown, which had the colour of Spanish wine, with a
paletot of black velvet bordered with sable. This fur made him yearn to
pass his hand over it; and her head-bands, so long and so exquisitely
smooth, seemed to draw his lips towards them. But he was agitated by
emotion, and, turning his eyes towards the door:
"'Tis rather warm here!"
Frederick understood what her discreet glance meant.
"Ah! excuse me! the two leaves of the door are merely drawn together."
"Yes, that's true!"
And she smiled, as much as to say:
"I'm not a bit afraid!"
He asked her presently what was the object of her visit.
"My husband," she replied with an effort, "has urged me to call on you,
not venturing to take this step himself!"
"And why?"
"You know M. Dambreuse, don't you?"
"Yes, slightly."
"Ah! slightly."
She relapsed into silence.
"No matter! finish what you were going to say."
Thereupon she told him that, two days before, Arnoux had found himself
unable to meet four bills of a thousand francs, made payable at the
banker's order and with his signature attached to them. She felt sorry
for having compromised her children's fortune. But anything was
preferable to dishonour; and, if M. Dambreuse stopped the proceedings,
they would certainly pay him soon, for she was going to sell a little
house which she had at Chartres.
"Poor woman!" murmured Frederick. "I will go. Rely on me!"
"Thanks!"
And she arose to go.
"Oh! there is nothing to hurry you yet."
She remained standing, examining the trophy of Mongolian arrows
suspended from the ceiling, the bookcase, the bindings, all the utensils
for writing. She lifted up the bronze bowl which held his pens. Her feet
rested on different portions of the carpet. She had visited Frederick
several times before, but always accompanied by Arnoux. They were now
alone together--alone in his own house. It was an extraordinary
event--almost a successful issue of his love.
She wished to see his little garden. He offered her his arm to show her
his property--thirty feet of ground enclosed by some houses, adorned
with shrubs at the corners and flower-borders in the middle. The early
days of April had arrived. The leaves of the lilacs were already showing
their borders of green. A breath of pure air was diffused around, and
the little birds chirped, their song alternating with the distant sound
that came from a coachmaker's forge.
Frederick went to look for a fire-shovel; and, while they walked on side
by side, the child kept making sand-pies in the walk.
Madame Arnoux did not believe that, as he grew older, he would have a
great imagination; but he had a winning disposition. His sister, on the
other hand, possessed a caustic humour that sometimes wounded her.
"That will change," said Frederick. "We must never despair."
She returned:
"We must never despair!"
This automatic repetition of the phrase he had used appeared to him a
sort of encouragement; he plucked a rose, the only one in the garden.
"Do you remember a certain bouquet of roses one evening, in a carriage?"
She coloured a little; and, with an air of bantering pity:
"Ah, I was very young then!"
"And this one," went on Frederick, in a low tone, "will it be the same
way with it?"
She replied, while turning about the stem between her fingers, like the
thread of a spindle:
"No, I will preserve it."
She called over the nurse, who took the child in her arms; then, on the
threshold of the door in the street, Madame Arnoux inhaled the odour of
the flower, leaning her head on her shoulder with a look as sweet as a
kiss.
When he had gone up to his study, he gazed at the armchair in which she
had sat, and every object which she had touched. Some portion of her was
diffused around him. The caress of her presence lingered there still.
"So, then, she came here," said he to himself.
And his soul was bathed in the waves of infinite tenderness.
Next morning, at eleven o'clock, he presented himself at M. Dambreuse's
house. He was received in the dining-room. The banker was seated
opposite his wife at breakfast. Beside her sat his niece, and at the
other side of the table appeared the governess, an English woman,
strongly pitted with small-pox.
M. Dambreuse invited his young friend to take his place among them, and
when he declined:
"What can I do for you? I am listening to whatever you have to say to
me."
Frederick confessed, while affecting indifference, that he had come to
make a request in behalf of one Arnoux.
"Ha! ha! the ex-picture-dealer," said the banker, with a noiseless laugh
which exposed his gums. "Oudry formerly gave security for him; he has
given a lot of trouble."
And he proceeded to read the letters and newspapers which lay close
beside him on the table.
Two servants attended without making the least noise on the floor; and
the loftiness of the apartment, which had three portières of richest
tapestry, and two white marble fountains, the polish of the
chafing-dish, the arrangement of the side-dishes, and even the rigid
folds of the napkins, all this sumptuous comfort impressed Frederick's
mind with the contrast between it and another breakfast at the Arnouxs'
house. He did not take the liberty of interrupting M. Dambreuse.
Madame noticed his embarrassment.
"Do you occasionally see our friend Martinon?"
"He will be here this evening," said the young girl in a lively tone.
"Ha! so you know him?" said her aunt, fixing on her a freezing look.
At that moment one of the men-servants, bending forward, whispered in
her ear.
"Your dressmaker, Mademoiselle--Miss John!"
And the governess, in obedience to this summons, left the room along
with her pupil.
M. Dambreuse, annoyed at the disarrangement of the chairs by this
movement, asked what was the matter.
"'Tis Madame Regimbart."
"Wait a moment! Regimbart! I know that name. I have come across his
signature."
Frederick at length broached the question. Arnoux deserved some
consideration; he was even going, for the sole purpose of fulfilling his
engagements, to sell a house belonging to his wife.
"She is considered very pretty," said Madame Dambreuse.
The banker added, with a display of good-nature:
"Are you on friendly terms with them--on intimate terms?"
Frederick, without giving an explicit reply, said that he would be very
much obliged to him if he considered the matter.
"Well, since it pleases you, be it so; we will wait. I have some time to
spare yet; suppose we go down to my office. Would you mind?"
They had finished breakfast. Madame Dambreuse bowed slightly towards
Frederick, smiling in a singular fashion, with a mixture of politeness
and irony. Frederick had no time to reflect about it, for M. Dambreuse,
as soon as they were alone:
"You did not come to get your shares?"
And, without permitting him to make any excuses:
"Well! well! 'tis right that you should know a little more about the
business."
He offered Frederick a cigarette, and began his statement.
The General Union of French Coal Mines had been constituted. All that
they were waiting for was the order for its incorporation. The mere fact
of the amalgamation had diminished the cost of superintendence, and of
manual labour, and increased the profits. Besides, the company had
conceived a new idea, which was to interest the workmen in its
undertaking. It would erect houses for them, healthful dwellings;
finally, it would constitute itself the purveyor of its _employés_, and
would have everything supplied to them at net prices.
"And they will be the gainers by it, Monsieur: there's true progress!
that's the way to reply effectively to certain Republican brawlings. We
have on our Board"--he showed the prospectus--"a peer of France, a
scholar who is a member of the Institute, a retired field-officer of
genius. Such elements reassure the timid capitalists, and appeal to
intelligent capitalists!"
The company would have in its favour the sanction of the State, then the
railways, the steam service, the metallurgical establishments, the gas
companies, and ordinary households.
"Thus we heat, we light, we penetrate to the very hearth of the humblest
home. But how, you will say to me, can we be sure of selling? By the aid
of protective laws, dear Monsieur, and we shall get them!--that is a
matter that concerns us! For my part, however, I am a downright
prohibitionist! The country before anything!"
He had been appointed a director; but he had no time to occupy himself
with certain details, amongst other things with the editing of their
publications.
"I find myself rather muddled with my authors. I have forgotten my
Greek. I should want some one who could put my ideas into shape."
And suddenly: "Will you be the man to perform those duties, with the
title of general secretary?"
Frederick did not know what reply to make.
"Well, what is there to prevent you?"
His functions would be confined to writing a report every year for the
shareholders. He would find himself day after day in communication with
the most notable men in Paris. Representing the company with the
workmen, he would ere long be worshipped by them as a natural
consequence, and by this means he would be able, later, to push him into
the General Council, and into the position of a deputy.
Frederick's ears tingled. Whence came this goodwill? He got confused in
returning thanks. But it was not necessary, the banker said, that he
should be dependent on anyone. The best course was to take some shares,
"a splendid investment besides, for your capital guarantees your
position, as your position does your capital."
"About how much should it amount to?" said Frederick.
"Oh, well! whatever you please--from forty to sixty thousand francs, I
suppose."
This sum was so trifling in M. Dambreuse's eyes, and his authority was
so great, that the young man resolved immediately to sell a farm.
He accepted the offer. M. Dambreuse was to select one of his disengaged
days for an appointment in order to finish their arrangements.
"So I can say to Jacques Arnoux----?"
"Anything you like--the poor chap--anything you like!"
Frederick wrote to the Arnouxs' to make their minds easy, and he
despatched the letter by a man-servant, who brought back the letter:
"All right!" His action in the matter deserved better recognition. He
expected a visit, or, at least, a letter. He did not receive a visit,
and no letter arrived.
Was it forgetfulness on their part, or was it intentional? Since Madame
Arnoux had come once, what was to prevent her from coming again? The
species of confidence, of avowal, of which she had made him the
recipient on the occasion, was nothing better, then, than a manoeuvre
which she had executed through interested motives.
"Are they playing on me? and is she an accomplice of her husband?" A
sort of shame, in spite of his desire, prevented him from returning to
their house.
One morning (three weeks after their interview), M. Dambreuse wrote to
him, saying that he expected him the same day in an hour's time.
On the way, the thought of Arnoux oppressed him once more, and, not
having been able to discover any reason for his conduct, he was seized
with a feeling of wretchedness, a melancholy presentiment. In order to
shake it off, he hailed a cab, and drove to the Rue de Paradis.
Arnoux was away travelling.
"And Madame?"
"In the country, at the works."
"When is Monsieur coming back?"
"To-morrow, without fail."
He would find her alone; this was the opportune moment. Something
imperious seemed to cry out in the depths of his consciousness: "Go,
then, and meet her!"
But M. Dambreuse? "Ah! well, so much the worse. I'll say that I was
ill."
He rushed to the railway-station, and, as soon as he was in the
carriage:
"Perhaps I have done wrong. Pshaw! what does it matter?"
Green plains stretched out to the right and to the left. The train
rolled on. The little station-houses glistened like stage-scenery, and
the smoke of the locomotive kept constantly sending forth on the same
side its big fleecy masses, which danced for a little while on the
grass, and were then dispersed.
Frederick, who sat alone in his compartment, gazed at these objects
through sheer weariness, lost in that languor which is produced by the
very excess of impatience. But cranes and warehouses presently appeared.
They had reached Creil.
The town, built on the slopes of two low-lying hills (the first of which
was bare, and the second crowned by a wood), with its church-tower, its
houses of unequal size, and its stone bridge, seemed to him to present
an aspect of mingled gaiety, reserve, and propriety. A long flat barge
descended to the edge of the water, which leaped up under the lash of
the wind.
Fowl perched on the straw at the foot of the crucifix erected on the
spot; a woman passed with some wet linen on her head.
After crossing the bridge, he found himself in an isle, where he beheld
on his right the ruins of an abbey. A mill with its wheels revolving
barred up the entire width of the second arm of the Oise, over which the
manufactory projected. Frederick was greatly surprised by the imposing
character of this structure. He felt more respect for Arnoux on account
of it. Three paces further on, he turned up an alley, which had a
grating at its lower end.
He went in. The door-keeper called him back, exclaiming:
"Have you a permit?"
"For what purpose?"
"For the purpose of visiting the establishment."
Frederick said in a rather curt tone that he had come to see M. Arnoux.
"Who is M. Arnoux?"
"Why, the chief, the master, the proprietor, in fact!"
"No, monsieur! These are MM. Leboeuf and Milliet's works!"
The good woman was surely joking! Some workmen arrived; he came up and
spoke to two or three of them. They gave the same response.
Frederick left the premises, staggering like a drunken man; and he had
such a look of perplexity, that on the Pont de la Boucherie an
inhabitant of the town, who was smoking his pipe, asked whether he
wanted to find out anything. This man knew where Arnoux's manufactory
was. It was situated at Montataire.
Frederick asked whether a vehicle was to be got. He was told that the
only place where he could find one was at the station. He went back
there. A shaky-looking calash, to which was yoked an old horse, with
torn harness hanging over the shafts, stood all alone in front of the
luggage office. An urchin who was looking on offered to go and find Père
Pilon. In ten minutes' time he came back, and announced that Père Pilon
was at his breakfast. Frederick, unable to stand this any longer, walked
away. But the gates of the thoroughfare across the line were closed. He
would have to wait till two trains had passed. At last, he made a dash
into the open country.
The monotonous greenery made it look like the cover of an immense
billiard-table. The scoriæ of iron were ranged on both sides of the
track, like heaps of stones. A little further on, some factory chimneys
were smoking close beside each other. In front of him, on a round
hillock, stood a little turreted château, with the quadrangular belfry
of a church. At a lower level, long walls formed irregular lines past
the trees; and, further down again, the houses of the village spread
out.
They had only a single story, with staircases consisting of three steps
made of uncemented blocks. Every now and then the bell in front of a
grocery-shop could be heard tinkling. Heavy steps sank into the black
mire, and a light shower was falling, which cut the pale sky with a
thousand hatchings.
Frederick pursued his way along the middle of the street. Then, he saw
on his left, at the opening of a pathway, a large wooden arch, whereon
was traced, in letters of gold, the word "Faïences."
It was not without an object that Jacques Arnoux had selected the
vicinity of Creil. By placing his works as close as possible to the
other works (which had long enjoyed a high reputation), he had created a
certain confusion in the public mind, with a favourable result so far as
his own interests were concerned.
The main body of the building rested on the same bank of a river which
flows through the meadowlands. The master's house, surrounded by a
garden, could be distinguished by the steps in front of it, adorned with
four vases, in which cactuses were bristling.
Heaps of white clay were drying under sheds. There were others in the
open air; and in the midst of the yard stood Sénécal with his
everlasting blue paletot lined with red.
The ex-tutor extended towards Frederick his cold hand.
"You've come to see the master? He's not there."
Frederick, nonplussed, replied in a stupefied fashion:
"I knew it." But the next moment, correcting himself:
"'Tis about a matter that concerns Madame Arnoux. Can she receive me?"
"Ha! I have not seen her for the last three days," said Sénécal.
And he broke into a long string of complaints. When he accepted the post
of manager, he understood that he would have been allowed to reside in
Paris, and not be forced to bury himself in this country district, far
from his friends, deprived of newspapers. No matter! he had overlooked
all that. But Arnoux appeared to pay no heed to his merits. He was,
moreover, shallow and retrograde--no one could be more ignorant. In
place of seeking for artistic improvements, it would have been better to
introduce firewood instead of coal and gas. The shop-keeping spirit
_thrust itself in_--Sénécal laid stress on the last words. In short, he
disliked his present occupation, and he all but appealed to Frederick to
say a word in his behalf in order that he might get an increase of
salary.
"Make your mind easy," said the other.
He met nobody on the staircase. On the first floor, he pushed his way
head-foremost into an empty room. It was the drawing-room. He called out
at the top of his voice. There was no reply. No doubt, the cook had gone
out, and so had the housemaid. At length, having reached the second
floor, he pushed a door open. Madame Arnoux was alone in this room, in
front of a press with a mirror attached. The belt of her dressing-gown
hung down her hips; one entire half of her hair fell in a dark wave over
her right shoulder; and she had raised both arms in order to hold up her
chignon with one hand and to put a pin through it with the other. She
broke into an exclamation and disappeared.
Then, she came back again properly dressed. Her waist, her eyes, the
rustle of her dress, her entire appearance, charmed him. Frederick felt
it hard to keep from covering her with kisses.
"I beg your pardon," said she, "but I could not----"
He had the boldness to interrupt her with these words:
"Nevertheless--you looked very nice--just now."
She probably thought this compliment a little coarse, for her cheeks
reddened. He was afraid that he might have offended her. She went on:
"What lucky chance has brought you here?"
He did not know what reply to make; and, after a slight chuckle, which
gave him time for reflection:
"If I told you, would you believe me?"
"Why not?"
Frederick informed her that he had had a frightful dream a few nights
before.
"I dreamt that you were seriously ill--near dying."
"Oh! my husband and I are never ill."
"I have dreamt only of you," said he.
She gazed at him calmly: "Dreams are not always realised."
Frederick stammered, sought to find appropriate words to express himself
in, and then plunged into a flowing period about the affinity of souls.
There existed a force which could, through the intervening bounds of
space, bring two persons into communication with each other, make known
to each the other's feelings, and enable them to reunite.
She listened to him with downcast face, while she smiled with that
beautiful smile of hers. He watched her out of the corner of his eye
with delight, and poured out his love all the more freely through the
easy channel of a commonplace remark.
She offered to show him the works; and, as she persisted, he made no
objection.
In order to divert his attention with something of an amusing nature,
she showed him the species of museum that decorated the staircase. The
specimens, hung up against the wall or laid on shelves, bore witness to
the efforts and the successive fads of Arnoux. After seeking vainly for
the red of Chinese copper, he had wished to manufacture majolicas,
faiënce, Etruscan and Oriental ware, and had, in fact, attempted all the
improvements which were realised at a later period.
So it was that one could observe in the series big vases covered with
figures of mandarins, porringers of shot reddish-brown, pots adorned
with Arabian inscriptions, drinking-vessels in the style of the
Renaissance, and large plates on which two personages were outlined as
it were on bloodstone, in a delicate, aërial fashion. He now made
letters for signboards and wine-labels; but his intelligence was not
high enough to attain to art, nor commonplace enough to look merely to
profit, so that, without satisfying anyone, he had ruined himself.
They were both taking a view of these things when Mademoiselle Marthe
passed.
"So, then, you did not recognise him?" said her mother to her.
"Yes, indeed," she replied, bowing to him, while her clear and sceptical
glance--the glance of a virgin--seemed to say in a whisper: "What are
you coming here for?" and she rushed up the steps with her head slightly
bent over her shoulder.
Madame Arnoux led Frederick into the yard attached to the works, and
then explained to him in a grave tone how different clays were ground,
cleaned, and sifted.
"The most important thing is the preparation of pastes."
And she introduced him into a hall filled with vats, in which a vertical
axis with horizontal arms kept turning. Frederick felt some regret that
he had not flatly declined her offer a little while before.
"These things are merely the slobberings," said she.
He thought the word grotesque, and, in a measure, unbecoming on her
lips.
Wide straps ran from one end of the ceiling to the other, so as to roll
themselves round the drums, and everything kept moving continuously with
a provoking mathematical regularity.
They left the spot, and passed close to a ruined hut, which had formerly
been used as a repository for gardening implements.
"It is no longer of any use," said Madame Arnoux.
He replied in a tremulous voice:
"Happiness may have been associated with it!"
The clacking of the fire-pump drowned his words, and they entered the
workshop where rough drafts were made.
Some men, seated at a narrow table, placed each in front of himself on a
revolving disc a piece of paste. Then each man with his left hand
scooped out the insides of his own piece while smoothing its surface
with the right; and vases could be seen bursting into shape like
blossoming flowers.
Madame Arnoux had the moulds for more difficult works shown to him.
In another portion of the building, the threads, the necks, and the
projecting lines were being formed. On the floor above, they removed the
seams, and stopped up with plaster the little holes that had been left
by the preceding operations.
At every opening in the walls, in corners, in the middle of the
corridor, everywhere, earthenware vessels had been placed side by side.
Frederick began to feel bored.
"Perhaps these things are tiresome to you?" said she.
Fearing lest it might be necessary to terminate his visit there and
then, he affected, on the contrary, a tone of great enthusiasm. He even
expressed regret at not having devoted himself to this branch of
industry.
She appeared surprised.
"Certainly! I would have been able to live near you."
And as he tried to catch her eye, Madame Arnoux, in order to avoid him,
took off a bracket little balls of paste, which had come from abortive
readjustments, flattened them out into a thin cake, and pressed her hand
over them.
"Might I carry these away with me?" said Frederick.
"Good heavens! are you so childish?"
He was about to reply when in came Sénécal.
The sub-manager, on the threshold, had noticed a breach of the rules.
The workshops should be swept every week. This was Saturday, and, as the
workmen had not done what was required, Sénécal announced that they
would have to remain an hour longer.
"So much the worse for you!"
They stooped over the work assigned to them unmurmuringly, but their
rage could be divined by the hoarse sounds which came from their chests.
They were, moreover, very easy to manage, having all been dismissed from
the big manufactory. The Republican had shown himself a hard taskmaster
to them. A mere theorist, he regarded the people only in the mass, and
exhibited an utter absence of pity for individuals.
Frederick, annoyed by his presence, asked Madame Arnoux in a low tone
whether they could have an opportunity of seeing the kilns. They
descended to the ground-floor; and she was just explaining the use of
caskets, when Sénécal, who had followed close behind, placed himself
between them.
He continued the explanation of his own motion, expatiated on the
various kinds of combustibles, the process of placing in the kiln, the
pyroscopes, the cylindrical furnaces; the instruments for rounding, the
lustres, and the metals, making a prodigious display of chemical terms,
such as "chloride," "sulphuret," "borax," and "carbonate." Frederick did
not understand a single one of them, and kept turning round every minute
towards Madame Arnoux.
"You are not listening," said she. "M. Sénécal, however, is very clear.
He knows all these things much better than I."
The mathematician, flattered by this eulogy, proposed to show the way in
which colours were laid on. Frederick gave Madame Arnoux an anxious,
questioning look. She remained impassive, not caring to be alone with
him, very probably, and yet unwilling to leave him.
He offered her his arm.
"No--many thanks! the staircase is too narrow!"
And, when they had reached the top, Sénécal opened the door of an
apartment filled with women.
They were handling brushes, phials, shells, and plates of glass. Along
the cornice, close to the wall, extended boards with figures engraved on
them; scraps of thin paper floated about, and a melting-stove sent forth
fumes that made the temperature oppressive, while there mingled with it
the odour of turpentine.
The workwomen had nearly all sordid costumes. It was noticeable,
however, that one of them wore a Madras handkerchief, and long
earrings. Of slight frame, and, at the same time, plump, she had large
black eyes and the fleshy lips of a negress. Her ample bosom projected
from under her chemise, which was fastened round her waist by the string
of her petticoat; and, with one elbow on the board of the work-table and
the other arm hanging down, she gazed vaguely at the open country, a
long distance away. Beside her were a bottle of wine and some pork
chops.
The regulations prohibited eating in the workshops, a rule intended to
secure cleanliness at work and to keep the hands in a healthy condition.
Sénécal, through a sense of duty or a longing to exercise despotic
authority, shouted out to her ere he had come near her, while pointing
towards a framed placard:
"I say, you girl from Bordeaux over there! read out for me Article 9!"
"Well, what then?"
"What then, mademoiselle? You'll have to pay a fine of three francs."
She looked him straight in the face in an impudent fashion.
"What does that signify to me? The master will take off your fine when
he comes back! I laugh at you, my good man!"
Sénécal, who was walking with his hands behind his back, like an usher
in the study-room, contented himself with smiling.
"Article 13, insubordination, ten francs!"
The girl from Bordeaux resumed her work. Madame Arnoux, through a sense
of propriety, said nothing; but her brows contracted. Frederick
murmured:
"Ha! you are very severe for a democrat!"
The other replied in a magisterial tone:
"Democracy is not the unbounded license of individualism. It is the
equality of all belonging to the same community before the law, the
distribution of work, order."
"You are forgetting humanity!" said Frederick.
Madame Arnoux took his arm. Sénécal, perhaps, offended by this mark of
silent approbation, went away.
Frederick experienced an immense relief. Since morning he had been
looking out for the opportunity to declare itself; now it had arrived.
Besides, Madame Arnoux's spontaneous movements seemed to him to contain
promises; and he asked her, as if on the pretext of warming their feet,
to come up to her room. But, when he was seated close beside her, he
began once more to feel embarrassed. He was at a loss for a
starting-point. Sénécal, luckily, suggested an idea to his mind.
"Nothing could be more stupid," said he, "than this punishment!"
Madame Arnoux replied: "There are certain severe measures which are
indispensable!"
"What! you who are so good! Oh! I am mistaken, for you sometimes take
pleasure in making other people suffer!"
"I don't understand riddles, my friend!"
And her austere look, still more than the words she used, checked him.
Frederick was determined to go on. A volume of De Musset chanced to be
on the chest of drawers; he turned over some pages, then began to talk
about love, about his hopes and his transports.
All this, according to Madame Arnoux, was criminal or factitious. The
young man felt wounded by this negative attitude with regard to his
passion, and, in order to combat it, he cited, by way of proof, the
suicides which they read about every day in the newspapers, extolled the
great literary types, Phèdre, Dido, Romeo, Desgrieux. He talked as if he
meant to do away with himself.
The fire was no longer burning on the hearth; the rain lashed against
the window-panes. Madame Arnoux, without stirring, remained with her
hands resting on the sides of her armchair. The flaps of her cap fell
like the fillets of a sphinx. Her pure profile traced out its clear-cut
outlines in the midst of the shadow.
He was anxious to cast himself at her feet. There was a creaking sound
in the lobby, and he did not venture to carry out his intention.
He was, moreover, restrained by a kind of religious awe. That robe,
mingling with the surrounding shadows, appeared to him boundless,
infinite, incapable of being touched; and for this very reason his
desire became intensified. But the fear of doing too much, and, again,
of not doing enough, deprived him of all judgment.
"If she dislikes me," he thought, "let her drive me away; if she cares
for me, let her encourage me."
He said, with a sigh:
"So, then, you don't admit that a man may love--a woman?"
Madame Arnoux replied:
"Assuming that she is at liberty to marry, he may marry her; when she
belongs to another, he should keep away from her."
"So happiness is impossible?"
"No! But it is never to be found in falsehood, mental anxiety, and
remorse."
"What does it matter, if one is compensated by the enjoyment of supreme
bliss?"
"The experience is too costly."
Then he sought to assail her with irony.
"Would not virtue in that case be merely cowardice?"
"Say rather, clear-sightedness. Even for those women who might forget
duty or religion, simple good sense is sufficient. A solid foundation
for wisdom may be found in self-love."
"Ah, what shop-keeping maxims these are of yours!"
"But I don't boast of being a fine lady."
At that moment the little boy rushed in.
"Mamma, are you coming to dinner?"
"Yes, in a moment."
Frederick arose. At the same instant, Marthe made her appearance.
He could not make up his mind to go away, and, with a look of entreaty:
"These women you speak of are very unfeeling, then?"
"No, but deaf when it is necessary to be so."
And she remained standing on the threshold of her room with her two
children beside her. He bowed without saying a word. She mutely returned
his salutation.
What he first experienced was an unspeakable astonishment. He felt
crushed by this mode of impressing on him the emptiness of his hopes. It
seemed to him as if he were lost, like a man who has fallen to the
bottom of an abyss and knows that no help will come to him, and that he
must die. He walked on, however, but at random, without looking before
him. He knocked against stones; he mistook his way. A clatter of wooden
shoes sounded close to his ear; it was caused by some of the
working-girls who were leaving the foundry. Then he realised where he
was.
The railway lamps traced on the horizon a line of flames. He arrived
just as the train was starting, let himself be pushed into a carriage,
and fell asleep.
An hour later on the boulevards, the gaiety of Paris by night made his
journey all at once recede into an already far-distant past. He resolved
to be strong, and relieved his heart by vilifying Madame Arnoux with
insulting epithets.
"She is an idiot, a goose, a mere brute; let us not bestow another
thought on her!"
When he got home, he found in his study a letter of eight pages on blue
glazed paper, with the initials "R. A."
It began with friendly reproaches.
"What has become of you, my dear? I am getting quite bored."
But the handwriting was so abominable, that Frederick was about to fling
away the entire bundle of sheets, when he noticed in the postscript the
following words:
"I count on you to come to-morrow and drive me to the races."
What was the meaning of this invitation? Was it another trick of the
Maréchale? But a woman does not make a fool of the same man twice
without some object; and, seized with curiosity, he read the letter over
again attentively.
Frederick was able to distinguish "Misunderstanding--to have taken a
wrong path--disillusions--poor children that we are!--like two rivers
that join each other!" etc.
He kept the sheets for a long time between his fingers. They had the
odour of orris; and there was in the form of the characters and the
irregular spaces between the lines something suggestive, as it were, of
a disorderly toilet, that fired his blood.
"Why should I not go?" said he to himself at length. "But if Madame
Arnoux were to know about it? Ah! let her know! So much the better! and
let her feel jealous over it! In that way I shall be avenged!"