said to be worth a million," rejoined the châtelain, who in his
sincerity persisted in misunderstanding his guest's hostile feeling
toward Monsieur Cardonnet; "but it would be a pity none the less."
"And that is just why I should laugh in my sleeve if a little hard luck
should make that hole in his purse."
"That's a wicked feeling to have, old fellow! Why should you have a
grudge against this stranger? He has never benefited or injured you or
me."
"He has injured you, Monsieur Antoine, and me and the whole province.
Yes, I tell you that he has done it on purpose and that he will keep on
doing it to everybody. Let the buzzard's beak grow and you'll see how
he'll come down on your poultry-yard."
"Still your wrong-headed ideas, old fellow! for you have wrong-headed
ideas, as I've told you a hundred times. You are down on the man because
he's rich. Is that his fault?"
"Yes, monsieur, it is his fault. A man who started perhaps as low as I
did, and who has gone ahead so fast, isn't an honest man."
"Nonsense! What are you talking about? Do you imagine that a man can't
make a fortune without stealing?"
"I don't know anything about it, but I believe it. I know that you were
born rich and that you are not rich now. I know that I was born poor and
always shall be poor; and it's my opinion that if you'd gone off to some
other country without paying your father's debts, and if I had made it
my business to cheat and shave and scrape, we might both be riding in
our carriages to-day. I beg your pardon, if I offend you!" added the
peasant in a proud, uncompromising tone, addressing the young man, who
gave very decided indications of painful excitement.
"Monsieur," said the châtelain, "it may be that you know Monsieur
Cardonnet, that you are in his employ or are under some obligation to
him. I beg you to pay no heed to what this worthy villager may say. He
has exaggerated ideas on many subjects which he doesn't fully
understand. You may be sure that he is neither malignant nor jealous at
bottom, nor capable of inflicting the slightest injury on Monsieur
Cardonnet."
"I attach little importance to his words," replied the young stranger.
"I am simply astonished, monsieur le comte, that a man whom you honor
with your esteem should take pleasure in blackening another man's
reputation without having the slightest fact to allege against him and
without knowing anything of his antecedents. I have already asked your
guest for some information concerning this Monsieur Cardonnet, whom he
seems to hate personally, and he refused to give me any explanation of
his sentiments. I leave it to you: is it possible for one to base a just
opinion on gratuitous imputations, and if you or I should form an
opinion unfavorable to Monsieur Cardonnet, would not your guest have
been guilty of an unworthy act?"
"You speak according to my heart and my mind, young man," replied
Monsieur Antoine. "You," he added, turning to his rustic guest and
striking the table angrily with his fist, while he looked at him with an
expression in which affection and kindliness triumphed over displeasure,
"you are wrong, and you will be good enough to tell us at once what
grievance you have against the said Cardonnet, so that we can judge
whether it has any force. If not, we shall consider that you have a
soured mind and an evil tongue."
"I have nothing to say more than everybody knows," replied the peasant
calmly, and with no sign of being intimidated by the sermon. "We see
things and judge them as we see them; but as this young man doesn't know
Monsieur Cardonnet," he added, with a penetrating glance at the
traveller, "and since he is so anxious to know what sort of man he is,
do you tell him yourself, Monsieur Antoine; and when you have given the
main facts I will fill in the details. I will tell monsieur the cause
and the effect, and he can judge for himself unless he has some better
reason than mine for not saying what he thinks."
"All right, I agree," said Monsieur Antoine, who paid less attention
than his companion to the young man's increasing agitation. "I will tell
things as they are, and, if I go astray, I authorize Mère Janille, who
has the memory and accuracy of an almanac, to interrupt and contradict
me. As for you, you little rascal," he said, turning to the page in
short jacket and wooden shoes, "try not to stare into the whites of my
eyes so when I speak to you. Your fixed stare gives me the vertigo, and
your wide-open mouth looks like a well that I may fall into. Well, what
is it? what are you laughing at? Understand that a ne'er-do-well of your
age should never presume to laugh in his master's presence. Stand behind
me and behave as respectfully as _Monsieur_."
As he spoke, he pointed to his dog, and his manner was so serious and
his voice so loud as he made the jest, that the traveller wondered if he
were not subject to spasms of seignorial domination altogether out of
keeping with his usual good-nature. But a glance at the boy's face was
enough to convince him that it was simply a game to which he was
well-used, for he cheerfully took his place beside the dog and began to
play with him, without a trace of sulkiness or shame.
However, as Monsieur Antoine's manners were marked by an originality
which could hardly be understood at the first meeting, the young man
believed that he was beginning to grow light-headed by dint of much
drinking, and he determined not to attach the least importance to what
he was about to say. But it very rarely happened that the count lost his
head, even after he had lost his legs, and he had resorted to his
favorite pastime of bantering his neighbors only to divert the painful
impression to which this discussion had given rise as between his
guests.
"Monsieur," he began.
But he was at once interrupted by his dog, who, being also accustomed to
his habit of jesting, concluded that he was the person addressed and
walked up to his master and touched his arm, capering as friskily as his
age would permit.
"Well, _Monsieur_," he continued, looking down at him with a playful
stare, "what does this mean? Since when have you been as ill-bred as a
human being? Go to sleep at once, and don't you ever make me spill wine
on the tablecloth again, or you'll have Dame Janille about your ears. It
was on a fine spring day last year, young man----" continued Monsieur
Antoine.
"Excuse me, monsieur," interposed Janille, "it was only the 19th of
March, so it was still winter."
"Is it worth while haggling over a difference of two days? What is
certain is that it was magnificent weather, as warm as it is in June,
and quite dry too."
"That's true enough," exclaimed the little groom, "for I couldn't water
monsieur's horse at the little fountain."
"That has nothing to do with it," said Monsieur Antoine, tapping the
floor with his foot; "hold your tongue, boy. You may speak when you're
spoken to; just open your ears in order to improve your mind and your
heart, if there's room for improvement. I was saying, then, that I was
returning from a country fair one beautiful day, and walking quietly
along on foot, when I met a tall man, very handsome although he was
little if any younger than I, and his black eyes and pale, almost yellow
complexion gave him a somewhat harsh and forbidding look. He was in a
cabriolet, driving down a steep hill, strewn with loose stones as our
fathers used to build roads, and was urging his horse forward,
apparently unconscious of the danger. I could not help warning him.
'Monsieur,' said I, 'no four-wheeled, three-wheeled or two-wheeled
carriage has ever gone down this hill, in the memory of man. In my
opinion it is likely to result in breaking your neck, even if it is not
impossible, and if you prefer a road that is a little longer but much
safer, I'll show you the way.'
"'Much obliged,' he replied with just a suspicion of surliness, 'this
road seems to me practicable enough and I promise you that my horse will
come out all right.'
"'That's your business,' said I, 'and what I said was said from purely
human motives.'
"'I thank you, monsieur, and as you are so courteous, I shall be glad to
reciprocate. You are on foot, going in the same direction that I am; if
you will get in with me, you will reach the valley sooner and I shall
have the pleasure of your company.'"
"All that is true," said Janille; "you told it just like that the same
evening except that you said that the gentleman had on a long blue
overcoat."
"Excuse me, Ma'mselle Janille," said the child, "monsieur said black."
"Blue, I tell you, master upstart!"
"No, Mère Janille, black."
"Blue, I am sure of it!"
"I could swear it was black."
"Come, come, stop your quarrelling, it was green!" cried Monsieur
Antoine. "Don't interrupt again, Mère Janille; and you, you naughty
varlet, go to the kitchen and see if I am there, or put your tongue in
your pocket; take your choice."
"I would rather listen, monsieur; I won't speak again."
"Now then," continued the châtelain, "I hesitated a moment between the
fear of breaking my bones if I accepted and of being considered a coward
if I refused. 'After all,' I said to myself, 'this fellow doesn't look
like a lunatic, and seems to have no reason for risking his life. I have
no doubt he has a wonderful horse and an excellent wagon.' I took my
place beside him, and we began to descend the precipice at a fast trot,
without a single false step on the part of the horse, or a moment's loss
of resolution and self-possession on the part of the master. He talked
to me about this thing and that and asked me many questions about the
province; and I confess that I answered a little crookedly, for I was
not altogether easy in my mind. 'So far so good,' I said to him when we
reached the bank of the Gargilesse without accident; 'we have come
safely down the break-neck, but we can't cross the water here; it's as
low as possible, but even so, it is not fordable at this point; we must
go up a little way to the left.'
"'Do you call this water?' said he, shrugging his shoulders; 'for my
part I see nothing but stones and rushes. Nonsense! the idea of turning
aside for a dry stream!'
"'As you choose,' I rejoined, a little mortified. His scornful audacity
stung me; I knew that he was going straight into a veritable gulf, and
yet, as I am not naturally a coward, and as I did not like the idea of
being called one, I declined his offer to allow me to get down. I would
have liked him to be punished by having reason to be well frightened,
even at the expense of having a dip in the river myself, although I
don't like water.
"But I had neither the satisfaction nor the mortification: the cabriolet
did not founder. In the centre of the stream, which has dug out a
channel with beveled edges, so to speak, in that spot, the horse was in
up to his nostrils; the carriage was lifted up by the current. The
gentleman in the green overcoat--for it was green, Janille--lashed the
horse; she lost her footing, floundered, swam, and by a miracle landed
us on the bank, with no other injury than a rather cool foot-bath. I did
not lose my wits, I can swim as well as any man, but my companion
admitted that he knew no more about it than a stick of wood; and yet he
had neither faltered, nor swore, nor changed color. He's a plucky
fellow, I thought, and his self-possession did not displease me,
although there was something scornful in his perfect tranquillity as
there is in the devil's laugh.
"'If you are going to Gargilesse, we can go on together, for I am going
there too,' I said.
"'Very good,' he replied. 'Where is Gargilesse?'
"'Oh! then you are not going there?'
"'I am not going anywhere to-day,' said he, 'and I am ready to go
anywhere.'
"I am not superstitious, monsieur, and yet my old nurse's stories came
into my mind, I don't know why, and I had a moment of idiotic distrust,
as if I were sitting beside Satan in a cabriolet. I glanced furtively at
this individual who travelled thus across mountains and rivers, with no
end in view, apparently just for the pleasure of exposing himself or me
with him to danger; and I, like a booby, had let him persuade me to get
into his infernal gig!
"Seeing that I did not speak, he thought it advisable to reassure me.
"'My way of travelling about the country surprises you, I see,' he said;
'the fact is that I propose to set up a manufacturing establishment in
whatever place seems to me the most suitable. I have some money to
invest--whether for myself or for other people is of little consequence
to you, I suppose; but you can help me, with a few hints, to attain my
object.'
"'Very good,' I said, my confidence being fully restored when I found
that he talked sensibly; 'but, before advising you, I must know what
sort of an establishment you propose to set up.'
"'If you will answer all the questions I ask you, that will be enough,'
he said, evading my question. 'For example, what is the maximum force of
this little stream we have just crossed, between this spot and the point
where it empties into the Creuse?'
"'It is very irregular; you have just seen it at its minimum; but
freshets are frequent and tremendous; and if you choose to inspect the
principal mill, formerly the property of the religious community of
Gargilesse, you will be convinced of the havoc wrought by the torrent,
of the constant damage suffered by that poor old building, and of the
utter folly of laying out much money on it.'
"'But by laying out money, monsieur, the unruly forces of nature can be
confined! Where the poor, rustic mill goes under, the powerful, solidly
built factory will triumph!'
"'True,' I replied, 'in every river the big fish eat the little ones.'
"He did not take up that suggestion but continued to question me as we
drove along. I, being obliging as a matter of duty, and something of an
idler by nature, took him everywhere. We went into several mills, he
talked with the millers, examined everything with great care, and
returned to Gargilesse, where he talked with the mayor and the principal
men of the town, requesting me to introduce him to them at once. He
accepted the curé's invitation to dinner, allowed himself to be made
much of without ceremony, and hinted that he was in a position to render
greater services than he received. He talked little, but listened
eagerly and asked questions about all manner of things, including some
that seemed to have little connection with business: for instance,
whether the people in this neighborhood were sincerely pious or only
superstitious; whether the bourgeois were fond of luxuries or sacrificed
them to economy; whether the prevailing opinion was liberal or
democratic; of what sort of men the general council of the department
was made up--and Heaven knows what else! At night he hired a guide and
went to Le Pin to sleep, and I did not see him again for three days.
Then he drove by Châteaubrun and stopped at my door, to thank me, he
said, for the courtesy I had shown him; but in reality I think to ask me
some more questions. 'I shall return in a month,' he said, as he took
leave of me, 'and I think that I shall decide on Gargilesse. It is
central, and I like the place, and I have an idea that your little
stream, to which you give such a bad name, will not be very difficult to
subdue. It will cost me less to control it than the Creuse; and,
moreover, the little risk that we ran in crossing it and that we
overcame, makes me think that it is my destiny to conquer in this spot.'
"And with that he left me. That man was Monsieur Cardonnet.
"Less than three weeks after, he returned with an English mill engineer
and several mechanics of the same nation; and since then he has kept
earth and stone and iron constantly in commotion at Gargilesse. Being
entirely absorbed by his work, he rises before daybreak and is the last
to go to bed. No matter what the weather may be, he is in the mud up to
his knees; not a movement on the part of his workmen escapes him; he
knows the why and how of everything, and is pushing forward the
construction of an enormous mill, a dwelling-house, with garden and
buildings, sheds, dams, roads and bridges--in a word, a magnificent
establishment. During his absence, his agents had managed the purchase
of the property without allowing his name to appear. He paid a high
price, but people thought at first that he didn't understand business
and that he had come here to _take it easy_. They laughed at him still
more when he increased the wages of his workmen, and when, to induce the
municipal council to allow him to divert the course of the stream as he
chose, he agreed to build a road, which cost him an enormous sum. They
said: 'He's a fool; the extravagance of his plans will ruin him.' But
after all is said, I believe he's as shrewd as most men, and I will
wager that he will prove to be successful in his choice of a location
and in the investment of his money. The stream troubled him a good deal
last autumn, but luckily it has been very quiet this spring, and he will
have time to finish his buildings before the rains come again, if we
have no unusual storms during the summer. He does things on a large
scale, and puts in more money than is necessary, that's the truth; but
if he has a passion for finishing quickly what he has begun, and has the
means and the inclination to pay a high price for the sweat of the poor
laboring man's brow, where is the harm? It seems to me that it's an
extremely good thing, on the contrary, and that, instead of calling the
man a hare-brained fool, as some do, or a crafty speculator, as others
do, we ought to thank him for bestowing on our province the advantage of
industrial activity, I have said! Now let the other side take its turn."
IV
THE VISION
Before the peasant, who had continued to nibble at his bread with a
thoughtful expression, was prepared to begin, the young man thanked
Monsieur Antoine warmly for his narrative and for his generous
interpretation of Monsieur Cardonnet's course. Without admitting that he
was in any way connected with that gentleman, he seemed to be deeply
touched by the judgment of his character which the Comte de Châteaubrun
expressed, and he added:
"Yes, monsieur, I believe that by seeking the best side of things one
goes astray less often than by doing the opposite. A determined
speculator would be parsimonious in the details of his undertaking, and
then one would be justified in suspecting his rectitude. But when we see
an intelligent and active man pay handsomely for labor----"
"One moment, if you please," interposed the peasant. "You are upright
men and noble hearts; I am glad to believe it of this young gentleman,
as I am sure of it in your case, Monsieur Antoine. But, meaning no
offence, I will venture to tell you that you see no farther than the end
of your nose. Look you. I will suppose that I have a large sum of money
to invest, and that my purpose is not to obtain simply a fair and
legitimate return from it, as it is right for everybody to do, but to
double or treble my capital in a few years. I am not foolish enough to
announce my purpose to the people I am forced to ruin. I begin by
wheedling them, by making a show of generosity, and, to remove all
distrust, by making myself appear, if need be, a brainless prodigal.
That done, I have my dupes where I want them. I have sacrificed a
hundred thousand francs, I will say, on those little wiles. A hundred
thousand francs is a deal of money for the province! but, so far as I am
concerned, if I have several millions, it's simply the bonus that I pay.
Everybody likes me; although some laugh at my simplicity, the greater
number pity me and esteem me. No one takes any precautions. Time flies
fast and my brain still faster; I have cast the net and all the fish are
nibbling. First the little ones--the small fry that you swallow without
anyone noticing it; then the big ones, until they have all disappeared."
"What do you mean by all your metaphors?" said Monsieur Antoine,
shrugging his shoulders. "If you go on talking figuratively, I am going
to sleep. Come, hurry, it's getting late."
"What I mean is plain enough," continued the peasant. "When I have once
ruined all the small concerns that competed with me I become a more
powerful lord than your ancestors were before the Revolution, Monsieur
Antoine! I govern over the head of the laws, and while I have a poor
devil locked up for the slightest peccadillo, I take the liberty to do
whatever pleases me or suits my convenience. I take everybody's
property--with their daughters and wives thrown in, if they take my
fancy--I control the business and supplies of a whole department. By my
skill I have forced down the price of crops; but, when everything is in
my hands, I raise prices to suit myself, and, as soon as I can safely do
it, I obtain a monopoly and starve the people. And then it's a small
matter to kill off competition; I soon get control of the money, which
is the key to everything. I do a banking business on the sly, wholesale
and retail. I oblige so many people, that I am everybody's creditor and
everybody belongs to me. People find out that they no longer like me;
but they see that I am to be feared, and the most powerful handle me
carefully, while the small fry tremble and sigh all about me. However,
as I have some intelligence and cunning, I play the great man from time
to time. I rescue a few families, I contribute to some charitable
organization. It is a method of greasing the wheel of my fortune, which
rolls on the more rapidly for it; for people begin again to have a
little esteem for me. I am no longer considered kind-hearted and
foolish, but just and great. From the prefect of the department to the
village curé and from the curé to the beggar, everyone is in the
hollow of my hand; but the whole province suffers and no one detects the
cause. No other fortune than mine will increase, and every modest
competence will shrink, because I shall have dried up all the springs of
wealth, raised the price of the necessaries of life and lowered that of
the superfluities--just the reverse of what should be. The dealer will
find himself in trouble and the consumer too. But I shall prosper
because I shall be, by virtue of my wealth, the only resource of dealer
and consumer alike. And at last people will say, 'What in heaven's name
is happening? the small tradesmen are stripped and the small buyers are
stripped. We have more pretty houses and more fine clothes staring us in
the face than we used to have, and all those things cost less, so they
say; but we haven't a sou in our pockets. We have all been frantic to
make a show and now we are consumed by debts. But Monsieur Cardonnet
isn't responsible for it all, for he does good and, if it weren't for
him, we should all be ruined. Let us make haste and do something for
Monsieur Cardonnet; let him be mayor, prefect, deputy, minister, king,
if possible, and the province is saved!'
"That, messieurs, is the way I would make other people carry me on their
backs if I were Monsieur Cardonnet, and it is what I am very sure
Monsieur Cardonnet intends to do. Now, tell me that I am wrong to look
askance at him; that I am a prophet of evil, and that nothing of what I
predict will happen. God grant that you may be right! but for my part I
can feel the hail coming in the distance, and there is only one hope
that sustains me; it is that the stream will be less foolish than men;
that it will not allow itself to be bridled by the fine machines they
put between its teeth, and that some fine morning it will give Monsieur
Cardonnet's mills a body blow that will sicken him of playing with it,
and will induce him to take his capital and its consequences and carry
it somewhere else. Now, I have said my say. If I have formed a hasty
judgment, may God who has heard me forgive me!"