While the two friends are devouring to the very last morsel the feast
prepared for them by Madame Gobillot, it may not be out of place to
explain in a few words the nature of the bonds that united these two
men.
The Vicomte de Gerfaut was one of those talented beings who are the
veritable champions of an age when the lightest pen weighs more in the
social balance than our ancestors’ heaviest sword. He was born in
the south of France, of one of those old families whose fortune had
diminished each generation, their name finally being almost all that
they had left. After making many sacrifices to give their son an
education worthy of his birth, his parents did not live to enjoy the
fruits of their efforts, and Gerfaut became an orphan at the time when
he had just finished his law studies. He then abandoned the career of
which his father had dreamed for him, and the possibilities of a red
gown bordered with ermine. A mobile and highly colored imagination,
a passionate love for the arts, and, more than all, some intimacies
contracted with men of letters, decided his vocation and launched him
into literature.
The ardent young man, without a murmur or any misgivings, drank to
the very dregs the cup poured out to neophytes in the harsh career of
letters by editors, theatrical managers, and publishers. With some,
this course ends in suicide, but it only cost Gerfaut a portion of his
slender patrimony; he bore this loss like a man who feels that he is
strong enough to repair it. When his plans were once made, he followed
them up with indefatigable perseverance, and became a striking example
of the irresistible power of intelligence united to will-power.
Reputation, for him, lay in the unknown depths of an arid and rocky
soil; he was obliged, in order to reach it, to dig a sort of artesian
well. Gerfaut accepted this heroic labor; he worked day and night
for several years, his forehead, metaphorically, bathed in a painful
perspiration alleviated only by hopes far away. At last the untiring
worker’s drill struck the underground spring over which so many noble
ones breathlessly bend, although their thirst is never quenched. At this
victorious stroke, glory burst forth, falling in luminous sparks, making
this new name--his name--flash with a brilliancy too dearly paid for not
to be lasting.
At the time of which we speak, Octave had conquered every obstacle
in the literary field. With a versatility of talent which sometimes
recalled Voltaire’s “proteanism,” he attacked in succession the most
difficult styles. Besides their poetic value, his dramas had this
positive merit, the highest in the theatre world they were money-makers;
so the managers greeted him with due respect, while collaborators
swarmed about him. The journals paid for his articles in their weight
in gold; reviews snatched every line of his yet unfinished novels; his
works were illustrated by Porret and Tony Johannot--the masters of
the day--and shone resplendent behind the glass cases in the Orleans
gallery. Gerfaut had at last made a place for himself among that
baker’s dozen of writers who call themselves, and justly, too, the
field-marshals of French literature, of which Chateaubriand was then
commander-in-chief.
What was it that had brought such a person a hundred leagues from the
opera balcony, to put on a pretty woman’s slipper? Was the fair lady one
of those caprices, so frequent and fleeting in an artist’s thoughts, or
had she given birth to one of those sentiments that end by absorbing the
rest of one’s life?
The young man seated opposite Gerfaut was, physically and morally, as
complete a contrast to him as one could possibly imagine. He was one
of the kind very much in request in fashionable society. There is not
a person who has not met one of these worthy fellows, destined to make
good officers, perfect merchants, and very satisfactory lawyers,
but who, unfortunately, have been seized with a mania for notoriety.
Ordinarily they think of it on account of somebody else’s talent.
This one is brother to a poet, another son-in-law to a historian; they
conclude that they also have a right to be poet and historian in their
turn. Thomas Corneille is their model; but we must admit that very few
of our writers reach the rank attained by Corneille the younger.
Marillac was train-bearer to Gerfaut, and was rewarded for this bondage
by a few bribes of collaboration, crumbs that fall from the rich man’s
table. They had been close friends since they both entered the law
school, where they were companions in folly rather than in study.
Marillac also had thrown himself into the arena of literature; then,
different fortunes having greeted the two friends’ efforts, he had
descended little by little from the role of a rival to that of an
inferior. Marillac was an artist, talent accepted, from the tip of his
toes to the sole of his boots, which he wished to lengthen by pointed
toes out of respect for the Middle Ages; for he excelled above
all things in his manner of dressing, and possessed, among other
intellectual merits, the longest moustache in literature.
If he had not art in his brain, to make up for it he always had its name
at his tongue’s end. Vaudeville writing or painting, poetry or music, he
dabbled in all these, like those horses sold as good for both riding
and driving, which are as bad in the saddle as in front of a tilbury.
He signed himself “Marillac, man of letters”; meanwhile, aside from his
profound disdain for the bourgeois, whom he called vulgar, and for
the French Academy, to which he had sworn never to belong, one
could reproach him with nothing. His penchant for the picturesque in
expression was not always, it is true, in the most excellent taste, but,
in spite of these little oddities, his unfortunate passion for art, and
his affection for the Middle Ages, he was a brave, worthy, and happy
fellow, full of good qualities, very much devoted to his friends,
above all to Gerfaut. One could, therefore, pardon him for being a
pseudo-artist.
“Will your story be a long one?” said he to the playwright, when
Catherine had conducted them after supper to the double-bedded room,
where they were to pass the night.
“Long or short, what does it matter, since you must listen to it?”
“Because, first, I would make some grog and fill my pipe; otherwise, I
would content myself with a cigar.”
“Take your pipe and make your grog.”
“Here!” said the artist, running after Catherine, “don’t rush downstairs
so. You are wanted. Fear nothing, interesting maid; you are safe with
us; but bring us a couple of glasses, brandy, sugar, a bowl, and some
hot water.”
“They want some hot water,” cried the servant, rushing into the kitchen
with a frightened look; “can they be ill at this hour?”
“Give the gentlemen what they want, you little simpleton!” replied
Mademoiselle Reine; “they probably want to concoct some of their Paris
drinks.”
When all the articles necessary for the grog were on the table, Marillac
drew up an old armchair, took another chair to stretch his legs upon,
replaced his cap with a handkerchief artistically knotted about his
head, his boots with a pair of slippers, and, finally, lighted his pipe.
“Now,” said he, as he seated himself, “I will listen without moving an
eyelid should your story last, like the creation, six days and nights.”
Gerfaut took two or three turns about the room with the air of an orator
who is seeking for a beginning to a speech.
“You know,” said he, “that Fate has more or less influence over our
lives, according to the condition of mind in which we happen to be. In
order that you may understand the importance of the adventure I am about
relating to you, it will be necessary for me to picture the state of
mind which I was in at the time it happened; this will be a sort of
philosophical and psychological preamble.”
“Thunder!” interrupted Marillac, “if I had known that, I would have
ordered a second bowl.”
“You will remember,” continued Gerfaut, paying no attention to this
pleasantry, “the rather bad attack of spleen which I had a little over a
year ago?”
“Before your trip to Switzerland?”
“Exactly.”
“If I remember right,” said the artist, “you were strangely cross and
whimsical at the time. Was it not just after the failure of our drama at
the Porte Saint-Martin?”
“You might also add of our play at the Gymnase.”
“I wash my hands of that. You know very well that it only went as far as
the second act, and I did not write one word in the first.”
“And hardly one in the second. However, I take the catastrophe upon
my shoulders; that made two perfect failures in that d----d month of
August.”
“Two failures that were hard to swallow,” replied Marillac, “We can say,
for our consolation, that there never were more infamous conspiracies
against us, above all, than at the Gymnase. My ears ring with the hisses
yet! I could see, from our box, a little villain in a dress coat, in
one corner of the pit, who gave the signal with a whistle as large as a
horse-pistol. How I would have liked to cram it down his throat!” As he
said these words, he brought his fist down upon the table, and made the
glasses and candles dance ‘upon it.
“Conspiracy or not, this time they judged the play aright. I believe it
would be impossible to imagine two worse plays; but, as Brid Oison
says, ‘These are things that one admits only to himself’; it is always
disagreeable to be informed of one’s stupidity by an ignorant audience
that shouts after you like a pack of hounds after a hare. In spite of my
pretension of being the least susceptible regarding an author’s
vanity of all the writers in Paris, it is perfectly impossible to be
indifferent to such a thing--a hiss is a hiss. However, vanity aside,
there was a question of money which, as I have a bad habit of spending
regularly my capital as well as my income, was not without its
importance. It meant, according to my calculation, some sixty
thousand francs cut off from my resources, and my trip to the East was
indefinitely postponed.
“They say, with truth, that misfortunes never come singly. You know
Melanie, whom I prevented from making her debut at the Vaudeville? By
taking her away from all society, lodging her in a comfortable manner
and obliging her to work, I rendered her a valuable service. She was
a good girl, and, aside from her love for the theatre and a certain
indolence that was not without charm, I did not find any fault in her
and grew more attached to her every day. Sometimes after spending long
hours with her, a fancy for a retired life and domestic happiness would
seize me. Gentlemen with brains are privileged to commit foolish acts at
times, and I really do not know what I might have ended in doing, had I
not been preserved from the danger in an unexpected manner.
“One evening, when I arrived at Melanie’s, I found the bird had flown.
That great ninny of a Ferussac, whom I never had suspected, and had
introduced to her myself, had turned her head by making capital out
of her love for the stage. As he was about to leave for Belgium, he
persuaded her to go there and dethrone Mademoiselle Prevost. I have
since learned that a Brussels banker revenged me by taking this Helene
of the stage away from Ferussac. Now she is launched and can fly with
her own wings upon the great highway of bravos, flowers, guineas--”
“And wreck and ruin,” added Marillac. “Here’s to her health!”
“This triple disappointment of pride, money, and heart did not cause, I
hope you will believe me, the deep state of melancholy into which I soon
fell; but the malady manifested itself upon this occasion, for it had
been lurking about me for a long time, as the dormant pain of a wound is
aroused if one pours a caustic upon its surface.
“There is some dominant power in each individual which is developed at
the expense of the other faculties, above all when the profession one
chooses suits his nature. The vital powers thus condensed manifest
themselves externally, and gush out with an abundance which would become
impossible if all the faculties were used alike, and if life filtered
away, so to speak. To avoid such destruction, and concentrate life upon
one point, in order to increase the action, is the price of talent and
individuality. Among athletes, the forehead contracts according as the
chest enlarges; with men of thought, it is the brain which causes the
other organs to suffer, insatiable vampire, exhausting at times the last
drop of blood in the body which serves as its victim. This vampire was
my torturer.
“For ten years I had crowded romance upon poetry, vaudeville upon drama,
literary criticism upon leader; I proved, through my own self, in
a physical way, the phenomena of the absorption of the senses by
intelligence. Many times, after several nights of hard work, the chords
of my mind being too violently stretched, they relaxed and gave only
indistinct harmony. Then, if I happened to resist this lassitude of
nature demanding repose, I felt the pressure of my will exhausting the
sources at the very depths of my being. It seemed to me that I dug out
my ideas from the bottom of a mine, instead of gathering them upon the
surface of the brain. The more material organs came to the rescue of
their failing chief. The blood from my heart rushed to my head to revive
it; the muscles of my limbs communicated to the fibres of the brain
their galvanic tension. Nerves turned into imagination, flesh into life.
Nothing has developed my materialistic beliefs like this decarnation of
which I had such a sensible, or rather visible perception.
“I destroyed my health with these psychological experiments, and the
abuse of work perhaps shortened my life. When I was thirty years old
my face was wrinkled, my cheeks were pallid, and my heart blighted and
empty. For what result, grand Dieu! For a fleeting and fruitless renown!
“The failure of my two plays warned me that others judged me as I judged
myself. I recalled to mind the Archbishop of Granada, and I thought
I could hear Gil Blas predicting the failure of my works. We can not
dismiss the public as we can our secretary; meanwhile, I surrendered to
a too severe justice in order to decline others’ opinions. A horrible
thought suddenly came into my mind; my artistic life was ended, I was
a worn-out man; in one word, to picture my situation in a trivial but
correct manner, I had reached the end of my rope.
“I could not express to you the discouragement that I felt at this
conviction. Melanie’s infidelity was the crowning touch. It was not my
heart, but my vanity which had been rendered more irritable by recent
disappointments. This, then, was the end of all my ambitious dreams! I
had not enough mind left, at thirty years of age, to write a vaudeville
or to be loved by a grisette!
“One day Doctor Labanchie came to see me.
“‘What are you doing there’ said he, as he saw me seated at my desk.
“‘Doctor,’ said I, reaching out my hand to him, ‘I believe that I am a
little feverish.’
“‘Your pulse is a little rapid,’ said he, after making careful
examination, ‘but your fever is more of imagination than of blood.’
“I explained to him my condition, which was now becoming almost
unendurable. Without believing in medicine very much, I had confidence
in him and knew him to be a man who would give good advice.
“‘You work too much,’ said he, shaking his head. ‘Your brain is put to
too strong a tension. This is a warning nature gives you, and you will
make a mistake if you do not follow it. When you are sleepy, go to bed;
when you are tired, you must have rest. It is rest for your brain that
you now need. Go into the country, confine yourself to a regular and
healthy diet: vegetables, white meat, milk in the morning, a very
little wine, but, above all things, no coffee. Take moderate exercise,
hunt--and avoid all irritating thoughts; read the ‘Musee des familles’
or the ‘Magasin Pittoresque’. This regime will have the effect of a
soothing poultice upon your brain, and before the end of six months you
will be in your normal condition again.’
“‘Six months!’ I exclaimed. ‘You wretch of a doctor, tell me, then, to
let my beard and nails grow like Nebuchadnezzar. Six months! You do not
know how I detest the country, partridges, rabbits and all. For heaven’s
sake, find some other remedy for me.’
“‘There is homoeopathy,’ said he, smiling. ‘Hahnemann is quite the
fashion now.’
“‘Let us have homoeopathy!’
“‘You know the principles of the system: ‘Similia similibus!’ If you
have fever, redouble it; if you have smallpox, be inoculated with a
triple dose. So far as you are concerned, you are a little used up and
‘blase’, as we all are in this Babylon of ours; have recourse, then, as
a remedy, to the very excesses which have brought you into this state.
Homoeopathize yourself morally. It may cure you, it may kill you; I wash
my hands of it.’
“The doctor was joking, I said to myself after he had left. Does he
think that passions are like the Wandering Jew’s five sous, that there
is nothing to do but to put your hand in your pocket and take them out
at your convenience when necessary. However, this idea, strange as it
seemed, struck me forcibly. I decided to try it.
“The next day at seven o’clock in the evening, I was rolling along the
road to Lyons. Eight days later, I was rowing in a boat on Lake Geneva.
For a long time I had wanted to go to Switzerland, and it seemed as if I
could not have chosen a better time. I hoped that the fresh mountain air
and the soft pure breezes from the lakes would communicate some of their
calm serenity to my heart and brain.
“There is something in Parisian life, I do not know what, so exclusive
and hardening, that it ends by making one irresponsive to sensations of
a more simple order.
“‘My kingdom for the gutter in the Rue du Bac!’ I exclaimed with Madame
de Stael from the height of the Coppet terrace. The spectacle of nature
interests only contemplative and religious minds powerfully. Mine was
neither the one nor the other. My habits of analysis and observation
make me find more attraction in a characteristic face than in a
magnificent landscape; I prefer the exercising of thought to the
careless gratification of ecstasy, the study of flesh and soul to
earthly horizons, of human passions to a perfectly pure atmosphere.
“I met at Geneva an Englishman, who was as morose as myself. We vented
our spleen in common and were both bored together. We travelled thus
through the Oberland and the best part of Valais; we were often rolled
up in our travelling robes in the depths of the carriage, and fast
asleep when the most beautiful points of interest were in sight.
“From Valais we went to Mont-Blanc, and one night we arrived at
Chamounix--”
“Did you see any idiots in Valais?” suddenly interrupted Marillac, as he
filled his pipe the second time.
“Several, and they were all horrible.”
“Do you not think we might compose something with an idiot in it? It
might be rather taking.”
“It would not equal Caliban or Quasimodo; will you be so kind as to
spare me just now these efforts of imagination, and listen to me, for I
am reaching the interesting part of my story?”
“God be praised!” said the artist, as he puffed out an enormous cloud of
smoke.
“The next day the Englishman was served with tea in his bedroom, and
when I asked him to go to the ‘Mer de Glace’ he turned his head toward
the wall; so, leaving my phlegmatic companion enveloped in bedclothes up
to his ears, I started alone for the Montanvert.
“It was a magnificent morning, and small parties of travellers, some on
foot, others mounted, skirted the banks of the Arve or climbed the sides
of the mountain. They looked like groups of mice in the distance, and
this extreme lessening in size made one comprehend, better than anything
else, the immense proportions of the landscape. As for myself, I was
alone: I had not even taken a guide, this was too favorite a resort
for tourists, for the precaution to be necessary. For a wonder, I felt
rather gay, with an elasticity of body and mind which I had not felt in
some time.
“I courageously began climbing the rough pathway which led to the Mer de
Glace, aiding myself with a long staff, which I had procured at the inn.
“At every step I breathed with renewed pleasure the fresh, pure, morning
air; I gazed vaguely at the different effects of the sun or mist, at the
undulations of the road, which sometimes rose almost straight up in the
air, sometimes followed a horizontal line, while skirting the open abyss
at the right. The Arve, wending its course like a silvery ribbon, seemed
at times to recede, while the ridges of the perpendicular rocks stood
out more plainly. At times, the noise of a falling avalanche was
repeated, echo after echo. A troupe of German students below me were
responding to the voice of the glaciers by a chorus from Oberon.
Following the turns in the road, I could see through the fir-trees, or,
rather, at my feet, their long Teutonic frock-coats, their blond beards,
and caps about the size of one’s fist. As I walked along, when the path
was not too steep, I amused myself by throwing my stick against the
trunks of the trees which bordered the roadside; I remember how pleased
I was when I succeeded in hitting them, which I admit was not very
often.
“In the midst of this innocent amusement, I reached the spot where the
reign of the Alpine plants begins. All at once I saw, above me, a rock
decked with rhododendrons; these flowers looked like tufts of oleanders
through the dark foliage of the fir-trees, and produced a charming
effect. I left the path in order to reach them sooner, and when I had
gathered a bouquet, I threw my staff and at the same time uttered a
joyous cry, in imitation of the students, my companions on this trip.
“A frightened scream responded to mine. My staff in its flight had
crossed the path and darted into an angle in the road. At that same
moment, I saw a mule’s head appear with ears thrown back in terror, then
the rest of its body, and upon its back a lady ready to fall into the
abyss. Fright paralyzed me. All aid was impossible on account of the
narrowness of the road, and this stranger’s life depended upon her
coolness and the intelligence of her beast. Finally the animal seemed
to regain its courage and began to walk away, lowering its head as if
it could still hear the terrible whistle of the javelin in his ears.
I slipped from the rock upon which I stood and seized the mule by the
bridle, and succeeded in getting them out of a bad position. I led the
animal in this way for some distance, until I reached a place where the
path was broader, and danger was over.
“I then offered my apologies to the person whose life I had just
compromised by my imprudence, and for the first time took a good look
at her. She was young and well dressed; a black silk gown fitted her
slender form to perfection; her straw hat was fastened to the saddle,
and her long chestnut hair floated in disorder over her pale cheeks.
As she heard my voice, she opened her eyes, which in her fright she had
instinctively closed; they seemed to me the most beautiful I had ever
seen in my life.
“She looked at the precipice and turned away with a shudder. Her glance
rested upon me, and then upon the rhododendrons which I held in my hand.
“The frightened expression on her face was replaced immediately by one
of childish curiosity.
“‘What pretty flowers!’ she exclaimed, in a fresh, young voice. ‘Are
those rhododendrons, Monsieur?’
“I presented her my bouquet without replying; as she hesitated about
taking it, I said:
“‘If you refuse these flowers, Madame, I shall not believe that you have
pardoned me.’
“By this time, the persons who were with her had joined us. There were
two other ladies, three or four men mounted upon mules, and several
guides. At the word rhododendron, a rather large, handsome fellow,
dressed in a pretentious style, slipped from his mule and climbed the
somewhat steep precipice in quest of the flowers which seemed to be so
much in favor. When he returned, panting for breath, with an enormous
bunch of them in his hand, the lady had already accepted mine.
“‘Thank you, Monsieur de Mauleon,’ said she, with a rather scornful air;
‘offer your flowers to these ladies.’ Then, with a slight inclination of
the head to me, she struck her mule with her whip, and they rode away.
“The rest of the company followed her, gazing at me as they passed,
the big, fashionable fellow especially giving me a rather impertinent
glance. I did not try to pick a quarrel with him on account of this
discourteous manifestation. When the cavalcade was at some distance, I
went in search of my stick, which I found under a tree on the edge of
the precipice; then I continued climbing the steep path, with my eyes
fastened upon the rider in the black silk gown, her hair flying in the
wind and my bouquet in her hand.
“A few moments later, I reached the pavilion at the Montanvert, where
I found a gay company gathered together, made up principally of English
people. As for myself, I must admit the frivolous, or, rather mundane,
bent of my tastes; the truly admirable spectacle presented to my eyes
interested me much less than the young stranger, who at this moment was
descending with the lightness of a sylph the little road which led to
the Mer de Glace.
“I do not know what mysterious link bound me to this woman. I had met
many much more beautiful, but the sight of them had left me perfectly
indifferent. This one attracted me from the first. The singular
circumstances of this first interview, doubtless, had something to do
with the impression. I felt glad to see that she had kept my bouquet;
she held it in one hand, while she leaned with the other upon a staff
somewhat like my own. The two other ladies, and even the men had stopped
on the edge of the ice.
“Monsieur de Mauleon wished to fulfil his duties as escort, but at the
first crevasse he had also halted without manifesting the slightest
desire to imitate the chamois. The young woman seemed to take a
malicious pleasure in contemplating her admirer’s prudent attitude, and,
far from listening to the advice he gave her, she began to run upon
the ice, bounding over the crevasses with the aid of her stick. I was
admiring her lightness and thoughtlessness, but with an uneasy feeling,
when I saw her suddenly stop. I instinctively ran toward her. An
enormous crevasse of great depth lay at her feet, blue at its edges and
dark in its depths. She stood motionless before this frightful gulf with
hands thrown out before her in horror, but charmed like a bird about to
be swallowed by a serpent. I knew the irresistible effect upon nervous
temperaments of this magnetic attraction toward an abyss. I seized her
by the arm, the suddenness of the movement made her drop her staff and
flowers, which fell into the depths of the chasm.
“I tried to lead her away, but after she had taken a few steps, I felt
her totter; she had grown pale; her eyes were closed. I threw my arm
about her, in order to support her and turned her face toward the north;
the cold air striking her revived her, and she soon opened her beautiful
brown eyes. I do not know what sudden tenderness seized me then, but
I pressed this lovely creature within my grasp, and she remained in my
arms unresistingly. I felt that I loved her already.
“She remained for a moment with her languishing eyes fixed on mine,
making no response, perhaps not even having heard me. The shouts of
her party, some of whom were coming toward her, broke the charm. With a
rapid movement, she withdrew from my embrace, and I offered her my arm,
just as if we were in a drawing-room and I was about to lead her out
for a dance; she took it, but I did not feel elated at this, for I could
feel her knees waver at every step. The smallest crevasse, which she had
crossed before with such agility, now inspired her with a horror which
I could divine by the trembling of her arm within mine. I was obliged
to make numerous detours in order to avoid them, and thus prolonged the
distance, for which I was not sorry. Did I not know that when we reached
our destination, the world, that other sea of ice, was going to take her
away from me, perhaps forever? We walked silently, occasionally making
a few trivial remarks, both deeply embarrassed. When we reached the
persons who awaited her, I said, as she disengaged my arm:
“‘You dropped my flowers, Madame; will it be the same with your memory
of me?’
“She looked at me, but made no reply. I loved this silence. I bowed
politely to her and returned to the pavilion, while she related her
adventure to her friends; but I am quite sure she did not tell all the
details.
“The register for travellers who visit the Montan-Vert is a mixture of
all nationalities, and no tourist refuses his tribute; modest ones write
down their names only. I hoped in this way to learn the name of the
young traveller, and I was not disappointed. I soon saw the corpulent
Monsieur de Mauleon busily writing his name upon the register in
characters worthy of Monsieur Prudhomme; the other members of the little
party followed his example. The young woman was the last to write down
her name. I took the book in my turn, after she had left, and with
apparent composure I read upon the last line these words, written in a
slender handwriting:
“Baroness Clemence de Bergenheim.”