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第35节

modeste mignon-第35节

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short of crime and cowardice。 A man may have many virtues even if he

does deceive a woman; if he deceives her; it is because he finds her

wanting in some of the treasures that he sought in her。 None but a

queen; an actress; or a woman placed so far above a man that she seems

to him a queen; can go to him of herself without incurring blameand

for a young girl to do it! Why; she is false to all that God has given

her that is sacred and lovely and noble;no matter with what grace or

what poetry or what precautions she surrounds her fault。〃



〃To seek the master and find the servant!〃 she said bitterly; 〃oh! I

can never recover from it!〃



〃Nonsense! Monsieur Ernest de La Briere is; to my thinking; fully the

equal of the Baron de Canalis。 He was private secretary of a cabinet

minister; and he is now counsel for the Court of Claims; he has a

heart; and he adores you; buthe DOES NOT WRITE VERSES。 No; I admit;

he is not a poet; but for all that he may have a heart full of poetry。

At any rate; my dear girl;〃 added her father; as Modeste made a

gesture of disgust; 〃you are to see both of them; the sham and the

true Canalis〃



〃Oh; papa!〃



〃Did you not swear just now to obey me in everything; even in the

AFFAIR of your marriage? Well; I allow you to choose which of the two

you like best for a husband。 You have begun by a poem; you shall

finish with a bucolic; and try if you can discover the real character

of these gentlemen here; in the country; on a few hunting or fishing

excursions。〃



Modeste bowed her head and walked home with her father; listening to

what he said but replying only in monosyllables。







CHAPTER XVI



DISENCHANTED



The poor girl had fallen humiliated from the alp she had scaled in

search of her eagle's nest; into the mud of the swamp below; where (to

use the poetic language of an author of our day) 〃after feeling the

soles of her feet too tender to tread the broken glass of reality;

Imaginationwhich in that delicate bosom united the whole of

womanhood; from the violet…hidden reveries of a chaste young girl to

the passionate desires of the sexhad led her into enchanted gardens

where; oh; bitter sight! she now saw; springing from the ground; not

the sublime flower of her fancy; but the hairy; twisted limbs of the

black mandragora。〃 Modeste suddenly found herself brought down from

the mystic heights of her love to a straight; flat road bordered with

ditches;in short the work…day path of common life。 What ardent;

aspiring soul would not have been bruised and broken by such a fall?

Whose feet were these at which she had shed her thoughts? The Modeste

who re…entered the Chalet was no more the Modeste who had left it two

hours earlier than an actress in the street is like an actress on the

boards。 She fell into a state of numb depression that was pitiful to

see。 The sun was darkened; nature veiled itself; even the flowers no

longer spoke to her。 Like all young girls with a tendency to extremes;

she drank too deeply of the cup of disillusion。 She fought against

reality; and would not bend her neck to the yoke of family and

conventions; it was; she felt; too heavy; too hard; too crushing。 She

would not listen to the consolations of her father and mother; and

tasted a sort of savage pleasure in letting her soul suffer to the

utmost。



〃Poor Butscha was right;〃 she said one evening。



The words indicate the distance she travelled in a short space of time

and in gloomy sadness across the barren plain of reality。 Sadness;

when caused by the overgrowth of hope; is a disease;sometimes a

fatal one。 It would be no mean object for physiology to search out in

what ways and by what means Thought produces the same internal

disorganization as poison; and how it is that despair affects the

appetite; destroys the pylorus; and changes all the physical

conditions of the strongest life。 Such was the case with Modeste。 In

three short days she became the image of morbid melancholy; she did

not sing; she could not be made to smile。 Charles Mignon; becoming

uneasy at the non…arrival of the two friends; thought of going to

fetch them; when; on the evening of the fifth day; he received news of

their movements through Latournelle。



Canalis; excessively delighted at the idea of a rich marriage; was

determined to neglect nothing that might help him to cut out La

Briere; without; however; giving La Briere a chance to reproach him

for having violated the laws of friendship。 The poet felt that nothing

would lower a lover so much in the eyes of a young girl as to exhibit

him in a subordinate position; and he therefore proposed to La Briere;

in the most natural manner; to take a little country…house at

Ingouville for a month; and live there together on pretence of

requiring sea…air。 As soon as La Briere; who at first saw nothing

amiss in the proposal; had consented; Canalis declared that he should

pay all expenses; and he sent his valet to Havre; telling him to see

Monsieur Latournelle and get his assistance in choosing the house;

well aware that the notary would repeat all particulars to the

Mignons。 Ernest and Canalis had; as may well be supposed; talked over

all the aspects of the affair; and the rather prolix Ernest had given

a good many useful hints to his rival。 The valet; understanding his

master's wishes; fulfilled them to the letter; he trumpeted the

arrival of the great poet; for whom the doctors advised sea…air to

restore his health; injured as it was by the double toils of

literature and politics。 This important personage wanted a house;

which must have at least such and such a number of rooms; as he would

bring with him a secretary; cook; two servants; and a coachman; not

counting himself; Germain Bonnet; the valet。 The carriage; selected

and hired for a month by Canalis; was a pretty one; and Germain set

about finding a pair of fine horses which would also answer as saddle…

horses;for; as he said; monsieur le baron and his secretary took

horseback exercise。 Under the eyes of little Latournelle; who went

with him to various houses; Germain made a good deal of talk about the

secretary; rejecting two or three because there was no suitable room

for Monsieur de La Briere。



〃Monsieur le baron;〃 he said to the notary; 〃makes his secretary quite

his best friend。 Ah! I should be well scolded if Monsieur de La Briere

was not as well treated as monsieur le baron himself; and after all;

you know; Monsieur de La Briere is a lawyer in my master's court。〃



Germain never appeared in public unless punctiliously dressed in

black; with spotless gloves; well…polished boots; and otherwise as

well apparelled as a lawyer。 Imagine the effect he produced in Havre;

and the idea people took of the great poet from this sample of him!

The valet of a man of wit and intellect ends by getting a little wit

and intellect himself which has rubbed off from his master。 Germain

did not overplay his part; he was simple and good…humored; as Canalis

had instructed him to be。 Poor La Briere was in blissful ignorance of

the harm Germain was doing to his prospects; and the depreciation his

consent to the arrangement had brought upon him; it is; however; true

that some inkling of the state of things rose to Modeste's ears from

these lower regions。



Canalis had arranged to bring his secretary in his own carriage; and

Ernest's unsuspicious nature did not perceive that he was putting

himself in a false position until too late to remedy it。 The delay in

the arrival of the pair which had troubled Charles Mignon was caused

by the painting of the Canalis arms on the panels of the carriage; and

by certain orders given to a tailor; for the poet neglected none of

the innumerable details which might; even the smallest of them;

influence a young girl。



〃It is all right;〃 said Latournelle to Mignon on the sixth day。 〃The

baron's valet has hired Madame Amaury's villa at Sanvic; all

furnished; for seven hundred francs; he has written to his master that

he may start; and that all will be ready on his arrival。 So the two

gentlemen will be here Sunday。 I have also had a letter from Butscha;

here it is; it's not long: 'My dear master;I cannot get back till

Sunday。 Between now and then I have some very important inquiries to

make which concern the happiness of a person in whom you take an

interest。'〃



The announcement of this arrival did not rouse Modeste from her gloom;

the sense of her fall and the bewilderment of her mind were still too

great; and she was not nearly as much of a coquette as her father

thought her to be。 There is; in truth; a charming and permissible

coquetry; that of the soul; which may claim to be love's politeness。

Charles Mignon; when scolding his daughter; failed to distinguish

between the mere desire of pleasing and the love of the mind;the

thirst for love; and the thirst for admiration。 Like every true

colonel of the Empire he saw in this

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