Honoré de Balzac

“ Gertrude Say rather, of women, which is even more terrible! Savages torment the body alone; while we direct our arrows against the heart, the self-love, the pride, the soul of those whom we attack in the very midst of their happiness.
Pauline That is truly said. It is the whole woman-nature that I attack. Therefore, my dear and truly honored stepmother, you must eliminate by to-morrow, and not later, all the obstacles that stand between me and Ferdinand; or you may be sure my father shall learn from me the whole course of your conduct, both before and after your marriage. ”

“ Ferdinand is all I have, for I have passed my thirtieth year, and I have sacrificed to him what I should have kept unsullied—the honor of an aged man. The field is clear for you, you may yet love some other man more ardently than you can love to-day—this is my experience. Pauline, child, give him up, and you will learn what a devoted slave you will have in me! You will have more than a mother, more than a friend, you will have the unstinted help of a soul that is lost! ”

“ Ferdinand And at that time I loved you freely, with entire devotion; but afterwards—afterwards, life changed its aspect for both of us. If you ask why I remained under a roof which I should never have approached, it is because I chose in Pauline the only women with whom it was possible for me to end my days. Come, Gertrude, do not break yourself to pieces against the barrier raised by heaven. Do not torture two beings who ask you to yield to them happiness, and who will ever love you dearly. ”

“ Ferdinand Mlle. Gertrude de Meilhac, educated at St. Denis, without doubt loved me first of all through ambition; she was glad to know that I was rich, and did all she could to gain my attachment with a view to marriage.
Ramel
Such is the game of all these intriguing orphan girls.
Ferdinand But how came it about that Gertrude has ended by loving me so sincerely? For her passion may be judged by its effects. I call it a passion, but with her it is first love, sole and undivided love, which dominates her whole life, and seems to consume her. ”

“ My poor Marguerite, unfortunate is the girl who has lost her mother—
Marguerite And whose father has for his second wife such a woman as Madame de Grandchamp. But tell me, mademoiselle, am I not to you a humble and devoted mother? My affection for you as a nurse has grown in proportion to the hate with which this stepmother regards you.
Pauline Yes, Marguerite, you may believe it, but you delude yourself. Your love can never be as great as her hatred. ”

“ Ah! so you are going to say in the face of justice all that for two days you have concealed by such obstinate silence—vile and ungrateful creature, fawning liar!—you have killed my daughter. Are you going to kill me also?
Gertrude
Ought I to keep silence?—Ought I to speak?
Ramel
General, be kind enough to retire. The law commands.
The General
The law? You represent the justice of men, I represent the justice of
God, and am higher than you all! I am at once accuser, tribunal,
sentence and executioner—Come, madame, tell us what you have to say? ”

“ Ferdinand It is only in romance that people die of love. In real life they seek consolation.
Gertrude Do not you men die for your outraged honor, for a word, for a gesture? Well, there are women who die for their love, that is, when their love is a treasure which has become their all, which is their very life! And I am one of those women. Since you have been under this roof, Ferdinand, I have feared a catastrophe every moment. ”

“ Is it because I am in love with you, and every genuine and pure love is by nature exclusive? Is it because the contrast between an angel of purity, such as you, and a devil like her excites in me just as much hatred towards her as it rouses love towards you, my joy, my bliss, my beauteous treasure? I cannot say. But I hate her, and I love you so much that I should not regret dying if your father killed me; for one talk with you, one hour spent in this chamber by your side, seems, even when it is passed away, a whole lifetime to me.
Pauline Oh, say those dear words again! ”

“ Ah!
The General I shouldn't wish him to be altogether under her thumb. A man ought to be king in his own house, as I am here.
Godard (aside)
Poor man! How he deceives himself!
The General
Did you speak?
Godard I said, General, that your threat had no terrors for me! When one has nothing but a wife to love, he loves her well.
The General Quite right, my dear Godard. And now with regard to the marriage settlement?
Godard
Oh, yes!
The General
My daughter's portion consists of—
Godard
Consists of—
The General It comprises her mother's fortune and the inheritance of her uncle Boncoeur. ”

“ But you asked me why Ferdinand kept his marriage secret.
Pauline
Ah! yes!
Gertrude (rising, aside) If she is in love, she has a will of iron. But where can they have met? I never leave her in the daytime, and Champagne sees him all the time at the factory. No! it is absurd. If she does love him, it is without his knowledge, and she is like all other young girls, who begin to love a man in secret. ”

“ Vernon Oh! sir, show clemency! Have pity on an old soldier, crippled with wounds, and enslaved by delusions. He is in danger of losing both his daughter and his wife. Heaven grant he may not lose his honor also!
Ramel We understand each other. So long as Gertrude does not make such admissions as force us to see the real situation, I shall endeavor to persuade the investigating magistrate—who is an extremely sagacious and honest man of ten years' experience—I shall try to make him believe that cupidity alone has influenced Madame de Grandchamp. ”

“ Poor Ferdinand! He has to risk his life for a few minutes' chat with her he loves! That is what I call true love! Such perils men will not undergo for every woman! But what would I not undergo for him! If my father surprised us, I would be the one to take the first blow. Oh! To suspect the man you love is to suffer greater torment than to lose him! If he dies, you can follow him in death; but doubt—is the cruelest of separations!—Ah! I hear him.
SCENE TENTH Ferdinand and Pauline (who locks the door) . ”

“ If only you knew with what cruelty this stepmother has put me on the rack, by her questions! But I will be avenged!
Ferdinand You must be very careful! She is a very dangerous woman! She rules your father. She is a woman who will fight to the death!
Pauline
To the death! That is as I wish it!
Ferdinand Be prudent, dear Pauline! We are going to act in harmony, are we not? Well, my love, the prosecuting attorney is of opinion that if we would triumph over the difficulties that prevent our union, we must have fortitude enough to part for some time. ”

“ O Ferdinand! Our love, (Gertrude takes a seat on the sofa during the soliloquy of Pauline) as she has said, is greater than life. (To Gertrude) Madame, you must repair all the evil that you have done to me; the sole difficulties which lie in the way of my marriage with Ferdinand, you must overcome. Yes, you who have complete control over my father, you must make him forego his hatred of the son of General Marcandal. ”

“ Gertrude Wait a while! (Aside) How changed this man is, this attorney. I shouldn't have recognized him. He terrifies me.
The General But how could you be brought here by the crime of Champagne, an old soldier for whom I would stand security?
Ramel
You will earn that, on the arrival of the investigating magistrate.
The General
Will you be pleased to take a seat?
Ferdinand (to Ramel, pointing out Pauline)
That is she!
Ramel
A man might lay down his life for such a lovely girl.
Gertrude (to Ramel) We do not know each other! You have never seen me, have you? You must have pity on us! ”

“ The poor man has his pride, which it is as ungenerous in the rich man to wound, as it would be for any one to insult—mark what I say—your attachment to Napoleon. (In a low voice to Gertrude) You are playing a terrible part!
Gertrude (aside to Ferdinand)
She shall marry Godard.
The General Poor young man! (To Pauline) He is everything that is good! He inspires me with affection. (He takes Ferdinand aside.) If I were in your place, and at your age, I would have—No, no, what the devil am I saying?—After all she is my daughter!
Ferdinand General, I make an appeal to your honor ”

“ Godard That is enough, mademoiselle. Ah! How you do ridicule an unfortunate lover, in spite of his income of forty thousand francs! The longer I stay here, the more I regret it. What a lucky fellow M. Ferdinand de Charny is!
Pauline Lucky? Why is he lucky? Poor fellow! Does his good fortune consist in the fact that he is my father's clerk? ”

“ Pauline is daring, like all young persons who are innocent, to whom love is a wholly ideal thing, and who see no evil in anything, so long as it concerns a man whom they intend to marry. The penetration of Gertrude is very acute, but we manage to elude it through Pauline's terror lest my name should be divulged; the sense of this danger gives her strength to dissemble! But now Pauline has just refused Godard, and I do not know what may be the consequences.
Ramel I know Godard; under a somewhat dull exterior he conceals great sagacity, and he is the most inquisitive man in the department. ”

“ A poet who puts the poetry into his life instead of writing it, and believes in the good and the beautiful! And that reminds me—that angel of your dreams, that Gertrude of yours, whatever has become of her?
Ferdinand Hush! Not only has the minister of justice sent you here, but some celestial influence has sent to me at Louviers the friend whose help I need in my terrible perplexity. Eugene, come here and listen to me a while. I am going to appeal to you as my college friend, as the confidant of my youth; you won't put on the airs of the prosecuting attorney to me, will you? ”

“ Mademoiselle is sleeping quietly.
(Exit Marguerite.)
SCENE THIRTEENTH Vernon (alone) What can have set by the ears two women who have hitherto lived in peace? All doctors, little though they be philosophers, can tell. The poor General, who all his life has had no other idea excepting that of escaping the common lot! Yet I see no one here likely to cause him jealousy, but myself and Ferdinand. It is not probable that I am the man; but Ferdinand—Yet I have so far noticed nothing—I hear her coming! Now for the tug-of-war!
SCENE FOURTEENTH Vernon and Gertrude. ”

“ Pauline Madame de Grandchamp has doubtless her reasons for supposing that I have an attachment for my father's clerk. Oh! I see how it is, she wishes you to say: "If your heart, my daughter, has no preference for any one, marry Godard." (In a low voice to Gertrude) This, madame, is an atrocious move! To make me abjure my love in my father's presence! ”

“ Ferdinand If two women, between whom there is no love lost, make the discovery that they are rivals, one of them, I can't say which, is capable of killing the other, for one is strong in innocence and lawful love; the other, furious to see the fruit of so much dissimulation, so many sacrifices, even crimes lost to her forever.
(Enter Napoleon.)
Ramel You alarm me—me, the prosecuting attorney! Upon my word and honor, women often cost more than they are worth.
Napoleon Dear friend! Papa and mamma are impatient about you ”

“ Gertrude (to Vernon) Doctor, how is it that you, who are so good, try to infuse doubts into the heart of Grandchamp? You know that he is so jealous that he would kill a man on suspicion. I have such respect for his feelings that I have concluded upon seeing no one, but you, the mayor and the cure. ”

“ Ferdinand
I am the manager, the cashier, the factotum of Grandchamp's factory.
Ramel
How is this? Do you do it from necessity?
Ferdinand From dire necessity! My father spent everything, even the fortune of my poor mother, who lived during her later years in Brittany on the pension she received as widow of a lieutenant-general.
Ramel How is it that your father, who had command of the Royal Guard, a most brilliant position, died without leaving you anything, not even a patron? ”

“ But for us, it is the Nemesis of happiness. It is disgraceful, when it succeeds; it is death, when it fails. And you, other men envy you because you make women love you. You will be applauded, while I shall be despised. ”

“ I would merely say, that you have loved so many women with the powers of God, that I am in an ecstasy as a doctor to see you still so good a Christian at seventy!
(Gertrude glides softly towards the sofa, where the doctor is seated.)
The General
Pshaw! The last passions, my friend, are always the strongest.
Vernon You are right. In youth, we love with all our strength which grows weaker with age, while in age we love with all our weakness which is ever on the increase. ”