Honoré de Balzac

“ Savinien in some confusion replied that he had contracted a debt of honor in prison, and related the visit of his friends.
“I thought you might have some privileged debt,” cried the doctor, smiling, “your mother borrows one hundred thousand francs from me, but I have only paid ninety thousand; here is the remainder, be careful of it, monsieur, and consider what you keep of it as your stake on the green baize of Fortune.”
During the last eight days, Savinien had been reflecting upon the present time. The competition in everything exacts great labor from the man who seeks a fortune. ”

“ Innocence always enjoys good sleep. The half-parted lips showed pretty teeth, the loosened shawl disclosed, without offence to Ursule, under the folds of a colored muslin gown, all the grace of her body. ”

“ If your blameless father were there, alive, in this armchair, if he asked you for an account of your conduct, after having listened to you, would he embrace you?”
“Yes, mother,” said the young man, with respectful seriousness.
She then opened her arms and pressed her son to her heart while shedding a few tears.
“Then let us forget it all,” she said, “it is only a little money the less; I will pray God that we may recover it, and, since you are still worthy of your name, kiss me, for I have suffered much!” ”

“ The more beautiful music is, the less ignorant people enjoy it. And so, when the door opened and the Abbé Chaperon showed his venerable head the heirs cried: “Ah! here is Monsieur le Curé!” all delighted at being able to get up and put an end to their torture.
The exclamation found an echo at the card-table, where Bongrand, the Nemours doctor and the old man were victims of the presumption with which the tax-collector, in order to please his great-uncle, had proposed himself as a fourth at whist. Ursule left the piano. ”

“ In all the arts we must receive, from the souls that serve as a medium to our souls, as much strength as we impart to them. This axiom which governs human affections has prompted the proverbs: ‘One must do as others do;’ ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ But the suffering that you must have endured only overtakes tender, delicate natures.”
“Therefore, my friends,” said the doctor, “a thing that would merely pain any other woman might kill my little Ursule. ”

“ The curé remained about half an hour singing the praises of Doctor Minoret, who had intended making a conquest of the old lady, and had succeeded.
“He is wonderful for his age,” she said, “he talks of going to Paris and arranging my son’s affairs as if he were only twenty-five years old. He has been in good society.”
“The best, madame; and, nowadays, more than one son of a poor French peer would be glad to marry his ward, who is worth a million. Ah! if this idea entered Savinien’s head, times are so changed, that the greatest objections would not be on your side after your son’s behavior.” ”

“ And so, Mesdames Massin and Crémière, their husbands, the postmaster and Désiré formed, with the Nemours doctor and Bongrand, a noisy and unwonted company at the doctor’s house. As he came in the Abbé Chaperon heard the sound of the piano. Poor Ursule was finishing Beethoven’s symphony in A.
With the craftiness that innocence is allowed, the child, whom her godfather had enlightened and who disliked the heirs, chose this grand music which has to be studied to be understood, so as to put these women out of conceit with their fancy. ”

“ The gold snuff-box from which the viscount had taken a last pinch was on the pedestal, with his prayer-book, watch and the cup from which he had drunk. His white hair, framed and arranged in a single lock, hung over the crucifix with its holy water font in the alcove. In short, the knickknacks which he used, his newspapers, furniture, the Dutch spittoon, his field-glass hanging up over the mantelpiece, nothing was missing. The widow had stopped the old timepiece at the hour of his death, which was thus indicated for all time. One could still smell the powder and snuff of the deceased. ”

“ And so the doctor took advantage of his journey to realize his industrial shares and his stock, all of which happened to be rising, and to deposit his funds in the Bank. The notary also persuaded his old client to sell out the stock left to Ursule by Monsieur de Jordy, and which, like a good father of a family, he had turned to account. He promised to set an exceedingly crafty agent to deal with Savinien’s creditors; but it was necessary, in order to succeed, that the young man should have the courage to remain a few days longer in prison. ”

“ In the same way as a priest could not bless in the presence of an evil spirit, as the chestnut dies in rich ground, so a musical genius experiences an inward defeat when he is surrounded by ignorant persons. ”

“ The old lady wished to invite him, as well as his ward, to dinner that same day, telling him that Monsieur le Curé would be her other guest.
“He wanted to show Ursule Paris,” said Minoret-Levrault.
“Plague take him! the old man never takes a step without his little nurse!” ”

“ Therefore, no suspicion; show her particular attention, and be your uncle’s servants, for he is more cunning than a hundred Goupils,” added the notary, not knowing that Goupil is a corruption of the latin word, vulpes, a fox. ”