Honoré de Balzac

“ Raoul
Do I see before me a genie, a spirit materialized from the Arabian
Nights? I question my own existence. But, my friend, my protector, I
have no family.
Vautrin
Well, we are making up a family for you at this very moment. The
Louvre could not contain the portraits of your ancestors, they would
overcrowd the quays.
Raoul
You rekindle all my hopes.
Vautrin
Do you wish to obtain Inez?
Raoul
By any means possible.
Vautrin
You will shrink from nothing? Magic and hell will not intimidate you?
Raoul
Hell is nothing, if it yields me paradise. ”

“ Lafouraille
Blindly.
Vautrin
Without a murmur.
Fil-de-Soie
Without a murmur.
Vautrin Or else let us break our compact, and be off with you! If I meet with ingratitude from you, to whom can I venture hereafter to do a service?
Philosopher
To no one, my emperor.
Lafouraille
I should rather say, our great teacher!
Buteux
I love you more than I love Adele.
Fil-de-Soie
We worship you.
Vautrin
If necessary, I shall even have to beat you.
Philosopher
We'll take it without a murmur.
Vautrin
To spit in your face; to bowl over your lives like a row of skittles. ”

“ The Marquis
Will those on your side stop the duel?
Raoul
Our mutual hatred is sufficient guarantee against that.
Vautrin (aside) Well, now—we always commit some blunder in the moment of success! To the death! This child would gamble away his life as if it belonged to him.
The Marquis Very well, monsieur; to-morrow at eight o'clock, we meet at the terrace of Saint-Germain, and drive from there to the forest.
Vautrin (coming forward)
You will not go. (To Raoul) A duel? Are the principals of equal rank?
Is this gentleman, like you, the only son of a noble house? ”

“ The Duchess
I see that you find it is impossible to sleep as I do.
Mademoiselle de Vaudrey Louise, my child, I only rose to rid you of a dream, the awakening from which will be deplorable. I consider it my duty to distract you from your insane fancies. The more I think of what you told me the more is my sympathy aroused. But I am compelled to tell you the truth, cruel as it is; beyond doubt the duke has placed Fernand in some compromising situation, so as to make it impossible for him to retrieve his position in the world to which you belong. The young man you saw cannot be your son. ”

“ His grace the duke has come in with his lordship the marquis.
The Duchess I have already told you, Felicite, never to inform me of his grace's movements. (Exit Felicite.)
Mademoiselle de Vaudrey I should hate to rob you of an illusion which causes you such happiness; but when I see the height of expectation to which you have soared, I fear a terrible fall for you. The soul, like the body, is bruised by a fall from an excessive height, and you must excuse my saying that I tremble for you. ”

“ Dissimulation is more than a blunder, for in friendship a blunder is a crime.
Raoul To game no more, to come home tipsy no more, to shun the menagerie of the opera, to become serious, to study, to desire a position in life, this you call dissimulation.
Vautrin You are as yet but a poor diplomatist. You will be a great one, when you can deceive me. Raoul, you have made the mistake which I have taken most pains to save you from. My son, why did you not take women for what they are, creatures of inconsequence, made to enslave without being their slave, like a sentimental shepherd? ”

“ Saint-Charles (aside) A worn out fox is still dangerous. (Aloud) Excuse me, baron, for disturbing you, while yet unknown to you.
Vautrin
I can guess what your business is.
Saint-Charles (aside)
Indeed?
Vautrin You are an architect, and have a proposal to make to me; but I have already received most excellent offers.
Saint-Charles
Excuse me, your Dutchman must have mispronounced my name. I am the
Chevalier de Saint-Charles.
Vautrin (raising his spectacles)
Let me see—we are old acquaintances. You were at the Congress of
Vienna, and then bore the name of Count of Gorcum—a fine name! ”

“ Vautrin You may judge my power from what I am in process of doing for Raoul. Ought he not to be preferred before all? Raoul de Frescas is a young man who has remained pure as an angel in the midst of our mire-pit; he is our conscience; moreover, he is my creation; I am at once his father, his mother, and I desire to be his guiding providence. I, who can never know happiness, still delight in making other people happy. I breathe through his lips, I live in his life, his passions are my own ”

“ Raoul (at the other side of the stage) . Raoul (aside) Honor bids me to speak out, gratitude to keep silence; well, I accept my role of happy man, until he is out of danger; but I will write this evening, and Inez shall learn who I am. Vautrin, after such a sacrifice, I may cry quits with you; all ties between us are severed. I will seek, I care not where, a soldier's death.
Inez (approaching, after gazing at him) My father and yours are friends; they consent to our marriage; we make love to each other as if they were opposed to it, and you seem lost in thought, and almost sad! ”

“ Vautrin Excuse me, your grace, for having forced my way in, but (whispering so as not to be overheard) we have both of us been victimized by an abuse of confidence—allow me to say a word or two to you alone.
The Duke (with a sign to his son to leave them)
Say on, sir.
Vautrin In these days success is in the power of those alone who exert themselves to obtain office, and this form of ambition pervades all classes. Every man in France desires to be a colonel, and it is difficult to see where the privates are to come from. ”

“ Mademoiselle de Vaudrey You are wrong there. The duke has a warm heart, and a cool head; in all matters that concern the sentiments on which they live, men of that temper act promptly in carrying out their ideas.
The Duchess But, dear aunt, do you know at what price he has granted me the life of Fernand? Haven't I paid dearly for the assurance that his days were not to be shortened? If I had persisted in maintaining my innocence I should have brought certain death upon him; I have sacrificed my good name to save my son. Any mother would have done as much. ”

“ Silence, sir.
Saint-Charles Your grace has given me no answer; the duke has my word, and he is very powerful.
The Duchess And I, sir, am immensely rich; but do not expect to take advantage of me. (She rises) I will never be the dupe of Monsieur de Montsorel, I recognize his trickery in this secret interview, which you had asked for. (With emphasis) Let me complete your information. Monsieur de Frescas is not a wretch; his servants are not assassins; he belongs to a family as rich as it is noble, and he is about to marry the Princesse d'Arjos. ”

“ I am a lost man; Vautrin, an infernal yet a kindly genius, a man who knows everything, and seems able to do everything, a man as harsh to others as he is good to me, a man who is inexplicable except by a supposition of witchcraft, a maternal providence if I may so call him, is not after all the providence divine. (Vautrin enters wearing a plain black peruke, a blue coat, gray pantaloons, a black waistcoat, the costume of a stock-broker.) Oh! I know what love is; but I did not know what revenge was, until I felt I could not die before I had wreaked my vengeance on these two Montsorels. ”

“ An orphan may rouse the interest of people; an imposter, never. I live in a style which makes me a equal to the son of a duke or a peer; you have educated me well, without expense to the state; you have launched me into the empyrean of the world, and now they fling into my face the declaration, that there are no longer such people as De Frescas in existence. ”

“ Indeed—but you had better look after your own son. Albert is a guarantee for the life of Fernand. If you keep watch on my proceedings, I shall set a watch on yours; if you rely upon the police of the realm, I have resources of my own, and the assistance of God. If you deal a blow at Fernand, beware of what may happen to Albert. A blow for a blow!—That is final.
The Duke You are in our own house, madame. I forgot myself. Pray pardon me. I was wrong.
The Duchess You are more a gentleman than your son; when he flies into a rage he begs no one's pardon, not he! ”

“ Between ourselves, the Emperor Iturbide, my master, is no more than a figurehead; the future of Mexico is entirely in the hands of the aged Amoagos.
The Duchess And who, pray, is this Amoagos, the arbiter, as you say, of Mexico's destiny?
Vautrin Is he not known here? Is it possible? I do not know what can possibly be found to weld the old and new worlds together. I suppose it will be steam. What is the use of exploiting gold mines, of being such a man as Don Inigo Juan Varago Cardaval de los Amoagos, las Frescas y Peral —and not be heard over here? ”

“ You surely did not see what happened yesterday at the Spanish ambassador's? My mother took particular notice there of this Raoul de Frescas, and Inez was immensely pleased with him. Do you know that I have long felt, and now at last admit to myself, that my mother hates me? And that I myself feel, what I would only say to you father, whom I love, that I have little love for her?
The Duke (aside) I am reaping all that I have sown; hate as well as love is instinctively divined. (To the marquis) My son, you should not judge, for you can never understand your mother. ”

“ The Duke How is it that men endowed with such faculties are found employing them in so lowly a sphere?
Saint-Charles Everything is against our rising above it; we protect our protectors, we learn too many honorable secrets, and are kept in ignorance of too many shameful ones to be liked by people, and render such important services to others that they can only shake off the obligation by speaking ill of us. People think that things are only words with us; refinement is thus mere silliness, honor a sham, and acts of treachery mere diplomacy. ”

“ Old Jacques Collin—Botheration! There I trip again, I cannot reconcile myself to this common name—I mean Monsieur Vautrin, will arrange all that. In a little time diamonds and dowry will take an airing, and they have need of it; to think of them as always in the same strong boxes! 'Tis against the laws of circulation. What a joker he is!—He sets you up as a young man of means. He is so kind, he talks so finely, the heiress comes in, the trick is done, and we all cry shares! The money will have been well earned. You see we have been here six months. Haven't we put on the look of idiots! ”

“ We must leave off entangling ourselves in the web of falsehoods more or less agreeable; we must speak the truth.
Saint-Charles
I will pay you for it.
Vautrin I will give it you for nothing. You are an infamous cur, my friend. Your name is Charles Blondet; you were steward in the household of De Langeac; twice have you bought the betrayal of the viscount, and never have you paid the money—it is shameful! You owe eighty thousand francs to one of my footmen. You caused the viscount to be shot at Mortagne in order that you might appropriate the property entrusted to you by the family. ”

“ The Duchess If I shake off the disgrace with which he has tried to cover me, if I give up shedding tears in silence, be assured that nothing can bend me from my purpose. I am no longer in Spain or England, at the mercy of a diplomat crafty as a tiger, who during the whole time of our emigration was reading the thoughts of my heart's inmost recesses, and with invisible spies surrounding my life as by a network of steel; turning my secrets into jailers, and keeping me prisoner in the most horrible of prisons, an open house! ”

“ Vautrin We will cake care of your honor! Is it not I who have fostered your sense of honor? Have I ever compromised it?
Raoul
You must explain to me—
Vautrin
I will explain nothing.
Raoul
Nothing?
Vautrin Did you not say, "By any possible means"? When Inez is once yours, does it matter what I have done, or who I am? You will take Inez away; you will travel. The Christoval family will protect the Prince of Arjos. (To Lafouraille) Put some bottles of champagne on ice; your master is to be married, he bids farewell to bachelor life. His friends are invited. ”

“ Saint-Charles He has disappeared, and this steward of his, who procured the forged deeds in Rue Oblin, and doubtless played the part of the Mexican envoy, is one of the most astute of criminals. (The duchess starts.) Oh, you need not be alarmed; he is too clever to shed blood; but he is more formidable than those who shed it recklessly; and such a man is the guardian of Raoul. ”

“ Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
You know very well, Louise, that pride of race is hereditary with the
Montsorels, as it is with the Montemarts.
The Duchess I know it too well! The doubt cast upon his child's legitimacy has almost crazed him. ”