Jules Noriac

“ The sentiment of the beautiful—which is the same thing—is born in some men: it cannot be acquired. Happy are those who possess it! They may be hooted and scorned; but they will live in a world of enchantment to which they alone have access. Their lives will be totally unlike the existence of those who rail at them; and, while the latter may be cast down by the petty trials of every-day life, the privileged ones soar into those regions where they revel in the perfection of the ideal,—the true.”
“Are you one of those favored ones, Paul Buck?” ”

“ You have defended the reputation of Adéonne; and in so doing you have acted nobly, not only because she is your mistress, but because she is a noble creature who loves you with all her heart. Yes, you have acted nobly. I also am convinced that La Soulaye has lied like a pickpocket. But in telling him so you did him an injury for which he has a right to demand reparation in the field. If you refuse to fight, you will be regarded as a coward, and the world will believe that he has truth and right on his side. ”

“ I come to purchase you.”
“For whom?” asked the artiste, with disgust.
“For myself.”
“If this is done for a wager, monsieur, I find it to be in more than questionable taste. If it be a jest, I think it very gross and insulting.”
“It is neither the one nor the other,” said Eusebe, terrified by the indignation of the cantatrice.
“Begone, monsieur!” exclaimed Adéonne, imperiously. “Begone, or I will have you driven from the house. You have come to insult a woman, under her own roof, who has never done you wrong. It is cowardly!” ”

“ These are souvenirs for my companions of the theatre. You will give my watch and chain to Madame Marignan, my dresser, and pay forty-two francs that I owe to Adolphe, the coiffeur. You will wear mourning for me for at least a month, will you not, my dear Eusebe? you can say at home that you have lost a cousin. I have seen your wife: she is beautiful, but her beauty will not remind you of Adéonne. Give all my dresses and linen to Jenny, my maid, and, also, two thousand francs, upon condition that she marry her lover. ”

“ I do not wish to be understood as representing that society is so positively bad,—only that it is governed by conventional comedy. Nothing is done without an accompaniment of ready-made phrases. When two men engage in a duel, they salute each other, as it is done at the theatre. If a husband finds himself the victim of a deception, he bears himself in the same style and uses the same language he has seen and heard at the theatre. Do not take your daughters to the theatre. They will never believe themselves truly loved unless they are wooed in the style of the actor Lafontaine. ”

“ Eusebe took advantage of a moment when Lansade was engaged in showing his grounds to Paul and Bonnaud, to escape from the house and fly towards Paris as if pursued by an enemy. Absorbed in thought, he reached the theatre and entered. From the first he fixed his attention upon the beautiful Adéonne, and lost sight of the audience entirely.
If actresses only knew of the raging passions they kindle in the hearts of youthful spectators, they would, perhaps, have a higher estimate of their own attractions. ”

“ Unfortunately, I am not joking,” replied Clamens, sadly. “I foresaw that you would do something of which you knew not the consequences. Now that the evil is done, there is no help for it: you must fight: the laws of honor, or rather the laws of society, oblige you to do so.”
“What!” exclaimed Eusebe, with vehemence; “I encounter in my walk a wretch who slanders in the most infamous style a woman whom I love and whom I had quitted but a moment previous. ”

“ Régisseur.—“No, no: it is not so.”
Adéonne.—“But——”
Régisseur.—“But there are no buts. You say, ‘Enfin le jour reluit.’ You must not look at the auditorium: your eyes ought to be turned towards the horizon. You continue, ‘Lelio va venir.’ It is requisite that here the most complete satisfaction should sparkle in your look.”
Adéonne.—“It will sparkle at night.”
Régisseur.—“I know all about that. You artistes always say so, and at the representation nothing sparkles. As you proceed, you should look at the skies, instead of your gaiters, as you do.” ”

“ Who will venture to affirm that in an extreme degree of civilization the people are more or less happy, when men of profound and enlightened judgment have confessed that the last word of civilization is the first of barbarism?”
Bonnaud was stupefied. He had nothing to say. Like all persons who have no opinions of their own about men and things, and who, from ignorance or lack of judgment, accept those of others, the merchant was not tenacious of the views he had expressed. ”

“ One evening, on returning from the theatre with Adéonne, he said,—
“Why are you not an unknown woman,—an unnoticed médiocrité? Assuredly, I would be happier. My individuality is confounded with yours; and, though I have no vanity, this practice is extremely humiliating.”
“I do not comprehend you. Explain.”
“I say,” continued Eusebe, “that my nothingness oppresses me. By your side, I am like the husband of a reigning queen. They do not address a word to me, except to speak of you. This very evening, that fat man you call Fontournay told me that I had a pretty toilet. ”

“ For some, Paris is an immense succession of palaces; for others, the houses are built of gold and precious stones.
Paris never comes up to the ideas strangers have formed of it. In order to love and admire this great city, one must become acquainted with it. ”

“ In the presence of a great misfortune, nature seems to harden itself; it bends or breaks only under the petty miseries of existence.
On the day after his marriage, Eusebe began to realize the depth of his love for Adéonne. He felt that the simple pronunciation of the sacramental words by a man in priestly robes did not suffice to destroy the greatest of human weaknesses,—habit. By nature mild and honest, the son of the skeptic Martin did not seek to deceive himself. ”

“ To prove to you that friendship does exist, I offer you mine. You wish to know the world,—to study life. Come, and I will give you the clew. I will be your guide,—your adviser. We will devote ourselves to social anatomy, and dissect humanity. ”

“ If a stranger asks who I am, they do not say, ‘That is M. Martin:’ they answer, ‘That is the lover of Adéonne.’”
“And does that displease you?”
“It does not displease me: it makes me sad.”
[144]
“Oh, what a child you are! Of whom do you wish them to speak? They presume that you love me, and, therefore, speak of me to you. What is more natural? As to that foolish Fontournay, I forbid your speaking to him at all.”
“But it is not he alone who addresses me in this manner. Everybody does the same, from the régisseur to the machinist. ”

“ This time the provincial thought his brain was turned.
“Ah,” said Eusebe, “I am the most ignorant being in the world, or else all the comedians and those who listen to them are fools. Why do they paint their faces like Indians? Why do they wear costumes which do not belong to any nation? Why do the public laugh so loudly at seeing them deceive a foolish old man? Why do they applaud when the comedians make use of words with a double meaning? ”

“ Her smile was checked, and her countenance wore a troubled expression, as she added, “This is the laboratory in which we artistes prepare our beauty, our hearts, our bodies, to please the public, who think, after all, that we have neither beauty nor heart. It is a sad thought! I had resolved never to reveal to you the mysteries of our profession, but they said that you were not handsome. Come, let me embrace you: I have not loved you here yet.”
Eusebe looked at Adéonne with surprise. He comprehended neither the incoherence of her words nor the cause of her agitation. ”

“ Those who say such sentiments arise without cause are fools. I like you, and now I know why. You were born an artist; and it is, perhaps, for the best that your father, whom they accuse of having neglected to cultivate your intellect, did not spoil your nature by routine culture. You know nothing, barbarian that you are; but you have good instincts, since you have not fallen, as I feared you would, into admiration of the rengaines of the modern theatre. ”

“ Adéonne is so charming.”
“Very charming, indeed,—so charming that for her I have neglected to follow the counsels of my father,—had even forgotten the object of my life.”
[148]
“Fortunately, you are young. What career do you design to pursue?”
“I know not. I wished to study life before deciding; but I have now been two years at Paris, and I am no more advanced than when I left my native province. My ignorance and my nothingness are humiliating. I am ashamed of being of no importance in society, because I feel that I can be of none.”
“Life, my dear sir, is not a difficult thing to learn. ”

“ In all probability, at the expiration of this time I shall be dead, and you will naturally be the possessor of our domain, the Capelette, the revenues of which are three thousand francs a year, in bad times as well as in good.
[9]
“You are about to set out for Paris, the city par excellence of civilization. Never will you have so good a theatre for studying the world. Profit by it. Go, Eusebe, and do not take the goods of others: you would have no excuse, since you have enough of your own. Never disguise the truth. ”

“ I am weary of struggling with the contradictions and troubles of life. The more I seek truth, the more deeply do I become involved in doubt. To-day I come to you, like the wounded bird flying for rest to the branch of an aged oak. ”

“ Paul, thinking that Eusebe had penetrated his intention to quiz the merchant, continued to gratify his humor:—
“Assuredly: M. Martin is right. He has told the precise truth, and I can prove it. He belongs to a race who have been at the head of civilization, and who have fallen back into their primitive condition. When were they happiest? I cannot tell; nor can you. You must admit that it would be impertinent to the last degree to assert that the residents of Versailles are to-day happier than were those of Salente under the wise and far-sighted administration of Idomeneus.” ”

“ When all the honest bourgeois friends of Bonnaud and Lansade had satisfied their appetites, they did not leave the table, but began to drink, and, as they drank, they sang. It was Bonnaud himself, the father of the bride, who commenced: the guests joined in the chorus. Take ten men of the world, accustomed to every variety of debauch, give them the means to indulge in the most fearful orgies, and at the moment when the riot and revel are at their height call them to the window to see a newly-married couple pass from church. ”

“ You will find nothing there but froth and foam, or you will drown yourself for want of that life-preserver which is called experience.”
“Better to drown oneself at once than to die of weariness on a rock whence nothing but a void is visible; but, indeed, it seems to me we are employing very large words to speak of very small things.”
“Ah,” rejoined Clamens, “there is nothing insignificant in this world. A drop of water may save a man; three may kill him; a hundred will fill a gutter; a thousand will form a rivulet. ”

“ One morning he went to breathe the fresh air in the garden of the Tuileries, when a man of a noble and friendly mien, wearing a gray hat, commenced conversation with him.
“You are a stranger in Paris?”
“I am from Limousin,” replied Martin.
“You are a manufacturer, perhaps?”
“No: I am a farmer.”
“I am not acquainted with your section of the country, but I have heard it highly spoken of.”
“We have, indeed, a beautiful country,” replied the countryman,—“rich and picturesque, industrious and patriotic: we are in want of but one thing,—a river.” ”

“ I arrived in Paris, this morning, from my native province, and already a coachman has insulted me, a soldier has mocked me, an old man has deceived me, a commissary of police has desired to arrest me, as he thought me crazy, because I had saved a man’s life, a waiter in a restaurant has called me green, a great lady has refused to answer me, and a working-woman has heaped epithets upon me because I asked her to direct me to an auberge. ”

“ The inhabitants of the South, particularly, are greatly disappointed on arriving at the capital. Their imagination, more lively than that of the people of the North, embellishes the metropolis in a thousand different ways. As if to punish them for their imaginary castles, accident has always made them enter the city at its homeliest point. Before the railroad was built, the people [25] of the South arrived at the Barrière d’Enfer. To them Paris presented a sorry aspect; to those who arrive now it presents no aspect at all.
Eusebe, on leaving the depot, walked straight ahead, valise in hand. ”

“ Why may not Adéonne have deceived you for the sake of a count, since Virginie has deceived me for the sake of a waiter?”
“Adéonne has too much heart for that.”
“Mon Dieu! It is always the woman who has too much heart who experiences the need of sharing it. Do you know how to shoot?” ”

“ But I hope that now, since you seek counsel of me, you will tell me truly what are your intentions, and what is your aim.”
“I have already told you that I have come to visit the capital of the civilized world, to see life, study civilization, and, if possible, to distinguish the true from the false; and, finally, I have come here in obedience to my father’s wishes.”
“Verily,” responded Lansade, [62] “I do not comprehend a word of what you tell me. To see life there is but one way, and that is, to live. To study civilization you had no need to come so far: it is everywhere. ”

“ The first of Eusebe’s sentiments which yielded to a forced dissection was his love for Adéonne. In proportion as the affection of the cantatrice was increased by the success of her lover, whose manly beauty was only equalled by the freshness of his simplicity, that of the young man diminished before stern realities, the existence of which he had never before suspected. ”

“ Life has become but a transcript of a drama at the “Porte Saint-Martin” or a poor copy of a comedy at the “Odéon.”
Under the pressure of a great sorrow, the true man is always, no matter what his temperament, gloomy and bowed down. Speak not of griefs that are expressed by gesticulations, or of sorrows which are worked off in loud complaints. They are false and affected.
Our age, which has been called the age of photography, is so oppressed with mimicry that everybody mourns in the same style for the father, mother, or brother whom death has removed. ”

“ Lansade will tell you,” said he, “that I, too, have been an admirer of beauty in my time, and that I was not unsuccessful. I had plenty of money; but never, never was I caught by a comédienne. No, indeed: I was not so stupid.”
“One moment,” said Eusebe: [104] “do you know M’lle Adéonne?”
“Only too well,” replied Paul Buck, earnestly. “Like others of her class, this woman has neither youth, beauty, nor talent. She owes every thing to the claqueurs and her perfumer. This creature, my friend, is deception personified.” ”