Paul de Kock

“ Edouard rose with the dawn. He had no desire to pass another day roaming about the Château of La Roche-Noire, but he promised himself a much sweeter pleasure—he was determined to see the little goatherd again, to revisit the valley where Isaure lived; he had not forgotten the girl for an instant, and, although he had had less to say about her than his friend, he had certainly been more engrossed by thoughts of her. In love as in politics, those who talk little are more to be feared than chatterers. ”

“ And yet Edouard sighed as he said this, for he thought of the secret which Isaure concealed from him, and of the unknown obstacle which interfered to prevent his being entirely happy. But Isaure loved him, she had told him so a hundred times; her lips could not know falsehood; the mystery which she concealed from him would undoubtedly soon be cleared up, for she herself had given him that hope; so that he ought to see nothing in the future save the most perfect happiness. Thus did Edouard console himself; to see happiness in the future is much, even though one is destined never to attain it. ”

“ Engrossed by the pleasure which that magnificent prospect afforded them, Alfred and Edouard stopped. They smiled at each other; they were happy! And when one is conscious of a sentiment of pleasure, one tries to make it last a long while, to detain it in one’s soul. It is rare that one is happy in the present! We almost always rejoice in dreams of the future.
Robineau seated himself with a distressed air on a block of stone, and watched his companions, who were more than a hundred feet above him. Alfred beckoned to him to join them. ”

“ Robineau appeared at the window of his apartment in his silk nightcap, the marquis in one of cotton, Eudoxie half-wrapped in a pelisse, Cornélie in a lace-trimmed dressing jacket, Mademoiselle Cheval in déshabillé, Jeannette in a mob cap; the scullions also showed themselves in the windows in the roof.
"What’s the matter? what’s up now?" asked Robineau.
"Why this uproar?" said Cornélie.
"Is this château bewitched?" said Eudoxie.
"A body can’t dream comfortably here," said the cook. ”

“ The man who separates us is terribly distressed to make me unhappy, for he is very kind, and he loves me dearly."
"This is too much!" said Edouard, striding angrily from the cottage; "you pity, you love another; and as the reward of my love, to pay me for not acting as so many men would have done in my place, you request me never to come again; ah! I must be a great fool to continue to love you. Adieu! you shall be gratified, you shall see me no more!"
"Edouard! Edouard! do you leave me like this?" cried Isaure, who had followed the young man out of the cottage. ”

“ I don’t make love to goatherds, but I will marry whomever I please."
"Marry the devil, if you choose!" said Alfred, abruptly leaving the gallery.
"I will not marry the devil, but I will marry Mademoiselle Cornélie," said Robineau, striding with a determined air toward the garden.—"Ah! so she doesn’t love me! I shall make a fool of myself!" he said to himself as he hurried toward the stable. "I see how it is.—Parbleu! it is easy to guess: Monsieur Alfred would like to steal Mademoiselle de la Pincerie away from me, and that is why he tries to dissuade me from this marriage. ”

“ Robineau left the notary’s office, beside himself with joy; and inasmuch as joy, like grief, longs to find a vent, he returned to Alfred, who was no longer in bed, and to whom he shouted from the reception-room:
"It’s all settled! I am a landed proprietor, I own a château, the Château de la Roche-Noire, nothing less,—with towers, battlements, moats,—and cannon perhaps. Nothing is lacking! My dear De Marcey, I am the happiest of men!" ”

“ Isaure let her head sink upon her breast; the book was thrown aside. Her mind abandoned itself to a delicious reverie; it is so sweet to dream, when the image of one we love is mingled with all our thoughts! And yet how many people live and die without knowing the most blissful sensations of love!
Suddenly the girl raised her head, put aside with her hand the long fair curls which fell over her great eyes, and turning her head anxiously, looked once more at the White House, with her head bent forward, as if she were listening, waiting, hoping. ”

“ Monsieur Robineau opened the ball with Cornélie; Alfred danced opposite them, which aroused a spirit of emulation in Mademoiselle de la Pincerie, who executed her steps with such accuracy that Robineau cried:
"She dances like a geometrician!"
Edouard did not care to dance; amid that crowd, that noise, all those remarks exchanged but unheeded, his thoughts wandered far from the château. But one must do like everybody else; the languishing Eudoxie did not dance, as she found that exercise too violent for her nerves; and to her great amazement Edouard left her to invite another lady. ”

“ At such times we yield without question to the fondest illusions, we fashion our own dreams, and we dread to sleep, because sleep does not always present to us the images that are most dear to our hearts. But Robineau, who had no such thoughts as these, weary of tossing and turning in his bed, and of looking for a château, first on the right ear and then on the left, rose early and began to dress, saying to himself:
"My cabriolet and my servant may be waiting for me already at the door; I have too much to do to waste my time in bed." ”

“ Oh! my dear, believe that I know women better than you know your goats and your hens! I have had my day; it was short, it is true, but I made the most of it! They found me as agreeable, as fascinating, as you find Alfred and Edouard, but I rushed my intrigues more rapidly than these young men do. How many beauties seduced, and then abandoned that I might seduce others! How well I could assume all tones, affect all the varying shades of sentiment, to ensnare my victims! I would feign love, grief, despair ”

“ Who has not any soup?" cried Monsieur Férulus, as if speaking to his scholars.
"This is worthy of Heliogabalus," said Monsieur Berlingue.
"Oh! messieurs," said Monsieur de la Pincerie, after swallowing two plates of soup, "I hope to entertain you with better dinners than this! When I have completed my economical schemes, in which I prove that soup can be made without meat, I will show you some amazing soup!"
"I trust that I shan’t dine with him that day," said Monsieur Berlingue to his neighbor.
"You seem to be eating nothing, fair Cornélie?" ”

“ My father will certainly be charmed to become better acquainted with Monsieur le Baron de Marcey."
"And with Monsieur Edouard de Beaumont," said Eudoxie.
"It is not de Beaumont." replied Edouard, with a bow, "it is Beaumont simply."
"There speaks the modesty of a man of letters, who desires to owe his reputation to his genius alone."
"Monsieur has something of my cousin the viscount’s look in his features," said Cornélie, glancing at Alfred; "don’t you think so, sister? In the eyes, and the shape of the mouth; but monsieur is even better looking." ”

“ Thereupon Monsieur Férulus, having saluted as if he were about to dance a minuet, passed his tongue over his lips and addressed Robineau thus:
"Monsieur de la Roche-Noire:—Albo dies notanda lapillo!—The Romans marked with white and black stones their happy and unhappy days; we shall make a cross for this day which brings you among us. Long has this domain been deserted. You will be the sun, which is more than perfect (pluperfect) , you will be the future, which is indefinite, and these peasants will enjoy a happiness which will not be conditional." ”

“ Férulus tried to continue his declamation, but Robineau stopped him, saying:
"Later, my dear librarian; at dinner; I am in no condition to listen to you now. Love and happiness produce a peculiar effect upon my senses! You don’t know what that is; you have never married, perhaps?"
"I beg your pardon, monseigneur; I was married once, and I have had enough of it."
"And you, Uncle Mignon, were you ever married?"
"I! no, I don’t think so. Oh, no! no! that has never happened to me."
"Ah! when one has a heart so easily touched as mine, it produces a complete revolution. ”

“ Where is this person—whom I would see, know, and speak to?"
"No, no! do not think of it," cried Isaure. "Oh! I beg you, if you still love me, do not try to make that person’s acquaintance—he does not wish, has never wished to be known, to be seen."
"He does not wish," said Edouard angrily. "Very good! it is a man; you have betrayed yourself!"
"Betrayed myself!" replied Isaure, raising her lovely eyes, streaming with tears, to heaven; "what harm is there in its being a man?" ”

“ However, because you pretend to love this girl seriously, why should you not believe that I may love her too?"
"Look you, Alfred, a very bright woman said to me not long ago, at Paris: ‘There’s a vast difference between desire and love’; you desire to possess Isaure, but you do not really love her."
"My dear Edouard, your lady friend told you nothing new; I learned long ago that to desire and to love are not synonymous; but because one loves, that is no reason for not desiring; and the fact that one desires does not prove that one does not love. ”

“ What surprises me is that you, who seem accustomed to the ways of the world, are not more advanced than he."
"But," replied Alfred, stifling a sigh, "since it is Edouard whom she prefers——"
"Whom she prefers! Nonsense! As if these little girls ever had a preference! They love everybody, everybody who makes love to them. She would have loved you, if you didn’t always come last. However, whenever you choose, it will rest entirely with you to carry the day. Don’t you know that with time and money one can accomplish everything?" ”

“ Yes, my friend! yes, I, Jules-Raoul Robineau! I am going to set up a carriage! I am rich—almost as rich as you; not quite so rich yet to be sure, but it may come. When one is on the road to wealth—Yes—wait a minute, till I sit down. I am exhausted! Since I have had twenty-five thousand francs a year, I have suffered from palpitations; indeed, there are times when I really can’t breathe! ”

“ Robineau went to bed, and, forgetting Fifine, fell asleep and dreamed of his future château.
V
PURCHASE OF A CHÂTEAU.—DEPARTURE FOR AUVERGNE
Robineau did not sleep very long, for when a man’s mind is running on a château, lands, titles, a carriage and servants, it must necessarily cause him some excitement. There are insomnias more pleasant than those caused by ambition and a longing for grandeur; it is sweet in the silence of the night to think of the person we love, to be in thought, in memory, in hopes, with her from whom we are separated. ”

“ That night excursion reminded him of their journey to La Roche-Noire; he thought of their hilarity at that time, and sighed as he reflected how soon the happiness which the future promised had disappeared.
After walking more than a league and a half without stopping, and when they were only a short distance from the little valley, Alfred said to his friend:
"Let us rest a moment and take breath; perhaps the man whom you seek will not be at the White House so early."
"Very well," said Edouard, "let us rest here." ”

“ A son should never compel the author of his days to blush before him. I must no longer seek to discover the motives of my father’s conduct, or the sentiment which he feels for Isaure. Is he not master of his actions? And if he has some weak points, does he not redeem them by a thousand noble qualities? Ah! my dear Edouard, when I think of the ghastly things that might have happened had I not recognized my father,—if the darkness had concealed his features from us both,—I still shudder, my heart stands still! ”

“ Each day Edouard discovered some new attraction in the woman who had won his affection. Isaure’s pure and ingenuous heart poured itself out freely into her lover’s; she, too, was evidently happy to love him, and their mutual love seemed to wax greater with every instant. But, when Edouard said to her:
"As we love each other so dearly, why should we not belong entirely to each other, why should we have to separate every day?" Isaure sighed and made no reply; but her eyes, turning toward the White House, seemed to indicate that thence came the obstacle which lay in the path of their happiness. ”

“ Once in a while, Alfred had tried to kiss her; but is it so rare a thing to see a peasant steal a kiss from a girl in the country? It is true that Edouard looked at her very affectionately, that he sighed when he shook her hand; but did all that prove that he was in love with a simple peasant girl?
The evening passed in such reflections. At the faintest sound outside, Isaure listened intently; she dreaded a visit from the stranger; that man aroused in her a sensation which she could not define; she felt that he lacked those things which ordinarily arouse one’s interest in an unfortunate person ”

“ Brigands, murderers have forced their way into this house! But what have they done with Isaure? They have killed him who tried to defend her, and I was not here! Poor Vaillant! He seems to be asking me where his mistress is. They must have taken her away through the garden. Come! come! Let us continue our search!"
"But Vaillant is not dead," said Alfred; "perhaps these wounds, which seem to have been made by a sword, are not fatal. Shall we leave without assistance the only one who dared to defend his mistress? Poor dog! How he gazes at us! ”

“ Is it possible for a woman to be mistaken when love is in question?
Edouard had not slept during the night following the fête, and he had risen before dawn and saddled a horse for himself. Alfred was asleep, and Edouard felt no desire to wake him; but it was a breach of their agreement to go without him to see Isaure; however, love makes one forget as many agreements as it forgets itself!
In a few moments Edouard had dismounted, fastened his horse near the cottage, and run to Isaure, who did not dream of concealing all the pleasure which his presence caused her. ”

“ The boys seemed to hesitate; at last the oldest one said in an undertone:
"We should have to pass the White House!"
"The White House!" said Alfred, "what’s that? Is it an inn?"
The peasants shook their heads.
"Is it a farm-house, or a wine-shop?" asked Edouard.
The peasants still said nothing, and Robineau muttered between his teeth:
"These clowns are terribly stupid!"
At last the old man drew nearer to the travellers and said in a low voice:
"The White House is a place that I don’t much like in the daytime, and still less at night! It’s a dangerous place! All the accidents happen near there! ”

“ I wanted Alfred to abduct this girl, I tried to induce him to do all sorts of foolish things, and to fight with his friend; but all that would not have distressed the baron so much as the loss of this girl. Yes, I know what a man feels when another steals from him the woman whom he adores; I too loved Adèle; Adèle was mine; I had the right to look upon her as my wife; and yet he took her away from me!"
Several moments passed, the vagabond seemed entirely absorbed by his memories; but at last he looked at Isaure again and stooped over her, saying:
"She doesn’t come to herself! She doesn’t move! ”

“ Edouard, no less surprised than delighted by this change in Alfred’s humor, felt much happier since he had reason to hope that he had recovered his friend.
The next day Alfred accompanied Edouard; they rode together into the mountains. The young men did not mention Isaure; they seemed equally to dread talking about her. But they approached the valley, they were soon to see her, and Edouard felt a weight at his heart on Alfred’s account. Still he was soon to see her whom he adored; but it is when we are happiest that we would like all those whom we love to share our happiness. ”

“ Alfred took Edouard’s arm; the latter’s excitement doubled as they approached Isaure’s abode.
"She is at home!" cried Edouard, as they perceived a light in the window of the first floor. "Ah! my friend, let us stop a moment; my heart is beating so violently. She is in her room! I was so afraid that I should not see her again; I was in despair lest we should not arrive soon enough. Ah! you were right, Alfred; when one is in trouble, one adds to it by one’s imagination! ”

“ Alfred, however, noticed that Edouard did not seem to be so happy as he should have been; more than once he had asked of his friend the reason of the melancholy and anxiety which he read in his eyes; and he always replied:
"Nothing is the matter, my dear Alfred; but you know very well that lovers are never entirely satisfied. If I had any real cause for unhappiness, to whom could I more fittingly confide it than to him who sacrificed his love to mine?"
But one day more, and Mademoiselle de la Pincerie would become Robineau’s wife. ”

“ Edouard listened calmly to what Alfred said; he seemed to approve of it all; he was much calmer, for his common sense had made itself heard. The pure, cool night air, the rest which they had taken, had also produced their due effect; their blood circulated more freely, their hearts were less oppressed. The man who abandons himself to all the transports of a jealous frenzy, and dreams of nothing but vengeance, would be much less frantic if he would only walk in the open air for a quarter of an hour. The physical and the mental condition are always dependent upon each other. ”

“ How many passionate, loving hearts there are, ready to respond to our love! How many women who cannot help loving a scapegrace in secret, and who exert every effort to conceal what they feel!"
"They are innumerable," said Robineau.
"Faith! coquettish or sentimental, artless or passionate, they are fascinating," said Alfred; "except, however, when they run after us, follow us and set spies to watch all our movements."
"Oh! the devil! a woman who follows a man is a horrible creature! In the first place, it’s very bad form! ”