D'Argenton

“ Moronval threw the half of his cargo overboard in order to save his ship, for he saw that unless the poet was enlisted, the countess would take no interest in the scheme. D’Argenton made no reply, for he was absorbed in thoughts of Ida.
No man can play the part of a lyric poet, a martyr to love, without being conscious of, and touched by, that silent adoration which appeals to his vanity, both as a man of letters and a man of the world. ”

“ D’Argenton, perhaps, had two or three new symptoms, dignified by Doctor Hirsch with singular names. Charlotte was as totally without salient characteristics, as pretty and sentimental, as she had always been. Jack had grown and developed amazingly, and having studied industriously, knew quite as much as other boys of his age. ”

“ Jack listened with eyes and ears wide open.
“Jack!” said D’Argenton, peremptorily, and pointed to the door.
“Let him stay, I beg of you; I like to have children around me. I am quite sure that your boy has discovered that I have a grandchild;” and the old man talked of his little Cécile, who was two years younger than Jack.
“Bring her to see us, doctor,” said Charlotte; “the two children would be so happy together.”
“Thank you, dear madame; but her grandmother would never consent. She never trusts the child to any one; and she herself never goes anywhere since our great sorrow.” ”

“ But he saw himself now with the eyes of others, dressed in shabby clothes and an old vest of D’Argenton’s, that was too small for him and too short in the sleeves. In addition to this physical awkwardness, poor Jack was overwhelmed by the memory of all the disgraceful scenes through which he had passed. The drunken orgies, the hours of beastly intoxication, all returned to his recollection, and it seemed to him that Cécile knew them, too. The slight cloud that hung on her fair young brow, the compassion he read in her eyes, all told him that she understood his shame and humiliation. ”

“ A certain fatality attaches itself to some people, which renders them and all that they do absolutely ridiculous. When D’Argenton returned that night, he came with the determination to disclose the fatal news to Charlotte, and to have the whole affair concluded. ”

“ Little Jack danced with joy, while Madame de Barancy, excited like a canary by the noise, chattered on to Moronval, giving him details in regard to the illness of D’Argenton’s aunt.
At last they started, Jack and his mother seated side by side in the victoria, and Mâdou on the box with Augustin. The progress would hardly be regarded as a royal one, but Mâdou was satisfied. The drive itself was charming, the Avenue de l’Imperatrice was filled with people driving, riding, and walking. Children of all ages enlivened the scene. ”

“ D’Argenton was worthy to have fallen on better times, for he was a man of kind and generous affections, at once firm of purpose and gentle of heart. When the French entered Porto, no individual exerted himself more strenuously in repressing the excesses of the troops; and many families in those dreadful days were beholden to him not only for their lives and properties, but for preservation from evils more dreadful than ruin and death. This officer undertook to open a communication with the British army, and finding his way to Colonel Trant’s head-quarters, was sent by him to Sir Arthur. ”

“ Poor Jack after this day sat at the table no longer as an equal, but as the butt for all the teachers. No more dainties, no more wine for him. There were constant allusions made to D’Argenton: he was selfish and vain, a man totally without genius; as to his noble birth, it was more than doubtful; the château in the mountains, of which he discoursed so fluently, existed only in his imagination. These fierce attacks on the man whom he detested, amused the child ”

“ Meinhard, on seeing the ring, exclaimed, “Your master is no merchant. He is Richard of England: but since he is willing to honor me with his gifts, I will leave him to depart in peace.”
However, Meinhard sent intelligence to Frederic of Montferrat, Conrade’s brother, through whose domains Richard had next to pass. He sent a Norman knight, called Roger d’Argenton, who was in his service, to seek out the English King; but d’Argenton would not betray his native prince, warned Richard, and told Frederic that it was only Baldwin de Bethune. ”

“ Foolish and ignorant, while at the same time credulous and romantic; very near that fatal age—thirty years—which is almost certain to create in woman a great transformation; she now, aided by the memory of every romance she had ever read, created for herself an ideal who resembled D’Argenton. The expression of her face so changed in looking at him, her laughing eyes assumed so tender an expression, that her passion soon ceased to be a mystery to any one.
Moronval, who looked on, shrugged his shoulders, with a glance at his wife. “She is simply crazy,” he said to himself. ”

“ Infinite prosperity is needed to efface such early impressions, and we often see men who have attained to high honors, who are rich and powerful, and yet who have never conquered the timidity born of their early deprivations. D’Argenton’s bitterness was not without reason: at twenty-five he had succeeded in nothing; he had published a volume at his own expense, and had lived on bread and water in consequence for at least six months. He was industrious as well as ambitious; but something more than these qualities are essential to a poet, whose imagination and genius must be endowed with wings. ”

“ During the twelve years that we have known them, many have fallen from the ranks, but others have risen to take their places; nothing discourages them, neither cold nor heat, nor even hunger. They hurry on, but they never arrive. Among them D’Argenton, better clothed and better fed, resembled a rich Hadji with his harem, his pipes, and his riches; on this evening he was especially radiant, for he had triumphed.
During the reading of the poem Charlotte sat in an attitude of feigned indifference, blushing occasionally at veiled allusions to herself. ”

“ Jack, who had not yet said a word, dismayed at this vivid picture of the future, started up from his seat in the corner.
“I will not be a mechanic!” he said, in a firm voice.
“O, Jack!” cried his mother, in consternation.
But D’Argenton thundered out, “You will not be a mechanic, you say? But you will eat, and sleep, and be clothed at my expense! No, sir; I have had enough of you, and I never cared much for parasites.” Then, suddenly cooling down, he concluded in a lower tone by a command to the boy to retire to his bedroom. ”

“ The transparent blue of the sky, the soft summer air, made all these miseries seem blacker and less endurable; in the same way that the repose of Sunday, disturbed only by church-bells and the twitter of the sparrows on the roofs, weighed painfully on her spirits. She thought of her early life, of her drives and walks, of the gay parties in the country, and above all of the more recent years at Etiolles. She thought of D’Argenton reciting one of his poems on the porch in the moonlight. ”

“ Now listen to what I propose. I am a very busy man.—I am, nevertheless, willing to devote two hours every day to your education. If you will study faithfully, I can make of you, frivolous as you are by nature, a man like myself.”
“You hear, Jack,” said his mother, alarmed at his silence, “and you understand the sacrifice that your friend is ready to make for you—”
“Yes, mamma,” stammered Jack.
“Wait, Charlotte,” interrupted D’Argenton; “he must decide for himself: I wish to force no one.” ”

“ LIFE IS NOT A ROMANCE.
One Sunday morning, just after the arrival of the train that had brought Labassandre and a noisy band of friends, Jack, who was in the garden busy with his squirrel-net, heard his mother call him. Her voice came from the window of the poet’s room. Something in its tone, or a certain instinct so marked in some persons, told the child that the crisis had come, and he tremblingly ascended the stairs. On the Henri Deux chair D’Argenton sat, throned as it were, while Labassandre and Dr. Hirsch stood on either side. ”

“ Meanwhile the literary entertainments of the evening went on, and finally Labassandre, after numerous entreaties, was induced to sing. His voice was so powerful, and so pervaded the house, that Mâdou, who was in the kitchen preparing tea, replied by a frightful war-cry. The poor fellow worshipped noise of all kinds and at all times.
Moronval and the comtesse continued their conversation; and D’Argenton, who by this time understood that he was the subject, stood in front of them, apparently absorbed in conversation with one of the professors. ”

“ The table equipage, the imposing effect produced by Augustin, in short, all the luxurious details of the house, appealed to his senses, and D’Argenton, without flattering the countess as openly as did Moronval ”

“ France comes first, always first. And now, when I say my son plots against me, that twelve-year boy who is of an age to be king, am I a fool and liar? Does this lie? Answer me, Argenton, does this lie?" And wrenching his hand free from Commines he shook the paper passionately above his head.
So sudden and so fierce was the attack, so full of bitter venom and raw rage, so brutally naked and perilous in its threat, that Commines fairly quailed. The florid ruddiness of his fleshy face faded to a pallor more cadaverous than the unhealthy grey of Louis' sunken cheeks as he remembered Molembrais. ”

“ Quand on lui donne lecture des dépositions accablantes des généraux Lefebvre et Ricard, du capitaine Favre et du lieutenant Bernon, il leur oppose froidement les dénégations les plus formelles. Il est confronté avec les colonels Donadieu et Lafitte, qui, arrêtés par ordre du Ministre de la Guerre, prétendent n’avoir jamais eu connaissance de l’existence d’un comité dans l’armée, et n’avoir jamais servi d’intermédiaire entre Argenton et ce comité. Vis-à-vis d’eux, le capitaine garde toujours la même attitude. Lui seul dit la vérité, assure-t-il, et il s’étonne du peu de mémoire des colonels. ”

“ They have fallen in love naturally and of their own accord, and D’Argenson, whether he like it or not, can not help himself. He must needs accede proudly and joyfully, to my proposal; he knows his estates to be in my power far too deeply to resist. Nay, more—though he be somewhat selfish, and ambitious, and avaricious, I know248 nothing of him that should justify me in believing that he would sell his daughter’s honor, even to a king, for wealth or title! ”

“ He left behind him at Paris at least one person who would watch his career with lively interest. In 1718, in the salon of Madame de Lambert, he had been introduced to a man, whose recent expulsion from the [Pg 41] French Academy for some shrewd criticisms of the late reign had given him credit among the younger spirits—the Abbé de St. Pierre. [113] We can easily imagine how d'Argenson must have been attracted to a man, who had his own breadth and generosity of mind, and who was crippled like himself by the lack of those social arts which would have secured for his opinions a perilous respect. ”

“ D'Argenson's time had come at last. He had opposed without success the resolution of the Council; but his own credit had fallen with the defection of the man whose fidelity he had guaranteed. Nevertheless, he knew that persuasion was the least of his resources; and he resolved that it should be no fault of his if anything came of the overtures of the Empress.
His position is clear. It was not for nothing that for twenty years he had studied and thought upon public affairs; he was as deeply versed in the interests of the kingdom as the rest were skilled in the intrigue of the Court. ”

“ D'Argenson accepted his fate. He shut himself up on his country estates, consoling himself with the thought that he was an injured man. [10] But he was not of the men who [Pg 13] can sit down and nurse their disappointments. Though cruelly broken, he set to work to repair his fortune and to repair his life. In the provinces of France, on the slopes of Touraine, there was plenty of work for a willing hand, as events too clearly proved. In that work d'Argenson found refuge from his manifold chagrins. ”

“ D’Argenson, who questioned the Cordelier several times, and carried his replies daily to the King, was sufficiently adroit to pay his court to M. d’Orleans, by telling him that the prisoner had uttered nothing which concerned him, and by representing the services he did M. d’Orleans with the King. Like a sagacious man, D’Argenson saw the madness of popular anger devoid of all foundation, and which could not hinder M. d’Orleans from being a very considerable person in France, during a minority that—the age of the King showed to be pretty near. ”

“ In him the rough-hewn strength of the d'Argenson character was fashioned to a form of lightness and grace; and losing in massiveness, it gained in charm. He had his father's strength without his seriousness; his power of work without his love of it. He impressed his contemporaries [109] by his singular union of facile effectiveness with absolute unconcern. Such a passage as this, which appears in a letter of 1715, [110] needed no signature for identification.
"At last, my dear aunt, the taxes are achieving what all the preachers in the world have never dared to undertake. Luxury is no more. ”