Renouard

“ His face, shaded softly by the broad brim of a planter’s Panama hat, with the straight line of the nose level with the forehead, the eyes lost in the depth of the setting, and the chin well forward, had such a profile as may be seen amongst the bronzes of classical museums, pure under a crested helmet—recalled vaguely a Minerva’s head.
“This is the most troublesome time I ever had in my life,” exclaimed the professor testily.
“Surely the man must be worth it,” muttered Renouard with a pang of jealousy traversing his breast like a self-inflicted stab. ”

“ Renouard and Miss Moorsom emerged from the shadows side by side, a well-matched couple, animated yet statuesque in their calmness and in their pallor. She had let go his wrist. On catching sight of Renouard the Editor exclaimed:
"What--you here!" in a quite shrill voice.
There came a dead pause. All the faces had in them something dismayed and cruel.
"He's the very man we want," continued the Editor. "Excuse my excitement. You are the very man, Renouard. Didn't you tell me that your assistant called himself Walter? Yes? Thought so. But here's that old woman--the butler's wife--listen to this. ”

“ Renouard could hardly find words for a protest: “I assure you that I never talk with Miss Moorsom—on—on—that. And if you, her father . . . ”
“I envy you your innocence,” sighed the professor. “A father is only an everyday person. Flat. Stale. Moreover, my child would naturally mistrust me. We belong to the same set. Whereas you carry with you the prestige of the unknown. You have proved yourself to be a force.”
Thereupon the professor followed by Renouard joined the circle of all the inmates of the house assembled at the other end of the terrace about a tea-table ”

“ In Malata. To bury him was the last service Renouard had rendered to his assistant before leaving the island on this trip to town.
Like many men ready enough for arduous enterprises Renouard was inclined to evade the small complications of existence. This trait of his character was composed of a little indolence, some disdain, and a shrinking from contests with certain forms of vulgarity—like a man who would face a lion and go out of his way to avoid a toad. His intercourse with the meddlesome journalist was that merely outward intimacy without sympathy some young men get drawn into easily. ”

“ Renouard’s face did not betray his opinion of that confident prophecy. He didn’t say anything till his friend suggested in the same meditative voice—
“You ought to interest Moorsom in the affair too—since Willie has let you in.”
“A philosopher!”
“I suppose he isn’t above making a bit of money. And he may be clever at it for all you know. I have a notion that he’s a fairly practical old cove. . . . Anyhow,” and here the tone of the speaker took on a tinge of respect, “he has made philosophy pay.”
Renouard raised his eyes, repressed an impulse to jump up, and got out of the arm-chair slowly. ”

“ On the terrace the philosopher, after lighting a cigar, slipped his hand condescendingly under his "dear young friend's" arm. Renouard regarded him now with the profoundest mistrust. But the great man seemed really to have a liking for his young friend--one of those mysterious sympathies, disregarding the differences of age and position, which in this case might have been explained by the failure of philosophy to meet a very real worry of a practical kind.
After a turn or two and some casual talk the professor said suddenly: "My late son was in your school--do you know? ”

“ The heroic little bird is merely defending its nest. One does not realize the love of mothers. What a fool I have been!”
“Hallo! Hallo!” My uncle was hailing me. I retraced my steps, but this incident haunted my mind. In spite of my assurance that there was nothing extraordinary in it, I did not speak about it to Lerne.
The Professor looked cheerful. He wore the smiling expression of a man who had just taken a great resolution, and is much pleased at it. He was standing before the principal door of the château, the letter in his hand, and looking at the boot-scraper with interest. ”

“ Johann was domineering: the two others became obsequious. I awaited their pleasure.
At last they helped me to carry the Professor’s body up to his room, and on to the bed.
Emma saw us, gave a cry and fled, while the Germans made off without more ado.
Barbe came, and I left her with my uncle. The stout serving-woman wept a few tears, paying a tribute to Death as a thing in itself, and not to the shade of her master.
She looked at him from the top of her bulky [268] person. Lerne was changing. The nose became pinched—the nails became blue.
“You will have to lay out the body,” I said suddenly. ”

“ To all of which, being the fluttering of the caught fly, Renard would answer that his highness was more like an angel than a man; his youth was in his favour, for he might live to see his child of age, and England had had too much experience of minorities. Life, he added remarkably, was shorter than it used to be; sixty was now a great age for a king; and as the world was, men were as mature at thirty as in the days of his grandfather they were considered at forty. ”

“ Well, so be it!”
“Oh, save him, save him,” cried Emma, who had only grasped that one word. “Save him! I swear to you, Frédéric, I swear never to see him again.”
“Enough, enough,” said Lerne. “On the contrary you must love him with all your strength. I no longer wish to grieve you. Why struggle against destiny?”
[233] He summoned his assistants, and gave them some brief orders. Karl and Wilhelm seized the Minotaur, who was moaning.
Johann had set off to make preparations, as hard as he could.
“Schnell, schnell!” said the Professor, and he added, “Quick, Nicolas, follow us!” ”

“ Turning to Father Renaudin, Regan held toward him a shining band of silver, set with gems.
“Here, Father Renaudin, put this on my brow! You are the highest religious dignitary of the world in which I am!”
“Not so!” cried I. “No man’s subject am I! The people rule! Father Renaudin, you will not found a monarchy where no such absurd abomination has ever existed!”
“Have not the worlds themselves one sun supreme for ruler? Find in the universe one whirling, stupendous monarchy! Where is the denunciation in Holy Writ against a good king? God himself upholds thrones!” ”

“ Then one morning had come this brave Renaud, Chatelain of far-off Coucy, seeming to bring in his eyes, his voice, his lute, all the merry Spring times we had missed. So he came often and often, teaching me the great art of song he knew so well; and we were all very happy. But bye-and-bye he came only when my lord was out a-hawking or to tourney, and then very quietly, but always with his lute and with song to my lady. I guessed well which way the wind was blowing, but surely the pitiful Virgin granted my lady, and justly, this one little hour of happiness. ”

“ Renaud watched the ploughman with a feeling of delight at the thought of his native country being enriched by honest toil; and with a confused feeling of regret, too, for he preferred that the moor should remain uncultivated and wild and free. The idea of a flat plain, tilled from end to end, where no room was left for the straying feet of horses as God made them—that idea saddened him.
He would always say to himself as he rode through more civilized regions: “Now there, you know, a man can neither live nor die.” ”

“ She did not spare him, and as Ranald sat and listened, his life and character began to appear to him small and mean and unworthy.
“The Lord means you to be a noble man, Ranald—a man with the heart and purpose to do some good in the world, to be a blessing to his fellows; and it is a poor thing to be so filled up with selfishness as to have no thought of the honor of God or of the good of men. Louis LeNoir has done you a great wrong, but what is that wrong compared with the wrong you have done to Him who loved you to His own death?” ”

“ It is successful, but chiefly owing to the prowess, not of William, but of a certain Renouart, who is the special hero, not merely of the last half of Aliscans, but of nearly all the later chansons of the geste of Garin de Montglane. This Renouart or Rainouart is an example, and one of the earliest, perhaps the very earliest, of the type of hero, so dear to the middle ages, who begins by service in the kitchen or elsewhere, of no very dignified character, and ends by being discovered to be of noble or royal birth. ”

“ Then as briefly as possible Don Renard told the stirring tale of the rescue on the Thames, hiding for the moment his own connection with it. He told it well, bringing out vividly all the strong points.
The King was a cold-blooded man, yet he was something of a soldier, and a deed of arms like this moved him.
"And the man they rescued, who was he, you have not told me his name?" said he.
"It was my stepson, Don Diego, sire," was the reply.
"Ah! I see, I see," said the King. ”

“ It does buck me up wonderfully. I must learn how to drive the beast. I shall be the mahout of this fierce mammoth. Eh! Eh! Ah! Ha!”
At the moment of this outburst of hilarity, I was just finishing my reasoning, and it was the outburst which caused me to make my attack—and to commit my imprudence.
“How amusing you are, uncle! Your gayety cheers me up. I recognize you again. Why aren’t you always like this, and why do you distrust me—me, who, on the contrary—deserve all your confidence?”
“But,” said Lerne, “you know quite well I will give it to you when the time has come. ”

“ Then the King took leave of him, and commanded all that were about him, except the bear and the wolf, to attend Reynard some part of his journey. Oh! he that had seen how gallant and personable Reynard was, and how well his staff and his mail became him, as also how fit his shoes were for his feet, it could not have chosen but have stirred in him very much laughter. But when they had got onward on their way, the fox entreated all the beasts to return and pray for him, and only begged of Bellin the Ram and Kyward the Hare that they would accompany him as far as Malepardus. ”

“ Renaud at that moment was dreaming that he had seen the naked gipsy again and triumphed over her, and was asking himself, at the memory of that robust, youthful form, if she were not a virgin, even though a child of the high-road; recalling confusedly a strange, overpowering, absolute passion, the triumphal possession of a new being, a heifer hitherto wild and vicious, even to the bulls; of a mare that had never known bit or saddle, and had maintained a rebellious attitude in presence of the stallion.
Renaud was dreaming all that, but Renaud no longer existed for Zinzara. ”

“ Who can say that Renaud’s brittle glass, from which he drank the best wine of his youth, will not remain for ages full of the sand and water of the Rhône, and that—in days to come—other youths will not find therein the same delight? For everything begins anew. ”

“ This is how Renard described the drama:
"Good heavens, it is a misfortune of which I am the first and last victim, and with which my will has nothing to do. The facts are their own commentary. Monsieur le Président. I am an honest man, a hard-working man, an upholsterer in the same street for the last sixteen years, known, liked, respected, and esteemed by all, as my neighbors have testified, even the porter, who is not folâtre every day. I am fond of work, I am fond of saving, I like honest men, and respectable pleasures. ”

“ You have not said anything to Johann?”
“Yes, why?”
“Oh, but he will inform the others, and the others will repeat it before Nell! Nell will know it, uncle, that is certain. They will tell her, and Donovan’s soul will learn that it no longer has a human body. It must not be! It must not be!”
“There is no danger, Nicolas, I assure you.”
“No danger! Those men are scoundrels, I tell you! Let me prevent this catastrophe! Time is passing, let me in, I entreat you! Please, for a second, I entreat you! Damn it all, I will pass!”
[251] The lessons I had learned from the bull stood me in good stead ”

“ Then after a silence: “Is it not better to be dead than mad? After all it is the best thing for him. Come, [250] Nicolas, you are not going to put on a face like that! Come!”
And she seized my hand, and dragged me to the château.
Lerne went away in the other direction.
I was prostrated. “Let me alone,” I said, “let me alone. Donovan, the poor wretch. Let me alone. You cannot know! Let me alone, I say.”
A maddening fear came over me. Leaving Emma I ran after my uncle and joined him at the laboratory. He was talking to Johann, and showing him the telegram. ”

“ Renaud was no longer simple Renaud in Livette’s eyes, but the being by whom she knew what life was, through whom came to her that overwhelming consciousness of everything, of the horizons of land and sea, that sentiment of being, that longing for the future, for growth, that inflow of vague hopes that comes of love and gives a zest to life. ”

“ Of what avail against that breeze, which the heifers inhale with delight, is the “I will not” of a young man who feels his youth? The good Lord forgives it in others. “I have been worrying a great deal over a very small matter of late,” thought Renaud. And he sagely concluded that he would return at once to Saintes-Maries, to set Livette’s mind at rest, as it was his duty to do first of all, without avoiding or seeking out the other. ”

“ At last, Renaud felt that his wits were leaving him. To remain faithful to Livette, whom he could not betray with the very woman upon whom he had promised to avenge her, he must not dismount from his horse, for as soon as he put his foot to the ground he would have become the stronger of the two! To remain faithful he must have courage to remain vanquished in this struggle of beauty against strength. And he waited.
She surprised the drover glancing for an instant toward the moor.
“Aha! you are afraid some one will see you, coward! but never fear! ”