Séverine

“ The time'll soon come, Prosper.
Séverine (to Rollin) . What is the matter with both those pretty girls? Why don't they come nearer? Now that we once are here, I want to join in everything. I really think that everything is extremely moral here.
Marquis. Have patience, Séverine.
Séverine. I think nowadays one diverts oneself best in the streets. Do you know what happened to us yesterday when we went for a drive in the Promenade de Longchamps? ”

“ At the request of Severine, Jacques promised to kill Roubaud, her husband, whom she had come to hate; but, though all the preparations were made, it was Severine herself whom he killed, in an accession of that homicidal rage which he imagined he had conquered. He escaped all suspicion, and calmly allowed Roubaud and Cabuche to be punished for the crime. In order to see whether the murder of Severine had cured him of his blood lust, he made love to Philomene Sauvagnat, thereby arousing the jealousy of her lover, Pecqueux, who was stoker on the engine driven by Lantier. ”

“ Severine was devoted to her father; she and her daughter allowed no one but themselves to take charge of his linen; they knitted his socks for him, and gave the most minute care to his comfort. Grevin knew that no thought of self-interest had entered their affection; the million they would probably inherit could not dry their tears at his death; old men are very sensible to disinterested tenderness. Every morning before going to see him, Madame Beauvisage and Cecile attended to his dinner for the next day, sending him the best that the market afforded. ”

“ Lazare Station. It is true that only your garden and hers separate her house from yours; that she has 35 the best horses in Paris; and that she is accustomed to doing this sort of thing, if I may believe what I have heard.
Severine. To what a pass we have come! My most intimate friend! Did they speak to each other?10
This scene wins our attention because it reveals in Severine a mental state which in itself interests and moves us far more than the mere physical action.
What has been said of La Princesse Georges is even more true of the ending of Marlowe’s Faustus. ”

“ Beauvisage, who lived according to his tastes, pampered by his wife, well served by his two servants, cajoled by his daughter, called himself the happiest man in Arcis, and really was so. The feeling of Severine for this nullity of a man never went beyond the protecting pity of a mother for her child. She disguised the harshness of the words she was frequently obliged to say to him by a joking manner. No household was ever more tranquil ”

“ The old notary had gauged his son-in-law once for all, and to his just and upright mind the idea of Phileas as a public man produced in its way the disagreeable effect that discordant instruments produce upon the ear. If it be true that no man is a prophet in his own country, he is often even less so in his own family. Still, the first impression once passed, Grevin would doubtless acclimatize himself to the idea of an expedient which would chime in with the plans he had already made for Severine’s future. ”

“ Severine Potocki, who was that day on duty, told me that this imperfect death of Catherine occasioned the courtiers the greatest perplexity; for they were in presence of two sovereigns; the one was, a few hours ago, mistress of their fortunes and life, and might, perhaps, yet recover, because she still moved; the other, in the vigour of life and health, was already touching with the end of his fingers the sceptre, which he would very probably hold firmly and long. Now, zeal or indifference for one or the other might equally compromise them, and prove equally dangerous. ”

“ When she was quite little she had loved Jacques Lantier, and now it was to him alone she would have given herself. Jacques did not care for her, however, and she came to know that he had a mistress, Severine Roubaud. Convinced of her own right to be loved, for she was stronger and handsomer than the other, the girl was tortured by jealousy; and each Friday, as she saw the express rush past, bearing the two lovers to Paris, was seized with an imperious desire to end everything, and by causing their death prevent them from passing any more. ”

“ He always “had the honor”; to all his inquiries as to the health of absent persons he added the adjectives “dear,” “good,” “excellent.” He lavished condoling or congratulatory phrases apropos of all the petty miseries and all the little felicities of life. He concealed under a deluge of commonplaces his native incapacity, his total want of education, and a weakness of character which can only be expressed by the old word “weathercock.” Be not uneasy: the weathercock had for its axis the beautiful Madame Beauvisage, Severine Grevin, the most remarkable woman in the arrondissement. ”

“ Madame Keller, the count’s daughter, who was named Cecile, was the godmother. As for the resemblance shown in the person of Cecile-Renee Beauvisage, it was striking. This young girl was like neither father nor mother; in course of time she had become the living image of the Vicomte de Chargeboeuf, whose aristocratic manners she had also acquired. This double resemblance, both moral and physical, was not observed by the inhabitants of Arcis, for the viscount never returned to that town.
Severine made her husband happy in his own way. He liked good living and everything easy about him ”

“ He was a handsome man, who started his career as a substitute; but through his connections and his wife he had been elected deputy and made grand officer of the Legion of Honour. In examining the papers of President Grandmorin, he discovered the identity of the murderers, but knowing the probability of serious scandal arising in the event of public inquiry, he said nothing, and later, struck by the courage and charm of Severine Roubaud, who threw herself on his protection, he gave instructions that all proceedings were to be stopped. ”

“ He was a steady man and a competent engineer, but from his early youth he had been affected by a curious form of insanity, the desire to murder any woman of whom he became fond. “It seemed like a sudden outburst of blind rage, an ever-recurring thirst to avenge some very ancient offences, the exact recollection of which escaped him.” There was also in the employment of the railway company, as assistant station-master at Havre, a compatriot of Lantier named Roubaud, who had married Severine Aubry, the godchild of President Grandmorin, a director of the company. ”

“ Scilla smiled an April smile. Then suddenly she laughed. 'Miss Anna,' she said, 'what'll Mrs. Severn say to it? She'll none want to lose you from Old Lafer. She was in a fine taking on an hour ago, when I told her 'twere you and Mr. Borlase. But never mind what she says. Insulting words may come nigh you, but don't you make a trouble of them; they'll only speak badly for her as uses them. Every one knows what you are in your inwardest nature.'
Mrs. Severn had walked on and was now standing on the ridge, silhouetted against the sky. ”

“ Here am I, proud of the name of Englishman, thankful for having been brought up in the clearness of gospel light. I have been for a year in Seville, and I have never so much as shown to a Spaniard the New Testament in his own language, which I carry now on my person. Nay, the only man in this country for whom I have a feeling of friendship—the man whom I meet almost every day of my life—he knows nothing of the faith which I hold, save that he probably deems me a heretic, simply because I was reared in England. ”

“ Chaffering with an itinerant vendor of fish stood an old woman, wrinkled and bent. From her coarse dress, arms bare to the elbow, and the strong scent of garlic which hung about her, the dame might rather have been deemed a denizen of one of the [Pg 28] low purlieus of Seville, than the servant of an aristocrat. The old crone, who used much gesticulation in speaking, was so eager about her bargaining that she did not notice the approach of Lucius Lepine. The colloquy between her and the hawker had probably lasted for some time, as both parties looked heated and angry. ”

“ Do you understand, Severinus, that one may love him with all the strength of one's life, and when parted from him be but a broken bough which can do nothing but wither?"
"I understand it, for no other was ever so dear to me. I hoped to make him an instrument for the advancement of the good cause, thought God had given me in him a being to whom the heart might still be permitted to pay the tribute of human feelings, aided with admiration in the development of his great talents, and nursed him with tender anxiety. ”

“ She turned to leave the church with Severinus.
Henri started up like a wounded tiger; all tenderness was transformed into fury. "Go, then!" he shouted, trembling with rage; "you are no woman,--you are a fiend! You have deserted me, not I you; now we are quits."
The young girl tottered out of the church with Severinus without casting another glance behind.
Both reached Cornelia's house in silence. Severinus paused. "Command me, Fräulein. Shall I leave you alone, or can I be of any further service to you? A young girl doubtless needs protection against such a man as Ottmar." ”

“ Still—beggars, gipsies, heat, and laziness to the contrary notwithstanding—Seville is delectable, and a marvel in its gardens and groves, its flowers and fruit, its fountains and fish-pools, its soft climate and soft people, its languorous repose and silvery tinkles to prayer. Seville is romance. Shall it ever be mine again to lie beneath the shade of its secular orange-trees, and blink at clustering shafts of marble tipped with silver sun-rays, and dream dreams? ”

“ Severn avoided them; her gaze idly followed the play of her own fingers through the fringe of the coverlet thrown over her.
'Well, you know—about Miss Marlowe.'
Mrs. Hennifer scrutinised her face in silence for some time, but its absence of colour was equalled by that of expression.
'Clothilde,' she said, 'we will not deal in innuendo. It is detestable. Why don't you say like an honest woman, "Have you seen Lucius Danby yet? Is he the man I was once engaged to marry?" It is perfectly natural, in fact necessary, that you should [Pg 242] still be interested in him to that extent. ”

“ Severne pushed on quickly by a pathway, and, turning at right angles, slipped out again into the open, and drew his charge with him up into the shadows of the hazels. Footsteps and the cracking of twigs could be heard within the copse.
"We are safe," said Severne.
"I believe," said Miss Herrick suspiciously, "that it was Mr. Rushworth. What is he doing?"
"Exploring the grove of nuts," said Severne coolly. "I hope he is enjoying it. The beauty of the hazels is that one is so like another that you never know where you are." ”

“ Severinus hastily approached the door: his whole manner betrayed tokens of violent emotion. "I dare not listen to you longer, terrible, dangerous woman! God sees my anguish that I cannot save your soul, make your noble powers useful to the good cause. In you all the hostile powers of the world assume a bodily form; in you I have convinced myself that I am no match for them, and only the repentance of a whole life can atone for the weakness!" ”

“ But how exquisitely characteristic of the nation and of the times! "Poor Vatel," is the extent to which Madame de Sévigné allows herself to go in sympathy. Her heart never bleeds very freely—for anybody except her daughter. Madame de Sévigné's heart, indeed, we grieve to fear, was somewhat hard.
In another letter, after a long strain as worldly as any one could wish to see, this lively woman thus touches, with a sincerity as unquestionable as the levity is, on the point of personal religion:—
But, my dear child, the greatest inclination I have at present is to be a little religious. ”

“ Never was there seen a convent more closely barred and bolted; never were nuns kept more recluse, or golden apples better guarded; and yet for all his precautions poor Felipe could not help falling into the pit he dreaded,—or at least believing that he had so fallen.
There is in Seville an idle pleasure-seeking class of people who are commonly called men on town, [1] a sauntering, sprucely dressed, mellifluous race, always finding means to make, themselves welcome at rich men's feasts. ”

“ An Englishman, possessing every advantage of taste, talent, and wealth, took up his residence here, resolved to devote the remainder of his days to the peaceable enjoyments of a literary and social life. Thanks to his literary propensities, we are enabled to judge of the result of the trial. In a book published by the person to whom I allude, we find that no one could be less satisfied with his lot. Seville and the Sevillanos meet with no mercy at his hands, and must, if we may judge by his dislike of them, have rendered his life a burden. ”

“ There is not an object on which the eye rests in which an artist would not find a subject for a sketch. What a picture might be made of yonder donnas, with their mantillas and graceful lace veils, as, accompanied by their duenna, they ascend the steps of that magnificent church! No women are lovelier than those of Seville,—long may they keep their graceful costume! How picturesque is yon group of gipsies by the fountain—the man in his striped mantle of many hues leaning over the back of his ass, as he talks to the dark-eyed girl with scarlet blossoms wreathed in her raven-black hair! ”

“ Severn glanced keenly at Anna.
'She is going home,' she said. 'Now you would drive again with Mr. Borlase. I suppose he would take you round by the park, and the old [Pg 141] bridge, and East Lafer.'
Anna flushed, but it was with anger.
'That is not the question,' she said. 'But I shall not walk home unless you go with me, Clothilde. If you go we will walk over the moor to the wood. It will take less time, and if we can't get home before Dad does, then we must feign to have had a walk for pleasure. The drive would rest me, though. I am tired. You have alarmed me. ”