Transcript

Section 2 · The Ball at Sceaux

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Section two of the ball At so by Honore de Balzac, translated by Clara
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Belle. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Bruce Pirie.
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Monsieur de Fontaine discovered too late how utterly the education of the daughter he
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loved had been ruined by the tender devotion of the whole family. The admiration
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which the world is at first ready to bestow on a young girl, but
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for which sooner or later it takes its revenge, had added to Ami Lee's
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pride and increased her self confidence. Universal subservience had developed in her. The
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selfishness natural two spoilt children, who, like kings, make a plaything of
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everything that comes to hand. As yet, the graces of youth and the
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charms of talent hid these faults from every eye. False all the more odious
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in a woman, since she can only please by self sacrifice and unselfishness.
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But nothing escapes the eye of a good father, and Monsieur de Fontaine often
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tried to explain to his daughter the more important pages of the mysterious book of
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life, vain effort he had to lament his daughter's capricious indocility and ironical shrewdness,
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too often to persevere in a task so difficult as that of correcting an
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ill disposed nature. He contented himself with giving her, from time to time
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some gentle and kind advice. But he had the sorrow of seeing his tenderest
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words slide from his daughter's heart as if it were of marble. A father's
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eyes are slow to be unsealed, and it needed more than one experience before
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the old Royalist perceived that his daughter's rare caresses were bestowed on him with an
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air of condescension. She was like young children who seemed to say to their
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mother, make haste to kiss me, that I may go to play.
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In short, Emily vouchsafed to be fond of her parents, but often by
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those sudden whims which seem inexplicable in young girls, she kept aloof and scarcely
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ever appeared. She complained of having to share her father's and mother's heart with
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too many people. She was jealous of everyone, even of her brothers and
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sisters. Then, after creating a desert about her, the strange girl accused
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all nature of her unreal solitude and her wilful griefs. Strong in the experience
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of her twenty years. She blamed fate, because, not knowing that the
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mainspring of happiness is in ourselves, she demanded it. Of the circumstances of
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life, she would have fled to the ends of the earth to escape a
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marriage such as those of her two sisters. And nevertheless her heart was full
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of horrible jealousy at seeing them married, rich and happy. In short,
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she sometimes led her mother, who was as much a victim to her vagaries
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as Monsieur de Fontaine, to suspect that she had a touch of madness.
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But such aberrations are quite explicable. Nothing is commoner than this unconfessed pride developed
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in the heart of young girls. Belonging to families high in the social scale,
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and gifted by nature with great beauty. They are almost all convinced that
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their mothers, now forty or fifty years of age, can neither sympathize with
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their young souls nor conceive of their imaginings. They fancy that most mothers,
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jealous of their girls, want to dress them in their own way, with
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the premeditated purpose of eclipsing them or robbing them of admiration. Hence, often
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secret tears and dumb revolt against supposed tyranny. In the midst of these woes,
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which become very real. Though built on an imaginary basis, they have
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also a mania for composing a scheme of life, while casting for themselves a
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brilliant horoscope. Their magic consists in taking their dreams for reality. Secretly in
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their long meditations, they resolve to give their heart in hand to none but
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the man possessing this or the other qualification, and they paint in fancy a
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model to which, whether or no, the future lover must correspond. After
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some little experience of life and the serious reflections that come with years, by
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dint of seeing the world and its prosaic round, by dint of observing unhappy
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examples, the brilliant hues of the s the ideal are extinguished. Then one
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fine day, in the course of events, they are quite astonished to find
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themselves happy without the nuptial poetry of their day dreams. It was on the
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strength of that poetry that Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine, in her slender wisdom,
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had drawn up a program to which a suitor must conform to be accepted.
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Hence her disdain and sarcasm. Though young and of an ancient family. He
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must be a peer of France, said she to herself. I could not
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bear not to see my coat of arms on the panels of my carriage,
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among the folds of Azure, mantling not to drive like the princes down the
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broad walk of the chanse Lyse on the days of Lanchon in Holy week.
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Besides, my father says that it will some day be the highest dignity in
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France. He must be a soldier, but I reserve the right of making
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him retire, and he must bear an order that the sentries may present arms
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to us. And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creature of
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fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure intelligence, and above
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all, if he were not slender. To be lean a personal grace,
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which is but fugitive, especially under a representative government, was an indispensable condition.
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Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an ideal standard, which was to be the model.
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A young man who at the first glance did not fulfill the requisite conditions
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did not even get a second look. Good heavens see how fat he is
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was with her. The utmost expression of contempt to hear her people of respectable
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corpulence were incapable of sentiment, bad husbands, and unfit for civilized society.
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Though it is esteemed a beauty in the east, to be fat seemed to
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her a misfortune for a woman, but in a man it was a crime.
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These paradoxical views were amusing thanks to a certain liveliness of rhetoric. The
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count felt nevertheless that by and by his daughter's affections, of which the absurdity
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would be evident to some women who were not less clear sighted than merciless,
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would inevitably become a subject of constant ridicule. He feared lest her eccentric notions
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should deviate into bad style. He trembled to think that the pitiless world might
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already be laughing at a young woman who remained so long on the stage without
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arriving at any conclusion of the drama she was playing more than one actor in
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it. Disgusted by a refusal, seemed to be waiting for the slightest turn
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of ill luck to take his revenge. The indifferent the lookers on were beginning
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to weary of it. Admiration is always exhausting to human beings. The old
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Fonde and knew better than anyone that if there is an art in choosing the
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right moment for coming forward on the boards of the world, on those of
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the court, in a drawing room or on the stage, it is still
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more difficult to quit them in the nick of time. So during the first
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winter after the accession of Charles the tenth, he redoubled his efforts, seconded
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by his three sons and his sons in law, to assemble in the rooms
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of his official residence the best matches which Paris and the various deputations from departments
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could offer, the splendor of his entertainments, the luxury of his dining room
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and his dinners fragrant with truffles, rivaled the famous banquets by which the ministers
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of that time secured the vote of their parliamentary recruits. The Honorable Deputy was
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consequently pointed at as a most influential corruptor of the legislative honesty of the illustrious
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chamber that was dying, as it would seem, of indigestion. A whimsical
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result, his efforts to get his daughter married secured him a splendid popularity.
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He perhaps found some covert advantage in selling his truffles twice over. This accusation
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started by certain mocking liberals, who made up by their flow of words for
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their small following in the chamber, was not a success. The pot of
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gentlemen had always been so noble and so honorable, that he was not once
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the object of those epigrams which the malicious journalism of the day hurled at the
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three hundred votes of the Center, at the ministers, the cooks, the
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directors general, the princely Amphytrians, and the official supporters of the Villel ministry.
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At the close of this campaign, during which Monsieur de Fontaine had,
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on several occasions brought out all his forces, he believed that this time the
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procession of suitors would not be a mere dissolving view in his daughter's eyes,
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that it was timed she should make up her mind. He felt a certain
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inward satisfaction at having well fulfilled his duty as a father, and having left
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no stone unturned. He hoped that among so many hearts lay at Emily's feet,
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there might be one to which her caprice might give a preference. Incapable
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of repeating such an effort, and tired too of his daughter's conduct, one
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morning towards the end of Lent, when the business at the chamber did not
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demand his vote, he determined to ask what her views were. While his
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valet was artistically decorating his bald yellow head with the delta of powder, which,
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with the hanging El de pijeon, completed his venerable style of hair dressing,
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Emily's father, not without some secret misgivings, told his old servant to
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go and desire the haughty damsel to appear in the presence of the head of
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the family, Joseph. He added, when his hair was dressed, take
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away that towel, draw back the curtains, put those chairs square, shake
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the rug and lay it quite straight. Dust everything. Now air the room
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a little by opening the window. The count multiplied his orders, putting Joseph
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out of breath, and the old servant, understanding his master's intentions, aired
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and tidied the room. Of course, the least cared for of any in
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the house, and succeeded in giving a look of harmony to the files of
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bills, the letter boxes, the books and furniture of this sanctum where the
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interests of the royal domains were debated over. When Josef had reduced this chaos
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to some sort of order, and brought to the front such things as might
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be most pleasing to the eye, as if it were a shopped front,
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or such as by their color, might give the effect of a kind of
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official poetry. He stood for a moment in the midst of the labyrinth of
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papers, piled in some places even on the floor, admired his handiwork,
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jerked his head, and went the anxious sinecure holder did not bare his retainer's
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favorable opinion. Before seating himself in his deep chair, whose surrounded back screened
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him from drafts. He looked round him doubtfully, examined his dressing gown with
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a hostile expression, shook off a few grains of snuff, carefully wiped his
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nose, arranged the tongs and shovel made the fire, pulled up the heels
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of his slippers, pulled out his little que of hair, which had lodged
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horizontally between the collar of his waistcoat and that of his dressing gown, restoring
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it to its perpendicular position. Then he swept up the ashes of the hearth,
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which bore witness to a persistent Katar. Finally, the old man did
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not settle himself till he had once more looked all over the room, hoping
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that nothing could give occasion to the saucy and impertinent remarks with which his daughter
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was apt to answer his good advice. On this occasion, he was anxious
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not to come promise his dignity as a father. He daintily took a pinch
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of snuff, cleared his throat two or three times, as if he were
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about to demand a count out of the house. Then he heard his daughter's
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light step, and she came in, humming an air from il Barbieri,
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Good morning, Papa, What do you want with me so early? Having
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sung these words as though they were the refrain of the melody, she kissed
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the Count, not with the familiar tenderness which makes a daughter's love so sweet
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a thing, but with the light carelessness of a mistress confidant of pleasing whatever
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she may do. My dear child, said Monsieur de Fontaine gravely. I
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sent for you to talk to you very seriously about your future prospects. You
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are, at this moment under the necessity of making such a choice of a
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husband as me Sae secure your durable happiness, my good father replied, emily,
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assuming her most coaxing tone of voice to interrupt him. It strikes me
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that the armistice on which we agreed as to my suitors is not yet expired.
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Amily we must to day forbear from jesting on so important a matter.
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For some time past, the efforts of those who most truly love you,
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my dear child, have been concentrated on the endeavor to settle you suitably,
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and you would be guilty of ingratitude in meeting with levity those proofs of kindness
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which I am not alone in lavishing on you. As she heard these words,
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after flashing a mischievously inquisitive look at the furniture of her father's study,
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the young girl brought forward the arm chair, which looked as if it had
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been least used by petitioners, set it at the side of the fireplace so
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as to sit facing her father, and settled herself in so solemn an attitude
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that it was impossible not to read in it a mocking intention, crossing her
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arms over the dainty trimmings of the pellerin a la nege, and ruthlessly crushing
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its endless frills of white tulle. After a laughing side glance at her old
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father's troubled face, she broke silence. I never heard you say, my
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dear father, that the government issued its instructions in its dressing gown. However,
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and she smiled, that does not matter. The mob are probably not
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particular. Now, what are your proposals for legislation and your official introductions?
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I shall not always be able to make them. Headstrong, girl, listen,
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emily, it is my intention no longer to compromise my reputation, which
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is part of my children's fortune, by recruiting the regiment of dancers, which
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spring after spring you put to route. You have already been the cause of
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many dangerous misunderstandings with certain families. I hope to make you perceive more truly
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the difficulties of your position and of ours. You are two and twenty,
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my dear child, and you ought to have been married nearly three years,
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since your brothers and your two sisters are richly and happily provided for. But
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my dear, the expenses occasioned by these marriages, and the style of housekeeping
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you require of your mother, have made such inroads on our income that I
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can hardly promise you one hundred thousand francs as a marriage portion. From this
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day forth, I shall think only of providing for your mother, who must
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not be sacrificed to her children. Amily. If I were to be taken
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from my family, Madame de Fontaine could not be left at anybody's mercy,
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and ought to enjoy the affluence which I have given her too late, as
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a reward of her devotion in my misfortunes. You see, my child,
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that the amount of your fortune bears no relation to your notions of grandeur.
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Even that would be such a sacrifice as I have not hitherto made for either
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of my children. But they have generously agreed not to expect in the future
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any compensation for the advantage thus given to a too favored child in their position,
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said Amilee, with an ironical toss of her head. My dear,
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do not so depreciate those who love you. Only the poor are generous as
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a rule. The rich have always excellent reasons for not handing over twenty thousand
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francs to a relation. Come, my child, do not pout. Let
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us talk rationally among the young marrying men. Have you noticed, Monsieur de
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Manerville. Oh, he minces his words. He says zoule instead of jule.
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He is always looking at his feet because he thinks them small, and
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he gazes at himself in the glass. Besides, he is fair. I
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don't like fair men. Well, then, Monsieur de Beaudenort, he is
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not noble. He is ill made and stout. He is dark. It
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is true. If the two gentlemen could agree to combine their fortunes, and
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the first would give his name and his figure to the second, who should
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keep his dark hair, then perhaps what can you say against Monsieur de Rastignac.
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Madame de Nussingen has made a banker of him, she said, with
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meaning. And our cousin, the Vicomte de Portendois, a mere boy who
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dances badly. Besides, he has no fortune. And after all, Papa,
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none of these people have titles. I want at least to be a
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countess like my mother. Have you seen no one then this winter? No,
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Papa, What then do you want the son of a peer of France.
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My dear girl, you are mad, said Monsieur de Fontaine, rising,
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But he suddenly lifted his eyes to heaven and seemed to find a fresh
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fount of resignation in some religious thought. Then, with a look of fatherly
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pity at his daughter, who herself was moved, he took her hand,
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pressed it, and said, with deep feeling, God is my witness,
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poor mistaken child, I have conscientiously discharged my duty to you as a father.
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Conscientiously, do I say, most lovingly my amily. Yes, God
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knows this winter I have brought before you more than one good man, whose
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character, whose habits, and whose temper were known to me, and all
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seemed worthy of you, my child, My task is done. From this
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day forth. You are the arbiter of your fate. And I consider myself
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both happy and unhappy at finding myself relieved of the heaviest of paternal functions.
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I know not whether you will for any long time. Now hear a voice
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which to you has never been so. But remember that conjugal happiness does not
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rest so much on brilliant qualities and ample fortune as on reciprocal esteem. This
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happiness is in its nature modest and devoid of show. So now, my
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dear, my consent is given beforehand. Whoever the son in law may be,
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whom you introduce to me. But if you should be unhappy. Remember,
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you will have no right to accuse your father. I shall not refuse
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to take proper steps and help you. Only your choice must be serious and
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final. I will never twice compromise the respect due to my white hairs.
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The affection thus expressed by her father, the solemn tones of his urgent address
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deeply touched Mademoiselle de Fontaine, but she concealed her emotion. Seated herself on
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her father's knees, for he had dropped all tremulous into his chair. Again,
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caressed him fondly and coaxed him so engagingly that the old man's brow cleared.
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As soon as Emily thought that her father had got over his painful agitation,
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she said, in a gentle voice, I have to thank you for
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your graceful attention. My dear father. You have had your room set in
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order to receive your beloved daughter. You did not perhaps know that you would
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find her so foolish and so headstrong. But Papa, is it so difficult
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to get married to a peer of France? You declared that they were manufactured
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by dozens. At least you will not refuse to advise me. No,
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my poor child, No, and more than once I may have occasion to
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cry. Beware, remember that the making of peers is so recent a force
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in our government machinery that they have no great fortunes. Those who are rich
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look to becoming richer. The wealthiest member of our peerage has not half the
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income of the least rich lord in the English upper chamber. Thus, all
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the French peers are on the lookout for great heiresses for their sons, wherever
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they may meet with them. The necessity in which they find themselves of marrying
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for money will certainly exist for at least two centuries pending such a fortunate accident
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as you long for. And this fastidiousness may cost you the best years of
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your life. Your attractions might work a miracle for men often marry for love.
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In these days, when experience lurks behind so sweet a face as yours,
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it may achieve wonders. In the first place, Have you not the
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gift of recognizing virtue in the greater or smaller dimensions of a man's body.
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This is no small matter to so wise a young person as you are.
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I need not enlarge on all the difficulties of the enterprise. I am sure
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that you would never attribute good sense to a stranger because he had a handsome
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face, or all the virtues because he had a fine figure. And I
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am quite of your mind in thinking that the sons of peers ought to have
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an air peculiar to themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners. Though nowadays no external
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sign stamps a man of rank, those young men will have, perhaps to
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you the indefinable, something that will reveal it. Then again, you have
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your heart well in hand, like a good horseman who is sure his steed
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cannot bold. Luck be with you, my dear. You are making game
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of me, Papa. Well, I assure you that I would rather die
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in Mademoiselle de Conde's convent than not be the wife of a peer of France.
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She slipped out of her father's arms, and, proud of being her
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own mistress, went off singing the air of Cara non dubitare in the matrimonio
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seguito. As it happened, the family were that day keeping the anniversary of
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a family fact. At dessert, Madame Planard, the receiver general's wife,
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spoke with some enthusiasm of a young American owning an immense fortune, who had
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fallen passionately in love with her sister, and made through her the most splendid
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proposals. A banker, I rather think, observed Amili carelessly. I do
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not like many dealers, but emily, replied the Baron de Vilain, the
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husband of the count's second daughter. You do not like lawyers, either,
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so that if you refuse men of wealth who have not titles. I do
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not quite see in what class you are to choose a husband, especially amily,
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with your standard of slimness, added the lieutenant general. I know what
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I want, replied the young lady. My sister wants a fine name,
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a fine young man, fine prospects, and a hundred thousand francs a year,
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said the Baron de Fontaine, Monsieur de Marseilles, for instance. I
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know, my dear, retorted Amili that I do not mean to make such
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a foolish marriage as some I have seen. Moreover, to put an end
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to these matrimonial discussions, I hereby declare that I shall look on anyone who
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talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind. An
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uncle of Ami lees a vice admiral whose fortune had just been increased by twenty
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thousand francs a year in consequence of the act of indemnity, and a man
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of seventy feeling himself privileged to say hard things to his grand niece, on
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whom he doted in order to mollify the bitter tone of the discussion. Now
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exclaimed, do not tease my poor little Emily. Don't you see she is
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waiting till the Duc de Bordeaux comes of age. The old man's pleasantry was
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received with general laughter. Take care, I don't marry you, old fool,
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replied the young girl, whose last words were happily drowned in the noise.
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My dear children, said Madame de Fontaine, to soften this saucy retort,
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amyly, like you will take no advice but her mother's bless me,
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I shall take no advice but my own, in a matter which concerns no
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one but myself, said Mademoiselle de Fontaine, very distinctly. At this,
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all eyes were turned to the head of the family. Everyone seemed anxious as
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to what he would do to assert his dignity. The venerable gentleman enjoyed much
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consideration, not only in the world. Happier than many fathers, he was
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also appreciated by his family, all its members having a just esteem for the
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solid qualities by which he had been able to make their fortunes. Hence,
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he was treated with the deep respect which is shown by English families and some
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aristocratic houses on the continent to the living representatives of an ancient pedigree. Deep
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silence had fallen, and the guests looked alternately from the spoilt girl's proud and
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sulky pout to the severe faces of Monsieur and Madame de Fontaine. I have
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made my daughter Amy Lee mistress of her own fate, was the reply spoken
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by the count in a deep voice. Relations and guests gazed at Mademoiselle de
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Fontaine with mingled curiosity and pity. The words seemed to declare that fatherly affection
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was weary of the contest with the character that the whole family knew to be
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incorrigible. The sons in law muttered, and the brothers glanced at their wives
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with mocking smiles. From that moment, everyone ceased to take any interest in
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the haughty girl's prospects of marriage. Her old uncle was the only person who,
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as an old sailor, ventured to stand on her tack and take her
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broadsides, without ever troubling himself to return her fire. End of Section two.